{"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5o13pg","c_root_id_B":"i5o06u8","created_at_utc_A":1650575116,"created_at_utc_B":1650574743,"score_A":106,"score_B":104,"human_ref_A":"I agree with the other comment about funding, but I'd also add that I feel like a contract of some kind would be so useful. Some places already do this, and there's no reason that everywhere can't adopt this. A huge amount of my PhD stress came from being in this weird in-between not-a-student-not-staff liminal space. I needed credits to graduate but couldn't enroll in modules because I wasn't a student. I was teaching and responsible for printing assessment and exams but couldn't use the staff printers (for free) because I'm not staff. I, too, constantly had a barrage of admin screw ups often because they didn't know what to do with me. I'm not staff so I can't be enrolled with HR, but because I can't be enrolled with HR I can't receive payslips or payment, which meant I couldn't be paid for teaching. But I was teaching. It took nearly a month to get payment going but I was still not staff and still not able to get payslips. A contract outlining expectations and entitlements, and also just generally clarifying our role for administration would be incredibly useful.","human_ref_B":"For starters, have proper bloody funding. I mean like \u00a325k-\u00a330k or more per year of funding and for more than a select few PhDs so they can actually focus on their work rather than having to earn money alongside it\/panicking about not having any money. That would be fair and reflect how PhDs are treated across Europe and the US. PhDs do cutting edge work that is the lifeblood of university departments. The system should give them the financial backing they deserve. Then people like me (who would find working alongside doing a PhD very hard if not impossible because of my mental health) would be able to pursue a PhD.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":373.0,"score_ratio":1.0192307692} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5nygkj","c_root_id_B":"i5o13pg","created_at_utc_A":1650574031,"created_at_utc_B":1650575116,"score_A":6,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","human_ref_B":"I agree with the other comment about funding, but I'd also add that I feel like a contract of some kind would be so useful. Some places already do this, and there's no reason that everywhere can't adopt this. A huge amount of my PhD stress came from being in this weird in-between not-a-student-not-staff liminal space. I needed credits to graduate but couldn't enroll in modules because I wasn't a student. I was teaching and responsible for printing assessment and exams but couldn't use the staff printers (for free) because I'm not staff. I, too, constantly had a barrage of admin screw ups often because they didn't know what to do with me. I'm not staff so I can't be enrolled with HR, but because I can't be enrolled with HR I can't receive payslips or payment, which meant I couldn't be paid for teaching. But I was teaching. It took nearly a month to get payment going but I was still not staff and still not able to get payslips. A contract outlining expectations and entitlements, and also just generally clarifying our role for administration would be incredibly useful.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1085.0,"score_ratio":17.6666666667} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5nygkj","c_root_id_B":"i5o06u8","created_at_utc_A":1650574031,"created_at_utc_B":1650574743,"score_A":6,"score_B":104,"human_ref_A":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","human_ref_B":"For starters, have proper bloody funding. I mean like \u00a325k-\u00a330k or more per year of funding and for more than a select few PhDs so they can actually focus on their work rather than having to earn money alongside it\/panicking about not having any money. That would be fair and reflect how PhDs are treated across Europe and the US. PhDs do cutting edge work that is the lifeblood of university departments. The system should give them the financial backing they deserve. Then people like me (who would find working alongside doing a PhD very hard if not impossible because of my mental health) would be able to pursue a PhD.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":712.0,"score_ratio":17.3333333333} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5nygkj","c_root_id_B":"i5o3ibr","created_at_utc_A":1650574031,"created_at_utc_B":1650576127,"score_A":6,"score_B":44,"human_ref_A":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","human_ref_B":"UCU is mounting a 'PGRs as staff' campaign to have PhD students treated as staff which would hopefully result in guaranteed employment protections, access to paid leave for sickness\/ holidays, and clearer structure and supervision of their research. Given my own and my peers' experiences, it's a long time coming. With mental health, finances, family issues and the difficulties caused by international status, hopefully the worst impacts could be mitigated by something like this. https:\/\/www.ucu.org.uk\/pgr-manifesto-launch Also, if you're a PhD student in the UK, I would fully recommend joining UCU, and you can do so for free.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2096.0,"score_ratio":7.3333333333} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5o58bq","c_root_id_B":"i5nygkj","created_at_utc_A":1650576845,"created_at_utc_B":1650574031,"score_A":39,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"don't just assume thesis advisors know how to manage people. most of them are absolutely horrible at it. literally don't give them the choice and say 'if you're going to be a professor you need to go through this manadatory training'. One of my former bosses was the kind of person where people would ask 'what's he like to work for?' and you know and they know the answer is never 'oh he's just as awesome as everyone says'. but when he became my group lead they had this policy where new group leads had to go through training through the business school. In about six months or maybe less a LOT of his rough edges had come off and I actually started learning some useful management skills from him third hand.","human_ref_B":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2814.0,"score_ratio":6.5} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5o5yx2","c_root_id_B":"i5otoj3","created_at_utc_A":1650577162,"created_at_utc_B":1650588093,"score_A":21,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"From the article, referring to a study: >40 per cent of PhD students based at UK universities could be \u201cat high risk of suicide\u201d according to the findings of a survey that interviewed 1,263 respondents. Chronic stress levels and acute loneliness were cited as key reasons for the raised suicide risk. Researchers from the universities of Sussex and Westminster also found that eight per cent of respondents had actually attempted to take their own lives. 11 per cent of respondents considered suicide \u201cvery often\u201d (more than five times in the past year) while nearly six per cent revealed they \u201coften\u201d thought about (three to four times in the past year). From the actual study: >\"For recruitment purposes, every Doctoral School in the UK (N = 162) was asked to promote the survey to their students. The survey was also promoted via social media, Prolific Academic, and paid advertisements on Facebook, with snowball sampling encouraged in the debrief information provided to respondents\" (pp. 759-760) The self-selected participation got them 1,263 participants. There are >100,000 doctoral students in the UK. So, some 0.1 % of these chose to participate in a survey about mental health. A very important topic but a misleading article about a study that doesn't even discuss obvious and very likely significant sampling bias.","human_ref_B":"A whole culture change. Pursuing a PhD becomes completely consuming and leaves little room for friends, family, hobbies and self-care. Too many PhDs I know gave up their health, their relationships, homes and so forth because of their work. This means that their entire identity (which for most people includes everything above) gets wrapped up in their work so when their work fails, their identity is that of failure. Isolated from home, family and friends, and add bad physical health, it would be shocking to hear that their mental health didn\u2019t decline. Students are thrown into these projects often completely alone, with little guidance or help. Many labs do not have a sense of community and don\u2019t function like a team. Everyone has their own project and that means that failures and successes are not likely shared. That\u2019s great for successes as you don\u2019t have to share first authorship and gives you ownership over your work but it\u2019s miserable in failures and is incredibly isolating. The best projects I\u2019ve worked on were ones that were collaborative. I shared first authorship but when the experiments failed, it wasn\u2019t \u201cmy\u201d fault. It was \u201cour\u201d fault and just that small change made a world of difference. It also meant I had more time for myself because I could share the workload. My colleague did all the cell culture experiments and I did all the mouse work and western blotting. Papers got published quicker. I wasn\u2019t stuck doing something I hate and am terrible at (cell culture) and neither was my colleague (who hates animal work). We played to our strengths. This is how science should be now. The projects are too big these days to leave on the shoulders of one 25 year old. It\u2019s absurd.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10931.0,"score_ratio":1.1904761905} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5oidr1","c_root_id_B":"i5otoj3","created_at_utc_A":1650582895,"created_at_utc_B":1650588093,"score_A":20,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"I can't give advice considering I broke down in tears during a lab meeting today...","human_ref_B":"A whole culture change. Pursuing a PhD becomes completely consuming and leaves little room for friends, family, hobbies and self-care. Too many PhDs I know gave up their health, their relationships, homes and so forth because of their work. This means that their entire identity (which for most people includes everything above) gets wrapped up in their work so when their work fails, their identity is that of failure. Isolated from home, family and friends, and add bad physical health, it would be shocking to hear that their mental health didn\u2019t decline. Students are thrown into these projects often completely alone, with little guidance or help. Many labs do not have a sense of community and don\u2019t function like a team. Everyone has their own project and that means that failures and successes are not likely shared. That\u2019s great for successes as you don\u2019t have to share first authorship and gives you ownership over your work but it\u2019s miserable in failures and is incredibly isolating. The best projects I\u2019ve worked on were ones that were collaborative. I shared first authorship but when the experiments failed, it wasn\u2019t \u201cmy\u201d fault. It was \u201cour\u201d fault and just that small change made a world of difference. It also meant I had more time for myself because I could share the workload. My colleague did all the cell culture experiments and I did all the mouse work and western blotting. Papers got published quicker. I wasn\u2019t stuck doing something I hate and am terrible at (cell culture) and neither was my colleague (who hates animal work). We played to our strengths. This is how science should be now. The projects are too big these days to leave on the shoulders of one 25 year old. It\u2019s absurd.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5198.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5otoj3","c_root_id_B":"i5o5lp4","created_at_utc_A":1650588093,"created_at_utc_B":1650577003,"score_A":25,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"A whole culture change. Pursuing a PhD becomes completely consuming and leaves little room for friends, family, hobbies and self-care. Too many PhDs I know gave up their health, their relationships, homes and so forth because of their work. This means that their entire identity (which for most people includes everything above) gets wrapped up in their work so when their work fails, their identity is that of failure. Isolated from home, family and friends, and add bad physical health, it would be shocking to hear that their mental health didn\u2019t decline. Students are thrown into these projects often completely alone, with little guidance or help. Many labs do not have a sense of community and don\u2019t function like a team. Everyone has their own project and that means that failures and successes are not likely shared. That\u2019s great for successes as you don\u2019t have to share first authorship and gives you ownership over your work but it\u2019s miserable in failures and is incredibly isolating. The best projects I\u2019ve worked on were ones that were collaborative. I shared first authorship but when the experiments failed, it wasn\u2019t \u201cmy\u201d fault. It was \u201cour\u201d fault and just that small change made a world of difference. It also meant I had more time for myself because I could share the workload. My colleague did all the cell culture experiments and I did all the mouse work and western blotting. Papers got published quicker. I wasn\u2019t stuck doing something I hate and am terrible at (cell culture) and neither was my colleague (who hates animal work). We played to our strengths. This is how science should be now. The projects are too big these days to leave on the shoulders of one 25 year old. It\u2019s absurd.","human_ref_B":"This is something I repeatedly see whenever people talk about suicide. People think that whatever annoys them must be what is causing someone else in a similar position to be suicidal. Suicide is a complex mental state. It's commonly associated with the mental disease of depression, which is NOT the same thing you feel when something bad happens in your life and you say \"I feel depressed.\" Suicide doesn't have much to do with what you are describing. There are people who have your dream job who have killed themselves. Nothing personal, OP, but you are describing annoyances. Fixing all the annoyances in your PhD program is not going to help anyone on the brink of suicide.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11090.0,"score_ratio":1.9230769231} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5otoj3","c_root_id_B":"i5o8zpe","created_at_utc_A":1650588093,"created_at_utc_B":1650578482,"score_A":25,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"A whole culture change. Pursuing a PhD becomes completely consuming and leaves little room for friends, family, hobbies and self-care. Too many PhDs I know gave up their health, their relationships, homes and so forth because of their work. This means that their entire identity (which for most people includes everything above) gets wrapped up in their work so when their work fails, their identity is that of failure. Isolated from home, family and friends, and add bad physical health, it would be shocking to hear that their mental health didn\u2019t decline. Students are thrown into these projects often completely alone, with little guidance or help. Many labs do not have a sense of community and don\u2019t function like a team. Everyone has their own project and that means that failures and successes are not likely shared. That\u2019s great for successes as you don\u2019t have to share first authorship and gives you ownership over your work but it\u2019s miserable in failures and is incredibly isolating. The best projects I\u2019ve worked on were ones that were collaborative. I shared first authorship but when the experiments failed, it wasn\u2019t \u201cmy\u201d fault. It was \u201cour\u201d fault and just that small change made a world of difference. It also meant I had more time for myself because I could share the workload. My colleague did all the cell culture experiments and I did all the mouse work and western blotting. Papers got published quicker. I wasn\u2019t stuck doing something I hate and am terrible at (cell culture) and neither was my colleague (who hates animal work). We played to our strengths. This is how science should be now. The projects are too big these days to leave on the shoulders of one 25 year old. It\u2019s absurd.","human_ref_B":"LOL.........decrease the wealth gap. But that is not gonna happen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9611.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5nygkj","c_root_id_B":"i5otoj3","created_at_utc_A":1650574031,"created_at_utc_B":1650588093,"score_A":6,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","human_ref_B":"A whole culture change. Pursuing a PhD becomes completely consuming and leaves little room for friends, family, hobbies and self-care. Too many PhDs I know gave up their health, their relationships, homes and so forth because of their work. This means that their entire identity (which for most people includes everything above) gets wrapped up in their work so when their work fails, their identity is that of failure. Isolated from home, family and friends, and add bad physical health, it would be shocking to hear that their mental health didn\u2019t decline. Students are thrown into these projects often completely alone, with little guidance or help. Many labs do not have a sense of community and don\u2019t function like a team. Everyone has their own project and that means that failures and successes are not likely shared. That\u2019s great for successes as you don\u2019t have to share first authorship and gives you ownership over your work but it\u2019s miserable in failures and is incredibly isolating. The best projects I\u2019ve worked on were ones that were collaborative. I shared first authorship but when the experiments failed, it wasn\u2019t \u201cmy\u201d fault. It was \u201cour\u201d fault and just that small change made a world of difference. It also meant I had more time for myself because I could share the workload. My colleague did all the cell culture experiments and I did all the mouse work and western blotting. Papers got published quicker. I wasn\u2019t stuck doing something I hate and am terrible at (cell culture) and neither was my colleague (who hates animal work). We played to our strengths. This is how science should be now. The projects are too big these days to leave on the shoulders of one 25 year old. It\u2019s absurd.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14062.0,"score_ratio":4.1666666667} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5o5yx2","c_root_id_B":"i5o5lp4","created_at_utc_A":1650577162,"created_at_utc_B":1650577003,"score_A":21,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"From the article, referring to a study: >40 per cent of PhD students based at UK universities could be \u201cat high risk of suicide\u201d according to the findings of a survey that interviewed 1,263 respondents. Chronic stress levels and acute loneliness were cited as key reasons for the raised suicide risk. Researchers from the universities of Sussex and Westminster also found that eight per cent of respondents had actually attempted to take their own lives. 11 per cent of respondents considered suicide \u201cvery often\u201d (more than five times in the past year) while nearly six per cent revealed they \u201coften\u201d thought about (three to four times in the past year). From the actual study: >\"For recruitment purposes, every Doctoral School in the UK (N = 162) was asked to promote the survey to their students. The survey was also promoted via social media, Prolific Academic, and paid advertisements on Facebook, with snowball sampling encouraged in the debrief information provided to respondents\" (pp. 759-760) The self-selected participation got them 1,263 participants. There are >100,000 doctoral students in the UK. So, some 0.1 % of these chose to participate in a survey about mental health. A very important topic but a misleading article about a study that doesn't even discuss obvious and very likely significant sampling bias.","human_ref_B":"This is something I repeatedly see whenever people talk about suicide. People think that whatever annoys them must be what is causing someone else in a similar position to be suicidal. Suicide is a complex mental state. It's commonly associated with the mental disease of depression, which is NOT the same thing you feel when something bad happens in your life and you say \"I feel depressed.\" Suicide doesn't have much to do with what you are describing. There are people who have your dream job who have killed themselves. Nothing personal, OP, but you are describing annoyances. Fixing all the annoyances in your PhD program is not going to help anyone on the brink of suicide.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":159.0,"score_ratio":1.6153846154} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5o5yx2","c_root_id_B":"i5nygkj","created_at_utc_A":1650577162,"created_at_utc_B":1650574031,"score_A":21,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"From the article, referring to a study: >40 per cent of PhD students based at UK universities could be \u201cat high risk of suicide\u201d according to the findings of a survey that interviewed 1,263 respondents. Chronic stress levels and acute loneliness were cited as key reasons for the raised suicide risk. Researchers from the universities of Sussex and Westminster also found that eight per cent of respondents had actually attempted to take their own lives. 11 per cent of respondents considered suicide \u201cvery often\u201d (more than five times in the past year) while nearly six per cent revealed they \u201coften\u201d thought about (three to four times in the past year). From the actual study: >\"For recruitment purposes, every Doctoral School in the UK (N = 162) was asked to promote the survey to their students. The survey was also promoted via social media, Prolific Academic, and paid advertisements on Facebook, with snowball sampling encouraged in the debrief information provided to respondents\" (pp. 759-760) The self-selected participation got them 1,263 participants. There are >100,000 doctoral students in the UK. So, some 0.1 % of these chose to participate in a survey about mental health. A very important topic but a misleading article about a study that doesn't even discuss obvious and very likely significant sampling bias.","human_ref_B":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3131.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5oidr1","c_root_id_B":"i5o5lp4","created_at_utc_A":1650582895,"created_at_utc_B":1650577003,"score_A":20,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I can't give advice considering I broke down in tears during a lab meeting today...","human_ref_B":"This is something I repeatedly see whenever people talk about suicide. People think that whatever annoys them must be what is causing someone else in a similar position to be suicidal. Suicide is a complex mental state. It's commonly associated with the mental disease of depression, which is NOT the same thing you feel when something bad happens in your life and you say \"I feel depressed.\" Suicide doesn't have much to do with what you are describing. There are people who have your dream job who have killed themselves. Nothing personal, OP, but you are describing annoyances. Fixing all the annoyances in your PhD program is not going to help anyone on the brink of suicide.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5892.0,"score_ratio":1.5384615385} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5oidr1","c_root_id_B":"i5o8zpe","created_at_utc_A":1650582895,"created_at_utc_B":1650578482,"score_A":20,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I can't give advice considering I broke down in tears during a lab meeting today...","human_ref_B":"LOL.........decrease the wealth gap. But that is not gonna happen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4413.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5oidr1","c_root_id_B":"i5nygkj","created_at_utc_A":1650582895,"created_at_utc_B":1650574031,"score_A":20,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I can't give advice considering I broke down in tears during a lab meeting today...","human_ref_B":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8864.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5o5lp4","c_root_id_B":"i5ow0q6","created_at_utc_A":1650577003,"created_at_utc_B":1650589188,"score_A":13,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"This is something I repeatedly see whenever people talk about suicide. People think that whatever annoys them must be what is causing someone else in a similar position to be suicidal. Suicide is a complex mental state. It's commonly associated with the mental disease of depression, which is NOT the same thing you feel when something bad happens in your life and you say \"I feel depressed.\" Suicide doesn't have much to do with what you are describing. There are people who have your dream job who have killed themselves. Nothing personal, OP, but you are describing annoyances. Fixing all the annoyances in your PhD program is not going to help anyone on the brink of suicide.","human_ref_B":"Pay your PhDs more, to the point that they have the freedom to afford basic living on their own (without roommates, parents' help, or food stamps). Create a sustainable social system in which having a PhD in a field of work that is transferrable to another job sector is favored and desirable. Stop underpaying adjuncts. No one with a PhD should be making an onlyfans account, or turning tricks, or living out of their cars by doing the work they do for universities.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12185.0,"score_ratio":1.1538461538} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5ow0q6","c_root_id_B":"i5o8zpe","created_at_utc_A":1650589188,"created_at_utc_B":1650578482,"score_A":15,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Pay your PhDs more, to the point that they have the freedom to afford basic living on their own (without roommates, parents' help, or food stamps). Create a sustainable social system in which having a PhD in a field of work that is transferrable to another job sector is favored and desirable. Stop underpaying adjuncts. No one with a PhD should be making an onlyfans account, or turning tricks, or living out of their cars by doing the work they do for universities.","human_ref_B":"LOL.........decrease the wealth gap. But that is not gonna happen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10706.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5nygkj","c_root_id_B":"i5ow0q6","created_at_utc_A":1650574031,"created_at_utc_B":1650589188,"score_A":6,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","human_ref_B":"Pay your PhDs more, to the point that they have the freedom to afford basic living on their own (without roommates, parents' help, or food stamps). Create a sustainable social system in which having a PhD in a field of work that is transferrable to another job sector is favored and desirable. Stop underpaying adjuncts. No one with a PhD should be making an onlyfans account, or turning tricks, or living out of their cars by doing the work they do for universities.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15157.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5nygkj","c_root_id_B":"i5o5lp4","created_at_utc_A":1650574031,"created_at_utc_B":1650577003,"score_A":6,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","human_ref_B":"This is something I repeatedly see whenever people talk about suicide. People think that whatever annoys them must be what is causing someone else in a similar position to be suicidal. Suicide is a complex mental state. It's commonly associated with the mental disease of depression, which is NOT the same thing you feel when something bad happens in your life and you say \"I feel depressed.\" Suicide doesn't have much to do with what you are describing. There are people who have your dream job who have killed themselves. Nothing personal, OP, but you are describing annoyances. Fixing all the annoyances in your PhD program is not going to help anyone on the brink of suicide.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2972.0,"score_ratio":2.1666666667} {"post_id":"u8wrbw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"\"40% of Ph.D. students in the UK at high risk of suicide\". I knew Ph.D. life can be really testing, but not to this level!! How can we make the process more emotionally sustainable? https:\/\/thetab.com\/uk\/2021\/10\/14\/40-per-cent-of-phd-students-are-at-high-risk-of-suicide-study-says-226001 Speaking from experience, I honestly felt I had it worse than anyone. I wouldn't say I was ever suicidal, but I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to cope if I didn't pass. Thankfully, despite having an incredibly bumpy Ph.D. journey, it was all worth it in the end, the viva went incredibly well, and so did the post viva (minor) corrections. Although I was the primary architect of my misery, I thought I'd share some admin\/program level fails that made the whole process much more of a mental torment than it should've been: 1) Supervisors do not give back feedback until the final year, or the final few months prior to the (initial) submission deadline. I've sent them quite a lot of work throughout the years, which they've never responded to. The first real feedback they gave me was on my first thesis draft, which they absolutely tore apart. And that was a horrible blow because right up to that point (very close to the original submission date), I had no clue my written work was so bad. We had fairly regular meetings, but at no point did they even hint my progress, as far as written work goes, was not up to the par of doctoral level. This was perhaps the biggest psychological blow, especially when you're close to finishing. I needed 6 more months to re-write the whole thing from scratch. 2) Don't allow students to veer too much off the main aim of the project. You're encouraged to have a divergent mindset at the beginning of your Ph.D. But sometimes, particularly inexperienced researchers can easily fall into hopeless cul-de-sacs that waste a lot of time. I look back at my early work and cringe. I veered off so much initially, that it made my research scope inplausibly vast. I wish my supervisors would've at least hinted much earlier that some of those routes were complete dead ends, that ended up wasting almost a year of my time. This is a tricky one to critique, one should be encouraged to think expansively in the beginning. But less experienced researchers (as I was) can truly find themselves lost. And the intervention often comes too late 3) Admin f\\*ckups. There have been so many admin failures, like delays to my compulsory international research visit (part of our Ph.D. training program) until the final few months of the year, or the time when they accidentally SENT THE WRONG DOCUMENTS TO me MY VIVA EXAMINERS INSTEAD OF MY ACTUAL THESIS. Our examination process consists of a 1-hour presentation + Q\/A, and then a full classical British style Ph.D. viva. It's literally two viva examinations in one. I did the first part well. And then the chair of my viva told me \"we're so sorry, but your examiners didn't receive your actual thesis, they got a minor document by accident\". So I had to go through the psychological terror of viva anticipation all over again! 4) Have all the necessary facilities easily available for the student to cope with such pressure. This is a two-way street, the student must be prepared to also ask for help. Which I never did tbh, though looking back, I really should have. Encourage students to attend conferences, and events, and network as much as possible. Don't make them fall into the isolation trap as I had done. Please share some of your ideas! I know a Ph.D. isn't supposed to be easy. Stress is just the reality of life, and a Ph.D. is no different. But it shouldn't get to this level bad! Share your thoughts and experiences!","c_root_id_A":"i5o8zpe","c_root_id_B":"i5nygkj","created_at_utc_A":1650578482,"created_at_utc_B":1650574031,"score_A":10,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"LOL.........decrease the wealth gap. But that is not gonna happen.","human_ref_B":"You say \"I had no clue my written work was so bad\" - Don't you have peer reviewed or other types of published work that was reviewed by researchers other than your own advisor(s) or committee? (Or did those never comment on your writing... or...?)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4451.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnvjp5","c_root_id_B":"ehnsp36","created_at_utc_A":1551570533,"created_at_utc_B":1551568199,"score_A":97,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"In general, the 'science' portion of STEM has always been incorrect - at least with regards to bachelor's degrees. While Physicists could get away with pretending they were mathematicians with a peculiar obsession with tensors, Biologists and Chemists weren't so lucky.","human_ref_B":"In bio lots of people go for funded phds, so the job market tends to place a ceiling on career growth for people with just a B.S. or even an M.S. Bio is a hot market if you are going the computational or molecular route, but I bet doing field work is pretty rough right now.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2334.0,"score_ratio":5.3888888889} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnvjp5","c_root_id_B":"ehnrdni","created_at_utc_A":1551570533,"created_at_utc_B":1551567159,"score_A":97,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"In general, the 'science' portion of STEM has always been incorrect - at least with regards to bachelor's degrees. While Physicists could get away with pretending they were mathematicians with a peculiar obsession with tensors, Biologists and Chemists weren't so lucky.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3374.0,"score_ratio":13.8571428571} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho6n5g","c_root_id_B":"ehoeeg1","created_at_utc_A":1551579662,"created_at_utc_B":1551586055,"score_A":51,"score_B":56,"human_ref_A":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","human_ref_B":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6393.0,"score_ratio":1.0980392157} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehoeeg1","c_root_id_B":"ehny07y","created_at_utc_A":1551586055,"created_at_utc_B":1551572591,"score_A":56,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","human_ref_B":"Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Fortunately, there's a bit of overlap- I moved from DNA sequencing into genomic data science. My pay literally went up 2.5x when I did this","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13464.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehoeeg1","c_root_id_B":"eho4w1w","created_at_utc_A":1551586055,"created_at_utc_B":1551578191,"score_A":56,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","human_ref_B":"When people say STEM they mean engineering.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7864.0,"score_ratio":2.1538461538} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehoeeg1","c_root_id_B":"ehnsp36","created_at_utc_A":1551586055,"created_at_utc_B":1551568199,"score_A":56,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","human_ref_B":"In bio lots of people go for funded phds, so the job market tends to place a ceiling on career growth for people with just a B.S. or even an M.S. Bio is a hot market if you are going the computational or molecular route, but I bet doing field work is pretty rough right now.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17856.0,"score_ratio":3.1111111111} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehoeeg1","c_root_id_B":"ehnzhdf","created_at_utc_A":1551586055,"created_at_utc_B":1551573805,"score_A":56,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","human_ref_B":"Here's some data: https:\/\/cew.georgetown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-v2.compressed.pdf Here's chemistry: https:\/\/www.acs.org\/content\/dam\/acsorg\/careers\/salaries\/secure\/salaries\/new-graduates-2014-revised.pdf Then I got bored","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12250.0,"score_ratio":5.6} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehoeeg1","c_root_id_B":"ehnrdni","created_at_utc_A":1551586055,"created_at_utc_B":1551567159,"score_A":56,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18896.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehoeeg1","c_root_id_B":"ehnxqe0","created_at_utc_A":1551586055,"created_at_utc_B":1551572361,"score_A":56,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","human_ref_B":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13694.0,"score_ratio":11.2} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehoeeg1","c_root_id_B":"eho5gyo","created_at_utc_A":1551586055,"created_at_utc_B":1551578688,"score_A":56,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Interesting fact: many humanities majors do far better at mid-career than do common STEM majors. For example, this study places philosophy majors well above chemistry, biology, biochem, and geology for mid-career earnings. While the top-earning degrees are indeed mostly in STEM, all of them are applied degrees-- engineering, computer science, petrochemical engineering, and the like -- or math fields like statistics that have broad application in areas like finance. Traditional science fields like biology not only pay less than some common humanities fields at mid-career, but placement rates for advanced degrees in biology are actually \\*worse\\* than fields like history for academic careers. STEM is hardly the golden ticket the media like to pretend it is, and if money is the motivator than a very large number of STEM students are actually in the wrong fields entirely.","human_ref_B":"Yup. Can even depend on the branch of engineering (or physical science, or math, as you point out). You can look at the open number of positions in computer or electrical engineering vs., say, environmental engineering.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7367.0,"score_ratio":11.2} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho6n5g","c_root_id_B":"ehny07y","created_at_utc_A":1551579662,"created_at_utc_B":1551572591,"score_A":51,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","human_ref_B":"Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Fortunately, there's a bit of overlap- I moved from DNA sequencing into genomic data science. My pay literally went up 2.5x when I did this","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7071.0,"score_ratio":1.59375} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho4w1w","c_root_id_B":"eho6n5g","created_at_utc_A":1551578191,"created_at_utc_B":1551579662,"score_A":26,"score_B":51,"human_ref_A":"When people say STEM they mean engineering.","human_ref_B":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1471.0,"score_ratio":1.9615384615} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnsp36","c_root_id_B":"eho6n5g","created_at_utc_A":1551568199,"created_at_utc_B":1551579662,"score_A":18,"score_B":51,"human_ref_A":"In bio lots of people go for funded phds, so the job market tends to place a ceiling on career growth for people with just a B.S. or even an M.S. Bio is a hot market if you are going the computational or molecular route, but I bet doing field work is pretty rough right now.","human_ref_B":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11463.0,"score_ratio":2.8333333333} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho6n5g","c_root_id_B":"ehnzhdf","created_at_utc_A":1551579662,"created_at_utc_B":1551573805,"score_A":51,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","human_ref_B":"Here's some data: https:\/\/cew.georgetown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-v2.compressed.pdf Here's chemistry: https:\/\/www.acs.org\/content\/dam\/acsorg\/careers\/salaries\/secure\/salaries\/new-graduates-2014-revised.pdf Then I got bored","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5857.0,"score_ratio":5.1} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho6n5g","c_root_id_B":"ehnrdni","created_at_utc_A":1551579662,"created_at_utc_B":1551567159,"score_A":51,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12503.0,"score_ratio":7.2857142857} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho6n5g","c_root_id_B":"ehnxqe0","created_at_utc_A":1551579662,"created_at_utc_B":1551572361,"score_A":51,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","human_ref_B":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7301.0,"score_ratio":10.2} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho5gyo","c_root_id_B":"eho6n5g","created_at_utc_A":1551578688,"created_at_utc_B":1551579662,"score_A":5,"score_B":51,"human_ref_A":"Yup. Can even depend on the branch of engineering (or physical science, or math, as you point out). You can look at the open number of positions in computer or electrical engineering vs., say, environmental engineering.","human_ref_B":"*laughs in philosphy and classics double major because i never had your illusions of wealth*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":974.0,"score_ratio":10.2} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehny07y","c_root_id_B":"ehnsp36","created_at_utc_A":1551572591,"created_at_utc_B":1551568199,"score_A":32,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Fortunately, there's a bit of overlap- I moved from DNA sequencing into genomic data science. My pay literally went up 2.5x when I did this","human_ref_B":"In bio lots of people go for funded phds, so the job market tends to place a ceiling on career growth for people with just a B.S. or even an M.S. Bio is a hot market if you are going the computational or molecular route, but I bet doing field work is pretty rough right now.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4392.0,"score_ratio":1.7777777778} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehny07y","c_root_id_B":"ehnrdni","created_at_utc_A":1551572591,"created_at_utc_B":1551567159,"score_A":32,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Fortunately, there's a bit of overlap- I moved from DNA sequencing into genomic data science. My pay literally went up 2.5x when I did this","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5432.0,"score_ratio":4.5714285714} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehny07y","c_root_id_B":"ehnxqe0","created_at_utc_A":1551572591,"created_at_utc_B":1551572361,"score_A":32,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Fortunately, there's a bit of overlap- I moved from DNA sequencing into genomic data science. My pay literally went up 2.5x when I did this","human_ref_B":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":230.0,"score_ratio":6.4} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnsp36","c_root_id_B":"eho4w1w","created_at_utc_A":1551568199,"created_at_utc_B":1551578191,"score_A":18,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"In bio lots of people go for funded phds, so the job market tends to place a ceiling on career growth for people with just a B.S. or even an M.S. Bio is a hot market if you are going the computational or molecular route, but I bet doing field work is pretty rough right now.","human_ref_B":"When people say STEM they mean engineering.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9992.0,"score_ratio":1.4444444444} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnzhdf","c_root_id_B":"eho4w1w","created_at_utc_A":1551573805,"created_at_utc_B":1551578191,"score_A":10,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"Here's some data: https:\/\/cew.georgetown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-v2.compressed.pdf Here's chemistry: https:\/\/www.acs.org\/content\/dam\/acsorg\/careers\/salaries\/secure\/salaries\/new-graduates-2014-revised.pdf Then I got bored","human_ref_B":"When people say STEM they mean engineering.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4386.0,"score_ratio":2.6} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnrdni","c_root_id_B":"eho4w1w","created_at_utc_A":1551567159,"created_at_utc_B":1551578191,"score_A":7,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","human_ref_B":"When people say STEM they mean engineering.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11032.0,"score_ratio":3.7142857143} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho4w1w","c_root_id_B":"ehnxqe0","created_at_utc_A":1551578191,"created_at_utc_B":1551572361,"score_A":26,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"When people say STEM they mean engineering.","human_ref_B":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5830.0,"score_ratio":5.2} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnrdni","c_root_id_B":"ehnsp36","created_at_utc_A":1551567159,"created_at_utc_B":1551568199,"score_A":7,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","human_ref_B":"In bio lots of people go for funded phds, so the job market tends to place a ceiling on career growth for people with just a B.S. or even an M.S. Bio is a hot market if you are going the computational or molecular route, but I bet doing field work is pretty rough right now.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1040.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehof7vg","c_root_id_B":"ehnzhdf","created_at_utc_A":1551586755,"created_at_utc_B":1551573805,"score_A":15,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"At this point many health care professions have their own degrees and are not STEM. The main exception is physicians, which all biology freshmen think they will be. It frustrates me that by the time they co.e to terms with the fact they won't be physicians (organic chemistry) they have sunk years into courses which don't count toward professional health degrees.","human_ref_B":"Here's some data: https:\/\/cew.georgetown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-v2.compressed.pdf Here's chemistry: https:\/\/www.acs.org\/content\/dam\/acsorg\/careers\/salaries\/secure\/salaries\/new-graduates-2014-revised.pdf Then I got bored","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12950.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehof7vg","c_root_id_B":"ehnrdni","created_at_utc_A":1551586755,"created_at_utc_B":1551567159,"score_A":15,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"At this point many health care professions have their own degrees and are not STEM. The main exception is physicians, which all biology freshmen think they will be. It frustrates me that by the time they co.e to terms with the fact they won't be physicians (organic chemistry) they have sunk years into courses which don't count toward professional health degrees.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19596.0,"score_ratio":2.1428571429} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnxqe0","c_root_id_B":"ehof7vg","created_at_utc_A":1551572361,"created_at_utc_B":1551586755,"score_A":5,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","human_ref_B":"At this point many health care professions have their own degrees and are not STEM. The main exception is physicians, which all biology freshmen think they will be. It frustrates me that by the time they co.e to terms with the fact they won't be physicians (organic chemistry) they have sunk years into courses which don't count toward professional health degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14394.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehof7vg","c_root_id_B":"eho5gyo","created_at_utc_A":1551586755,"created_at_utc_B":1551578688,"score_A":15,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"At this point many health care professions have their own degrees and are not STEM. The main exception is physicians, which all biology freshmen think they will be. It frustrates me that by the time they co.e to terms with the fact they won't be physicians (organic chemistry) they have sunk years into courses which don't count toward professional health degrees.","human_ref_B":"Yup. Can even depend on the branch of engineering (or physical science, or math, as you point out). You can look at the open number of positions in computer or electrical engineering vs., say, environmental engineering.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8067.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehofdgg","c_root_id_B":"ehnrdni","created_at_utc_A":1551586867,"created_at_utc_B":1551567159,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"We need to stop thinking about degrees and the jobs they purportedly ensure and start thinking and talking about the relation between commitment and competency. If you are a s*** student with an engineering degree but you hate engineering, then you probably won\u2019t get a good job. If you\u2019re a great student in chemistry, it will be because you love it, you commit to it, and you stand a pretty good chance of getting a good job. The problem with all of these studies on the relationship between jobs and degrees is that they are EXTREMELY bad at differentiating between levels of competency and commitment amongst recent graduates. I\u2019m not saying \u201cwork harder,\u201d by the way. I can see people extrapolating that from this comment. The truth is that people work too hard sometimes to make a degree work for them that doesn\u2019t really fit their temperament or personality. Find what you love and can commit to. Go from there. Do not pick a degree for the job it will get you. Edit: a word","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19708.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehofdgg","c_root_id_B":"ehnxqe0","created_at_utc_A":1551586867,"created_at_utc_B":1551572361,"score_A":10,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"We need to stop thinking about degrees and the jobs they purportedly ensure and start thinking and talking about the relation between commitment and competency. If you are a s*** student with an engineering degree but you hate engineering, then you probably won\u2019t get a good job. If you\u2019re a great student in chemistry, it will be because you love it, you commit to it, and you stand a pretty good chance of getting a good job. The problem with all of these studies on the relationship between jobs and degrees is that they are EXTREMELY bad at differentiating between levels of competency and commitment amongst recent graduates. I\u2019m not saying \u201cwork harder,\u201d by the way. I can see people extrapolating that from this comment. The truth is that people work too hard sometimes to make a degree work for them that doesn\u2019t really fit their temperament or personality. Find what you love and can commit to. Go from there. Do not pick a degree for the job it will get you. Edit: a word","human_ref_B":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14506.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho5gyo","c_root_id_B":"ehofdgg","created_at_utc_A":1551578688,"created_at_utc_B":1551586867,"score_A":5,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Yup. Can even depend on the branch of engineering (or physical science, or math, as you point out). You can look at the open number of positions in computer or electrical engineering vs., say, environmental engineering.","human_ref_B":"We need to stop thinking about degrees and the jobs they purportedly ensure and start thinking and talking about the relation between commitment and competency. If you are a s*** student with an engineering degree but you hate engineering, then you probably won\u2019t get a good job. If you\u2019re a great student in chemistry, it will be because you love it, you commit to it, and you stand a pretty good chance of getting a good job. The problem with all of these studies on the relationship between jobs and degrees is that they are EXTREMELY bad at differentiating between levels of competency and commitment amongst recent graduates. I\u2019m not saying \u201cwork harder,\u201d by the way. I can see people extrapolating that from this comment. The truth is that people work too hard sometimes to make a degree work for them that doesn\u2019t really fit their temperament or personality. Find what you love and can commit to. Go from there. Do not pick a degree for the job it will get you. Edit: a word","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8179.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnrdni","c_root_id_B":"ehnzhdf","created_at_utc_A":1551567159,"created_at_utc_B":1551573805,"score_A":7,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","human_ref_B":"Here's some data: https:\/\/cew.georgetown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-v2.compressed.pdf Here's chemistry: https:\/\/www.acs.org\/content\/dam\/acsorg\/careers\/salaries\/secure\/salaries\/new-graduates-2014-revised.pdf Then I got bored","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6646.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnzhdf","c_root_id_B":"ehnxqe0","created_at_utc_A":1551573805,"created_at_utc_B":1551572361,"score_A":10,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Here's some data: https:\/\/cew.georgetown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-v2.compressed.pdf Here's chemistry: https:\/\/www.acs.org\/content\/dam\/acsorg\/careers\/salaries\/secure\/salaries\/new-graduates-2014-revised.pdf Then I got bored","human_ref_B":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1444.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehowphy","c_root_id_B":"ehnrdni","created_at_utc_A":1551608338,"created_at_utc_B":1551567159,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"It\u2018s just as if there\u2019s no demand anymore for any workforce whatsoever. I mean I didn\u2019t know it looks as grim for STEM grads as well but I would say this is clear evidence that there\u2019s a structural phenomenon underlying this \u2026","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":41179.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehowphy","c_root_id_B":"ehow8g3","created_at_utc_A":1551608338,"created_at_utc_B":1551607512,"score_A":10,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"It\u2018s just as if there\u2019s no demand anymore for any workforce whatsoever. I mean I didn\u2019t know it looks as grim for STEM grads as well but I would say this is clear evidence that there\u2019s a structural phenomenon underlying this \u2026","human_ref_B":"I agree... But I'll add I feel this way about most jobs. I'm a phd student but only after coming back to school after ten years working in a different industry. When I get to great school and I hear the panic about how jobs are scarce, get out to industry where the real money is, I want to tell people it's just not true. Some people get lucky and change station. Most people stay in their social economic class their parents were in and according to rich billionaires in Forbes the major players for success are having had connections to begin with (silver spoon) and luck. Every market is horrible right now and they are all suffering. Pensions and benefits have been slashed in every market by enormous percents. Younger genx and millennials will be the first to not only make less than their parents but live shorter lives or have more health problems. I had arthritis at 25. I saw a girl waiting tables today about 22, with a knee brace..... That didn't happen to anyone fifty years ago except vets. I'm not sure there are any safe harbors anywhere, not even in stem. The only thing I can do is study what I love and accept I will always be poor, have debt, but at least my life has meaning and I don't want to die like I did in my last career.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":826.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnxqe0","c_root_id_B":"ehowphy","created_at_utc_A":1551572361,"created_at_utc_B":1551608338,"score_A":5,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","human_ref_B":"It\u2018s just as if there\u2019s no demand anymore for any workforce whatsoever. I mean I didn\u2019t know it looks as grim for STEM grads as well but I would say this is clear evidence that there\u2019s a structural phenomenon underlying this \u2026","labels":0,"seconds_difference":35977.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"eho5gyo","c_root_id_B":"ehowphy","created_at_utc_A":1551578688,"created_at_utc_B":1551608338,"score_A":5,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Yup. Can even depend on the branch of engineering (or physical science, or math, as you point out). You can look at the open number of positions in computer or electrical engineering vs., say, environmental engineering.","human_ref_B":"It\u2018s just as if there\u2019s no demand anymore for any workforce whatsoever. I mean I didn\u2019t know it looks as grim for STEM grads as well but I would say this is clear evidence that there\u2019s a structural phenomenon underlying this \u2026","labels":0,"seconds_difference":29650.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehnrdni","c_root_id_B":"ehow8g3","created_at_utc_A":1551567159,"created_at_utc_B":1551607512,"score_A":7,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d agree with you, at least for chemistry. Graduates from my institution who want to start out with a BS in chemistry can easily get an entry-level job making $65k a year, with the ability to move up in salary pretty quickly. We\u2019ve got no problem placing our majors.","human_ref_B":"I agree... But I'll add I feel this way about most jobs. I'm a phd student but only after coming back to school after ten years working in a different industry. When I get to great school and I hear the panic about how jobs are scarce, get out to industry where the real money is, I want to tell people it's just not true. Some people get lucky and change station. Most people stay in their social economic class their parents were in and according to rich billionaires in Forbes the major players for success are having had connections to begin with (silver spoon) and luck. Every market is horrible right now and they are all suffering. Pensions and benefits have been slashed in every market by enormous percents. Younger genx and millennials will be the first to not only make less than their parents but live shorter lives or have more health problems. I had arthritis at 25. I saw a girl waiting tables today about 22, with a knee brace..... That didn't happen to anyone fifty years ago except vets. I'm not sure there are any safe harbors anywhere, not even in stem. The only thing I can do is study what I love and accept I will always be poor, have debt, but at least my life has meaning and I don't want to die like I did in my last career.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":40353.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehow8g3","c_root_id_B":"ehnxqe0","created_at_utc_A":1551607512,"created_at_utc_B":1551572361,"score_A":8,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I agree... But I'll add I feel this way about most jobs. I'm a phd student but only after coming back to school after ten years working in a different industry. When I get to great school and I hear the panic about how jobs are scarce, get out to industry where the real money is, I want to tell people it's just not true. Some people get lucky and change station. Most people stay in their social economic class their parents were in and according to rich billionaires in Forbes the major players for success are having had connections to begin with (silver spoon) and luck. Every market is horrible right now and they are all suffering. Pensions and benefits have been slashed in every market by enormous percents. Younger genx and millennials will be the first to not only make less than their parents but live shorter lives or have more health problems. I had arthritis at 25. I saw a girl waiting tables today about 22, with a knee brace..... That didn't happen to anyone fifty years ago except vets. I'm not sure there are any safe harbors anywhere, not even in stem. The only thing I can do is study what I love and accept I will always be poor, have debt, but at least my life has meaning and I don't want to die like I did in my last career.","human_ref_B":"If you want job security and get paid a lot, finance or fintech is always the answer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":35151.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"awnegi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Can we talk about how strictly \u201cSTEM\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean job security or good pay anymore? And the illusion is misleading students. STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math I will absolutely agree that: (1) Engineering and Technology, (2) Health Care (sub sector of \u201cScience\u201d) and (3) Statistics\/Data Science (subsector of\u201cMath\u201d..?) are in high demand and are usually well paid. Going into any of these specific fields directly is healthy. HOWEVER basic scientists like biologists and chemists are not paid all that great and are certainly not in demand. It\u2019s not quite as bad as being a Art History major but I see many similarities on these Reddit threads between science grad students and humanities grad students. It\u2019s not unusual for grads with M.S. in life sciences to apply for many jobs with hopes of making just $45-50k. Meanwhile their business and engineering counterparts start out at $80k with a just B.S. Ok. So what? Why is this a problem? Well because many naive students believe their hard work, years of late night studying, 45 page thesis, lab work, etc. in life sciences will translate to a good paying job easily. I mean it is \u201cSTEM\u201d right? But that\u2019s just not the case. It\u2019s a problem because budding science undergrads should be warned with a flashing red light that if they don\u2019t go into health care directly, their degree will require several more years of study for a job that will probably be underpaid. (Steps off of soap box...)","c_root_id_A":"ehow8g3","c_root_id_B":"eho5gyo","created_at_utc_A":1551607512,"created_at_utc_B":1551578688,"score_A":8,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I agree... But I'll add I feel this way about most jobs. I'm a phd student but only after coming back to school after ten years working in a different industry. When I get to great school and I hear the panic about how jobs are scarce, get out to industry where the real money is, I want to tell people it's just not true. Some people get lucky and change station. Most people stay in their social economic class their parents were in and according to rich billionaires in Forbes the major players for success are having had connections to begin with (silver spoon) and luck. Every market is horrible right now and they are all suffering. Pensions and benefits have been slashed in every market by enormous percents. Younger genx and millennials will be the first to not only make less than their parents but live shorter lives or have more health problems. I had arthritis at 25. I saw a girl waiting tables today about 22, with a knee brace..... That didn't happen to anyone fifty years ago except vets. I'm not sure there are any safe harbors anywhere, not even in stem. The only thing I can do is study what I love and accept I will always be poor, have debt, but at least my life has meaning and I don't want to die like I did in my last career.","human_ref_B":"Yup. Can even depend on the branch of engineering (or physical science, or math, as you point out). You can look at the open number of positions in computer or electrical engineering vs., say, environmental engineering.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28824.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"cpqr69","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Update: gave my 15 minute presentation about my PhD at a job interview Hi all- I just wanted to say thanks x1000 to all your super helpful tips. I posted here last week about summarizing my doctorate work for a job interview. The job interview was about 2 hours of questions\/discussion going over the position and my past experience. I then gave my presentation, which in the end took 18 minutes \ud83d\ude2c. I summarized two papers from my work, the 2 I thought would be most interesting to the outside world. And per your tips, I really just gave the most high level take home messages, didn\u2019t get too lost in methods and details. And in the end I was offered the job \ud83c\udf89\ud83c\udf8a. Thanks reddit family!!","c_root_id_A":"ewrivz2","c_root_id_B":"ewrdshp","created_at_utc_A":1565706522,"created_at_utc_B":1565702855,"score_A":12,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"what's the position? what's your field?","human_ref_B":"Way to go!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3667.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"cpqr69","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Update: gave my 15 minute presentation about my PhD at a job interview Hi all- I just wanted to say thanks x1000 to all your super helpful tips. I posted here last week about summarizing my doctorate work for a job interview. The job interview was about 2 hours of questions\/discussion going over the position and my past experience. I then gave my presentation, which in the end took 18 minutes \ud83d\ude2c. I summarized two papers from my work, the 2 I thought would be most interesting to the outside world. And per your tips, I really just gave the most high level take home messages, didn\u2019t get too lost in methods and details. And in the end I was offered the job \ud83c\udf89\ud83c\udf8a. Thanks reddit family!!","c_root_id_A":"ewrivz2","c_root_id_B":"ewrhory","created_at_utc_A":1565706522,"created_at_utc_B":1565705702,"score_A":12,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"what's the position? what's your field?","human_ref_B":"Congratulations man!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":820.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"ilt8t0w","c_root_id_B":"ilt3i04","created_at_utc_A":1661476461,"created_at_utc_B":1661474054,"score_A":51,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"We had something similar pass in Canada a few years back. The ultimate outcome was that it was decided that PIs could upload a pre-formatting post-review draft of the manuscript to their website or university repository and that would be sufficient. It doesn't make journal-formatted papers free.","human_ref_B":"Nice! It\u2019s about time.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2407.0,"score_ratio":6.375} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"ilv4ssg","c_root_id_B":"iltm2j6","created_at_utc_A":1661518805,"created_at_utc_B":1661482625,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Do you still have to pay the open access fee for publishing?","human_ref_B":"How does this work in practice? If I get a grant and want to publish several manuscripts, I can only publish through gov channels? Or journals have to make these articles free\u2026?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":36180.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"ilt3i04","c_root_id_B":"ilv4ssg","created_at_utc_A":1661474054,"created_at_utc_B":1661518805,"score_A":8,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Nice! It\u2019s about time.","human_ref_B":"Do you still have to pay the open access fee for publishing?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":44751.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"iltue3u","c_root_id_B":"ilv4ssg","created_at_utc_A":1661487004,"created_at_utc_B":1661518805,"score_A":7,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Scholarly communications and data librarian twitter was blowing up about this today. Great news, but we'll have to see how some of the less-than-clear bits turn out to be implemented. Hope you all know how to use repositories.","human_ref_B":"Do you still have to pay the open access fee for publishing?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":31801.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"ilv4ssg","c_root_id_B":"ilu8iij","created_at_utc_A":1661518805,"created_at_utc_B":1661496424,"score_A":10,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Do you still have to pay the open access fee for publishing?","human_ref_B":"So does this mean poor grad students with grants like the f31 have to pay $3-4k dollars to publish their research open access...if that's the case it's time for me to leave academia","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22381.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"iltm2j6","c_root_id_B":"ilvgu3k","created_at_utc_A":1661482625,"created_at_utc_B":1661524002,"score_A":7,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"How does this work in practice? If I get a grant and want to publish several manuscripts, I can only publish through gov channels? Or journals have to make these articles free\u2026?","human_ref_B":"So now publishers can just crank up their OA fees since you don\u2019t have a choice but to pay them. Everyone ups the costings in their grant apps to compensate. These costs are borne by the public. Less money being spent on actual science, more profits for the publishers.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":41377.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"iltue3u","c_root_id_B":"ilvgu3k","created_at_utc_A":1661487004,"created_at_utc_B":1661524002,"score_A":7,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Scholarly communications and data librarian twitter was blowing up about this today. Great news, but we'll have to see how some of the less-than-clear bits turn out to be implemented. Hope you all know how to use repositories.","human_ref_B":"So now publishers can just crank up their OA fees since you don\u2019t have a choice but to pay them. Everyone ups the costings in their grant apps to compensate. These costs are borne by the public. Less money being spent on actual science, more profits for the publishers.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":36998.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"ilu8iij","c_root_id_B":"ilvgu3k","created_at_utc_A":1661496424,"created_at_utc_B":1661524002,"score_A":2,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"So does this mean poor grad students with grants like the f31 have to pay $3-4k dollars to publish their research open access...if that's the case it's time for me to leave academia","human_ref_B":"So now publishers can just crank up their OA fees since you don\u2019t have a choice but to pay them. Everyone ups the costings in their grant apps to compensate. These costs are borne by the public. Less money being spent on actual science, more profits for the publishers.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27578.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"wxpm1v","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Finally! Open Science -- All US Federally Funded Research must now be Freely Available! https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2022\/08\/25\/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay\/ ​ Research results should be freely available. Too excited not to share...","c_root_id_A":"ilvl4ul","c_root_id_B":"ilu8iij","created_at_utc_A":1661525712,"created_at_utc_B":1661496424,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"1) OA requirement for all NIH funded research was already a thing. This just removes the delay of a year. 2) I haven't read the whole law, but right now you pay a pub fee, and open access fee in addition to your subscription to the journals and this does nothing to demand that the journals don't charge for it, so the onus is on researchers, who will mostly do this from their grant, so the tax payers are still paying twice for this. Not sure why you are so excited?","human_ref_B":"So does this mean poor grad students with grants like the f31 have to pay $3-4k dollars to publish their research open access...if that's the case it's time for me to leave academia","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29288.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1p64af","c_root_id_B":"f1p7yic","created_at_utc_A":1569673196,"created_at_utc_B":1569674531,"score_A":28,"score_B":184,"human_ref_A":"Yes. United States. NYU","human_ref_B":"Yes. United States. On the one hand, academic ideals were perhaps a bit too idealistic; after all, somebody does have to pay to keep universities running. As I see it (which may not be especially well) there are 3 problems. 1. Students who just want jobs and don't care about learning. They just want to pay for a certificate. 2. Administration should not be separate from faculty. Some admin is necessary, but when people talk about a university, they often mean the administration.... They should mean the faculty and students but the power has been taken (and perhaps given) away from them. Students should take more responsibility for things like housing, while faculty, the same people who teach, should be making many of the decisions presidents or provosts do. 3. State governments who don't properly fund institutions who then have to take business like approaches to keep the lights on.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1335.0,"score_ratio":6.5714285714} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1p9whx","c_root_id_B":"f1p8mzn","created_at_utc_A":1569675888,"created_at_utc_B":1569675030,"score_A":50,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"obviously. Just from a very simple \"big picture\" perspective. USA government gives money (student loans) to people for university, universities increase student costs to soak up all that extra money. Other independent point: USA college sports is BIG BUSINESS. It is a billion dollar industry, and its raw resource is 18 year old kids. They are consumed, universities chew them up and spit them out, and profit.","human_ref_B":"Australia leads all other countries in this case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":858.0,"score_ratio":1.6129032258} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1p9whx","c_root_id_B":"f1p64af","created_at_utc_A":1569675888,"created_at_utc_B":1569673196,"score_A":50,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"obviously. Just from a very simple \"big picture\" perspective. USA government gives money (student loans) to people for university, universities increase student costs to soak up all that extra money. Other independent point: USA college sports is BIG BUSINESS. It is a billion dollar industry, and its raw resource is 18 year old kids. They are consumed, universities chew them up and spit them out, and profit.","human_ref_B":"Yes. United States. NYU","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2692.0,"score_ratio":1.7857142857} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1p9d5y","c_root_id_B":"f1p9whx","created_at_utc_A":1569675522,"created_at_utc_B":1569675888,"score_A":10,"score_B":50,"human_ref_A":"YES. Ireland.","human_ref_B":"obviously. Just from a very simple \"big picture\" perspective. USA government gives money (student loans) to people for university, universities increase student costs to soak up all that extra money. Other independent point: USA college sports is BIG BUSINESS. It is a billion dollar industry, and its raw resource is 18 year old kids. They are consumed, universities chew them up and spit them out, and profit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":366.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pbz1z","c_root_id_B":"f1p64af","created_at_utc_A":1569677234,"created_at_utc_B":1569673196,"score_A":31,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"Masters programs in the US. Yes 100%.","human_ref_B":"Yes. United States. NYU","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4038.0,"score_ratio":1.1071428571} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pbz1z","c_root_id_B":"f1p9d5y","created_at_utc_A":1569677234,"created_at_utc_B":1569675522,"score_A":31,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Masters programs in the US. Yes 100%.","human_ref_B":"YES. Ireland.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1712.0,"score_ratio":3.1} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1p8mzn","c_root_id_B":"f1p64af","created_at_utc_A":1569675030,"created_at_utc_B":1569673196,"score_A":31,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"Australia leads all other countries in this case.","human_ref_B":"Yes. United States. NYU","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1834.0,"score_ratio":1.1071428571} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1p9d5y","c_root_id_B":"f1pgz5s","created_at_utc_A":1569675522,"created_at_utc_B":1569680238,"score_A":10,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"YES. Ireland.","human_ref_B":"tldr: Holy fuck yes. (not so)Little story. I'm a PhD student at an English university (I won't get too specific, but some of you might still be able to guess where - then again, I think a lot of this is true everywhere). The UK government allowed uni's to charge up to \u00a39000 per year tuition a few years ago (while also cutting lots of government support for university). The typical amount beforehand was \u00a33k (for domestic students at least; internationals were often 1.5x higher or more). Immediately, pretty much every uni put their fees up to \u00a39k. \\[From what I understand of US universities\/collages, it's only a few elite expensive ones that change anything equivalent or more, and even then very few students pay all of that top-whack themselves due to various grants and scholarships - there is still gov or scholarships in the UK, but you're not coming out of uni without a big fat debt\\] Fortunately, I was in Scotland where tuition was (& is) free for long-term residents of Scotland or EU...just not England, which was hilarious. Anyway, this change happened while I was in my second year of 5 (inc. Master's). The class size when I started was about 30-35. This gradually whittled down to around 20 getting Batchelor's degrees and 5 of us getting Master's there. The year group after us was about 40 in first year, and the one after that started with 70. I heard the lecturers worrying how they were going to accommodate so many students in all the practicals, and where they could possibly lecture (I think there were only 5 lecture theatres at the uni that were designed to accommodate more than 55 at once - most rooms had only \\~30 seats at most, though I guess they could've packed more chairs into some of them if they made the desks smaller). It wasn't just our department facing the massive influx. Cut to my current institution, where I did some lab demonstration and marking of the first years (oh my god. the marking. If you're reading this and you still have some essay's to write, please for the love of god put some effort into it; you may only have to write one, we have to mark a hundred and try to keep our faith in the future of humanity intact - also, if they give you a guide on how to write an essay; ffs read it). I therefore had contact with all 200 new students in my department. My current uni is bigger than my old one, but not THAT much bigger, so most departments were bursting at the seams. It was so full, the uni decided to move the start times to half past the hour; allowing them to start at 8:30 & finish at 5:30. Literally no one like this. Except possibly the bean counters who could now get maximal utility out of their lectures ... oh, I don't believe they saw a pay increase commensurate with these longer hours by the way. Couple all this with the already stressful conditions many academics face nowadays, and it's hardly surprising that it's been getting quite fraught the last few years. I've been here 3 years, every year's new intake has been about 200 to my department alone. They are franticly trying to build more space for everything. Meanwhile, my uni was in the news for one of the largest payouts to a retiring vice-chancellor ever (equivalent to around 93 student's tuition that year) on top of his pension. One day I was bored of analysing my own data, so I spent a harrowing afternoon looking up all the properties the uni had available for rent (the uni, or it's subsidiaries, none of the many private companies parasitising off the students' housing needs). I worked out that they had a turnover of around \u00a325 Million a year, just in rent. They are currently building more student housing. I later looked up the uni's publicly available accounting document; the last financial year had a turnover of \u00a3400M, and a profit of \u00a340M (even after all the building work across multiple campuses and paying massive bonuses to top staff I've never seen). Despite this, the finance department are busily bullying the academic staff into cutting costs while delivering better lectures and bringing in even more grant money (bit more difficult what with Brexit looming over our heads), and they are not-so-quietly threatening to close either the physics or engineering department (physics has been struggling to meet their student recruitment targets, so they fined them...no, I don't know how an institution can fine itself for not getting enough money either - BUT - Engineering, despite getting more students in and exceeding their targets, is more expensive to run per student and the building is currently having the asbestos removed...again, so it's still a toss up). That's not an empty threat either; they've closed a department before (and NOW some of you know exactly where I'm at). What we can be fairly confident in is that the business school is safe. All their students need is Excel, and that may go some way towards explaining why they get all the new comfy chairs and plush carpets. One last example, because I think it is particularly germane: In order to charge \u00a39k\/year, the universities must demonstrate to the government that they are 'committed' to outreach to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. As part of my PhD program I am required to carry out a certain number of hours of outreach (I'm not complaining, it's mostly pretty fun, but that it was a requirement was confusing to me until I found out the finial incentive). I have therefore met many people from the uni's outreach team, and every single one of them when I 'sarcastically' suggest 'Maybe not charging them nine grand a year would encourage these students to come here,' they all (unironically) agree with me. They know exactly what is needed, but whenever they propose grants for disadvantaged local students, or similar, it is immediately shot down as too expensive. It's all especially fervent in STEM, where there is a special box you get to tick if your outreach event would encourage young girls to come to you (and yea, it really does sound that creepy in the meetings too) - it's all pretty ineffectual though, because to get science students at all, they need to take the science classes at school; so really we'd need to target children before they're 11 (after this pupils in the UK pick their subjects for high school, and if you don't pick sciences then, most schools won't let you take it later \\[because they're worried you'll drag their average marks down\\]). Despite this, most of our outreach is targeted at high schools and specifically 16-18 year olds (because that yields more immediate results in student uptake). I was involved in a multi-university effort in this vain, so I know it's not a unique issue to us. All of this activity, which is good as far as it goes, could be massively improved by the university as a whole having a genuine desire to educate rather than primarily be to make money. Oh, did I forget to mention they're all registered charities? I could go on about how the profit-driven attitude provides some very perverse incentives for everyone, or specifically talk about how much they are courting Chinese students obsessively (I am of course happy we're educating the world, but they are targeting China more than the the non-European world combined, and it's nakedly about money), and I won't go into too much detail about the companies (who have no internal training programs) I've heard complain graduates don't have the exact specific skills they need, but sufficed to say; I am getting my doctorate and fucking off to be unemployable somewhere else.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4716.0,"score_ratio":2.6} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pgz5s","c_root_id_B":"f1pgrii","created_at_utc_A":1569680238,"created_at_utc_B":1569680106,"score_A":26,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"tldr: Holy fuck yes. (not so)Little story. I'm a PhD student at an English university (I won't get too specific, but some of you might still be able to guess where - then again, I think a lot of this is true everywhere). The UK government allowed uni's to charge up to \u00a39000 per year tuition a few years ago (while also cutting lots of government support for university). The typical amount beforehand was \u00a33k (for domestic students at least; internationals were often 1.5x higher or more). Immediately, pretty much every uni put their fees up to \u00a39k. \\[From what I understand of US universities\/collages, it's only a few elite expensive ones that change anything equivalent or more, and even then very few students pay all of that top-whack themselves due to various grants and scholarships - there is still gov or scholarships in the UK, but you're not coming out of uni without a big fat debt\\] Fortunately, I was in Scotland where tuition was (& is) free for long-term residents of Scotland or EU...just not England, which was hilarious. Anyway, this change happened while I was in my second year of 5 (inc. Master's). The class size when I started was about 30-35. This gradually whittled down to around 20 getting Batchelor's degrees and 5 of us getting Master's there. The year group after us was about 40 in first year, and the one after that started with 70. I heard the lecturers worrying how they were going to accommodate so many students in all the practicals, and where they could possibly lecture (I think there were only 5 lecture theatres at the uni that were designed to accommodate more than 55 at once - most rooms had only \\~30 seats at most, though I guess they could've packed more chairs into some of them if they made the desks smaller). It wasn't just our department facing the massive influx. Cut to my current institution, where I did some lab demonstration and marking of the first years (oh my god. the marking. If you're reading this and you still have some essay's to write, please for the love of god put some effort into it; you may only have to write one, we have to mark a hundred and try to keep our faith in the future of humanity intact - also, if they give you a guide on how to write an essay; ffs read it). I therefore had contact with all 200 new students in my department. My current uni is bigger than my old one, but not THAT much bigger, so most departments were bursting at the seams. It was so full, the uni decided to move the start times to half past the hour; allowing them to start at 8:30 & finish at 5:30. Literally no one like this. Except possibly the bean counters who could now get maximal utility out of their lectures ... oh, I don't believe they saw a pay increase commensurate with these longer hours by the way. Couple all this with the already stressful conditions many academics face nowadays, and it's hardly surprising that it's been getting quite fraught the last few years. I've been here 3 years, every year's new intake has been about 200 to my department alone. They are franticly trying to build more space for everything. Meanwhile, my uni was in the news for one of the largest payouts to a retiring vice-chancellor ever (equivalent to around 93 student's tuition that year) on top of his pension. One day I was bored of analysing my own data, so I spent a harrowing afternoon looking up all the properties the uni had available for rent (the uni, or it's subsidiaries, none of the many private companies parasitising off the students' housing needs). I worked out that they had a turnover of around \u00a325 Million a year, just in rent. They are currently building more student housing. I later looked up the uni's publicly available accounting document; the last financial year had a turnover of \u00a3400M, and a profit of \u00a340M (even after all the building work across multiple campuses and paying massive bonuses to top staff I've never seen). Despite this, the finance department are busily bullying the academic staff into cutting costs while delivering better lectures and bringing in even more grant money (bit more difficult what with Brexit looming over our heads), and they are not-so-quietly threatening to close either the physics or engineering department (physics has been struggling to meet their student recruitment targets, so they fined them...no, I don't know how an institution can fine itself for not getting enough money either - BUT - Engineering, despite getting more students in and exceeding their targets, is more expensive to run per student and the building is currently having the asbestos removed...again, so it's still a toss up). That's not an empty threat either; they've closed a department before (and NOW some of you know exactly where I'm at). What we can be fairly confident in is that the business school is safe. All their students need is Excel, and that may go some way towards explaining why they get all the new comfy chairs and plush carpets. One last example, because I think it is particularly germane: In order to charge \u00a39k\/year, the universities must demonstrate to the government that they are 'committed' to outreach to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. As part of my PhD program I am required to carry out a certain number of hours of outreach (I'm not complaining, it's mostly pretty fun, but that it was a requirement was confusing to me until I found out the finial incentive). I have therefore met many people from the uni's outreach team, and every single one of them when I 'sarcastically' suggest 'Maybe not charging them nine grand a year would encourage these students to come here,' they all (unironically) agree with me. They know exactly what is needed, but whenever they propose grants for disadvantaged local students, or similar, it is immediately shot down as too expensive. It's all especially fervent in STEM, where there is a special box you get to tick if your outreach event would encourage young girls to come to you (and yea, it really does sound that creepy in the meetings too) - it's all pretty ineffectual though, because to get science students at all, they need to take the science classes at school; so really we'd need to target children before they're 11 (after this pupils in the UK pick their subjects for high school, and if you don't pick sciences then, most schools won't let you take it later \\[because they're worried you'll drag their average marks down\\]). Despite this, most of our outreach is targeted at high schools and specifically 16-18 year olds (because that yields more immediate results in student uptake). I was involved in a multi-university effort in this vain, so I know it's not a unique issue to us. All of this activity, which is good as far as it goes, could be massively improved by the university as a whole having a genuine desire to educate rather than primarily be to make money. Oh, did I forget to mention they're all registered charities? I could go on about how the profit-driven attitude provides some very perverse incentives for everyone, or specifically talk about how much they are courting Chinese students obsessively (I am of course happy we're educating the world, but they are targeting China more than the the non-European world combined, and it's nakedly about money), and I won't go into too much detail about the companies (who have no internal training programs) I've heard complain graduates don't have the exact specific skills they need, but sufficed to say; I am getting my doctorate and fucking off to be unemployable somewhere else.","human_ref_B":"Go read Bill Reading\u2019s The University in Ruins, published in 1996.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":132.0,"score_ratio":8.6666666667} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1p9d5y","c_root_id_B":"f1piqz0","created_at_utc_A":1569675522,"created_at_utc_B":1569681601,"score_A":10,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"YES. Ireland.","human_ref_B":"Education is a commodity. The ivory towers fell long ago.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6079.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pgrii","c_root_id_B":"f1piqz0","created_at_utc_A":1569680106,"created_at_utc_B":1569681601,"score_A":3,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Go read Bill Reading\u2019s The University in Ruins, published in 1996.","human_ref_B":"Education is a commodity. The ivory towers fell long ago.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1495.0,"score_ratio":5.3333333333} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pgrii","c_root_id_B":"f1qdyra","created_at_utc_A":1569680106,"created_at_utc_B":1569698822,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Go read Bill Reading\u2019s The University in Ruins, published in 1996.","human_ref_B":"what choice do they have? Universities used to be heavily publicly funded. Increasingly they are not. If they cannot rely on public funds they must rely on donations, asset management and look to their students as sources of income. They have to essentially operate as hybrid businesses\/charities if they wish to continue existing. Ultimately universities can remain sites of debate and education if the general public wishes them to be so. Politically I'd say at the the trend is against that I will say though that many western universities, for all their business minded characteristics, are still nonetheless critical sites of education. If you want to compare, look at what passes for university education in countries such as India. Bad as things are with the Americas, Brits or Australians, they could be much much worse. A college student still retains a much higher chance of accessing diverse opportunities if they graduate from a mid-tier American university in contrast to even a top tier Indian university.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18716.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pj0kq","c_root_id_B":"f1qdyra","created_at_utc_A":1569681790,"created_at_utc_B":1569698822,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"All North America for sure. The desire to link degrees directly to jobs is strong with new mandates every week it seems. \"Yes, I'd like you to pay me for work in my field of research which is the semiotics of French literature\". \"Uh, no. We hired you to serve coffee.\" Administrators are frequently, usually, complicit in this goal. It is a form of violence against learning and especially against humanities.","human_ref_B":"what choice do they have? Universities used to be heavily publicly funded. Increasingly they are not. If they cannot rely on public funds they must rely on donations, asset management and look to their students as sources of income. They have to essentially operate as hybrid businesses\/charities if they wish to continue existing. Ultimately universities can remain sites of debate and education if the general public wishes them to be so. Politically I'd say at the the trend is against that I will say though that many western universities, for all their business minded characteristics, are still nonetheless critical sites of education. If you want to compare, look at what passes for university education in countries such as India. Bad as things are with the Americas, Brits or Australians, they could be much much worse. A college student still retains a much higher chance of accessing diverse opportunities if they graduate from a mid-tier American university in contrast to even a top tier Indian university.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17032.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pvrob","c_root_id_B":"f1qdyra","created_at_utc_A":1569688946,"created_at_utc_B":1569698822,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"They are a business though.","human_ref_B":"what choice do they have? Universities used to be heavily publicly funded. Increasingly they are not. If they cannot rely on public funds they must rely on donations, asset management and look to their students as sources of income. They have to essentially operate as hybrid businesses\/charities if they wish to continue existing. Ultimately universities can remain sites of debate and education if the general public wishes them to be so. Politically I'd say at the the trend is against that I will say though that many western universities, for all their business minded characteristics, are still nonetheless critical sites of education. If you want to compare, look at what passes for university education in countries such as India. Bad as things are with the Americas, Brits or Australians, they could be much much worse. A college student still retains a much higher chance of accessing diverse opportunities if they graduate from a mid-tier American university in contrast to even a top tier Indian university.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9876.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1r8nm8","c_root_id_B":"f1pgrii","created_at_utc_A":1569712525,"created_at_utc_B":1569680106,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes!!! United States. Even though most traditional institutions are not-for-profit, it doesn't mean that there is not someone getting rich. I was fortunate enough to have a professor in my Ph.D. program who was also on the board of trustees. He was not afraid to tell it like it was and said that one of his main functions on the board was to wine and dine alums to get them to increase donations postmortem (i.e. in their wills). And....he got paid over 500,000 a year to do that (in addition to the perks of the fancy office, designated parking spot, etc.). He talked about how much football and basketball coaches make, and how sports directly impacts admissions (which he supported with institutional historical data). He talked about how he was the ONLY member on the board with a background in education. All the others were businessmen, lawyers, finance people, etc. Given how much power the board has, and the fact that it was run by a bunch of businessmen, it made total sense that the university essentially is a business. Just instead of making stockholders rich, the money is used to increase salaries of higher admins, expand the campus in some way, or increase endowments for future endeavors.","human_ref_B":"Go read Bill Reading\u2019s The University in Ruins, published in 1996.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32419.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1qgohh","c_root_id_B":"f1r8nm8","created_at_utc_A":1569700401,"created_at_utc_B":1569712525,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"All the admins sitting on the board of my university (40,000 undergrads in a big city) all are CEOs or executives for large companies in my province.","human_ref_B":"Yes!!! United States. Even though most traditional institutions are not-for-profit, it doesn't mean that there is not someone getting rich. I was fortunate enough to have a professor in my Ph.D. program who was also on the board of trustees. He was not afraid to tell it like it was and said that one of his main functions on the board was to wine and dine alums to get them to increase donations postmortem (i.e. in their wills). And....he got paid over 500,000 a year to do that (in addition to the perks of the fancy office, designated parking spot, etc.). He talked about how much football and basketball coaches make, and how sports directly impacts admissions (which he supported with institutional historical data). He talked about how he was the ONLY member on the board with a background in education. All the others were businessmen, lawyers, finance people, etc. Given how much power the board has, and the fact that it was run by a bunch of businessmen, it made total sense that the university essentially is a business. Just instead of making stockholders rich, the money is used to increase salaries of higher admins, expand the campus in some way, or increase endowments for future endeavors.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12124.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1r8nm8","c_root_id_B":"f1pj0kq","created_at_utc_A":1569712525,"created_at_utc_B":1569681790,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes!!! United States. Even though most traditional institutions are not-for-profit, it doesn't mean that there is not someone getting rich. I was fortunate enough to have a professor in my Ph.D. program who was also on the board of trustees. He was not afraid to tell it like it was and said that one of his main functions on the board was to wine and dine alums to get them to increase donations postmortem (i.e. in their wills). And....he got paid over 500,000 a year to do that (in addition to the perks of the fancy office, designated parking spot, etc.). He talked about how much football and basketball coaches make, and how sports directly impacts admissions (which he supported with institutional historical data). He talked about how he was the ONLY member on the board with a background in education. All the others were businessmen, lawyers, finance people, etc. Given how much power the board has, and the fact that it was run by a bunch of businessmen, it made total sense that the university essentially is a business. Just instead of making stockholders rich, the money is used to increase salaries of higher admins, expand the campus in some way, or increase endowments for future endeavors.","human_ref_B":"All North America for sure. The desire to link degrees directly to jobs is strong with new mandates every week it seems. \"Yes, I'd like you to pay me for work in my field of research which is the semiotics of French literature\". \"Uh, no. We hired you to serve coffee.\" Administrators are frequently, usually, complicit in this goal. It is a form of violence against learning and especially against humanities.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":30735.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1r8nm8","c_root_id_B":"f1pvrob","created_at_utc_A":1569712525,"created_at_utc_B":1569688946,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Yes!!! United States. Even though most traditional institutions are not-for-profit, it doesn't mean that there is not someone getting rich. I was fortunate enough to have a professor in my Ph.D. program who was also on the board of trustees. He was not afraid to tell it like it was and said that one of his main functions on the board was to wine and dine alums to get them to increase donations postmortem (i.e. in their wills). And....he got paid over 500,000 a year to do that (in addition to the perks of the fancy office, designated parking spot, etc.). He talked about how much football and basketball coaches make, and how sports directly impacts admissions (which he supported with institutional historical data). He talked about how he was the ONLY member on the board with a background in education. All the others were businessmen, lawyers, finance people, etc. Given how much power the board has, and the fact that it was run by a bunch of businessmen, it made total sense that the university essentially is a business. Just instead of making stockholders rich, the money is used to increase salaries of higher admins, expand the campus in some way, or increase endowments for future endeavors.","human_ref_B":"They are a business though.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23579.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1ss9jx","c_root_id_B":"f1pgrii","created_at_utc_A":1569733340,"created_at_utc_B":1569680106,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"In a capitalist society, it would be foolish to think that universities would not eventually be decoded by flows of capital.","human_ref_B":"Go read Bill Reading\u2019s The University in Ruins, published in 1996.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":53234.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1ss9jx","c_root_id_B":"f1qgohh","created_at_utc_A":1569733340,"created_at_utc_B":1569700401,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"In a capitalist society, it would be foolish to think that universities would not eventually be decoded by flows of capital.","human_ref_B":"All the admins sitting on the board of my university (40,000 undergrads in a big city) all are CEOs or executives for large companies in my province.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32939.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1s7tob","c_root_id_B":"f1ss9jx","created_at_utc_A":1569725309,"created_at_utc_B":1569733340,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Have been for awhile. Australia. For example, the Masters of Engineering courses in this country are condensed bachelors courses minus the support with very little prospect for integrating into industry. Theyre cash grabs attracting international students mostly. Engineering degrees are almost always bachelors here with an integrated internship component while the graduate version is obsolete and only really attracts international students. It's highly unethical.","human_ref_B":"In a capitalist society, it would be foolish to think that universities would not eventually be decoded by flows of capital.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8031.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pj0kq","c_root_id_B":"f1ss9jx","created_at_utc_A":1569681790,"created_at_utc_B":1569733340,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"All North America for sure. The desire to link degrees directly to jobs is strong with new mandates every week it seems. \"Yes, I'd like you to pay me for work in my field of research which is the semiotics of French literature\". \"Uh, no. We hired you to serve coffee.\" Administrators are frequently, usually, complicit in this goal. It is a form of violence against learning and especially against humanities.","human_ref_B":"In a capitalist society, it would be foolish to think that universities would not eventually be decoded by flows of capital.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":51550.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1ss9jx","c_root_id_B":"f1pvrob","created_at_utc_A":1569733340,"created_at_utc_B":1569688946,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In a capitalist society, it would be foolish to think that universities would not eventually be decoded by flows of capital.","human_ref_B":"They are a business though.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":44394.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1qgohh","c_root_id_B":"f1pgrii","created_at_utc_A":1569700401,"created_at_utc_B":1569680106,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"All the admins sitting on the board of my university (40,000 undergrads in a big city) all are CEOs or executives for large companies in my province.","human_ref_B":"Go read Bill Reading\u2019s The University in Ruins, published in 1996.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20295.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1pgrii","c_root_id_B":"f1s7tob","created_at_utc_A":1569680106,"created_at_utc_B":1569725309,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Go read Bill Reading\u2019s The University in Ruins, published in 1996.","human_ref_B":"Have been for awhile. Australia. For example, the Masters of Engineering courses in this country are condensed bachelors courses minus the support with very little prospect for integrating into industry. Theyre cash grabs attracting international students mostly. Engineering degrees are almost always bachelors here with an integrated internship component while the graduate version is obsolete and only really attracts international students. It's highly unethical.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":45203.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1qgohh","c_root_id_B":"f1pj0kq","created_at_utc_A":1569700401,"created_at_utc_B":1569681790,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"All the admins sitting on the board of my university (40,000 undergrads in a big city) all are CEOs or executives for large companies in my province.","human_ref_B":"All North America for sure. The desire to link degrees directly to jobs is strong with new mandates every week it seems. \"Yes, I'd like you to pay me for work in my field of research which is the semiotics of French literature\". \"Uh, no. We hired you to serve coffee.\" Administrators are frequently, usually, complicit in this goal. It is a form of violence against learning and especially against humanities.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18611.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1qgohh","c_root_id_B":"f1pvrob","created_at_utc_A":1569700401,"created_at_utc_B":1569688946,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"All the admins sitting on the board of my university (40,000 undergrads in a big city) all are CEOs or executives for large companies in my province.","human_ref_B":"They are a business though.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11455.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1s7tob","c_root_id_B":"f1pj0kq","created_at_utc_A":1569725309,"created_at_utc_B":1569681790,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Have been for awhile. Australia. For example, the Masters of Engineering courses in this country are condensed bachelors courses minus the support with very little prospect for integrating into industry. Theyre cash grabs attracting international students mostly. Engineering degrees are almost always bachelors here with an integrated internship component while the graduate version is obsolete and only really attracts international students. It's highly unethical.","human_ref_B":"All North America for sure. The desire to link degrees directly to jobs is strong with new mandates every week it seems. \"Yes, I'd like you to pay me for work in my field of research which is the semiotics of French literature\". \"Uh, no. We hired you to serve coffee.\" Administrators are frequently, usually, complicit in this goal. It is a form of violence against learning and especially against humanities.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":43519.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"daf4pp","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Do you think universities are becoming too \"business-minded\"? I'm referring to a growing trend where universities are churning graduates without any regard for jobs or educational achievement. Equally frightening is this over-reliance on International students, solely for the money they can charge them. It feels thats universities have stopped becoming higher education centres and are profit generating businesses. Do you agree and if so which country are you referencing?","c_root_id_A":"f1s7tob","c_root_id_B":"f1pvrob","created_at_utc_A":1569725309,"created_at_utc_B":1569688946,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Have been for awhile. Australia. For example, the Masters of Engineering courses in this country are condensed bachelors courses minus the support with very little prospect for integrating into industry. Theyre cash grabs attracting international students mostly. Engineering degrees are almost always bachelors here with an integrated internship component while the graduate version is obsolete and only really attracts international students. It's highly unethical.","human_ref_B":"They are a business though.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":36363.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjlmx2o","c_root_id_B":"gjlnij5","created_at_utc_A":1610897526,"created_at_utc_B":1610897675,"score_A":54,"score_B":58,"human_ref_A":"Absolutely. The fact that Prager University continues to label itself as such despite a lack of accreditation or integrity\u2014both academically and otherwise\u2014is disturbing.","human_ref_B":"These regulations exist by state. To even use the word school in texas, you have to show your graduates get jobs in the field they studied.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":149.0,"score_ratio":1.0740740741} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjlrfrf","c_root_id_B":"gjlucin","created_at_utc_A":1610898694,"created_at_utc_B":1610899556,"score_A":8,"score_B":54,"human_ref_A":"I was under the impression that it is already restricted?","human_ref_B":"You mean my degree in Hamburgerology from Hamburger University isn\u2019t accredited?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":862.0,"score_ratio":6.75} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjm1qw5","c_root_id_B":"gjlrfrf","created_at_utc_A":1610901470,"created_at_utc_B":1610898694,"score_A":53,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Yes. Case and point: Trump University.","human_ref_B":"I was under the impression that it is already restricted?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2776.0,"score_ratio":6.625} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjlrfrf","c_root_id_B":"gjmyxy4","created_at_utc_A":1610898694,"created_at_utc_B":1610911377,"score_A":8,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I was under the impression that it is already restricted?","human_ref_B":"Yes, but my bigger complaint is actual colleges and universities behaving like for-profits","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12683.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjmmz3i","c_root_id_B":"gjmyxy4","created_at_utc_A":1610907359,"created_at_utc_B":1610911377,"score_A":4,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m a researcher currently looking into a type of technical training programming in my field in the US. Our PI has us including for-profit universities which just crawls all over my ass. It is very clear in my field (education) that those places are not at all interested in helping students develop any sort of deeper level thinking about the field or the work. It\u2019s all \u201ccall and response\u201d type of training, when what education needs is learning to critically think and to create environments that meet the needs of every student. I truly think those places do not deserve to be called universities. However, this is the future. Just look at what is happening with the consolidation of community colleges into one state wide school. The bad far outweighs the good.","human_ref_B":"Yes, but my bigger complaint is actual colleges and universities behaving like for-profits","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4018.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjmwolz","c_root_id_B":"gjmyxy4","created_at_utc_A":1610910519,"created_at_utc_B":1610911377,"score_A":2,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Trump University springs to mind.","human_ref_B":"Yes, but my bigger complaint is actual colleges and universities behaving like for-profits","labels":0,"seconds_difference":858.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjlrfrf","c_root_id_B":"gjnv516","created_at_utc_A":1610898694,"created_at_utc_B":1610925900,"score_A":8,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I was under the impression that it is already restricted?","human_ref_B":"I'd be happy enough if a bunch of universities admitted that they're just research labs and football clubs that offer a few classes to maintain the fiction that they're educational institutions. That said, yes I think it was criminal that Trump University was allowed to market itself as such.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27206.0,"score_ratio":1.375} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjnv516","c_root_id_B":"gjmmz3i","created_at_utc_A":1610925900,"created_at_utc_B":1610907359,"score_A":11,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I'd be happy enough if a bunch of universities admitted that they're just research labs and football clubs that offer a few classes to maintain the fiction that they're educational institutions. That said, yes I think it was criminal that Trump University was allowed to market itself as such.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m a researcher currently looking into a type of technical training programming in my field in the US. Our PI has us including for-profit universities which just crawls all over my ass. It is very clear in my field (education) that those places are not at all interested in helping students develop any sort of deeper level thinking about the field or the work. It\u2019s all \u201ccall and response\u201d type of training, when what education needs is learning to critically think and to create environments that meet the needs of every student. I truly think those places do not deserve to be called universities. However, this is the future. Just look at what is happening with the consolidation of community colleges into one state wide school. The bad far outweighs the good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18541.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjnv516","c_root_id_B":"gjndfrw","created_at_utc_A":1610925900,"created_at_utc_B":1610917934,"score_A":11,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'd be happy enough if a bunch of universities admitted that they're just research labs and football clubs that offer a few classes to maintain the fiction that they're educational institutions. That said, yes I think it was criminal that Trump University was allowed to market itself as such.","human_ref_B":"Trump University","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7966.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjmwolz","c_root_id_B":"gjnv516","created_at_utc_A":1610910519,"created_at_utc_B":1610925900,"score_A":2,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Trump University springs to mind.","human_ref_B":"I'd be happy enough if a bunch of universities admitted that they're just research labs and football clubs that offer a few classes to maintain the fiction that they're educational institutions. That said, yes I think it was criminal that Trump University was allowed to market itself as such.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15381.0,"score_ratio":5.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjnv516","c_root_id_B":"gjn4rr2","created_at_utc_A":1610925900,"created_at_utc_B":1610913793,"score_A":11,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'd be happy enough if a bunch of universities admitted that they're just research labs and football clubs that offer a few classes to maintain the fiction that they're educational institutions. That said, yes I think it was criminal that Trump University was allowed to market itself as such.","human_ref_B":"Subway's sandwich university","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12107.0,"score_ratio":5.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjnv516","c_root_id_B":"gjnku1b","created_at_utc_A":1610925900,"created_at_utc_B":1610921213,"score_A":11,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'd be happy enough if a bunch of universities admitted that they're just research labs and football clubs that offer a few classes to maintain the fiction that they're educational institutions. That said, yes I think it was criminal that Trump University was allowed to market itself as such.","human_ref_B":"I \ud83d\udcaf agree. These are money pits that undermine the efforts of actual accredited institutions that abide by academic principles. These institutions set precedent not only for HE administration, but also education from content (where content is pushed on faculty through guide of \"ed tech\") to the value of instructors faculty.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4687.0,"score_ratio":5.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjo5kxq","c_root_id_B":"gjmmz3i","created_at_utc_A":1610931325,"created_at_utc_B":1610907359,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"In the UK the word University is a protected term. Vast vast majority are publicly funded institutions and the for-profit ones are all crap.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m a researcher currently looking into a type of technical training programming in my field in the US. Our PI has us including for-profit universities which just crawls all over my ass. It is very clear in my field (education) that those places are not at all interested in helping students develop any sort of deeper level thinking about the field or the work. It\u2019s all \u201ccall and response\u201d type of training, when what education needs is learning to critically think and to create environments that meet the needs of every student. I truly think those places do not deserve to be called universities. However, this is the future. Just look at what is happening with the consolidation of community colleges into one state wide school. The bad far outweighs the good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23966.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjndfrw","c_root_id_B":"gjo5kxq","created_at_utc_A":1610917934,"created_at_utc_B":1610931325,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Trump University","human_ref_B":"In the UK the word University is a protected term. Vast vast majority are publicly funded institutions and the for-profit ones are all crap.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13391.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjo5kxq","c_root_id_B":"gjmwolz","created_at_utc_A":1610931325,"created_at_utc_B":1610910519,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In the UK the word University is a protected term. Vast vast majority are publicly funded institutions and the for-profit ones are all crap.","human_ref_B":"Trump University springs to mind.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20806.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjo5kxq","c_root_id_B":"gjn4rr2","created_at_utc_A":1610931325,"created_at_utc_B":1610913793,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In the UK the word University is a protected term. Vast vast majority are publicly funded institutions and the for-profit ones are all crap.","human_ref_B":"Subway's sandwich university","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17532.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjo5kxq","c_root_id_B":"gjnku1b","created_at_utc_A":1610931325,"created_at_utc_B":1610921213,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In the UK the word University is a protected term. Vast vast majority are publicly funded institutions and the for-profit ones are all crap.","human_ref_B":"I \ud83d\udcaf agree. These are money pits that undermine the efforts of actual accredited institutions that abide by academic principles. These institutions set precedent not only for HE administration, but also education from content (where content is pushed on faculty through guide of \"ed tech\") to the value of instructors faculty.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10112.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjmmz3i","c_root_id_B":"gjo838i","created_at_utc_A":1610907359,"created_at_utc_B":1610932659,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m a researcher currently looking into a type of technical training programming in my field in the US. Our PI has us including for-profit universities which just crawls all over my ass. It is very clear in my field (education) that those places are not at all interested in helping students develop any sort of deeper level thinking about the field or the work. It\u2019s all \u201ccall and response\u201d type of training, when what education needs is learning to critically think and to create environments that meet the needs of every student. I truly think those places do not deserve to be called universities. However, this is the future. Just look at what is happening with the consolidation of community colleges into one state wide school. The bad far outweighs the good.","human_ref_B":"In America cash is king they literally don\u2019t give a fuck about you or anyone. Everything is a business and they will push you down the stairs if it means profit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25300.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjndfrw","c_root_id_B":"gjo838i","created_at_utc_A":1610917934,"created_at_utc_B":1610932659,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Trump University","human_ref_B":"In America cash is king they literally don\u2019t give a fuck about you or anyone. Everything is a business and they will push you down the stairs if it means profit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14725.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjo838i","c_root_id_B":"gjmwolz","created_at_utc_A":1610932659,"created_at_utc_B":1610910519,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In America cash is king they literally don\u2019t give a fuck about you or anyone. Everything is a business and they will push you down the stairs if it means profit.","human_ref_B":"Trump University springs to mind.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22140.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjo838i","c_root_id_B":"gjn4rr2","created_at_utc_A":1610932659,"created_at_utc_B":1610913793,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In America cash is king they literally don\u2019t give a fuck about you or anyone. Everything is a business and they will push you down the stairs if it means profit.","human_ref_B":"Subway's sandwich university","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18866.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjo838i","c_root_id_B":"gjnku1b","created_at_utc_A":1610932659,"created_at_utc_B":1610921213,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In America cash is king they literally don\u2019t give a fuck about you or anyone. Everything is a business and they will push you down the stairs if it means profit.","human_ref_B":"I \ud83d\udcaf agree. These are money pits that undermine the efforts of actual accredited institutions that abide by academic principles. These institutions set precedent not only for HE administration, but also education from content (where content is pushed on faculty through guide of \"ed tech\") to the value of instructors faculty.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11446.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjmwolz","c_root_id_B":"gjndfrw","created_at_utc_A":1610910519,"created_at_utc_B":1610917934,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Trump University springs to mind.","human_ref_B":"Trump University","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7415.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjn4rr2","c_root_id_B":"gjndfrw","created_at_utc_A":1610913793,"created_at_utc_B":1610917934,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Subway's sandwich university","human_ref_B":"Trump University","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4141.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjmwolz","c_root_id_B":"gjp9qqt","created_at_utc_A":1610910519,"created_at_utc_B":1610956775,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Trump University springs to mind.","human_ref_B":"Especially all these For-Profit colleges that only cheapen the whole idea of University. As someone said, real universities should not be businesses. Otherwise you end up with things like Trump University.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":46256.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjp9qqt","c_root_id_B":"gjn4rr2","created_at_utc_A":1610956775,"created_at_utc_B":1610913793,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Especially all these For-Profit colleges that only cheapen the whole idea of University. As someone said, real universities should not be businesses. Otherwise you end up with things like Trump University.","human_ref_B":"Subway's sandwich university","labels":1,"seconds_difference":42982.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kz6x73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Does anyone else think that there should be more restrictions on anything calling itself a university or college? Examples: Lowe's University, Prager University, and so on. Even things adding U after their name to imply University. Should businesses not be allowed to use the word University or U (when implying University) or College?","c_root_id_A":"gjnku1b","c_root_id_B":"gjp9qqt","created_at_utc_A":1610921213,"created_at_utc_B":1610956775,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I \ud83d\udcaf agree. These are money pits that undermine the efforts of actual accredited institutions that abide by academic principles. These institutions set precedent not only for HE administration, but also education from content (where content is pushed on faculty through guide of \"ed tech\") to the value of instructors faculty.","human_ref_B":"Especially all these For-Profit colleges that only cheapen the whole idea of University. As someone said, real universities should not be businesses. Otherwise you end up with things like Trump University.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":35562.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r6dpf","c_root_id_B":"h2r6nmo","created_at_utc_A":1624445486,"created_at_utc_B":1624445718,"score_A":52,"score_B":315,"human_ref_A":"Can you talk to the department head? I'm not sure if you are in the group or a professor (i.e., sort of subordinate vs an equal colleague?).","human_ref_B":"this isn't something that you should be expected to manage on your own. talk to her line manager about your concerns - dean, head of school, whatever it is there for you. approaching this and working to find solutions is their problem, not yours. lastly, these are very valid concerns and you are 100% justified in approaching a higher-up about them. you might been guilty like you are tattling, but things are dysfunctional right now and it is affecting the work environment, and by taking appropriate measures in a professional way, you are doing the right thing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":232.0,"score_ratio":6.0576923077} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2rh41a","c_root_id_B":"h2r7rs3","created_at_utc_A":1624452968,"created_at_utc_B":1624446622,"score_A":106,"score_B":90,"human_ref_A":"Sorry for the long answer, but I have been in a similar situation. My graduate advisor was older, and had always been famously difficult to work with. While prickly and not great at communicating, the first few years were managable. During the last two years of my degree, she became unbelievably difficult to work with. She would disappear for weeks at a time and when she resurfaced she would send incoherent emails, she never provided any feedback on research and clearly was not keeping up with the literature, she would miss important deadlines and come up with wild, implausible excuses as to why - a couple of times I went to her house (she lived alone), and I found her front door open, or other things very out of place. Lots of concerning things, and I firmly believe she had dementia. She ended up retiring before I finished my degree (while I was doing my dissertation research abroad, and she didn't even officially tell me) and I finished with her as my chair but as an emeritus professor. No one ever directly addressed her health, but I had multiple meetings with my other committee members and department chair before defending where it was made clear to me that she would not be an obstacle in me finishing my degree. I also had committee members tell me they would step in and write letters of recommendation (it was not *directly* addressed as to why I would need that) and other such offers that made it clear to me that everyone was aware of the situation. I finished up one paper with her after I graduated, but after that I moved on and found more reliable people to work with. At the time it made me absolutely crazy and I could not believe everyone would just let her behave like that, but looking back, I think it was actually handled with a fair amount of grace. She retired (I never got an answer as to whether she was forced to or decided herself she needed to), the department made sure I completed my degree, and my committee helped me get a job. I would suggest you reach out to the other people she works with and discuss the situation without being to explicit before going to any higher ups. Bring evidence of her behavior with you if you do go to the dean, but only show it if it becomes clear that they are unaware of the behavior (I always had the emails\/ texts\/ etc. of her communication with me for meetings with other people, but never needed to show them). Figure out which of her students can finish their research with her minimal envolvement, and who may need to transition research groups. If you can, try to finish up or disentangle all of your own research collaborations with her and then cut ties. Also, if you are in a position, think about her current students and if you can offer to be references for them. It was incredibly valuable for me to have other people to step in and write recommendations when she could\/ would not. Hope this helps!","human_ref_B":"Everyone needs to print their emails and present them as evidence to the dept chair and if necessary the dean.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6346.0,"score_ratio":1.1777777778} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2rh41a","c_root_id_B":"h2r7i8y","created_at_utc_A":1624452968,"created_at_utc_B":1624446413,"score_A":106,"score_B":74,"human_ref_A":"Sorry for the long answer, but I have been in a similar situation. My graduate advisor was older, and had always been famously difficult to work with. While prickly and not great at communicating, the first few years were managable. During the last two years of my degree, she became unbelievably difficult to work with. She would disappear for weeks at a time and when she resurfaced she would send incoherent emails, she never provided any feedback on research and clearly was not keeping up with the literature, she would miss important deadlines and come up with wild, implausible excuses as to why - a couple of times I went to her house (she lived alone), and I found her front door open, or other things very out of place. Lots of concerning things, and I firmly believe she had dementia. She ended up retiring before I finished my degree (while I was doing my dissertation research abroad, and she didn't even officially tell me) and I finished with her as my chair but as an emeritus professor. No one ever directly addressed her health, but I had multiple meetings with my other committee members and department chair before defending where it was made clear to me that she would not be an obstacle in me finishing my degree. I also had committee members tell me they would step in and write letters of recommendation (it was not *directly* addressed as to why I would need that) and other such offers that made it clear to me that everyone was aware of the situation. I finished up one paper with her after I graduated, but after that I moved on and found more reliable people to work with. At the time it made me absolutely crazy and I could not believe everyone would just let her behave like that, but looking back, I think it was actually handled with a fair amount of grace. She retired (I never got an answer as to whether she was forced to or decided herself she needed to), the department made sure I completed my degree, and my committee helped me get a job. I would suggest you reach out to the other people she works with and discuss the situation without being to explicit before going to any higher ups. Bring evidence of her behavior with you if you do go to the dean, but only show it if it becomes clear that they are unaware of the behavior (I always had the emails\/ texts\/ etc. of her communication with me for meetings with other people, but never needed to show them). Figure out which of her students can finish their research with her minimal envolvement, and who may need to transition research groups. If you can, try to finish up or disentangle all of your own research collaborations with her and then cut ties. Also, if you are in a position, think about her current students and if you can offer to be references for them. It was incredibly valuable for me to have other people to step in and write recommendations when she could\/ would not. Hope this helps!","human_ref_B":"Since there's a huge difference between burn out and Alzheimer's but both require help, you or someone else needs to ask her how she's doing. \"How've you been lately? You haven't quite seemed yourself. Feel like you're up for talking to someone?\" That shows others have seen a problem without triggering the defensiveness that comes with questioning the mental health of a person whose identity is tied to high intelligence (professor, lawyer, doctor, etc.). It's not the best idea to make guesses about someone's health, let alone tell them your guesses. But it's appropriate to tell them you've seen a change and may want to seek medical or professional advice if they too think it's affecting their work.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6555.0,"score_ratio":1.4324324324} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r6dpf","c_root_id_B":"h2rh41a","created_at_utc_A":1624445486,"created_at_utc_B":1624452968,"score_A":52,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"Can you talk to the department head? I'm not sure if you are in the group or a professor (i.e., sort of subordinate vs an equal colleague?).","human_ref_B":"Sorry for the long answer, but I have been in a similar situation. My graduate advisor was older, and had always been famously difficult to work with. While prickly and not great at communicating, the first few years were managable. During the last two years of my degree, she became unbelievably difficult to work with. She would disappear for weeks at a time and when she resurfaced she would send incoherent emails, she never provided any feedback on research and clearly was not keeping up with the literature, she would miss important deadlines and come up with wild, implausible excuses as to why - a couple of times I went to her house (she lived alone), and I found her front door open, or other things very out of place. Lots of concerning things, and I firmly believe she had dementia. She ended up retiring before I finished my degree (while I was doing my dissertation research abroad, and she didn't even officially tell me) and I finished with her as my chair but as an emeritus professor. No one ever directly addressed her health, but I had multiple meetings with my other committee members and department chair before defending where it was made clear to me that she would not be an obstacle in me finishing my degree. I also had committee members tell me they would step in and write letters of recommendation (it was not *directly* addressed as to why I would need that) and other such offers that made it clear to me that everyone was aware of the situation. I finished up one paper with her after I graduated, but after that I moved on and found more reliable people to work with. At the time it made me absolutely crazy and I could not believe everyone would just let her behave like that, but looking back, I think it was actually handled with a fair amount of grace. She retired (I never got an answer as to whether she was forced to or decided herself she needed to), the department made sure I completed my degree, and my committee helped me get a job. I would suggest you reach out to the other people she works with and discuss the situation without being to explicit before going to any higher ups. Bring evidence of her behavior with you if you do go to the dean, but only show it if it becomes clear that they are unaware of the behavior (I always had the emails\/ texts\/ etc. of her communication with me for meetings with other people, but never needed to show them). Figure out which of her students can finish their research with her minimal envolvement, and who may need to transition research groups. If you can, try to finish up or disentangle all of your own research collaborations with her and then cut ties. Also, if you are in a position, think about her current students and if you can offer to be references for them. It was incredibly valuable for me to have other people to step in and write recommendations when she could\/ would not. Hope this helps!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7482.0,"score_ratio":2.0384615385} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r8fy1","c_root_id_B":"h2rh41a","created_at_utc_A":1624447159,"created_at_utc_B":1624452968,"score_A":39,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"Talk with someone about it, but don't call it dementia. You aren't in a position to make that assessment - it's like armchair diagnosing of any other mental illness. Completely valid to discuss the disruptive behavior, though. Fwiw, I have a collaborator who is a pain to work with who has always been the way you describe this person - more in times when they are very busy - and it's just their personality as far as I know. Rude, imperious, can't be bothered to stay up to date with what's going on with the project, hopelessly ill-informed, doesn't understand any of our research methods. It makes me think they got into academia at a time when standards were much lower, but I wouldn't make the leap to dementia. There are so many issues someone can have.","human_ref_B":"Sorry for the long answer, but I have been in a similar situation. My graduate advisor was older, and had always been famously difficult to work with. While prickly and not great at communicating, the first few years were managable. During the last two years of my degree, she became unbelievably difficult to work with. She would disappear for weeks at a time and when she resurfaced she would send incoherent emails, she never provided any feedback on research and clearly was not keeping up with the literature, she would miss important deadlines and come up with wild, implausible excuses as to why - a couple of times I went to her house (she lived alone), and I found her front door open, or other things very out of place. Lots of concerning things, and I firmly believe she had dementia. She ended up retiring before I finished my degree (while I was doing my dissertation research abroad, and she didn't even officially tell me) and I finished with her as my chair but as an emeritus professor. No one ever directly addressed her health, but I had multiple meetings with my other committee members and department chair before defending where it was made clear to me that she would not be an obstacle in me finishing my degree. I also had committee members tell me they would step in and write letters of recommendation (it was not *directly* addressed as to why I would need that) and other such offers that made it clear to me that everyone was aware of the situation. I finished up one paper with her after I graduated, but after that I moved on and found more reliable people to work with. At the time it made me absolutely crazy and I could not believe everyone would just let her behave like that, but looking back, I think it was actually handled with a fair amount of grace. She retired (I never got an answer as to whether she was forced to or decided herself she needed to), the department made sure I completed my degree, and my committee helped me get a job. I would suggest you reach out to the other people she works with and discuss the situation without being to explicit before going to any higher ups. Bring evidence of her behavior with you if you do go to the dean, but only show it if it becomes clear that they are unaware of the behavior (I always had the emails\/ texts\/ etc. of her communication with me for meetings with other people, but never needed to show them). Figure out which of her students can finish their research with her minimal envolvement, and who may need to transition research groups. If you can, try to finish up or disentangle all of your own research collaborations with her and then cut ties. Also, if you are in a position, think about her current students and if you can offer to be references for them. It was incredibly valuable for me to have other people to step in and write recommendations when she could\/ would not. Hope this helps!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5809.0,"score_ratio":2.7179487179} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r80bh","c_root_id_B":"h2rh41a","created_at_utc_A":1624446812,"created_at_utc_B":1624452968,"score_A":23,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"1. Talk to her as a human being, try to make her feel comfortable and not attacked in a professional space. 2. However, indicate that lots of people have noticed a significant change in behavior. 3. Only approach higher authority if the situation does not change at all or if she completely refuses to acknowledge any misgivings. 4. It might sound silly, but a friend of mine had a similar experience with a boss who has probably alcoholism.","human_ref_B":"Sorry for the long answer, but I have been in a similar situation. My graduate advisor was older, and had always been famously difficult to work with. While prickly and not great at communicating, the first few years were managable. During the last two years of my degree, she became unbelievably difficult to work with. She would disappear for weeks at a time and when she resurfaced she would send incoherent emails, she never provided any feedback on research and clearly was not keeping up with the literature, she would miss important deadlines and come up with wild, implausible excuses as to why - a couple of times I went to her house (she lived alone), and I found her front door open, or other things very out of place. Lots of concerning things, and I firmly believe she had dementia. She ended up retiring before I finished my degree (while I was doing my dissertation research abroad, and she didn't even officially tell me) and I finished with her as my chair but as an emeritus professor. No one ever directly addressed her health, but I had multiple meetings with my other committee members and department chair before defending where it was made clear to me that she would not be an obstacle in me finishing my degree. I also had committee members tell me they would step in and write letters of recommendation (it was not *directly* addressed as to why I would need that) and other such offers that made it clear to me that everyone was aware of the situation. I finished up one paper with her after I graduated, but after that I moved on and found more reliable people to work with. At the time it made me absolutely crazy and I could not believe everyone would just let her behave like that, but looking back, I think it was actually handled with a fair amount of grace. She retired (I never got an answer as to whether she was forced to or decided herself she needed to), the department made sure I completed my degree, and my committee helped me get a job. I would suggest you reach out to the other people she works with and discuss the situation without being to explicit before going to any higher ups. Bring evidence of her behavior with you if you do go to the dean, but only show it if it becomes clear that they are unaware of the behavior (I always had the emails\/ texts\/ etc. of her communication with me for meetings with other people, but never needed to show them). Figure out which of her students can finish their research with her minimal envolvement, and who may need to transition research groups. If you can, try to finish up or disentangle all of your own research collaborations with her and then cut ties. Also, if you are in a position, think about her current students and if you can offer to be references for them. It was incredibly valuable for me to have other people to step in and write recommendations when she could\/ would not. Hope this helps!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6156.0,"score_ratio":4.6086956522} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2rh41a","c_root_id_B":"h2rdhg7","created_at_utc_A":1624452968,"created_at_utc_B":1624450788,"score_A":106,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Sorry for the long answer, but I have been in a similar situation. My graduate advisor was older, and had always been famously difficult to work with. While prickly and not great at communicating, the first few years were managable. During the last two years of my degree, she became unbelievably difficult to work with. She would disappear for weeks at a time and when she resurfaced she would send incoherent emails, she never provided any feedback on research and clearly was not keeping up with the literature, she would miss important deadlines and come up with wild, implausible excuses as to why - a couple of times I went to her house (she lived alone), and I found her front door open, or other things very out of place. Lots of concerning things, and I firmly believe she had dementia. She ended up retiring before I finished my degree (while I was doing my dissertation research abroad, and she didn't even officially tell me) and I finished with her as my chair but as an emeritus professor. No one ever directly addressed her health, but I had multiple meetings with my other committee members and department chair before defending where it was made clear to me that she would not be an obstacle in me finishing my degree. I also had committee members tell me they would step in and write letters of recommendation (it was not *directly* addressed as to why I would need that) and other such offers that made it clear to me that everyone was aware of the situation. I finished up one paper with her after I graduated, but after that I moved on and found more reliable people to work with. At the time it made me absolutely crazy and I could not believe everyone would just let her behave like that, but looking back, I think it was actually handled with a fair amount of grace. She retired (I never got an answer as to whether she was forced to or decided herself she needed to), the department made sure I completed my degree, and my committee helped me get a job. I would suggest you reach out to the other people she works with and discuss the situation without being to explicit before going to any higher ups. Bring evidence of her behavior with you if you do go to the dean, but only show it if it becomes clear that they are unaware of the behavior (I always had the emails\/ texts\/ etc. of her communication with me for meetings with other people, but never needed to show them). Figure out which of her students can finish their research with her minimal envolvement, and who may need to transition research groups. If you can, try to finish up or disentangle all of your own research collaborations with her and then cut ties. Also, if you are in a position, think about her current students and if you can offer to be references for them. It was incredibly valuable for me to have other people to step in and write recommendations when she could\/ would not. Hope this helps!","human_ref_B":"This sounds *exactly* like me at the height of my burnout and situational depression. I was a real monster. I\u2019d frequently use \u2018I don\u2019t understand\u2019 as shorthand for \u2018I am frustrated that this is all f-ed up and also you are 100% to blame for it being f-ed up, not me.\u2019 I have two Harvard degrees yet I\u2019d make the most basic mistakes with grammar and spelling. I sounded like a crazy person in my emails, because I was shooting them off in a rush and really only half paying attention to what I was writing. I was rude to coworkers and employees, and didn\u2019t mince words because my overall attitude was \u2018screw it\u2019 and I couldn\u2019t muster the emotional energy to sugar coat negative feedback. It really doesn\u2019t super matter (from a professional\/academic standpoint) what the reason for the behavior is. It\u2019s unacceptable and needs to be flagged to someone \u2018up the chain.\u2019 I don\u2019t think bringing it up directly with the professor is a good strategy even if it\u2019s a burnout situation.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2180.0,"score_ratio":5.3} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2reco3","c_root_id_B":"h2rh41a","created_at_utc_A":1624451336,"created_at_utc_B":1624452968,"score_A":20,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"my dean had this type of behavior and turns out he was having mini strokes and didn't know it. took a couple of years and a lot of medical interventions to get him back on track. I'd say for sure someone should reach out and talk with her and\/or her family if anyone is close enough.","human_ref_B":"Sorry for the long answer, but I have been in a similar situation. My graduate advisor was older, and had always been famously difficult to work with. While prickly and not great at communicating, the first few years were managable. During the last two years of my degree, she became unbelievably difficult to work with. She would disappear for weeks at a time and when she resurfaced she would send incoherent emails, she never provided any feedback on research and clearly was not keeping up with the literature, she would miss important deadlines and come up with wild, implausible excuses as to why - a couple of times I went to her house (she lived alone), and I found her front door open, or other things very out of place. Lots of concerning things, and I firmly believe she had dementia. She ended up retiring before I finished my degree (while I was doing my dissertation research abroad, and she didn't even officially tell me) and I finished with her as my chair but as an emeritus professor. No one ever directly addressed her health, but I had multiple meetings with my other committee members and department chair before defending where it was made clear to me that she would not be an obstacle in me finishing my degree. I also had committee members tell me they would step in and write letters of recommendation (it was not *directly* addressed as to why I would need that) and other such offers that made it clear to me that everyone was aware of the situation. I finished up one paper with her after I graduated, but after that I moved on and found more reliable people to work with. At the time it made me absolutely crazy and I could not believe everyone would just let her behave like that, but looking back, I think it was actually handled with a fair amount of grace. She retired (I never got an answer as to whether she was forced to or decided herself she needed to), the department made sure I completed my degree, and my committee helped me get a job. I would suggest you reach out to the other people she works with and discuss the situation without being to explicit before going to any higher ups. Bring evidence of her behavior with you if you do go to the dean, but only show it if it becomes clear that they are unaware of the behavior (I always had the emails\/ texts\/ etc. of her communication with me for meetings with other people, but never needed to show them). Figure out which of her students can finish their research with her minimal envolvement, and who may need to transition research groups. If you can, try to finish up or disentangle all of your own research collaborations with her and then cut ties. Also, if you are in a position, think about her current students and if you can offer to be references for them. It was incredibly valuable for me to have other people to step in and write recommendations when she could\/ would not. Hope this helps!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1632.0,"score_ratio":5.3} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r7i8y","c_root_id_B":"h2r7rs3","created_at_utc_A":1624446413,"created_at_utc_B":1624446622,"score_A":74,"score_B":90,"human_ref_A":"Since there's a huge difference between burn out and Alzheimer's but both require help, you or someone else needs to ask her how she's doing. \"How've you been lately? You haven't quite seemed yourself. Feel like you're up for talking to someone?\" That shows others have seen a problem without triggering the defensiveness that comes with questioning the mental health of a person whose identity is tied to high intelligence (professor, lawyer, doctor, etc.). It's not the best idea to make guesses about someone's health, let alone tell them your guesses. But it's appropriate to tell them you've seen a change and may want to seek medical or professional advice if they too think it's affecting their work.","human_ref_B":"Everyone needs to print their emails and present them as evidence to the dept chair and if necessary the dean.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":209.0,"score_ratio":1.2162162162} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r6dpf","c_root_id_B":"h2r7rs3","created_at_utc_A":1624445486,"created_at_utc_B":1624446622,"score_A":52,"score_B":90,"human_ref_A":"Can you talk to the department head? I'm not sure if you are in the group or a professor (i.e., sort of subordinate vs an equal colleague?).","human_ref_B":"Everyone needs to print their emails and present them as evidence to the dept chair and if necessary the dean.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1136.0,"score_ratio":1.7307692308} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r6dpf","c_root_id_B":"h2r7i8y","created_at_utc_A":1624445486,"created_at_utc_B":1624446413,"score_A":52,"score_B":74,"human_ref_A":"Can you talk to the department head? I'm not sure if you are in the group or a professor (i.e., sort of subordinate vs an equal colleague?).","human_ref_B":"Since there's a huge difference between burn out and Alzheimer's but both require help, you or someone else needs to ask her how she's doing. \"How've you been lately? You haven't quite seemed yourself. Feel like you're up for talking to someone?\" That shows others have seen a problem without triggering the defensiveness that comes with questioning the mental health of a person whose identity is tied to high intelligence (professor, lawyer, doctor, etc.). It's not the best idea to make guesses about someone's health, let alone tell them your guesses. But it's appropriate to tell them you've seen a change and may want to seek medical or professional advice if they too think it's affecting their work.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":927.0,"score_ratio":1.4230769231} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2r80bh","c_root_id_B":"h2r8fy1","created_at_utc_A":1624446812,"created_at_utc_B":1624447159,"score_A":23,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"1. Talk to her as a human being, try to make her feel comfortable and not attacked in a professional space. 2. However, indicate that lots of people have noticed a significant change in behavior. 3. Only approach higher authority if the situation does not change at all or if she completely refuses to acknowledge any misgivings. 4. It might sound silly, but a friend of mine had a similar experience with a boss who has probably alcoholism.","human_ref_B":"Talk with someone about it, but don't call it dementia. You aren't in a position to make that assessment - it's like armchair diagnosing of any other mental illness. Completely valid to discuss the disruptive behavior, though. Fwiw, I have a collaborator who is a pain to work with who has always been the way you describe this person - more in times when they are very busy - and it's just their personality as far as I know. Rude, imperious, can't be bothered to stay up to date with what's going on with the project, hopelessly ill-informed, doesn't understand any of our research methods. It makes me think they got into academia at a time when standards were much lower, but I wouldn't make the leap to dementia. There are so many issues someone can have.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":347.0,"score_ratio":1.6956521739} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2rj5a4","c_root_id_B":"h2rkoqr","created_at_utc_A":1624454108,"created_at_utc_B":1624454926,"score_A":4,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I had professor resembling these same tendencies, she was renowned and highly regarded due to multiple patents she worked on with Motorola throughout the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s. But it was said shortly after her divorce, that\u2019s when things started to degrade in her performance. As students we witnessed her verbally abuse other students in the classroom, calling them a disruption, etc. when they were actually quiet. We took the direction of talking with the Deans of the Engineering college we attended, and 1 Dean said often she isn\u2019t what she used to be. She later couldn\u2019t perform lectures anymore and other professors took over her classes at the beginning of the next semester. It was said, because she seemed like a nice woman and awesome professional. Many other students had great things to say about her from years past. We weren\u2019t as fortunate to have that version of her. I hope she\u2019s well now, where ever she is.","human_ref_B":"A friend had a coworker go through something similar - onset of unintelligible emails, unable to string sentences together or keep track of things, etc. turns out she has a massive brain tumor. My point is you don\u2019t know what is going on with her so be careful about saying dementia or burnout. Obviously your career and your work is important, but your PI could be in a really bad place medically or even just emotionally. Your work will survive this, so try to figure out the best way to get the PI help.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":818.0,"score_ratio":3.25} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2rj5a4","c_root_id_B":"h2rks7p","created_at_utc_A":1624454108,"created_at_utc_B":1624454975,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I had professor resembling these same tendencies, she was renowned and highly regarded due to multiple patents she worked on with Motorola throughout the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s. But it was said shortly after her divorce, that\u2019s when things started to degrade in her performance. As students we witnessed her verbally abuse other students in the classroom, calling them a disruption, etc. when they were actually quiet. We took the direction of talking with the Deans of the Engineering college we attended, and 1 Dean said often she isn\u2019t what she used to be. She later couldn\u2019t perform lectures anymore and other professors took over her classes at the beginning of the next semester. It was said, because she seemed like a nice woman and awesome professional. Many other students had great things to say about her from years past. We weren\u2019t as fortunate to have that version of her. I hope she\u2019s well now, where ever she is.","human_ref_B":"There\u2019s a lot of good advice here, but slightly tangentially\u2014why is there not an age limit for tenured professors? Many faculty receive huge salaries (the equivalent of several young assistant professors), massive office spaces they never use, and all the other privileges of professorship at age 80+ and at the same time don\u2019t advise or advise students poorly, don\u2019t teach or teach poorly, etc. It\u2019s ridiculous IMO.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":867.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2rvi9s","c_root_id_B":"h2rj5a4","created_at_utc_A":1624460228,"created_at_utc_B":1624454108,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"When I was a freshman in college, I had a freshman seminar with an older professor. He was meant to become my academic advisor, so this was a serious relationship, in a class of 12, seated at a round table. But his class was at 8am and I missed it 8 times in a row- almost three full weeks. I went in desperate to salvage whatever I could of my grade- I took my place at the table and he was discussing our \u201cresearch papers\u201d, which we had apparently been asked to have an idea for, ready to be approved that day. He looked right at me and said \u201cI had suggested that you might want to do something on entrepreneurship in Meiji Japan, but you didn\u2019t seem to pick up on my suggestion\u201d- and I realized that he DIDN\u2019T KNOW that I\u2019d been absent. So I quickly agreed that that was indeed the topic I had chosen, and he was very pleased. A few weeks later, he passed out a \u201cstudy guide\u201d fir the final. We all studied together. The. We got the actual exam. IT WAS THE EXACT SAME PAPER. I got an A+ in that class and everyone else failed the final and got a D, because \u201cIt SEEMS like some of you worked together!\u201d When I tried to get my schedule signed fir the spring semester, there was a note on the door. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Everyone got a B, except for me. I retained my A+.","human_ref_B":"I had professor resembling these same tendencies, she was renowned and highly regarded due to multiple patents she worked on with Motorola throughout the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s. But it was said shortly after her divorce, that\u2019s when things started to degrade in her performance. As students we witnessed her verbally abuse other students in the classroom, calling them a disruption, etc. when they were actually quiet. We took the direction of talking with the Deans of the Engineering college we attended, and 1 Dean said often she isn\u2019t what she used to be. She later couldn\u2019t perform lectures anymore and other professors took over her classes at the beginning of the next semester. It was said, because she seemed like a nice woman and awesome professional. Many other students had great things to say about her from years past. We weren\u2019t as fortunate to have that version of her. I hope she\u2019s well now, where ever she is.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6120.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2rpg5k","c_root_id_B":"h2rvi9s","created_at_utc_A":1624457332,"created_at_utc_B":1624460228,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I had a similar situation. I actually took three courses from this professor over the years, in the final course a handful of the same students were in all three courses with me. The whole class would talk about the professor, who was ~75 years old, generally being a bit off, and those who'd had the professor in the past corroborated that they didn't use to be like this. Lectures were disjointed at best and sometimes completely nonsensical. Blatant grading errors. Misplaced tests, essays, etc. Eventually we spoke to the dean of academic affairs who I was close with after she helped me resolve an issue with another professor. They ended up \"retiring\" at the end of the semester.","human_ref_B":"When I was a freshman in college, I had a freshman seminar with an older professor. He was meant to become my academic advisor, so this was a serious relationship, in a class of 12, seated at a round table. But his class was at 8am and I missed it 8 times in a row- almost three full weeks. I went in desperate to salvage whatever I could of my grade- I took my place at the table and he was discussing our \u201cresearch papers\u201d, which we had apparently been asked to have an idea for, ready to be approved that day. He looked right at me and said \u201cI had suggested that you might want to do something on entrepreneurship in Meiji Japan, but you didn\u2019t seem to pick up on my suggestion\u201d- and I realized that he DIDN\u2019T KNOW that I\u2019d been absent. So I quickly agreed that that was indeed the topic I had chosen, and he was very pleased. A few weeks later, he passed out a \u201cstudy guide\u201d fir the final. We all studied together. The. We got the actual exam. IT WAS THE EXACT SAME PAPER. I got an A+ in that class and everyone else failed the final and got a D, because \u201cIt SEEMS like some of you worked together!\u201d When I tried to get my schedule signed fir the spring semester, there was a note on the door. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Everyone got a B, except for me. I retained my A+.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2896.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2sidgj","c_root_id_B":"h2rpg5k","created_at_utc_A":1624470126,"created_at_utc_B":1624457332,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Just a note to say that if this erratic behaviour has come on only recently, it likely is not dementia, which develops much more slowly. Nevertheless, I do think you should first bring this up with any peer colleague who is close to her, or any other person who might have insight into her personal life before making any kind of official complaint. She may well be somewhat overwhelmed by events or circumstances that have little to do with work *per se*, or dementia.","human_ref_B":"I had a similar situation. I actually took three courses from this professor over the years, in the final course a handful of the same students were in all three courses with me. The whole class would talk about the professor, who was ~75 years old, generally being a bit off, and those who'd had the professor in the past corroborated that they didn't use to be like this. Lectures were disjointed at best and sometimes completely nonsensical. Blatant grading errors. Misplaced tests, essays, etc. Eventually we spoke to the dean of academic affairs who I was close with after she helped me resolve an issue with another professor. They ended up \"retiring\" at the end of the semester.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12794.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2s9guj","c_root_id_B":"h2sidgj","created_at_utc_A":1624466414,"created_at_utc_B":1624470126,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I've seen this kind of thing multiple times. Dementia or chronic illnesses basically making it impossible for a professor to do their job properly. It can go on for years if not too bad. Ultimately, you need to get a department chair, or the next person up the chain (probably a Dean of the school, Provost, etc), on your side to deal with the issue. If it is what you fear (serious, irreversible dementia) then they can try to get them to retire. If they can't get them to retire, then they can start taking away things like leadership positions, access to graduate students and even lab space. If federal grants are involved, then they could potentially be removed as PI or co-PI because the grants technically go to the institution. These things take time, so you would need to find someone on your side with power.","human_ref_B":"Just a note to say that if this erratic behaviour has come on only recently, it likely is not dementia, which develops much more slowly. Nevertheless, I do think you should first bring this up with any peer colleague who is close to her, or any other person who might have insight into her personal life before making any kind of official complaint. She may well be somewhat overwhelmed by events or circumstances that have little to do with work *per se*, or dementia.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3712.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2ucql7","c_root_id_B":"h2rpg5k","created_at_utc_A":1624502543,"created_at_utc_B":1624457332,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm an academic, and I've seen similar situations. Academia is not like the business world, in which loss of competence is recognized by various co-workers, including some who are not afraid to address such issues because of impact on the business. In academia, people tend to work longer before they retire and senior, tenured professors are given a lot of independence. Students are probably much more familiar with the competence of faculty members than are their faculty peers, who may only interact closely in occasional meetings. I've seen professors with serious behavioral issues do egregious things yet continuing working for years because no one wanted to intervene. It can be very difficult to motivate a department chair or dean to address problems like this, or even to alert the family. Even if they want to resolve the issue, it can be a long and complicated process. Recently at my university a professor was discovered to have had serial affairs with grad students, but it took almost 3 years to remove them from the department. This one reason why you must alert this woman's chair, and\/or dean, and encourage others to join you. It may take a protracted process to see any results. Also, it sounds as though this person may have a serious issue that needs to be addressed-and you can't rely on others to alert people.","human_ref_B":"I had a similar situation. I actually took three courses from this professor over the years, in the final course a handful of the same students were in all three courses with me. The whole class would talk about the professor, who was ~75 years old, generally being a bit off, and those who'd had the professor in the past corroborated that they didn't use to be like this. Lectures were disjointed at best and sometimes completely nonsensical. Blatant grading errors. Misplaced tests, essays, etc. Eventually we spoke to the dean of academic affairs who I was close with after she helped me resolve an issue with another professor. They ended up \"retiring\" at the end of the semester.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":45211.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2ucql7","c_root_id_B":"h2s9guj","created_at_utc_A":1624502543,"created_at_utc_B":1624466414,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm an academic, and I've seen similar situations. Academia is not like the business world, in which loss of competence is recognized by various co-workers, including some who are not afraid to address such issues because of impact on the business. In academia, people tend to work longer before they retire and senior, tenured professors are given a lot of independence. Students are probably much more familiar with the competence of faculty members than are their faculty peers, who may only interact closely in occasional meetings. I've seen professors with serious behavioral issues do egregious things yet continuing working for years because no one wanted to intervene. It can be very difficult to motivate a department chair or dean to address problems like this, or even to alert the family. Even if they want to resolve the issue, it can be a long and complicated process. Recently at my university a professor was discovered to have had serial affairs with grad students, but it took almost 3 years to remove them from the department. This one reason why you must alert this woman's chair, and\/or dean, and encourage others to join you. It may take a protracted process to see any results. Also, it sounds as though this person may have a serious issue that needs to be addressed-and you can't rely on others to alert people.","human_ref_B":"I've seen this kind of thing multiple times. Dementia or chronic illnesses basically making it impossible for a professor to do their job properly. It can go on for years if not too bad. Ultimately, you need to get a department chair, or the next person up the chain (probably a Dean of the school, Provost, etc), on your side to deal with the issue. If it is what you fear (serious, irreversible dementia) then they can try to get them to retire. If they can't get them to retire, then they can start taking away things like leadership positions, access to graduate students and even lab space. If federal grants are involved, then they could potentially be removed as PI or co-PI because the grants technically go to the institution. These things take time, so you would need to find someone on your side with power.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":36129.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2ucql7","c_root_id_B":"h2t13tb","created_at_utc_A":1624502543,"created_at_utc_B":1624478638,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm an academic, and I've seen similar situations. Academia is not like the business world, in which loss of competence is recognized by various co-workers, including some who are not afraid to address such issues because of impact on the business. In academia, people tend to work longer before they retire and senior, tenured professors are given a lot of independence. Students are probably much more familiar with the competence of faculty members than are their faculty peers, who may only interact closely in occasional meetings. I've seen professors with serious behavioral issues do egregious things yet continuing working for years because no one wanted to intervene. It can be very difficult to motivate a department chair or dean to address problems like this, or even to alert the family. Even if they want to resolve the issue, it can be a long and complicated process. Recently at my university a professor was discovered to have had serial affairs with grad students, but it took almost 3 years to remove them from the department. This one reason why you must alert this woman's chair, and\/or dean, and encourage others to join you. It may take a protracted process to see any results. Also, it sounds as though this person may have a serious issue that needs to be addressed-and you can't rely on others to alert people.","human_ref_B":"How would her specialization affect her diagnosis? You think that studying Alzheimer\u2019s increases your risk of dementia?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23905.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"o69fk7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Professor is either developing dementia or burnt out... An older professor in our group has always had a very rude character but lately she's been super weird. I've cc'd her in an email to a collaborator about a data transfer and she replied: \"why are you asking him how to handle him the data?? I don't understand!! Didn't I tell you to handle him the data?\". When I asked her what I should present to an online meeting that was about to happen in 6 days she organized she replied \"what on earth are you talking about?\". She had no idea there was a meeting... I talked to the people she's the PI of and they're desperate. In the last 6 months she's been constantly sending them incoherent emails with contradictory request, if the text even made sense at all. She refuses face to face meetings (both her and her staff have been fully vaccinated for more than 4 months). They've also told me that... In most of these rambling emails she keeps writing \"I don't understand\". A sentence she hasn't ever used before. And all of this of course results in huge delays in all of the projects. She's probably got some huge issues... We seriously suspect dementia (she's the PI of a team that studies Alzheimer's disease) or maybe just a burnout due to pandemic stress... And... How do we tactfully deal with this? What exactly can be done about this?","c_root_id_A":"h2ucql7","c_root_id_B":"h2txo3q","created_at_utc_A":1624502543,"created_at_utc_B":1624494539,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm an academic, and I've seen similar situations. Academia is not like the business world, in which loss of competence is recognized by various co-workers, including some who are not afraid to address such issues because of impact on the business. In academia, people tend to work longer before they retire and senior, tenured professors are given a lot of independence. Students are probably much more familiar with the competence of faculty members than are their faculty peers, who may only interact closely in occasional meetings. I've seen professors with serious behavioral issues do egregious things yet continuing working for years because no one wanted to intervene. It can be very difficult to motivate a department chair or dean to address problems like this, or even to alert the family. Even if they want to resolve the issue, it can be a long and complicated process. Recently at my university a professor was discovered to have had serial affairs with grad students, but it took almost 3 years to remove them from the department. This one reason why you must alert this woman's chair, and\/or dean, and encourage others to join you. It may take a protracted process to see any results. Also, it sounds as though this person may have a serious issue that needs to be addressed-and you can't rely on others to alert people.","human_ref_B":"You and some people from her lab need to talk to the department head about 3 months ago and explain all of what's going on, with examples of e-mails, and show that this is coming from a place of genuine concern.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8004.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6x6mf","c_root_id_B":"gs74b98","created_at_utc_A":1616692027,"created_at_utc_B":1616694951,"score_A":17,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"My depression has significantly reduced for the past 5 years. BUT my anxiety disorder has become worse by day. Its like it replaces the void left by my depression lol, and it really tempers my daily life far more worse that depression back then. This is in fact getting more serious to the point that I thibk id rather have depression than this anxiety. Anyhoo, gudluck with your life. We all have that same inner demon wearing a different mask","human_ref_B":"I've believe that everyone in graduate school goes through an existential crisis, so you should take comfort in knowing that you are in good company. The advice that I am going to give you is different that the other advice given here, in that you should maximize your opportunities and defer the decision of whether or not you want to continue in academia at a different time and focus on the now. It seems like you've already accomplished most of what is needed to just get your degree, and I don't think dropping out now or \"leaving on a high note\" is a good option. For all intents and purposes, you're near the end of a marathon and you should just power through and finish it. When you get your degree, then you can evaluate whether or not you should continue through with academia or pursue an industry job. Focus on getting your degree, yes it seems daunting but you're almost there. Finally, on a personal note, like you, I feel that I am too soft sometimes, but if anything that has strengthened my resolve to go into academia (because if there is one thing academia needs more of, it is humanity).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2924.0,"score_ratio":1.1764705882} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs74b98","c_root_id_B":"gs6wyk6","created_at_utc_A":1616694951,"created_at_utc_B":1616691935,"score_A":20,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I've believe that everyone in graduate school goes through an existential crisis, so you should take comfort in knowing that you are in good company. The advice that I am going to give you is different that the other advice given here, in that you should maximize your opportunities and defer the decision of whether or not you want to continue in academia at a different time and focus on the now. It seems like you've already accomplished most of what is needed to just get your degree, and I don't think dropping out now or \"leaving on a high note\" is a good option. For all intents and purposes, you're near the end of a marathon and you should just power through and finish it. When you get your degree, then you can evaluate whether or not you should continue through with academia or pursue an industry job. Focus on getting your degree, yes it seems daunting but you're almost there. Finally, on a personal note, like you, I feel that I am too soft sometimes, but if anything that has strengthened my resolve to go into academia (because if there is one thing academia needs more of, it is humanity).","human_ref_B":"My heart hurts for you with the distress you've been experiencing. I've had my own episodes dealing with anxiety and depression in academia, and without a doubt, the two things that have helped me come out of some really low points are medication and therapy. I agree with another poster here- depression really alters your perspective! I was so hyper-focused on little things and overthinking it all that I also found it very difficult to function, be productive, but most importantly, be happy. A therapist helped by just listening to what I was feeling without judgment, then helped me to peel back those layers to get to the roots of the issues. The most important piece of advice was to take time for myself. Having a few days where I could truly detach from academia was transformative. It sounds like you're really burnt out too and definitely in need of a break!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3016.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6xanb","c_root_id_B":"gs74b98","created_at_utc_A":1616692072,"created_at_utc_B":1616694951,"score_A":6,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Samesies. I've recently found out working out gives me just enough willpower to do actual work though (e.g. I will go cycling for 1hr which makes me kinda happy and then ride that wave of positiveness into doing actual work). Not sure whether you've found the physical activity that just boosts your mood, but maybe try looking for one? (I want to point out that for me, it doesn't work out with any activity though - running makes me sad and depressed, whereas cycling just hits that sweet spot).","human_ref_B":"I've believe that everyone in graduate school goes through an existential crisis, so you should take comfort in knowing that you are in good company. The advice that I am going to give you is different that the other advice given here, in that you should maximize your opportunities and defer the decision of whether or not you want to continue in academia at a different time and focus on the now. It seems like you've already accomplished most of what is needed to just get your degree, and I don't think dropping out now or \"leaving on a high note\" is a good option. For all intents and purposes, you're near the end of a marathon and you should just power through and finish it. When you get your degree, then you can evaluate whether or not you should continue through with academia or pursue an industry job. Focus on getting your degree, yes it seems daunting but you're almost there. Finally, on a personal note, like you, I feel that I am too soft sometimes, but if anything that has strengthened my resolve to go into academia (because if there is one thing academia needs more of, it is humanity).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2879.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6yqbi","c_root_id_B":"gs74b98","created_at_utc_A":1616692651,"created_at_utc_B":1616694951,"score_A":4,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Just get a regular software development job, people are nicer and you get paid more","human_ref_B":"I've believe that everyone in graduate school goes through an existential crisis, so you should take comfort in knowing that you are in good company. The advice that I am going to give you is different that the other advice given here, in that you should maximize your opportunities and defer the decision of whether or not you want to continue in academia at a different time and focus on the now. It seems like you've already accomplished most of what is needed to just get your degree, and I don't think dropping out now or \"leaving on a high note\" is a good option. For all intents and purposes, you're near the end of a marathon and you should just power through and finish it. When you get your degree, then you can evaluate whether or not you should continue through with academia or pursue an industry job. Focus on getting your degree, yes it seems daunting but you're almost there. Finally, on a personal note, like you, I feel that I am too soft sometimes, but if anything that has strengthened my resolve to go into academia (because if there is one thing academia needs more of, it is humanity).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2300.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6v69b","c_root_id_B":"gs74b98","created_at_utc_A":1616691218,"created_at_utc_B":1616694951,"score_A":3,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","human_ref_B":"I've believe that everyone in graduate school goes through an existential crisis, so you should take comfort in knowing that you are in good company. The advice that I am going to give you is different that the other advice given here, in that you should maximize your opportunities and defer the decision of whether or not you want to continue in academia at a different time and focus on the now. It seems like you've already accomplished most of what is needed to just get your degree, and I don't think dropping out now or \"leaving on a high note\" is a good option. For all intents and purposes, you're near the end of a marathon and you should just power through and finish it. When you get your degree, then you can evaluate whether or not you should continue through with academia or pursue an industry job. Focus on getting your degree, yes it seems daunting but you're almost there. Finally, on a personal note, like you, I feel that I am too soft sometimes, but if anything that has strengthened my resolve to go into academia (because if there is one thing academia needs more of, it is humanity).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3733.0,"score_ratio":6.6666666667} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6wyk6","c_root_id_B":"gs6x6mf","created_at_utc_A":1616691935,"created_at_utc_B":1616692027,"score_A":14,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"My heart hurts for you with the distress you've been experiencing. I've had my own episodes dealing with anxiety and depression in academia, and without a doubt, the two things that have helped me come out of some really low points are medication and therapy. I agree with another poster here- depression really alters your perspective! I was so hyper-focused on little things and overthinking it all that I also found it very difficult to function, be productive, but most importantly, be happy. A therapist helped by just listening to what I was feeling without judgment, then helped me to peel back those layers to get to the roots of the issues. The most important piece of advice was to take time for myself. Having a few days where I could truly detach from academia was transformative. It sounds like you're really burnt out too and definitely in need of a break!","human_ref_B":"My depression has significantly reduced for the past 5 years. BUT my anxiety disorder has become worse by day. Its like it replaces the void left by my depression lol, and it really tempers my daily life far more worse that depression back then. This is in fact getting more serious to the point that I thibk id rather have depression than this anxiety. Anyhoo, gudluck with your life. We all have that same inner demon wearing a different mask","labels":0,"seconds_difference":92.0,"score_ratio":1.2142857143} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6x6mf","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616692027,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":17,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"My depression has significantly reduced for the past 5 years. BUT my anxiety disorder has become worse by day. Its like it replaces the void left by my depression lol, and it really tempers my daily life far more worse that depression back then. This is in fact getting more serious to the point that I thibk id rather have depression than this anxiety. Anyhoo, gudluck with your life. We all have that same inner demon wearing a different mask","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":809.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6v69b","c_root_id_B":"gs6wyk6","created_at_utc_A":1616691218,"created_at_utc_B":1616691935,"score_A":3,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","human_ref_B":"My heart hurts for you with the distress you've been experiencing. I've had my own episodes dealing with anxiety and depression in academia, and without a doubt, the two things that have helped me come out of some really low points are medication and therapy. I agree with another poster here- depression really alters your perspective! I was so hyper-focused on little things and overthinking it all that I also found it very difficult to function, be productive, but most importantly, be happy. A therapist helped by just listening to what I was feeling without judgment, then helped me to peel back those layers to get to the roots of the issues. The most important piece of advice was to take time for myself. Having a few days where I could truly detach from academia was transformative. It sounds like you're really burnt out too and definitely in need of a break!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":717.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ajbk","c_root_id_B":"gs6xanb","created_at_utc_A":1616697543,"created_at_utc_B":1616692072,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I started an antidepressant, bupropion, back in November. It was for another reason but, a few months on, I've never been more productive or optimistic about my research. I've spent the last decade working on lifestyle modifications to help my depression and thought I had some stability with them. I just figured i was one of those unhappy people. Turns out it was my neurotransmitters. I'm not saying that medication is right for everyone but I can't tell you how nice it is to realize that I'm actually capable of this PhD and also it doesn't have to feel like death the whole time. ETA: Finding the right medication is definitely worth it. Work with your doc - the wrong or inconsistent medication could make things worse. <3","human_ref_B":"Samesies. I've recently found out working out gives me just enough willpower to do actual work though (e.g. I will go cycling for 1hr which makes me kinda happy and then ride that wave of positiveness into doing actual work). Not sure whether you've found the physical activity that just boosts your mood, but maybe try looking for one? (I want to point out that for me, it doesn't work out with any activity though - running makes me sad and depressed, whereas cycling just hits that sweet spot).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5471.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6yqbi","c_root_id_B":"gs7ajbk","created_at_utc_A":1616692651,"created_at_utc_B":1616697543,"score_A":4,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Just get a regular software development job, people are nicer and you get paid more","human_ref_B":"I started an antidepressant, bupropion, back in November. It was for another reason but, a few months on, I've never been more productive or optimistic about my research. I've spent the last decade working on lifestyle modifications to help my depression and thought I had some stability with them. I just figured i was one of those unhappy people. Turns out it was my neurotransmitters. I'm not saying that medication is right for everyone but I can't tell you how nice it is to realize that I'm actually capable of this PhD and also it doesn't have to feel like death the whole time. ETA: Finding the right medication is definitely worth it. Work with your doc - the wrong or inconsistent medication could make things worse. <3","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4892.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ajbk","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616697543,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I started an antidepressant, bupropion, back in November. It was for another reason but, a few months on, I've never been more productive or optimistic about my research. I've spent the last decade working on lifestyle modifications to help my depression and thought I had some stability with them. I just figured i was one of those unhappy people. Turns out it was my neurotransmitters. I'm not saying that medication is right for everyone but I can't tell you how nice it is to realize that I'm actually capable of this PhD and also it doesn't have to feel like death the whole time. ETA: Finding the right medication is definitely worth it. Work with your doc - the wrong or inconsistent medication could make things worse. <3","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6325.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ajbk","c_root_id_B":"gs7ahkr","created_at_utc_A":1616697543,"created_at_utc_B":1616697523,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I started an antidepressant, bupropion, back in November. It was for another reason but, a few months on, I've never been more productive or optimistic about my research. I've spent the last decade working on lifestyle modifications to help my depression and thought I had some stability with them. I just figured i was one of those unhappy people. Turns out it was my neurotransmitters. I'm not saying that medication is right for everyone but I can't tell you how nice it is to realize that I'm actually capable of this PhD and also it doesn't have to feel like death the whole time. ETA: Finding the right medication is definitely worth it. Work with your doc - the wrong or inconsistent medication could make things worse. <3","human_ref_B":"Seems to me you love Academia and the problem is not you neither is it your job, it\u2019s just a postponed feeling that cannot be hidden anymore hence hitting you all at once. My suggestion is take some time off and focus on yourself. Travel, go somewhere and try to connect with life and nature. It\u2019s good you\u2019ve realized and acknowledged that you are not feeling right. You need to get a hold of yourself before you can love what you love and enjoy it more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs762fv","c_root_id_B":"gs7ajbk","created_at_utc_A":1616695680,"created_at_utc_B":1616697543,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I would be careful in acting on the thoughts you have now, as what you're saying sounds very irrational. No doubt this is caused by the flux of negative emotions you're experiencing right now. First off, it's very unfortunate that your girlfriend wants to break up with you. While I haven't ever been in a relationship I wouldn't interpret this as being a result of your choices to pursue academics. It's far more likely that your girlfriend has been falling out of love with you. Even if it is because of the reasons she stated (you and her moving in different directions), are you absolutely sure that you care enough for her to forsake your academic prospects for her? Putting that aside, you seem to have a very negative self-view. You're claiming that you might be too soft for the academic world, but the idea that you need to be tough to survive in academia seems ludicrous to me. Sure you need to work hard and have perseverance, but I can assure you that this will be expected from you in whatever career path you take. Since you've been depressed for most of your life, I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a therapist? If not I can suggest giving it a try. You're in a precarious position so I would advise against making hasty decisions. I would urge you to try and combat this negative outlook on life, as difficult as it may be. You are allowed to feel sad, but expecting the worst, undervaluing your own skills, worrying about the future, and whether you'll be happy are undermining your ability to deal with adversity. They instead serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You need to learn to take care of yourself by being more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself, by accepting the uncertainties in your life for what they are without worrying about them too much. Finally, several of the problems you cite seem to be in your head. Depression is a silent killer, all the more so when you have all these negative thoughts to deal with. Regardless of what you're going through, regardless of how you feel, you can only focus on the things which you have control over in this moment. Worrying about happiness is understandable, but ultimately meaningless. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. There are no certainties regarding the outcome of your endeavors. There are also no certainties on whether you're skilled enough. All you can do is learn to trust your own skills and judgment. Even if you graduate, you might not be able to enter the academic world. I would nevertheless encourage you not to quit. That degree has more than one use to it. As for how you're feeling right now, if you have someone you can reach out to, do so. Talk to them. Express your feelings. Maybe you have the opportunity to take a break?","human_ref_B":"I started an antidepressant, bupropion, back in November. It was for another reason but, a few months on, I've never been more productive or optimistic about my research. I've spent the last decade working on lifestyle modifications to help my depression and thought I had some stability with them. I just figured i was one of those unhappy people. Turns out it was my neurotransmitters. I'm not saying that medication is right for everyone but I can't tell you how nice it is to realize that I'm actually capable of this PhD and also it doesn't have to feel like death the whole time. ETA: Finding the right medication is definitely worth it. Work with your doc - the wrong or inconsistent medication could make things worse. <3","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1863.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6xanb","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616692072,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Samesies. I've recently found out working out gives me just enough willpower to do actual work though (e.g. I will go cycling for 1hr which makes me kinda happy and then ride that wave of positiveness into doing actual work). Not sure whether you've found the physical activity that just boosts your mood, but maybe try looking for one? (I want to point out that for me, it doesn't work out with any activity though - running makes me sad and depressed, whereas cycling just hits that sweet spot).","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":854.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6yqbi","c_root_id_B":"gs7q9ax","created_at_utc_A":1616692651,"created_at_utc_B":1616704020,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Just get a regular software development job, people are nicer and you get paid more","human_ref_B":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11369.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs6yqbi","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616692651,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Just get a regular software development job, people are nicer and you get paid more","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1433.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7q9ax","c_root_id_B":"gs7d1be","created_at_utc_A":1616704020,"created_at_utc_B":1616698569,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","human_ref_B":"What I have to do when my depression causes me to feel like work is a chore, is take a step back. Look back at when it all started. The feelings of excitement and joy. Even the stress and obstacles you faced to get to where you are in your career. Remind yourself of the pride you once took in it. Focus on those feelings. Figure out why you wanted to take this direction in life in the first place and where you thought you\u2019d go at the beginning. If you want to pursue a different job in your field, then do it. It is YOUR life. You\u2019re happiness matters. YOU matter. Who have you helped in your career? Who have you inspired? Who has inspired you? Look for the purpose you have and you\u2019ve served. What has been your motivation throughout your career?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5451.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ikl6","c_root_id_B":"gs7q9ax","created_at_utc_A":1616700795,"created_at_utc_B":1616704020,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"There's a lot of really good advice here, but I just want to say---I am worried about you when you talk about \"just leaving.\" I hope you're talking about academia, but if you're talking about life, if you want to be dead...please get help. Depression may be a never-ending battle, but it can improve and be managed. The light at the end of the tunnel is not just there or not there...it can be fostered and grown. Du courage, and take care.","human_ref_B":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3225.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7q9ax","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616704020,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12802.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ahkr","c_root_id_B":"gs7q9ax","created_at_utc_A":1616697523,"created_at_utc_B":1616704020,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Seems to me you love Academia and the problem is not you neither is it your job, it\u2019s just a postponed feeling that cannot be hidden anymore hence hitting you all at once. My suggestion is take some time off and focus on yourself. Travel, go somewhere and try to connect with life and nature. It\u2019s good you\u2019ve realized and acknowledged that you are not feeling right. You need to get a hold of yourself before you can love what you love and enjoy it more.","human_ref_B":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6497.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7q9ax","c_root_id_B":"gs762fv","created_at_utc_A":1616704020,"created_at_utc_B":1616695680,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","human_ref_B":"I would be careful in acting on the thoughts you have now, as what you're saying sounds very irrational. No doubt this is caused by the flux of negative emotions you're experiencing right now. First off, it's very unfortunate that your girlfriend wants to break up with you. While I haven't ever been in a relationship I wouldn't interpret this as being a result of your choices to pursue academics. It's far more likely that your girlfriend has been falling out of love with you. Even if it is because of the reasons she stated (you and her moving in different directions), are you absolutely sure that you care enough for her to forsake your academic prospects for her? Putting that aside, you seem to have a very negative self-view. You're claiming that you might be too soft for the academic world, but the idea that you need to be tough to survive in academia seems ludicrous to me. Sure you need to work hard and have perseverance, but I can assure you that this will be expected from you in whatever career path you take. Since you've been depressed for most of your life, I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a therapist? If not I can suggest giving it a try. You're in a precarious position so I would advise against making hasty decisions. I would urge you to try and combat this negative outlook on life, as difficult as it may be. You are allowed to feel sad, but expecting the worst, undervaluing your own skills, worrying about the future, and whether you'll be happy are undermining your ability to deal with adversity. They instead serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You need to learn to take care of yourself by being more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself, by accepting the uncertainties in your life for what they are without worrying about them too much. Finally, several of the problems you cite seem to be in your head. Depression is a silent killer, all the more so when you have all these negative thoughts to deal with. Regardless of what you're going through, regardless of how you feel, you can only focus on the things which you have control over in this moment. Worrying about happiness is understandable, but ultimately meaningless. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. There are no certainties regarding the outcome of your endeavors. There are also no certainties on whether you're skilled enough. All you can do is learn to trust your own skills and judgment. Even if you graduate, you might not be able to enter the academic world. I would nevertheless encourage you not to quit. That degree has more than one use to it. As for how you're feeling right now, if you have someone you can reach out to, do so. Talk to them. Express your feelings. Maybe you have the opportunity to take a break?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8340.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7q9ax","c_root_id_B":"gs7eh4l","created_at_utc_A":1616704020,"created_at_utc_B":1616699141,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","human_ref_B":"So I just took a extended medical leave of absence to get a hang of my depression and anxiety after my postdoc advisor did some shit that really triggered me with some negligent and abusive things I went through in grad school. It is the best decision I have ever made and I suggest it to everyone who may be struggling. Take some time off; meet with your therapist to come up with a recovery plan (for instance I became so wrapped up in science I lost myself and am reconnecting with hobbies and what gives me meaning); and if you aren\u2019t on meds, talk to a psych. I was also nervous about that but found a medication that worked and had no side effects for me so far besides slight stomach ache if I don\u2019t eat. You may decide during this time that you do like academia and just needed time to collect yourself and heal. You may decide, like me, that academia and the culture isn\u2019t for you and you wanna move into industry. But I promise you can\u2019t keep going like this even if you think you can. You\u2019ll burn out even more and be worse off.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4879.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7q9ax","c_root_id_B":"gs7q686","created_at_utc_A":1616704020,"created_at_utc_B":1616703983,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I feel like I could\u2019ve written your post. My solution was to throw my resume to the wind and see where it sticks. Turns out the only industry jobs I get interviews for are at the scientist\/senior scientist level where I\u2019d spend my days programming and analyzing data. It is awful in the sense that I know I don\u2019t want a job where I\u2019m programming all day. This has been awesome in the sense that some of these multinational companies really want people with our skills. And they\u2019re willing to pay. Think bonuses that will pay off your student loans in 2-3 years. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d be programming forever. Within 2-5 years you\u2019d likely transition to more leadership roles. Who knows. It pays to talk to these people to see what they have to offer. This way if we go full steam ahead with academia at least we\u2019ll know what we\u2019ve walked away from. I\u2019d suggest you apply to some jobs. It\u2019s a huge confidence boost to see the response from these companies. And you\u2019ll gain clarity about your goals by talking about yourself, your work, and hour goals.","human_ref_B":"Mix that with arthritis and it feels like you are dead all the time","labels":1,"seconds_difference":37.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs808wp","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616708517,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like a lot all at once, and I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re struggling. I experienced something similar this year in terms of my views on academia as a future. I know academia isn\u2019t for me, but I\u2019m not sure what is for me and it\u2019s very disorienting. Like what happened? I used to love this and now I hate it. I used to be so motivated, and now I couldn\u2019t care less about my research. I think some of it is pandemic-related. But I also think as I learned more about academia, I learned I don\u2019t love it. I try to view these realizations with optimism. Like \u201cnow I can try something new\u201d. Or at least \u201cthankfully, I realized this now instead of ten years from now\u201d. It doesn\u2019t always work, but it\u2019s something. I think the most helpful thing for me is reflecting on all the very different things I\u2019ve done personally and professionally that have brought me joy and have nothing to do with academia. These things remind me I can find a new vocation that fills me with joy once I\u2019m done. I\u2019m sure my new career path will be a spur of the moment decision. And I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll find as much or more joy as I found in academia and all earlier endeavors. Things just work out that way. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth stressing about now because I don\u2019t have to make any decision yet. I also figure \u201cif don\u2019t know what I want to do, then thinking about it over-and-over won\u2019t provide any clarity\u201d. I\u2019m only going to solve things by gathering new information. You mentioned academia was your whole life. If it really is the only thing you know, definitely try something else. Even something unrelated to your degree, something you think you\u2019ll dislike, and\/or something you know you don\u2019t plan to do for very long. Maybe consider picking up an old passion or trying out something new that piques your interest.","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17299.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs808wp","c_root_id_B":"gs7ahkr","created_at_utc_A":1616708517,"created_at_utc_B":1616697523,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like a lot all at once, and I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re struggling. I experienced something similar this year in terms of my views on academia as a future. I know academia isn\u2019t for me, but I\u2019m not sure what is for me and it\u2019s very disorienting. Like what happened? I used to love this and now I hate it. I used to be so motivated, and now I couldn\u2019t care less about my research. I think some of it is pandemic-related. But I also think as I learned more about academia, I learned I don\u2019t love it. I try to view these realizations with optimism. Like \u201cnow I can try something new\u201d. Or at least \u201cthankfully, I realized this now instead of ten years from now\u201d. It doesn\u2019t always work, but it\u2019s something. I think the most helpful thing for me is reflecting on all the very different things I\u2019ve done personally and professionally that have brought me joy and have nothing to do with academia. These things remind me I can find a new vocation that fills me with joy once I\u2019m done. I\u2019m sure my new career path will be a spur of the moment decision. And I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll find as much or more joy as I found in academia and all earlier endeavors. Things just work out that way. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth stressing about now because I don\u2019t have to make any decision yet. I also figure \u201cif don\u2019t know what I want to do, then thinking about it over-and-over won\u2019t provide any clarity\u201d. I\u2019m only going to solve things by gathering new information. You mentioned academia was your whole life. If it really is the only thing you know, definitely try something else. Even something unrelated to your degree, something you think you\u2019ll dislike, and\/or something you know you don\u2019t plan to do for very long. Maybe consider picking up an old passion or trying out something new that piques your interest.","human_ref_B":"Seems to me you love Academia and the problem is not you neither is it your job, it\u2019s just a postponed feeling that cannot be hidden anymore hence hitting you all at once. My suggestion is take some time off and focus on yourself. Travel, go somewhere and try to connect with life and nature. It\u2019s good you\u2019ve realized and acknowledged that you are not feeling right. You need to get a hold of yourself before you can love what you love and enjoy it more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10994.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs808wp","c_root_id_B":"gs762fv","created_at_utc_A":1616708517,"created_at_utc_B":1616695680,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like a lot all at once, and I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re struggling. I experienced something similar this year in terms of my views on academia as a future. I know academia isn\u2019t for me, but I\u2019m not sure what is for me and it\u2019s very disorienting. Like what happened? I used to love this and now I hate it. I used to be so motivated, and now I couldn\u2019t care less about my research. I think some of it is pandemic-related. But I also think as I learned more about academia, I learned I don\u2019t love it. I try to view these realizations with optimism. Like \u201cnow I can try something new\u201d. Or at least \u201cthankfully, I realized this now instead of ten years from now\u201d. It doesn\u2019t always work, but it\u2019s something. I think the most helpful thing for me is reflecting on all the very different things I\u2019ve done personally and professionally that have brought me joy and have nothing to do with academia. These things remind me I can find a new vocation that fills me with joy once I\u2019m done. I\u2019m sure my new career path will be a spur of the moment decision. And I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll find as much or more joy as I found in academia and all earlier endeavors. Things just work out that way. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth stressing about now because I don\u2019t have to make any decision yet. I also figure \u201cif don\u2019t know what I want to do, then thinking about it over-and-over won\u2019t provide any clarity\u201d. I\u2019m only going to solve things by gathering new information. You mentioned academia was your whole life. If it really is the only thing you know, definitely try something else. Even something unrelated to your degree, something you think you\u2019ll dislike, and\/or something you know you don\u2019t plan to do for very long. Maybe consider picking up an old passion or trying out something new that piques your interest.","human_ref_B":"I would be careful in acting on the thoughts you have now, as what you're saying sounds very irrational. No doubt this is caused by the flux of negative emotions you're experiencing right now. First off, it's very unfortunate that your girlfriend wants to break up with you. While I haven't ever been in a relationship I wouldn't interpret this as being a result of your choices to pursue academics. It's far more likely that your girlfriend has been falling out of love with you. Even if it is because of the reasons she stated (you and her moving in different directions), are you absolutely sure that you care enough for her to forsake your academic prospects for her? Putting that aside, you seem to have a very negative self-view. You're claiming that you might be too soft for the academic world, but the idea that you need to be tough to survive in academia seems ludicrous to me. Sure you need to work hard and have perseverance, but I can assure you that this will be expected from you in whatever career path you take. Since you've been depressed for most of your life, I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a therapist? If not I can suggest giving it a try. You're in a precarious position so I would advise against making hasty decisions. I would urge you to try and combat this negative outlook on life, as difficult as it may be. You are allowed to feel sad, but expecting the worst, undervaluing your own skills, worrying about the future, and whether you'll be happy are undermining your ability to deal with adversity. They instead serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You need to learn to take care of yourself by being more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself, by accepting the uncertainties in your life for what they are without worrying about them too much. Finally, several of the problems you cite seem to be in your head. Depression is a silent killer, all the more so when you have all these negative thoughts to deal with. Regardless of what you're going through, regardless of how you feel, you can only focus on the things which you have control over in this moment. Worrying about happiness is understandable, but ultimately meaningless. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. There are no certainties regarding the outcome of your endeavors. There are also no certainties on whether you're skilled enough. All you can do is learn to trust your own skills and judgment. Even if you graduate, you might not be able to enter the academic world. I would nevertheless encourage you not to quit. That degree has more than one use to it. As for how you're feeling right now, if you have someone you can reach out to, do so. Talk to them. Express your feelings. Maybe you have the opportunity to take a break?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12837.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs808wp","c_root_id_B":"gs7eh4l","created_at_utc_A":1616708517,"created_at_utc_B":1616699141,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like a lot all at once, and I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re struggling. I experienced something similar this year in terms of my views on academia as a future. I know academia isn\u2019t for me, but I\u2019m not sure what is for me and it\u2019s very disorienting. Like what happened? I used to love this and now I hate it. I used to be so motivated, and now I couldn\u2019t care less about my research. I think some of it is pandemic-related. But I also think as I learned more about academia, I learned I don\u2019t love it. I try to view these realizations with optimism. Like \u201cnow I can try something new\u201d. Or at least \u201cthankfully, I realized this now instead of ten years from now\u201d. It doesn\u2019t always work, but it\u2019s something. I think the most helpful thing for me is reflecting on all the very different things I\u2019ve done personally and professionally that have brought me joy and have nothing to do with academia. These things remind me I can find a new vocation that fills me with joy once I\u2019m done. I\u2019m sure my new career path will be a spur of the moment decision. And I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll find as much or more joy as I found in academia and all earlier endeavors. Things just work out that way. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth stressing about now because I don\u2019t have to make any decision yet. I also figure \u201cif don\u2019t know what I want to do, then thinking about it over-and-over won\u2019t provide any clarity\u201d. I\u2019m only going to solve things by gathering new information. You mentioned academia was your whole life. If it really is the only thing you know, definitely try something else. Even something unrelated to your degree, something you think you\u2019ll dislike, and\/or something you know you don\u2019t plan to do for very long. Maybe consider picking up an old passion or trying out something new that piques your interest.","human_ref_B":"So I just took a extended medical leave of absence to get a hang of my depression and anxiety after my postdoc advisor did some shit that really triggered me with some negligent and abusive things I went through in grad school. It is the best decision I have ever made and I suggest it to everyone who may be struggling. Take some time off; meet with your therapist to come up with a recovery plan (for instance I became so wrapped up in science I lost myself and am reconnecting with hobbies and what gives me meaning); and if you aren\u2019t on meds, talk to a psych. I was also nervous about that but found a medication that worked and had no side effects for me so far besides slight stomach ache if I don\u2019t eat. You may decide during this time that you do like academia and just needed time to collect yourself and heal. You may decide, like me, that academia and the culture isn\u2019t for you and you wanna move into industry. But I promise you can\u2019t keep going like this even if you think you can. You\u2019ll burn out even more and be worse off.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9376.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs808wp","c_root_id_B":"gs7q686","created_at_utc_A":1616708517,"created_at_utc_B":1616703983,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like a lot all at once, and I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re struggling. I experienced something similar this year in terms of my views on academia as a future. I know academia isn\u2019t for me, but I\u2019m not sure what is for me and it\u2019s very disorienting. Like what happened? I used to love this and now I hate it. I used to be so motivated, and now I couldn\u2019t care less about my research. I think some of it is pandemic-related. But I also think as I learned more about academia, I learned I don\u2019t love it. I try to view these realizations with optimism. Like \u201cnow I can try something new\u201d. Or at least \u201cthankfully, I realized this now instead of ten years from now\u201d. It doesn\u2019t always work, but it\u2019s something. I think the most helpful thing for me is reflecting on all the very different things I\u2019ve done personally and professionally that have brought me joy and have nothing to do with academia. These things remind me I can find a new vocation that fills me with joy once I\u2019m done. I\u2019m sure my new career path will be a spur of the moment decision. And I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll find as much or more joy as I found in academia and all earlier endeavors. Things just work out that way. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth stressing about now because I don\u2019t have to make any decision yet. I also figure \u201cif don\u2019t know what I want to do, then thinking about it over-and-over won\u2019t provide any clarity\u201d. I\u2019m only going to solve things by gathering new information. You mentioned academia was your whole life. If it really is the only thing you know, definitely try something else. Even something unrelated to your degree, something you think you\u2019ll dislike, and\/or something you know you don\u2019t plan to do for very long. Maybe consider picking up an old passion or trying out something new that piques your interest.","human_ref_B":"Mix that with arthritis and it feels like you are dead all the time","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4534.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7d1be","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616698569,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"What I have to do when my depression causes me to feel like work is a chore, is take a step back. Look back at when it all started. The feelings of excitement and joy. Even the stress and obstacles you faced to get to where you are in your career. Remind yourself of the pride you once took in it. Focus on those feelings. Figure out why you wanted to take this direction in life in the first place and where you thought you\u2019d go at the beginning. If you want to pursue a different job in your field, then do it. It is YOUR life. You\u2019re happiness matters. YOU matter. Who have you helped in your career? Who have you inspired? Who has inspired you? Look for the purpose you have and you\u2019ve served. What has been your motivation throughout your career?","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7351.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ahkr","c_root_id_B":"gs7d1be","created_at_utc_A":1616697523,"created_at_utc_B":1616698569,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Seems to me you love Academia and the problem is not you neither is it your job, it\u2019s just a postponed feeling that cannot be hidden anymore hence hitting you all at once. My suggestion is take some time off and focus on yourself. Travel, go somewhere and try to connect with life and nature. It\u2019s good you\u2019ve realized and acknowledged that you are not feeling right. You need to get a hold of yourself before you can love what you love and enjoy it more.","human_ref_B":"What I have to do when my depression causes me to feel like work is a chore, is take a step back. Look back at when it all started. The feelings of excitement and joy. Even the stress and obstacles you faced to get to where you are in your career. Remind yourself of the pride you once took in it. Focus on those feelings. Figure out why you wanted to take this direction in life in the first place and where you thought you\u2019d go at the beginning. If you want to pursue a different job in your field, then do it. It is YOUR life. You\u2019re happiness matters. YOU matter. Who have you helped in your career? Who have you inspired? Who has inspired you? Look for the purpose you have and you\u2019ve served. What has been your motivation throughout your career?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1046.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs762fv","c_root_id_B":"gs7d1be","created_at_utc_A":1616695680,"created_at_utc_B":1616698569,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I would be careful in acting on the thoughts you have now, as what you're saying sounds very irrational. No doubt this is caused by the flux of negative emotions you're experiencing right now. First off, it's very unfortunate that your girlfriend wants to break up with you. While I haven't ever been in a relationship I wouldn't interpret this as being a result of your choices to pursue academics. It's far more likely that your girlfriend has been falling out of love with you. Even if it is because of the reasons she stated (you and her moving in different directions), are you absolutely sure that you care enough for her to forsake your academic prospects for her? Putting that aside, you seem to have a very negative self-view. You're claiming that you might be too soft for the academic world, but the idea that you need to be tough to survive in academia seems ludicrous to me. Sure you need to work hard and have perseverance, but I can assure you that this will be expected from you in whatever career path you take. Since you've been depressed for most of your life, I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a therapist? If not I can suggest giving it a try. You're in a precarious position so I would advise against making hasty decisions. I would urge you to try and combat this negative outlook on life, as difficult as it may be. You are allowed to feel sad, but expecting the worst, undervaluing your own skills, worrying about the future, and whether you'll be happy are undermining your ability to deal with adversity. They instead serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You need to learn to take care of yourself by being more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself, by accepting the uncertainties in your life for what they are without worrying about them too much. Finally, several of the problems you cite seem to be in your head. Depression is a silent killer, all the more so when you have all these negative thoughts to deal with. Regardless of what you're going through, regardless of how you feel, you can only focus on the things which you have control over in this moment. Worrying about happiness is understandable, but ultimately meaningless. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. There are no certainties regarding the outcome of your endeavors. There are also no certainties on whether you're skilled enough. All you can do is learn to trust your own skills and judgment. Even if you graduate, you might not be able to enter the academic world. I would nevertheless encourage you not to quit. That degree has more than one use to it. As for how you're feeling right now, if you have someone you can reach out to, do so. Talk to them. Express your feelings. Maybe you have the opportunity to take a break?","human_ref_B":"What I have to do when my depression causes me to feel like work is a chore, is take a step back. Look back at when it all started. The feelings of excitement and joy. Even the stress and obstacles you faced to get to where you are in your career. Remind yourself of the pride you once took in it. Focus on those feelings. Figure out why you wanted to take this direction in life in the first place and where you thought you\u2019d go at the beginning. If you want to pursue a different job in your field, then do it. It is YOUR life. You\u2019re happiness matters. YOU matter. Who have you helped in your career? Who have you inspired? Who has inspired you? Look for the purpose you have and you\u2019ve served. What has been your motivation throughout your career?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2889.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ikl6","c_root_id_B":"gs6v69b","created_at_utc_A":1616700795,"created_at_utc_B":1616691218,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"There's a lot of really good advice here, but I just want to say---I am worried about you when you talk about \"just leaving.\" I hope you're talking about academia, but if you're talking about life, if you want to be dead...please get help. Depression may be a never-ending battle, but it can improve and be managed. The light at the end of the tunnel is not just there or not there...it can be fostered and grown. Du courage, and take care.","human_ref_B":"I really don't know what to say, just that I hope everything works out. I know you are taking meds, but maybe can look for a psychologist\/therapist?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9577.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ikl6","c_root_id_B":"gs7ahkr","created_at_utc_A":1616700795,"created_at_utc_B":1616697523,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"There's a lot of really good advice here, but I just want to say---I am worried about you when you talk about \"just leaving.\" I hope you're talking about academia, but if you're talking about life, if you want to be dead...please get help. Depression may be a never-ending battle, but it can improve and be managed. The light at the end of the tunnel is not just there or not there...it can be fostered and grown. Du courage, and take care.","human_ref_B":"Seems to me you love Academia and the problem is not you neither is it your job, it\u2019s just a postponed feeling that cannot be hidden anymore hence hitting you all at once. My suggestion is take some time off and focus on yourself. Travel, go somewhere and try to connect with life and nature. It\u2019s good you\u2019ve realized and acknowledged that you are not feeling right. You need to get a hold of yourself before you can love what you love and enjoy it more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3272.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ikl6","c_root_id_B":"gs762fv","created_at_utc_A":1616700795,"created_at_utc_B":1616695680,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"There's a lot of really good advice here, but I just want to say---I am worried about you when you talk about \"just leaving.\" I hope you're talking about academia, but if you're talking about life, if you want to be dead...please get help. Depression may be a never-ending battle, but it can improve and be managed. The light at the end of the tunnel is not just there or not there...it can be fostered and grown. Du courage, and take care.","human_ref_B":"I would be careful in acting on the thoughts you have now, as what you're saying sounds very irrational. No doubt this is caused by the flux of negative emotions you're experiencing right now. First off, it's very unfortunate that your girlfriend wants to break up with you. While I haven't ever been in a relationship I wouldn't interpret this as being a result of your choices to pursue academics. It's far more likely that your girlfriend has been falling out of love with you. Even if it is because of the reasons she stated (you and her moving in different directions), are you absolutely sure that you care enough for her to forsake your academic prospects for her? Putting that aside, you seem to have a very negative self-view. You're claiming that you might be too soft for the academic world, but the idea that you need to be tough to survive in academia seems ludicrous to me. Sure you need to work hard and have perseverance, but I can assure you that this will be expected from you in whatever career path you take. Since you've been depressed for most of your life, I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a therapist? If not I can suggest giving it a try. You're in a precarious position so I would advise against making hasty decisions. I would urge you to try and combat this negative outlook on life, as difficult as it may be. You are allowed to feel sad, but expecting the worst, undervaluing your own skills, worrying about the future, and whether you'll be happy are undermining your ability to deal with adversity. They instead serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You need to learn to take care of yourself by being more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself, by accepting the uncertainties in your life for what they are without worrying about them too much. Finally, several of the problems you cite seem to be in your head. Depression is a silent killer, all the more so when you have all these negative thoughts to deal with. Regardless of what you're going through, regardless of how you feel, you can only focus on the things which you have control over in this moment. Worrying about happiness is understandable, but ultimately meaningless. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. There are no certainties regarding the outcome of your endeavors. There are also no certainties on whether you're skilled enough. All you can do is learn to trust your own skills and judgment. Even if you graduate, you might not be able to enter the academic world. I would nevertheless encourage you not to quit. That degree has more than one use to it. As for how you're feeling right now, if you have someone you can reach out to, do so. Talk to them. Express your feelings. Maybe you have the opportunity to take a break?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5115.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7eh4l","c_root_id_B":"gs7ikl6","created_at_utc_A":1616699141,"created_at_utc_B":1616700795,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"So I just took a extended medical leave of absence to get a hang of my depression and anxiety after my postdoc advisor did some shit that really triggered me with some negligent and abusive things I went through in grad school. It is the best decision I have ever made and I suggest it to everyone who may be struggling. Take some time off; meet with your therapist to come up with a recovery plan (for instance I became so wrapped up in science I lost myself and am reconnecting with hobbies and what gives me meaning); and if you aren\u2019t on meds, talk to a psych. I was also nervous about that but found a medication that worked and had no side effects for me so far besides slight stomach ache if I don\u2019t eat. You may decide during this time that you do like academia and just needed time to collect yourself and heal. You may decide, like me, that academia and the culture isn\u2019t for you and you wanna move into industry. But I promise you can\u2019t keep going like this even if you think you can. You\u2019ll burn out even more and be worse off.","human_ref_B":"There's a lot of really good advice here, but I just want to say---I am worried about you when you talk about \"just leaving.\" I hope you're talking about academia, but if you're talking about life, if you want to be dead...please get help. Depression may be a never-ending battle, but it can improve and be managed. The light at the end of the tunnel is not just there or not there...it can be fostered and grown. Du courage, and take care.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1654.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7ahkr","c_root_id_B":"gs762fv","created_at_utc_A":1616697523,"created_at_utc_B":1616695680,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Seems to me you love Academia and the problem is not you neither is it your job, it\u2019s just a postponed feeling that cannot be hidden anymore hence hitting you all at once. My suggestion is take some time off and focus on yourself. Travel, go somewhere and try to connect with life and nature. It\u2019s good you\u2019ve realized and acknowledged that you are not feeling right. You need to get a hold of yourself before you can love what you love and enjoy it more.","human_ref_B":"I would be careful in acting on the thoughts you have now, as what you're saying sounds very irrational. No doubt this is caused by the flux of negative emotions you're experiencing right now. First off, it's very unfortunate that your girlfriend wants to break up with you. While I haven't ever been in a relationship I wouldn't interpret this as being a result of your choices to pursue academics. It's far more likely that your girlfriend has been falling out of love with you. Even if it is because of the reasons she stated (you and her moving in different directions), are you absolutely sure that you care enough for her to forsake your academic prospects for her? Putting that aside, you seem to have a very negative self-view. You're claiming that you might be too soft for the academic world, but the idea that you need to be tough to survive in academia seems ludicrous to me. Sure you need to work hard and have perseverance, but I can assure you that this will be expected from you in whatever career path you take. Since you've been depressed for most of your life, I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a therapist? If not I can suggest giving it a try. You're in a precarious position so I would advise against making hasty decisions. I would urge you to try and combat this negative outlook on life, as difficult as it may be. You are allowed to feel sad, but expecting the worst, undervaluing your own skills, worrying about the future, and whether you'll be happy are undermining your ability to deal with adversity. They instead serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You need to learn to take care of yourself by being more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself, by accepting the uncertainties in your life for what they are without worrying about them too much. Finally, several of the problems you cite seem to be in your head. Depression is a silent killer, all the more so when you have all these negative thoughts to deal with. Regardless of what you're going through, regardless of how you feel, you can only focus on the things which you have control over in this moment. Worrying about happiness is understandable, but ultimately meaningless. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. There are no certainties regarding the outcome of your endeavors. There are also no certainties on whether you're skilled enough. All you can do is learn to trust your own skills and judgment. Even if you graduate, you might not be able to enter the academic world. I would nevertheless encourage you not to quit. That degree has more than one use to it. As for how you're feeling right now, if you have someone you can reach out to, do so. Talk to them. Express your feelings. Maybe you have the opportunity to take a break?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1843.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs8cjlc","c_root_id_B":"gs762fv","created_at_utc_A":1616714505,"created_at_utc_B":1616695680,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think many of us are on the same boat. Academia demands so much of your time and energy to be successful. I think COVID really brought those sacrifices into the forefront and made a lot of us question if we really want to be there. I\u2019m personally torn right now about my future. I know I have to keep on with Grad School if I want to stay in STEM but im really questioning if it\u2019s worth not having a life and living only in the moments when I get a break from school. I\u2019ve been looking into alternate pathways and possibly taking a break to figure somethings out after wrapping up my BS this year. Stay strong, talk things through with friends, family and a therapist. And don\u2019t feel bad about feeling bad. Good luck with your journey. I hope you find the answers you\u2019re looking for","human_ref_B":"I would be careful in acting on the thoughts you have now, as what you're saying sounds very irrational. No doubt this is caused by the flux of negative emotions you're experiencing right now. First off, it's very unfortunate that your girlfriend wants to break up with you. While I haven't ever been in a relationship I wouldn't interpret this as being a result of your choices to pursue academics. It's far more likely that your girlfriend has been falling out of love with you. Even if it is because of the reasons she stated (you and her moving in different directions), are you absolutely sure that you care enough for her to forsake your academic prospects for her? Putting that aside, you seem to have a very negative self-view. You're claiming that you might be too soft for the academic world, but the idea that you need to be tough to survive in academia seems ludicrous to me. Sure you need to work hard and have perseverance, but I can assure you that this will be expected from you in whatever career path you take. Since you've been depressed for most of your life, I'm wondering whether you've ever seen a therapist? If not I can suggest giving it a try. You're in a precarious position so I would advise against making hasty decisions. I would urge you to try and combat this negative outlook on life, as difficult as it may be. You are allowed to feel sad, but expecting the worst, undervaluing your own skills, worrying about the future, and whether you'll be happy are undermining your ability to deal with adversity. They instead serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You need to learn to take care of yourself by being more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself, by accepting the uncertainties in your life for what they are without worrying about them too much. Finally, several of the problems you cite seem to be in your head. Depression is a silent killer, all the more so when you have all these negative thoughts to deal with. Regardless of what you're going through, regardless of how you feel, you can only focus on the things which you have control over in this moment. Worrying about happiness is understandable, but ultimately meaningless. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. There are no certainties regarding the outcome of your endeavors. There are also no certainties on whether you're skilled enough. All you can do is learn to trust your own skills and judgment. Even if you graduate, you might not be able to enter the academic world. I would nevertheless encourage you not to quit. That degree has more than one use to it. As for how you're feeling right now, if you have someone you can reach out to, do so. Talk to them. Express your feelings. Maybe you have the opportunity to take a break?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18825.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs8cjlc","c_root_id_B":"gs7eh4l","created_at_utc_A":1616714505,"created_at_utc_B":1616699141,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think many of us are on the same boat. Academia demands so much of your time and energy to be successful. I think COVID really brought those sacrifices into the forefront and made a lot of us question if we really want to be there. I\u2019m personally torn right now about my future. I know I have to keep on with Grad School if I want to stay in STEM but im really questioning if it\u2019s worth not having a life and living only in the moments when I get a break from school. I\u2019ve been looking into alternate pathways and possibly taking a break to figure somethings out after wrapping up my BS this year. Stay strong, talk things through with friends, family and a therapist. And don\u2019t feel bad about feeling bad. Good luck with your journey. I hope you find the answers you\u2019re looking for","human_ref_B":"So I just took a extended medical leave of absence to get a hang of my depression and anxiety after my postdoc advisor did some shit that really triggered me with some negligent and abusive things I went through in grad school. It is the best decision I have ever made and I suggest it to everyone who may be struggling. Take some time off; meet with your therapist to come up with a recovery plan (for instance I became so wrapped up in science I lost myself and am reconnecting with hobbies and what gives me meaning); and if you aren\u2019t on meds, talk to a psych. I was also nervous about that but found a medication that worked and had no side effects for me so far besides slight stomach ache if I don\u2019t eat. You may decide during this time that you do like academia and just needed time to collect yourself and heal. You may decide, like me, that academia and the culture isn\u2019t for you and you wanna move into industry. But I promise you can\u2019t keep going like this even if you think you can. You\u2019ll burn out even more and be worse off.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15364.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"md0lxg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"My Depression is Killing my Ability to Work I don't really know where to start, or to an extent, even what I'm here to ask... Let me preface with I love academics. They have always been an important part of my life, and I've always used them as a distraction from when my life is too much\/feels overwhelming. I have had serious depression issues all my life, and am being medicated for them for a few years now. The meds arrangement I have isn't great, but it's better than nothing I guess. Recently, I've found myself questioning if I am really meant for this. I love research, reading and writing papers, but I am hitting the point where I have no happiness anymore in my life anymore. The things I used to love, that I used to continue going on, are becoming more and more difficult to do. It's at the point that even though academics are one of the few things that are keeping me going, my mental distress is now preventing me from being able to make the most basic progress possible. My long-term girlfriend recently decided that she doesn't think our lives are going to be going the same direction and wants to end things so she doesn't prevent me from having the life I typically thought I would have (family with kids, etc.). It really took me by surprise, but now I am looking at my life, where I am now, where I am heading, and if I am ever going to be happy. My main realization is I don't think academia is meant for someone like me. I'm soft, sensitive, just searching for a glimmer of happiness, and I feel like all I find in academics is isolation and loneliness. I feel absolutely lost because I just about hate everything else I could do with my degree except academia (engineering, but all the jobs I am best suited for are programming-related related, which I don't particularly enjoy). Here is my issue - What now? If I don't go on in academia, I have no idea what the hell I'll ever do. I don't feel mentally OK. I don't feel like I can have a job, a life like some people. Quite frankly, I feel like, aside from academia, I don't have a place in the world. But it seems like now I am losing my ability to even do that. That leaves me in an interesting state - I think I'm longing for something that just doesn't exist. I am going to keep going, but I am really questioning the reasoning as to why I am continuing on like this. I think I am forcing myself to keep going and there is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a brick wall I am going to run face-first into. I know COVID has been isolating, and many who have never had depression before are experiencing it. I am a slightly different case, I've had it all my life, I have been constantly depressed since I was in undergrad and now feel like there's nothing out there for me. Its a heartbreaking realization to come to, but I feel like maybe, I should save everyone some time and just leave on a \"high-note\" (before it becomes so painfully obvious to everyone that I'm a hollow shell of the man I once was).","c_root_id_A":"gs7q686","c_root_id_B":"gs8cjlc","created_at_utc_A":1616703983,"created_at_utc_B":1616714505,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Mix that with arthritis and it feels like you are dead all the time","human_ref_B":"I think many of us are on the same boat. Academia demands so much of your time and energy to be successful. I think COVID really brought those sacrifices into the forefront and made a lot of us question if we really want to be there. I\u2019m personally torn right now about my future. I know I have to keep on with Grad School if I want to stay in STEM but im really questioning if it\u2019s worth not having a life and living only in the moments when I get a break from school. I\u2019ve been looking into alternate pathways and possibly taking a break to figure somethings out after wrapping up my BS this year. Stay strong, talk things through with friends, family and a therapist. And don\u2019t feel bad about feeling bad. Good luck with your journey. I hope you find the answers you\u2019re looking for","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10522.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"eta7l2p","c_root_id_B":"eta8ece","created_at_utc_A":1562613999,"created_at_utc_B":1562614526,"score_A":81,"score_B":113,"human_ref_A":"My department will admit them whether or not I train them - the program is seen as a marker of prestige. The best I can do once they show up is try to give them the most employable skills that I can.","human_ref_B":"Perhaps you would be better served to dissuade students and your university from counting on an academic job.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":527.0,"score_ratio":1.3950617284} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etabkpf","c_root_id_B":"etabbso","created_at_utc_A":1562616565,"created_at_utc_B":1562616408,"score_A":77,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I think this is also a very field dependent question to ask. Some fields are well off for PhD grads, some moderately well off, and some exceptionally poor. To me, the biggest thing we can do as faculty is help our students be aware of the situation such that they are making informed choices. A lot of that, in STEM, is helping them make connections in non-academic markets to know what those fields look for, and what those jobs involve- this makes it possible for students to pivot to gainful employment more easily. I also think you're slightly over-interpreting the early PhD career academic interest (80%)- most students don't enter a PhD really having any idea of what a scientist outside of academia does, and there's a significant decline in interest during the PhD due to this.","human_ref_B":">So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? Most of the time, I tell them not to bother, no matter how good they are as undergrads. Some professors in my program refused to take graduate students, because of the nature of the job market for historians.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":157.0,"score_ratio":2.8518518519} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etabpjz","c_root_id_B":"etabbso","created_at_utc_A":1562616650,"created_at_utc_B":1562616408,"score_A":62,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"This is a very serious question and I don't think it has an easy answer. I think that in the short term, mentors can aim to provide PhD students better salaries and stability during their time so at least when viewed as a 4-to-6-year job, it isn't a completely unreasonable one. Practically this might mean not taking students unless you can guarantee good, ample, stable funding, health insurance, vacation time, etc for them. I think that some European institutions have done good work in this direction. In the long term, I don't know what kind of reforms are needed.","human_ref_B":">So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? Most of the time, I tell them not to bother, no matter how good they are as undergrads. Some professors in my program refused to take graduate students, because of the nature of the job market for historians.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":242.0,"score_ratio":2.2962962963} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaef87","c_root_id_B":"etahteh","created_at_utc_A":1562618365,"created_at_utc_B":1562620563,"score_A":35,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"If you consider only monetary benefits it is hard to justify grad school. But there are other: 1. PhD gives you access to all kinds of research jobs, and if you are into research it might be worth it, because otherwise you won't be considered for those positions. 2. TT has way more freedom than any other high paid job, might be worth the gamble, especially for people who have already thought about point #1. 3. Even if you drop out it does not mean you are not good enough, there is a lot of factors affecting it. Knowing this can make it easier to go through the struggles. I am currently a grad student and I perceive it this way: \"I know it's a gamble, but considering the freedom of choosing a problem to work on and the fact that if I don't like it I can become a data scientist any minute I'm okay with spending at least some time on that and see how it goes.\"","human_ref_B":"My experience is, of course, just anecdotal. But as someone who grew up well below the poverty line, academia was a career I could get into that didn't require expensive professional school (the massive costs of writing standardized tests and interviews for medical school kept me from even bothering). Getting paid to do a graduate degree was mind blowing for me relative to that. It also was the first time I travelled internationally. I really don't think that I would have done better in the private sector being someone who was bright, but didn't really know how professional fields work at all. Then again, I went to a public school in a country with reasonably-priced higher education that didn't require the GRE\/SAT\/etc. I also had a great mentor. All those things would help anybody in academia I think.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2198.0,"score_ratio":1.0285714286} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etahteh","c_root_id_B":"etabbso","created_at_utc_A":1562620563,"created_at_utc_B":1562616408,"score_A":36,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"My experience is, of course, just anecdotal. But as someone who grew up well below the poverty line, academia was a career I could get into that didn't require expensive professional school (the massive costs of writing standardized tests and interviews for medical school kept me from even bothering). Getting paid to do a graduate degree was mind blowing for me relative to that. It also was the first time I travelled internationally. I really don't think that I would have done better in the private sector being someone who was bright, but didn't really know how professional fields work at all. Then again, I went to a public school in a country with reasonably-priced higher education that didn't require the GRE\/SAT\/etc. I also had a great mentor. All those things would help anybody in academia I think.","human_ref_B":">So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? Most of the time, I tell them not to bother, no matter how good they are as undergrads. Some professors in my program refused to take graduate students, because of the nature of the job market for historians.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4155.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etahteh","c_root_id_B":"etac2do","created_at_utc_A":1562620563,"created_at_utc_B":1562616879,"score_A":36,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"My experience is, of course, just anecdotal. But as someone who grew up well below the poverty line, academia was a career I could get into that didn't require expensive professional school (the massive costs of writing standardized tests and interviews for medical school kept me from even bothering). Getting paid to do a graduate degree was mind blowing for me relative to that. It also was the first time I travelled internationally. I really don't think that I would have done better in the private sector being someone who was bright, but didn't really know how professional fields work at all. Then again, I went to a public school in a country with reasonably-priced higher education that didn't require the GRE\/SAT\/etc. I also had a great mentor. All those things would help anybody in academia I think.","human_ref_B":"You can only tell them as you see it and then allow them to make their own decisions. If they are dissuaded by your argument, then they likely would have become disillusioned sooner or later and you are probably helping to spare them some inevitable tribulations. If they remain determined, then you have done nothing but to test their commitment and give them a heads up for what to watch out for.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3684.0,"score_ratio":2.7692307692} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etahteh","c_root_id_B":"etaddxn","created_at_utc_A":1562620563,"created_at_utc_B":1562617721,"score_A":36,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"My experience is, of course, just anecdotal. But as someone who grew up well below the poverty line, academia was a career I could get into that didn't require expensive professional school (the massive costs of writing standardized tests and interviews for medical school kept me from even bothering). Getting paid to do a graduate degree was mind blowing for me relative to that. It also was the first time I travelled internationally. I really don't think that I would have done better in the private sector being someone who was bright, but didn't really know how professional fields work at all. Then again, I went to a public school in a country with reasonably-priced higher education that didn't require the GRE\/SAT\/etc. I also had a great mentor. All those things would help anybody in academia I think.","human_ref_B":"As it had already been said, not all fields are the same, and neither are all motives for doing a PhD. I feel fine about how things are in the business school.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2842.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaef87","c_root_id_B":"etabbso","created_at_utc_A":1562618365,"created_at_utc_B":1562616408,"score_A":35,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"If you consider only monetary benefits it is hard to justify grad school. But there are other: 1. PhD gives you access to all kinds of research jobs, and if you are into research it might be worth it, because otherwise you won't be considered for those positions. 2. TT has way more freedom than any other high paid job, might be worth the gamble, especially for people who have already thought about point #1. 3. Even if you drop out it does not mean you are not good enough, there is a lot of factors affecting it. Knowing this can make it easier to go through the struggles. I am currently a grad student and I perceive it this way: \"I know it's a gamble, but considering the freedom of choosing a problem to work on and the fact that if I don't like it I can become a data scientist any minute I'm okay with spending at least some time on that and see how it goes.\"","human_ref_B":">So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? Most of the time, I tell them not to bother, no matter how good they are as undergrads. Some professors in my program refused to take graduate students, because of the nature of the job market for historians.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1957.0,"score_ratio":1.2962962963} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaef87","c_root_id_B":"etac2do","created_at_utc_A":1562618365,"created_at_utc_B":1562616879,"score_A":35,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"If you consider only monetary benefits it is hard to justify grad school. But there are other: 1. PhD gives you access to all kinds of research jobs, and if you are into research it might be worth it, because otherwise you won't be considered for those positions. 2. TT has way more freedom than any other high paid job, might be worth the gamble, especially for people who have already thought about point #1. 3. Even if you drop out it does not mean you are not good enough, there is a lot of factors affecting it. Knowing this can make it easier to go through the struggles. I am currently a grad student and I perceive it this way: \"I know it's a gamble, but considering the freedom of choosing a problem to work on and the fact that if I don't like it I can become a data scientist any minute I'm okay with spending at least some time on that and see how it goes.\"","human_ref_B":"You can only tell them as you see it and then allow them to make their own decisions. If they are dissuaded by your argument, then they likely would have become disillusioned sooner or later and you are probably helping to spare them some inevitable tribulations. If they remain determined, then you have done nothing but to test their commitment and give them a heads up for what to watch out for.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1486.0,"score_ratio":2.6923076923} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaddxn","c_root_id_B":"etaef87","created_at_utc_A":1562617721,"created_at_utc_B":1562618365,"score_A":10,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"As it had already been said, not all fields are the same, and neither are all motives for doing a PhD. I feel fine about how things are in the business school.","human_ref_B":"If you consider only monetary benefits it is hard to justify grad school. But there are other: 1. PhD gives you access to all kinds of research jobs, and if you are into research it might be worth it, because otherwise you won't be considered for those positions. 2. TT has way more freedom than any other high paid job, might be worth the gamble, especially for people who have already thought about point #1. 3. Even if you drop out it does not mean you are not good enough, there is a lot of factors affecting it. Knowing this can make it easier to go through the struggles. I am currently a grad student and I perceive it this way: \"I know it's a gamble, but considering the freedom of choosing a problem to work on and the fact that if I don't like it I can become a data scientist any minute I'm okay with spending at least some time on that and see how it goes.\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":644.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaqz41","c_root_id_B":"etam6u8","created_at_utc_A":1562626898,"created_at_utc_B":1562623499,"score_A":25,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"The data OP cites is certainly a compelling argument for *avoiding graduate school in the first place*. And this information is out there and available to folks as they make the decision to apply and to enroll. But to hit them with all this after the fact, as they're newly arrived and enthusiastic first-year students, actually seems rather cruel to me. \"Hey bozo, look what an idiot thing you just did!\" No, no bueno, you just do you best to train and support them and you don't shove all this negativity at them.","human_ref_B":"I think that academic science is a bit of a passion job. In many senses, it's not all that different from dreaming of being a pro-athlete, working in the arts, or working as a chef. Long hours, low pay, a few people make it big, even more people live modestly but comfortably doing something they love, a lot of hustle, a long period of time where you are sacrificing earning potential to pursue this dream. Only a small number of people \"make it\" and most people end up moving on and doing something else with their lives. On the upside the unemployment rate for PhDs is something like 1%, so even though you might end up underemployed or not using your degree with a lot of sunk costs, it definitely doesn't mean you will be on the street. You might have all kinds of unusual options open to you. If it were presented as akin to signing a D1 scholarship with the dream of becoming professional athlete or hauling long hours with low pay with the dream of becoming the head chef at a restaurant rather than a route that makes financial sense, perhaps people's view of \"failing\" to become a professor or seeing a PhD as a totally economically secure route (compared to the loss of earning potential) would be clearer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3399.0,"score_ratio":1.0416666667} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etac2do","c_root_id_B":"etaqz41","created_at_utc_A":1562616879,"created_at_utc_B":1562626898,"score_A":13,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"You can only tell them as you see it and then allow them to make their own decisions. If they are dissuaded by your argument, then they likely would have become disillusioned sooner or later and you are probably helping to spare them some inevitable tribulations. If they remain determined, then you have done nothing but to test their commitment and give them a heads up for what to watch out for.","human_ref_B":"The data OP cites is certainly a compelling argument for *avoiding graduate school in the first place*. And this information is out there and available to folks as they make the decision to apply and to enroll. But to hit them with all this after the fact, as they're newly arrived and enthusiastic first-year students, actually seems rather cruel to me. \"Hey bozo, look what an idiot thing you just did!\" No, no bueno, you just do you best to train and support them and you don't shove all this negativity at them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10019.0,"score_ratio":1.9230769231} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaqz41","c_root_id_B":"etaddxn","created_at_utc_A":1562626898,"created_at_utc_B":1562617721,"score_A":25,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"The data OP cites is certainly a compelling argument for *avoiding graduate school in the first place*. And this information is out there and available to folks as they make the decision to apply and to enroll. But to hit them with all this after the fact, as they're newly arrived and enthusiastic first-year students, actually seems rather cruel to me. \"Hey bozo, look what an idiot thing you just did!\" No, no bueno, you just do you best to train and support them and you don't shove all this negativity at them.","human_ref_B":"As it had already been said, not all fields are the same, and neither are all motives for doing a PhD. I feel fine about how things are in the business school.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9177.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etac2do","c_root_id_B":"etam6u8","created_at_utc_A":1562616879,"created_at_utc_B":1562623499,"score_A":13,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"You can only tell them as you see it and then allow them to make their own decisions. If they are dissuaded by your argument, then they likely would have become disillusioned sooner or later and you are probably helping to spare them some inevitable tribulations. If they remain determined, then you have done nothing but to test their commitment and give them a heads up for what to watch out for.","human_ref_B":"I think that academic science is a bit of a passion job. In many senses, it's not all that different from dreaming of being a pro-athlete, working in the arts, or working as a chef. Long hours, low pay, a few people make it big, even more people live modestly but comfortably doing something they love, a lot of hustle, a long period of time where you are sacrificing earning potential to pursue this dream. Only a small number of people \"make it\" and most people end up moving on and doing something else with their lives. On the upside the unemployment rate for PhDs is something like 1%, so even though you might end up underemployed or not using your degree with a lot of sunk costs, it definitely doesn't mean you will be on the street. You might have all kinds of unusual options open to you. If it were presented as akin to signing a D1 scholarship with the dream of becoming professional athlete or hauling long hours with low pay with the dream of becoming the head chef at a restaurant rather than a route that makes financial sense, perhaps people's view of \"failing\" to become a professor or seeing a PhD as a totally economically secure route (compared to the loss of earning potential) would be clearer.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6620.0,"score_ratio":1.8461538462} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaddxn","c_root_id_B":"etam6u8","created_at_utc_A":1562617721,"created_at_utc_B":1562623499,"score_A":10,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"As it had already been said, not all fields are the same, and neither are all motives for doing a PhD. I feel fine about how things are in the business school.","human_ref_B":"I think that academic science is a bit of a passion job. In many senses, it's not all that different from dreaming of being a pro-athlete, working in the arts, or working as a chef. Long hours, low pay, a few people make it big, even more people live modestly but comfortably doing something they love, a lot of hustle, a long period of time where you are sacrificing earning potential to pursue this dream. Only a small number of people \"make it\" and most people end up moving on and doing something else with their lives. On the upside the unemployment rate for PhDs is something like 1%, so even though you might end up underemployed or not using your degree with a lot of sunk costs, it definitely doesn't mean you will be on the street. You might have all kinds of unusual options open to you. If it were presented as akin to signing a D1 scholarship with the dream of becoming professional athlete or hauling long hours with low pay with the dream of becoming the head chef at a restaurant rather than a route that makes financial sense, perhaps people's view of \"failing\" to become a professor or seeing a PhD as a totally economically secure route (compared to the loss of earning potential) would be clearer.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5778.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etac2do","c_root_id_B":"etb4i94","created_at_utc_A":1562616879,"created_at_utc_B":1562636824,"score_A":13,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"You can only tell them as you see it and then allow them to make their own decisions. If they are dissuaded by your argument, then they likely would have become disillusioned sooner or later and you are probably helping to spare them some inevitable tribulations. If they remain determined, then you have done nothing but to test their commitment and give them a heads up for what to watch out for.","human_ref_B":"That was an excellently written post. Let us pause, for but a moment, to consider the 70% who are effectively exiled from a career they are trained, and qualified, for. People who have made the sacrifices postgrad work demands, who have met the challenge, and who are cast out because of fashion and fortune. Let us be honest with ourselves; how many of us hold a post simply because we knew the right person at the right time, in the right place? The question of ethics lies not in the teaching of graduates, but in maintaining the current path academia is taking. If we continue to throw away the wonders we create, we will lament the mono-culture our scholarship will become.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19945.0,"score_ratio":1.3846153846} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaddxn","c_root_id_B":"etb4i94","created_at_utc_A":1562617721,"created_at_utc_B":1562636824,"score_A":10,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"As it had already been said, not all fields are the same, and neither are all motives for doing a PhD. I feel fine about how things are in the business school.","human_ref_B":"That was an excellently written post. Let us pause, for but a moment, to consider the 70% who are effectively exiled from a career they are trained, and qualified, for. People who have made the sacrifices postgrad work demands, who have met the challenge, and who are cast out because of fashion and fortune. Let us be honest with ourselves; how many of us hold a post simply because we knew the right person at the right time, in the right place? The question of ethics lies not in the teaching of graduates, but in maintaining the current path academia is taking. If we continue to throw away the wonders we create, we will lament the mono-culture our scholarship will become.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19103.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb4i94","c_root_id_B":"etasahm","created_at_utc_A":1562636824,"created_at_utc_B":1562627875,"score_A":18,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"That was an excellently written post. Let us pause, for but a moment, to consider the 70% who are effectively exiled from a career they are trained, and qualified, for. People who have made the sacrifices postgrad work demands, who have met the challenge, and who are cast out because of fashion and fortune. Let us be honest with ourselves; how many of us hold a post simply because we knew the right person at the right time, in the right place? The question of ethics lies not in the teaching of graduates, but in maintaining the current path academia is taking. If we continue to throw away the wonders we create, we will lament the mono-culture our scholarship will become.","human_ref_B":"I'm a PhD student that had just gone through the career crises you're describing, and I was seriously deliberating ending my PhD because of it. I would say that in your mentor role, you should emphasize these points to prospective undergrads, but from that point on, it's not your choice to make on whether or not they should go into grad school.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8949.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb4i94","c_root_id_B":"etawx3l","created_at_utc_A":1562636824,"created_at_utc_B":1562631299,"score_A":18,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"That was an excellently written post. Let us pause, for but a moment, to consider the 70% who are effectively exiled from a career they are trained, and qualified, for. People who have made the sacrifices postgrad work demands, who have met the challenge, and who are cast out because of fashion and fortune. Let us be honest with ourselves; how many of us hold a post simply because we knew the right person at the right time, in the right place? The question of ethics lies not in the teaching of graduates, but in maintaining the current path academia is taking. If we continue to throw away the wonders we create, we will lament the mono-culture our scholarship will become.","human_ref_B":"You're definitely not the only person to think this way > Monica Harris, a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, is a rare exception. She believes that too many PhDs are being produced, and has stopped admitting them. But such unilateral academic birth control is rare. from I'm a grad student who is just beginning to realize that my research is completely useless for anything other than a postdoc. What's even the point of my research? To print more papers with my advisor's name so that he can win larger grants and write even more papers? Yes that's about it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5525.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etawlj9","c_root_id_B":"etb4i94","created_at_utc_A":1562631067,"created_at_utc_B":1562636824,"score_A":8,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I think a lot of these points are valid. I think though the straightforward question to ask that isn't really answered in your examples is: how many recent graduates regret doing a PhD? How many people wish that they had taken a different path? While I suspect that measuring regret (without comparing across groups or something) isn't a great raw indicator, I'm also not sure all of these measurements are measuring life satisfaction that well either. ​ I'm convinced that 1) PhD students aren't happy\/don't have great finances (and neither are postdocs -- though depending on the definition of existential crisis 20% doesn't sound that bad tbh); 2) many phd's want academic jobs but we don't get them; 3) doing a postdoc then going into industry isn't really better than straight to industry (in terms of the industry job you get); 4) industry jobs don't let you do the \"research whatever you want (kinda)\" that academia does ​ But I guess you haven't convinced me that industry as a fall back plan is all that grim. like ya your students going into industry won't make bank necessarily but maybe they are fine with that? you compare phd postdoc versus phd, and phd postdoc versus college grad generally, but if someone was going to go into the biomedical industry, how does having a phd (vs no phd; some kind of ba\/ma) change things. ​ in fairness, its clear you're in this position of applying to TT jobs, and probably checking out industry alternatives, and all the options other than TT look pretty grim to you -- thats personal experience that I don't have. I guess the question is -- if you don't get your TT job, will you regret doing a phd? (it might be hard to know the answer for sure) ​ And honestly, I totally feel this way all the time. to answer your question about training and encouraging\/discouraging students -- coming into a phd program personally I wasn't naive about job opportunities (nor I think are most of my cohort) and that I probably won't be a professor. but I thought the chance to do a phd for \"free\" was worth it -- an 'opportunity of a lifetime!' -- and I could leave whenever I decided on something better to do (before or after I finish). though I still sometimes feel even if I walked away tomorrow it was still worth it, what I think I was actually naive about was how painful\/hard it can feel to leave (or to stay) years later, after it feels like I've given my phd my everything. I'm not sure how I could've explained that to my younger self. but then again, maybe if I actually do leave ill see that the \"well let's just try it out\" approach had been right all along: I'll be both happy I did it and happy I left. who knows","human_ref_B":"That was an excellently written post. Let us pause, for but a moment, to consider the 70% who are effectively exiled from a career they are trained, and qualified, for. People who have made the sacrifices postgrad work demands, who have met the challenge, and who are cast out because of fashion and fortune. Let us be honest with ourselves; how many of us hold a post simply because we knew the right person at the right time, in the right place? The question of ethics lies not in the teaching of graduates, but in maintaining the current path academia is taking. If we continue to throw away the wonders we create, we will lament the mono-culture our scholarship will become.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5757.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb4i94","c_root_id_B":"etb3jn3","created_at_utc_A":1562636824,"created_at_utc_B":1562636114,"score_A":18,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"That was an excellently written post. Let us pause, for but a moment, to consider the 70% who are effectively exiled from a career they are trained, and qualified, for. People who have made the sacrifices postgrad work demands, who have met the challenge, and who are cast out because of fashion and fortune. Let us be honest with ourselves; how many of us hold a post simply because we knew the right person at the right time, in the right place? The question of ethics lies not in the teaching of graduates, but in maintaining the current path academia is taking. If we continue to throw away the wonders we create, we will lament the mono-culture our scholarship will become.","human_ref_B":"Thank you for this. I\u2019m a biomedical graduate student and I\u2019ve been in basically an existential crisis about whether to continue trying to do the academia thing for the last year, and I\u2019ve never felt so stuck in my entire life. Thank you for laying out the numbers for the biomedical field. I knew it probably wasn\u2019t in the cards for me but seeing the numbers (and the stats about lower pay, even years out of a postdoc if you pursue that route) has really made it sink in for me that it\u2019s not worth it. Thank you, seriously. Now I can let go of this and move on. Best of luck to you as you continue on with your journey.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":710.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb4i94","c_root_id_B":"etaw7nn","created_at_utc_A":1562636824,"created_at_utc_B":1562630782,"score_A":18,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"That was an excellently written post. Let us pause, for but a moment, to consider the 70% who are effectively exiled from a career they are trained, and qualified, for. People who have made the sacrifices postgrad work demands, who have met the challenge, and who are cast out because of fashion and fortune. Let us be honest with ourselves; how many of us hold a post simply because we knew the right person at the right time, in the right place? The question of ethics lies not in the teaching of graduates, but in maintaining the current path academia is taking. If we continue to throw away the wonders we create, we will lament the mono-culture our scholarship will become.","human_ref_B":">If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (\\~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (\\~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research \\4-5\\]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. I don't know anyone making this little across multiple cohorts from my doctoral program after graduating. Not a small program either. Are these salaries adjusted for anything. Maybe I'm just in shock because this is so far out of the norm for my area (which is one of the big 3\/4 hubs). I also work in the biomedical field so I'm speaking more directly to you and your field than other STEM areas.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6042.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb7wbn","c_root_id_B":"etaddxn","created_at_utc_A":1562639295,"created_at_utc_B":1562617721,"score_A":12,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"One of the things I grew to really appreciate in grad school was that I was often asked what I want to do. If you start mentorship (or even interviews with potential candidates) by asking what the student wants, whether the student's goals align with your assumptions, you can help the student find what they want. If a student wants to make big bucks, you should tell them to go elsewhere. If a student wants to work and fight and struggle to figure out how things work, without being driven by a paycheck, invite them into your lab. That struggle can be its own reward, and those who enjoy it are probably those most likely to stick to it and end up with grants, faculty positions, etc.","human_ref_B":"As it had already been said, not all fields are the same, and neither are all motives for doing a PhD. I feel fine about how things are in the business school.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21574.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb7wbn","c_root_id_B":"etasahm","created_at_utc_A":1562639295,"created_at_utc_B":1562627875,"score_A":12,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"One of the things I grew to really appreciate in grad school was that I was often asked what I want to do. If you start mentorship (or even interviews with potential candidates) by asking what the student wants, whether the student's goals align with your assumptions, you can help the student find what they want. If a student wants to make big bucks, you should tell them to go elsewhere. If a student wants to work and fight and struggle to figure out how things work, without being driven by a paycheck, invite them into your lab. That struggle can be its own reward, and those who enjoy it are probably those most likely to stick to it and end up with grants, faculty positions, etc.","human_ref_B":"I'm a PhD student that had just gone through the career crises you're describing, and I was seriously deliberating ending my PhD because of it. I would say that in your mentor role, you should emphasize these points to prospective undergrads, but from that point on, it's not your choice to make on whether or not they should go into grad school.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11420.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb7wbn","c_root_id_B":"etawx3l","created_at_utc_A":1562639295,"created_at_utc_B":1562631299,"score_A":12,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"One of the things I grew to really appreciate in grad school was that I was often asked what I want to do. If you start mentorship (or even interviews with potential candidates) by asking what the student wants, whether the student's goals align with your assumptions, you can help the student find what they want. If a student wants to make big bucks, you should tell them to go elsewhere. If a student wants to work and fight and struggle to figure out how things work, without being driven by a paycheck, invite them into your lab. That struggle can be its own reward, and those who enjoy it are probably those most likely to stick to it and end up with grants, faculty positions, etc.","human_ref_B":"You're definitely not the only person to think this way > Monica Harris, a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, is a rare exception. She believes that too many PhDs are being produced, and has stopped admitting them. But such unilateral academic birth control is rare. from I'm a grad student who is just beginning to realize that my research is completely useless for anything other than a postdoc. What's even the point of my research? To print more papers with my advisor's name so that he can win larger grants and write even more papers? Yes that's about it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7996.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etawlj9","c_root_id_B":"etb7wbn","created_at_utc_A":1562631067,"created_at_utc_B":1562639295,"score_A":8,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I think a lot of these points are valid. I think though the straightforward question to ask that isn't really answered in your examples is: how many recent graduates regret doing a PhD? How many people wish that they had taken a different path? While I suspect that measuring regret (without comparing across groups or something) isn't a great raw indicator, I'm also not sure all of these measurements are measuring life satisfaction that well either. ​ I'm convinced that 1) PhD students aren't happy\/don't have great finances (and neither are postdocs -- though depending on the definition of existential crisis 20% doesn't sound that bad tbh); 2) many phd's want academic jobs but we don't get them; 3) doing a postdoc then going into industry isn't really better than straight to industry (in terms of the industry job you get); 4) industry jobs don't let you do the \"research whatever you want (kinda)\" that academia does ​ But I guess you haven't convinced me that industry as a fall back plan is all that grim. like ya your students going into industry won't make bank necessarily but maybe they are fine with that? you compare phd postdoc versus phd, and phd postdoc versus college grad generally, but if someone was going to go into the biomedical industry, how does having a phd (vs no phd; some kind of ba\/ma) change things. ​ in fairness, its clear you're in this position of applying to TT jobs, and probably checking out industry alternatives, and all the options other than TT look pretty grim to you -- thats personal experience that I don't have. I guess the question is -- if you don't get your TT job, will you regret doing a phd? (it might be hard to know the answer for sure) ​ And honestly, I totally feel this way all the time. to answer your question about training and encouraging\/discouraging students -- coming into a phd program personally I wasn't naive about job opportunities (nor I think are most of my cohort) and that I probably won't be a professor. but I thought the chance to do a phd for \"free\" was worth it -- an 'opportunity of a lifetime!' -- and I could leave whenever I decided on something better to do (before or after I finish). though I still sometimes feel even if I walked away tomorrow it was still worth it, what I think I was actually naive about was how painful\/hard it can feel to leave (or to stay) years later, after it feels like I've given my phd my everything. I'm not sure how I could've explained that to my younger self. but then again, maybe if I actually do leave ill see that the \"well let's just try it out\" approach had been right all along: I'll be both happy I did it and happy I left. who knows","human_ref_B":"One of the things I grew to really appreciate in grad school was that I was often asked what I want to do. If you start mentorship (or even interviews with potential candidates) by asking what the student wants, whether the student's goals align with your assumptions, you can help the student find what they want. If a student wants to make big bucks, you should tell them to go elsewhere. If a student wants to work and fight and struggle to figure out how things work, without being driven by a paycheck, invite them into your lab. That struggle can be its own reward, and those who enjoy it are probably those most likely to stick to it and end up with grants, faculty positions, etc.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8228.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etb7wbn","c_root_id_B":"etb3jn3","created_at_utc_A":1562639295,"created_at_utc_B":1562636114,"score_A":12,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"One of the things I grew to really appreciate in grad school was that I was often asked what I want to do. If you start mentorship (or even interviews with potential candidates) by asking what the student wants, whether the student's goals align with your assumptions, you can help the student find what they want. If a student wants to make big bucks, you should tell them to go elsewhere. If a student wants to work and fight and struggle to figure out how things work, without being driven by a paycheck, invite them into your lab. That struggle can be its own reward, and those who enjoy it are probably those most likely to stick to it and end up with grants, faculty positions, etc.","human_ref_B":"Thank you for this. I\u2019m a biomedical graduate student and I\u2019ve been in basically an existential crisis about whether to continue trying to do the academia thing for the last year, and I\u2019ve never felt so stuck in my entire life. Thank you for laying out the numbers for the biomedical field. I knew it probably wasn\u2019t in the cards for me but seeing the numbers (and the stats about lower pay, even years out of a postdoc if you pursue that route) has really made it sink in for me that it\u2019s not worth it. Thank you, seriously. Now I can let go of this and move on. Best of luck to you as you continue on with your journey.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3181.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaw7nn","c_root_id_B":"etb7wbn","created_at_utc_A":1562630782,"created_at_utc_B":1562639295,"score_A":5,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":">If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (\\~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (\\~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research \\4-5\\]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. I don't know anyone making this little across multiple cohorts from my doctoral program after graduating. Not a small program either. Are these salaries adjusted for anything. Maybe I'm just in shock because this is so far out of the norm for my area (which is one of the big 3\/4 hubs). I also work in the biomedical field so I'm speaking more directly to you and your field than other STEM areas.","human_ref_B":"One of the things I grew to really appreciate in grad school was that I was often asked what I want to do. If you start mentorship (or even interviews with potential candidates) by asking what the student wants, whether the student's goals align with your assumptions, you can help the student find what they want. If a student wants to make big bucks, you should tell them to go elsewhere. If a student wants to work and fight and struggle to figure out how things work, without being driven by a paycheck, invite them into your lab. That struggle can be its own reward, and those who enjoy it are probably those most likely to stick to it and end up with grants, faculty positions, etc.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8513.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etawlj9","c_root_id_B":"etawx3l","created_at_utc_A":1562631067,"created_at_utc_B":1562631299,"score_A":8,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I think a lot of these points are valid. I think though the straightforward question to ask that isn't really answered in your examples is: how many recent graduates regret doing a PhD? How many people wish that they had taken a different path? While I suspect that measuring regret (without comparing across groups or something) isn't a great raw indicator, I'm also not sure all of these measurements are measuring life satisfaction that well either. ​ I'm convinced that 1) PhD students aren't happy\/don't have great finances (and neither are postdocs -- though depending on the definition of existential crisis 20% doesn't sound that bad tbh); 2) many phd's want academic jobs but we don't get them; 3) doing a postdoc then going into industry isn't really better than straight to industry (in terms of the industry job you get); 4) industry jobs don't let you do the \"research whatever you want (kinda)\" that academia does ​ But I guess you haven't convinced me that industry as a fall back plan is all that grim. like ya your students going into industry won't make bank necessarily but maybe they are fine with that? you compare phd postdoc versus phd, and phd postdoc versus college grad generally, but if someone was going to go into the biomedical industry, how does having a phd (vs no phd; some kind of ba\/ma) change things. ​ in fairness, its clear you're in this position of applying to TT jobs, and probably checking out industry alternatives, and all the options other than TT look pretty grim to you -- thats personal experience that I don't have. I guess the question is -- if you don't get your TT job, will you regret doing a phd? (it might be hard to know the answer for sure) ​ And honestly, I totally feel this way all the time. to answer your question about training and encouraging\/discouraging students -- coming into a phd program personally I wasn't naive about job opportunities (nor I think are most of my cohort) and that I probably won't be a professor. but I thought the chance to do a phd for \"free\" was worth it -- an 'opportunity of a lifetime!' -- and I could leave whenever I decided on something better to do (before or after I finish). though I still sometimes feel even if I walked away tomorrow it was still worth it, what I think I was actually naive about was how painful\/hard it can feel to leave (or to stay) years later, after it feels like I've given my phd my everything. I'm not sure how I could've explained that to my younger self. but then again, maybe if I actually do leave ill see that the \"well let's just try it out\" approach had been right all along: I'll be both happy I did it and happy I left. who knows","human_ref_B":"You're definitely not the only person to think this way > Monica Harris, a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, is a rare exception. She believes that too many PhDs are being produced, and has stopped admitting them. But such unilateral academic birth control is rare. from I'm a grad student who is just beginning to realize that my research is completely useless for anything other than a postdoc. What's even the point of my research? To print more papers with my advisor's name so that he can win larger grants and write even more papers? Yes that's about it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":232.0,"score_ratio":1.125} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaw7nn","c_root_id_B":"etawx3l","created_at_utc_A":1562630782,"created_at_utc_B":1562631299,"score_A":5,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":">If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (\\~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (\\~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research \\4-5\\]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. I don't know anyone making this little across multiple cohorts from my doctoral program after graduating. Not a small program either. Are these salaries adjusted for anything. Maybe I'm just in shock because this is so far out of the norm for my area (which is one of the big 3\/4 hubs). I also work in the biomedical field so I'm speaking more directly to you and your field than other STEM areas.","human_ref_B":"You're definitely not the only person to think this way > Monica Harris, a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, is a rare exception. She believes that too many PhDs are being produced, and has stopped admitting them. But such unilateral academic birth control is rare. from I'm a grad student who is just beginning to realize that my research is completely useless for anything other than a postdoc. What's even the point of my research? To print more papers with my advisor's name so that he can win larger grants and write even more papers? Yes that's about it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":517.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaw7nn","c_root_id_B":"etawlj9","created_at_utc_A":1562630782,"created_at_utc_B":1562631067,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":">If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (\\~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (\\~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research \\4-5\\]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. I don't know anyone making this little across multiple cohorts from my doctoral program after graduating. Not a small program either. Are these salaries adjusted for anything. Maybe I'm just in shock because this is so far out of the norm for my area (which is one of the big 3\/4 hubs). I also work in the biomedical field so I'm speaking more directly to you and your field than other STEM areas.","human_ref_B":"I think a lot of these points are valid. I think though the straightforward question to ask that isn't really answered in your examples is: how many recent graduates regret doing a PhD? How many people wish that they had taken a different path? While I suspect that measuring regret (without comparing across groups or something) isn't a great raw indicator, I'm also not sure all of these measurements are measuring life satisfaction that well either. ​ I'm convinced that 1) PhD students aren't happy\/don't have great finances (and neither are postdocs -- though depending on the definition of existential crisis 20% doesn't sound that bad tbh); 2) many phd's want academic jobs but we don't get them; 3) doing a postdoc then going into industry isn't really better than straight to industry (in terms of the industry job you get); 4) industry jobs don't let you do the \"research whatever you want (kinda)\" that academia does ​ But I guess you haven't convinced me that industry as a fall back plan is all that grim. like ya your students going into industry won't make bank necessarily but maybe they are fine with that? you compare phd postdoc versus phd, and phd postdoc versus college grad generally, but if someone was going to go into the biomedical industry, how does having a phd (vs no phd; some kind of ba\/ma) change things. ​ in fairness, its clear you're in this position of applying to TT jobs, and probably checking out industry alternatives, and all the options other than TT look pretty grim to you -- thats personal experience that I don't have. I guess the question is -- if you don't get your TT job, will you regret doing a phd? (it might be hard to know the answer for sure) ​ And honestly, I totally feel this way all the time. to answer your question about training and encouraging\/discouraging students -- coming into a phd program personally I wasn't naive about job opportunities (nor I think are most of my cohort) and that I probably won't be a professor. but I thought the chance to do a phd for \"free\" was worth it -- an 'opportunity of a lifetime!' -- and I could leave whenever I decided on something better to do (before or after I finish). though I still sometimes feel even if I walked away tomorrow it was still worth it, what I think I was actually naive about was how painful\/hard it can feel to leave (or to stay) years later, after it feels like I've given my phd my everything. I'm not sure how I could've explained that to my younger self. but then again, maybe if I actually do leave ill see that the \"well let's just try it out\" approach had been right all along: I'll be both happy I did it and happy I left. who knows","labels":0,"seconds_difference":285.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"capi0c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How can we ethically justify training graduate students? My background is in biomedical research, and I'm currently a research scientist, applying for TT positions. I've been struggling with the idea of training my own graduate students and for years now I've been reluctant to encourage undergraduates to continue on to grad school. Every time an undergraduate research assistant has expressed interest in pursuing a PhD, I've tried to explain to them the enormity of the deck stacked against them. To wit: * Compared to other highly educated people in the general population, PhD students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. About one in three end up with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. * For 80% of grad students, an academic career is the goal, but just over 10% actually achieve a faculty position. And those 10% are not equally distributed across institutions, but disproportionately come from elite institutions 1-3], the kinds of which I will most likely not be teaching at. * [Most biomedical PhDs end up having to do a postdoc, but postdoc salaries are lower than that of a new college graduate even though the postdoc is working 50+ hours per week and is 9 years older than the new college grad. * 20% of postdocs report having existential crises related to their careers. * If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research 4-5]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. * Moreover, several studies agree that there isn\u2019t any evidence a postdoc will actually benefit seekers of non-academic jobs 6-8]. When comparing private sector workers 10 years post-PhD, the salary of those who went the postdoc route are [$12,000 lower than those who skipped postdocs altogether. So if I encourage someone to go to grad school, I'm essentially putting them on a path toward some pretty dire consequences for their career, especially if they do a postdoc, which most will. If they're not getting paid well, they're not getting training that can help them thrive outside of academia, and they're miserable, how can I justify telling them to go this route? I think I'm a pretty good mentor. I think my research is important. But I'm realistic about the prospects of my trainees. They're not all going to end up in tenured faculty positions, and the numbers concerning the alternatives are all pretty grim. I can try my best to make sure my students aren't stressed out horribly, but I can't do anything to ensure they'll have meaningful, fulfilling jobs in science that actually pay enough to make grad school worthwhile. So how do you do it? How do we as mentors look our students in the eyes and tell them to ignore the statistics and persevere, hoping they'll be one of the few to buck the trends? References: [1] http:\/\/rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org\/blog\/bias-distribution-k99-awards-faculty-hires\/ [2] https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/622886v1.full [3] https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/1\/1\/e1400005 [4] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/350\/6266\/1367 [5] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [6] http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/352\/6286\/663 [7] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.3766 [8] https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048733318302312#bib0465","c_root_id_A":"etaw7nn","c_root_id_B":"etb3jn3","created_at_utc_A":1562630782,"created_at_utc_B":1562636114,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":">If the postdoc goes into industry, their salary (\\~$48K\/yr ) is still less than the median new college grad (\\~50K\/yr) AND it's unlikely the private sector biology PhD will be able to continue doing research \\4-5\\]. Indeed, if the postdoc sticks with research, they can expect to be paid [less. I don't know anyone making this little across multiple cohorts from my doctoral program after graduating. Not a small program either. Are these salaries adjusted for anything. Maybe I'm just in shock because this is so far out of the norm for my area (which is one of the big 3\/4 hubs). I also work in the biomedical field so I'm speaking more directly to you and your field than other STEM areas.","human_ref_B":"Thank you for this. I\u2019m a biomedical graduate student and I\u2019ve been in basically an existential crisis about whether to continue trying to do the academia thing for the last year, and I\u2019ve never felt so stuck in my entire life. Thank you for laying out the numbers for the biomedical field. I knew it probably wasn\u2019t in the cards for me but seeing the numbers (and the stats about lower pay, even years out of a postdoc if you pursue that route) has really made it sink in for me that it\u2019s not worth it. Thank you, seriously. Now I can let go of this and move on. Best of luck to you as you continue on with your journey.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5332.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwir1tw","c_root_id_B":"gwixoww","created_at_utc_A":1619856202,"created_at_utc_B":1619862780,"score_A":150,"score_B":155,"human_ref_A":"Supply and demand. The number of people applying for each position is now so much larger, so the competition is tougher. There is also now a lot more employment regulation meaning universities have to prove their hiring practices are fair, so they have to use criteria that have the appearance of objectivity such as citation metrics, rather than personal judgement.","human_ref_B":"I've heard one senior faculty at a top school brag he's never had to apply to a single job in his life. Back in his day, he was just recommended to jobs by his seniors, who were extremely respected scientists","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6578.0,"score_ratio":1.0333333333} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwixoww","c_root_id_B":"gwiow1a","created_at_utc_A":1619862780,"created_at_utc_B":1619854132,"score_A":155,"score_B":129,"human_ref_A":"I've heard one senior faculty at a top school brag he's never had to apply to a single job in his life. Back in his day, he was just recommended to jobs by his seniors, who were extremely respected scientists","human_ref_B":"\"Somebody recommended I take this job\", which is similar to the story told today. The only difference is that some people think they are playing the publish or perish game, but in reality they are playing the recommendation and political favor game. This is especially true as having friends and connections get you papers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8648.0,"score_ratio":1.2015503876} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwixoww","c_root_id_B":"gwio9iz","created_at_utc_A":1619862780,"created_at_utc_B":1619853549,"score_A":155,"score_B":108,"human_ref_A":"I've heard one senior faculty at a top school brag he's never had to apply to a single job in his life. Back in his day, he was just recommended to jobs by his seniors, who were extremely respected scientists","human_ref_B":"The percentage of people with PhDs and who went into academia was far lower. So there was much less competition, if any. I know of people who got tenured positions straight after getting their PhD, no need to do post-docs or build a publication record.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9231.0,"score_ratio":1.4351851852} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwir1tw","c_root_id_B":"gwiow1a","created_at_utc_A":1619856202,"created_at_utc_B":1619854132,"score_A":150,"score_B":129,"human_ref_A":"Supply and demand. The number of people applying for each position is now so much larger, so the competition is tougher. There is also now a lot more employment regulation meaning universities have to prove their hiring practices are fair, so they have to use criteria that have the appearance of objectivity such as citation metrics, rather than personal judgement.","human_ref_B":"\"Somebody recommended I take this job\", which is similar to the story told today. The only difference is that some people think they are playing the publish or perish game, but in reality they are playing the recommendation and political favor game. This is especially true as having friends and connections get you papers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2070.0,"score_ratio":1.1627906977} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwio9iz","c_root_id_B":"gwir1tw","created_at_utc_A":1619853549,"created_at_utc_B":1619856202,"score_A":108,"score_B":150,"human_ref_A":"The percentage of people with PhDs and who went into academia was far lower. So there was much less competition, if any. I know of people who got tenured positions straight after getting their PhD, no need to do post-docs or build a publication record.","human_ref_B":"Supply and demand. The number of people applying for each position is now so much larger, so the competition is tougher. There is also now a lot more employment regulation meaning universities have to prove their hiring practices are fair, so they have to use criteria that have the appearance of objectivity such as citation metrics, rather than personal judgement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2653.0,"score_ratio":1.3888888889} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwio9iz","c_root_id_B":"gwiow1a","created_at_utc_A":1619853549,"created_at_utc_B":1619854132,"score_A":108,"score_B":129,"human_ref_A":"The percentage of people with PhDs and who went into academia was far lower. So there was much less competition, if any. I know of people who got tenured positions straight after getting their PhD, no need to do post-docs or build a publication record.","human_ref_B":"\"Somebody recommended I take this job\", which is similar to the story told today. The only difference is that some people think they are playing the publish or perish game, but in reality they are playing the recommendation and political favor game. This is especially true as having friends and connections get you papers.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":583.0,"score_ratio":1.1944444444} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwj8k4q","c_root_id_B":"gwj3rmk","created_at_utc_A":1619872111,"created_at_utc_B":1619868391,"score_A":40,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"There was a senior member of the department where I got my PhD who would talk about how when he was in a grad school---not even \"on the market\" note---a nearby university called him up, offered him a TT job, and then---*when he refused*---flew him out to try and convince him. And it wasn't like he was a hotshot at a prestigious Ivy League university. Senior member of the department where I got my MA: started teaching part-time at the university as a grad student, got hired to TT two years later because the other members of the department liked him still without having either a publication or a finished dissertation. (Note: I consider this guy one of the most original scholars in my field, and he is a legend around that department for his teaching and service, so it's not like they made a bad choice.) Back to the PhD department, more recently though still a long time ago. This guy met the then-chair at a conference as a grad student, the chair just \"gave\" (?!) him a fellowship and then convinced the rest of the faculty to turn it into a TT line. I'm sure for every story like this there's a dozen people who went through what seem like normal hiring processes to us today, but ... yeah.","human_ref_B":"Don\u2019t assume the people in the old days were bad scholars, though. Two of the best works in my field\u2014book length and with book level research\u2014are dissertations by two women, one from 1908 and one from 1933. I\u2019m a medieval\/Renaissance scholar so our field changes less, but those women did as much work as went into my diss AND my first book (different topics) in just the dissertation. More work, actually, because they only has physical archives whereas I could read a lot digitally. I still lean on their work! And one of them did teach in a university and I imagine she was an absolute rockstar.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3720.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwj8h4c","c_root_id_B":"gwj8k4q","created_at_utc_A":1619872051,"created_at_utc_B":1619872111,"score_A":13,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":">When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. One of my former colleagues shared stories about being on the market in US history in 1974. There were apparently something like *five* jobs posted in the entire USA. And of course hundreds of candidates. I've heard similar stories from others about the mid-1970s market as well. Sure, there was some measure of the old boys' network still, but certainly by the mid 70s there were highly competitive searches happening at many schools. I was on my first search committee (as a student) in the 1980s and the process looked exactly like it does today in that case, complete with 200+ applicants for a single TT line in history at an SLAC.","human_ref_B":"There was a senior member of the department where I got my PhD who would talk about how when he was in a grad school---not even \"on the market\" note---a nearby university called him up, offered him a TT job, and then---*when he refused*---flew him out to try and convince him. And it wasn't like he was a hotshot at a prestigious Ivy League university. Senior member of the department where I got my MA: started teaching part-time at the university as a grad student, got hired to TT two years later because the other members of the department liked him still without having either a publication or a finished dissertation. (Note: I consider this guy one of the most original scholars in my field, and he is a legend around that department for his teaching and service, so it's not like they made a bad choice.) Back to the PhD department, more recently though still a long time ago. This guy met the then-chair at a conference as a grad student, the chair just \"gave\" (?!) him a fellowship and then convinced the rest of the faculty to turn it into a TT line. I'm sure for every story like this there's a dozen people who went through what seem like normal hiring processes to us today, but ... yeah.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":60.0,"score_ratio":3.0769230769} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwj1xds","c_root_id_B":"gwj8k4q","created_at_utc_A":1619866803,"created_at_utc_B":1619872111,"score_A":13,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"Rankings such as THES, QS, etc became a thing. A major part of those rankings are number of pubs, number of citations, and so on. So, naturally Universities shifted their KPI and began looking for workhorses who can help them climb and compete in those rankings.","human_ref_B":"There was a senior member of the department where I got my PhD who would talk about how when he was in a grad school---not even \"on the market\" note---a nearby university called him up, offered him a TT job, and then---*when he refused*---flew him out to try and convince him. And it wasn't like he was a hotshot at a prestigious Ivy League university. Senior member of the department where I got my MA: started teaching part-time at the university as a grad student, got hired to TT two years later because the other members of the department liked him still without having either a publication or a finished dissertation. (Note: I consider this guy one of the most original scholars in my field, and he is a legend around that department for his teaching and service, so it's not like they made a bad choice.) Back to the PhD department, more recently though still a long time ago. This guy met the then-chair at a conference as a grad student, the chair just \"gave\" (?!) him a fellowship and then convinced the rest of the faculty to turn it into a TT line. I'm sure for every story like this there's a dozen people who went through what seem like normal hiring processes to us today, but ... yeah.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5308.0,"score_ratio":3.0769230769} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwj7tfu","c_root_id_B":"gwj8k4q","created_at_utc_A":1619871576,"created_at_utc_B":1619872111,"score_A":9,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"In the late 1980s there was a low supply of people getting their phds because gen x was small and boomer women went to grad school at a much lower rate. Now millennials are getting their phds and there are more of them so the competition is high.","human_ref_B":"There was a senior member of the department where I got my PhD who would talk about how when he was in a grad school---not even \"on the market\" note---a nearby university called him up, offered him a TT job, and then---*when he refused*---flew him out to try and convince him. And it wasn't like he was a hotshot at a prestigious Ivy League university. Senior member of the department where I got my MA: started teaching part-time at the university as a grad student, got hired to TT two years later because the other members of the department liked him still without having either a publication or a finished dissertation. (Note: I consider this guy one of the most original scholars in my field, and he is a legend around that department for his teaching and service, so it's not like they made a bad choice.) Back to the PhD department, more recently though still a long time ago. This guy met the then-chair at a conference as a grad student, the chair just \"gave\" (?!) him a fellowship and then convinced the rest of the faculty to turn it into a TT line. I'm sure for every story like this there's a dozen people who went through what seem like normal hiring processes to us today, but ... yeah.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":535.0,"score_ratio":4.4444444444} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwj3rmk","c_root_id_B":"gwj1xds","created_at_utc_A":1619868391,"created_at_utc_B":1619866803,"score_A":28,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Don\u2019t assume the people in the old days were bad scholars, though. Two of the best works in my field\u2014book length and with book level research\u2014are dissertations by two women, one from 1908 and one from 1933. I\u2019m a medieval\/Renaissance scholar so our field changes less, but those women did as much work as went into my diss AND my first book (different topics) in just the dissertation. More work, actually, because they only has physical archives whereas I could read a lot digitally. I still lean on their work! And one of them did teach in a university and I imagine she was an absolute rockstar.","human_ref_B":"Rankings such as THES, QS, etc became a thing. A major part of those rankings are number of pubs, number of citations, and so on. So, naturally Universities shifted their KPI and began looking for workhorses who can help them climb and compete in those rankings.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1588.0,"score_ratio":2.1538461538} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwj8h4c","c_root_id_B":"gwj7tfu","created_at_utc_A":1619872051,"created_at_utc_B":1619871576,"score_A":13,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":">When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. One of my former colleagues shared stories about being on the market in US history in 1974. There were apparently something like *five* jobs posted in the entire USA. And of course hundreds of candidates. I've heard similar stories from others about the mid-1970s market as well. Sure, there was some measure of the old boys' network still, but certainly by the mid 70s there were highly competitive searches happening at many schools. I was on my first search committee (as a student) in the 1980s and the process looked exactly like it does today in that case, complete with 200+ applicants for a single TT line in history at an SLAC.","human_ref_B":"In the late 1980s there was a low supply of people getting their phds because gen x was small and boomer women went to grad school at a much lower rate. Now millennials are getting their phds and there are more of them so the competition is high.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":475.0,"score_ratio":1.4444444444} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwk62ql","c_root_id_B":"gwj7tfu","created_at_utc_A":1619888349,"created_at_utc_B":1619871576,"score_A":12,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"A lot of factors, but mainly people hadn't learned to game the system, so expectations could be couched in realistic terms. These days, if you haven't published at least a few times in grad school, you have no chance of working at a research institution at all. But in the 1970s, publishing during grad school at all was relatively rare (more common in STEM, but basically unheard of in humanities). But now everybody knows that publication is the key to jobs, so mentors look for ways to get promising grad students in as 4th authors or whatever. So now every graduate worth their salt has published a lot right out of the PhD. At least on paper. TBH, the quality of publications has gone down considerably and there are a lot of journals whose sole existence is to pad CVs out. Nobody actually reads or cites the research published in them.","human_ref_B":"In the late 1980s there was a low supply of people getting their phds because gen x was small and boomer women went to grad school at a much lower rate. Now millennials are getting their phds and there are more of them so the competition is high.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16773.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwkvmsy","c_root_id_B":"gwj7tfu","created_at_utc_A":1619899461,"created_at_utc_B":1619871576,"score_A":11,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I had a famous scientist once point out to me that right now there are more scientists looking for tenure track positions than the cumulative total number of scientists (not just people looking for jobs) throughout all of history. That is a crushing thing to hear right before hitting the job market, but it prepared me.","human_ref_B":"In the late 1980s there was a low supply of people getting their phds because gen x was small and boomer women went to grad school at a much lower rate. Now millennials are getting their phds and there are more of them so the competition is high.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27885.0,"score_ratio":1.2222222222} {"post_id":"n2d1d4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before \u201cpublish or perish\u201d? When I hear professors who got their PhD before 1980-ish talk about how they got their faculty positions it all sounds so easy. Nothing like the hyper-crowded cutthroat business it is now. So why were things so easy?","c_root_id_A":"gwk8uqu","c_root_id_B":"gwkvmsy","created_at_utc_A":1619889531,"created_at_utc_B":1619899461,"score_A":7,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Story for my PhD advisor (now in his mid-60s) was he graduated with his PhD, went to a Big Company research lab for two years, then was flown back out to give a seminar after his advisor retired. Was offered a TT job after his talk. Took over his former advisor's lab. There was still old-ass broken equipment from the 60s hanging around our lab that was never cleared out.","human_ref_B":"I had a famous scientist once point out to me that right now there are more scientists looking for tenure track positions than the cumulative total number of scientists (not just people looking for jobs) throughout all of history. That is a crushing thing to hear right before hitting the job market, but it prepared me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9930.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytj1x1","c_root_id_B":"gytjlp0","created_at_utc_A":1621517313,"created_at_utc_B":1621517583,"score_A":51,"score_B":84,"human_ref_A":"Let me get things straight. You-are-a-successful-academia-already, and there are many other options, either abroad or not, for you since you already have a fantastic portfolio. Most of the parts of your career so far has been what younger academics from third-world countries dreaming of, including me!","human_ref_B":"This genuinely is hard to read... It is such a shame that such a motivated and dedicated person like you has to go through it. I am sorry to hear that and I sincerely hope you will manage to get better opportunities very soon. May I ask why are you sticking to academia if the conditions are so difficult for you? Probably a stupid question, but have you tried changing department\/university? It does sound like most of your problems come from being in an unsupportive department - maybe managing to get elsewhere will help?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":270.0,"score_ratio":1.6470588235} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytl0kz","c_root_id_B":"gytkwoo","created_at_utc_A":1621518261,"created_at_utc_B":1621518211,"score_A":36,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"If you have as many (quality) pubs and as much grant money as you say, and are already at a Russell Group school, it should be a relatively small matter to get an offer at another school. I'm US-based, so maybe the UK is very different, but any US researcher with your profile would have jumped ship to a school with a fraction of the teaching and leagues better funding\/research support literally years ago. Even if all you do is get an offer that should signal to your HoD or higher up to start negotiating.","human_ref_B":"I totally get where you are coming from. I am a UK STEM faculty in nearly the same situation (although I am a few years junior to you). Named issues: little PhD student support in the UK, very low pay (and getting worse by the year), ridiculous and archaic time-wasting teaching processes, etc. For this reason, I have chosen to start a transition to the US (I am American) where nearly all of those issues are assuaged to a large degree. Could this be an option for you? or perhaps the Nordics\/somewhere else? Wishing you all the best.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":50.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytrasa","c_root_id_B":"gytntmj","created_at_utc_A":1621520989,"created_at_utc_B":1621519458,"score_A":19,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"You're tenured and you have funding. What's the worst case scenario if you simply announce to HoD \"Yeah I'm not teaching those courses\". I'm not saying bad thing won't happen, I'm legitimately asking whether you've considered how a conflict on this would play out for you.","human_ref_B":"Are you a woman or a person of color, or both? Because this is what departments do to woman and people of color.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1531.0,"score_ratio":3.1666666667} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytob6n","c_root_id_B":"gytrasa","created_at_utc_A":1621519677,"created_at_utc_B":1621520989,"score_A":5,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"This is hard to read and one of the scenarios I had in mind when I left academia after my postdoc. Prof. and PI I know have this very same problem. When I did my PhD in was the only student no top notch research so no good funding and I had 1yr. Contracts. Unfortunately that can become reality. Maybe it\u2019s time for you to move on? However I do not think that it is likely to find an academic position that is much better. This is to my experience how it works some deal with it better than others. Ever thought about going to industry? We do lots of research and what I like most is the chance to work on different things not just one topic. Unless of course teaching is super important to you","human_ref_B":"You're tenured and you have funding. What's the worst case scenario if you simply announce to HoD \"Yeah I'm not teaching those courses\". I'm not saying bad thing won't happen, I'm legitimately asking whether you've considered how a conflict on this would play out for you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1312.0,"score_ratio":3.8} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytrehf","c_root_id_B":"gytntmj","created_at_utc_A":1621521024,"created_at_utc_B":1621519458,"score_A":12,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Man fuck me. There are so many people I would be willing to work with for my PhD like yourself but I can't go on unfunded. It's interesting seeing this from the other side. I do know there is some EU funding (ITN projects; Marie-Curie grants) that pays a lot for PhD's (>\u00a330,000) and doesn't seem to go through the department and is still available post-Brexit.","human_ref_B":"Are you a woman or a person of color, or both? Because this is what departments do to woman and people of color.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1566.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytrehf","c_root_id_B":"gytob6n","created_at_utc_A":1621521024,"created_at_utc_B":1621519677,"score_A":12,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Man fuck me. There are so many people I would be willing to work with for my PhD like yourself but I can't go on unfunded. It's interesting seeing this from the other side. I do know there is some EU funding (ITN projects; Marie-Curie grants) that pays a lot for PhD's (>\u00a330,000) and doesn't seem to go through the department and is still available post-Brexit.","human_ref_B":"This is hard to read and one of the scenarios I had in mind when I left academia after my postdoc. Prof. and PI I know have this very same problem. When I did my PhD in was the only student no top notch research so no good funding and I had 1yr. Contracts. Unfortunately that can become reality. Maybe it\u2019s time for you to move on? However I do not think that it is likely to find an academic position that is much better. This is to my experience how it works some deal with it better than others. Ever thought about going to industry? We do lots of research and what I like most is the chance to work on different things not just one topic. Unless of course teaching is super important to you","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1347.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytntmj","c_root_id_B":"gytu84c","created_at_utc_A":1621519458,"created_at_utc_B":1621522207,"score_A":6,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Are you a woman or a person of color, or both? Because this is what departments do to woman and people of color.","human_ref_B":"You have already succeeded and had tremendous amounts of luck. It is time to MAKE yourself some more luck. Be open about your goals, talk to your HoD, ask for feedback, let them know you want different things. They may think you are satisfied if you never complain! Or it can be something discriminatory like an accent, being out or personality clash. Those are unacceptable and procedures must exist for you to follow. In all fairness, it is hardly going to be better anywhere else in the UK.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2749.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytob6n","c_root_id_B":"gytu84c","created_at_utc_A":1621519677,"created_at_utc_B":1621522207,"score_A":5,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"This is hard to read and one of the scenarios I had in mind when I left academia after my postdoc. Prof. and PI I know have this very same problem. When I did my PhD in was the only student no top notch research so no good funding and I had 1yr. Contracts. Unfortunately that can become reality. Maybe it\u2019s time for you to move on? However I do not think that it is likely to find an academic position that is much better. This is to my experience how it works some deal with it better than others. Ever thought about going to industry? We do lots of research and what I like most is the chance to work on different things not just one topic. Unless of course teaching is super important to you","human_ref_B":"You have already succeeded and had tremendous amounts of luck. It is time to MAKE yourself some more luck. Be open about your goals, talk to your HoD, ask for feedback, let them know you want different things. They may think you are satisfied if you never complain! Or it can be something discriminatory like an accent, being out or personality clash. Those are unacceptable and procedures must exist for you to follow. In all fairness, it is hardly going to be better anywhere else in the UK.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2530.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gyv6d4b","c_root_id_B":"gytntmj","created_at_utc_A":1621542461,"created_at_utc_B":1621519458,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":">**I came to academia because I wanted to do research**, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. **I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).** I think this is the crux of the issue. I'm going to be direct, so I apologize if it comes off as rude. Your dissatisfaction seems to becoming from the following: 1. You aren't getting to do as much research. 1. Implication: teaching and administrative work aren't fulfilling or are aggravating. 2. You're comparing yourself to other colleagues in your department (who have less teaching or admin shitwork). 3. You're comparing yourself to colleagues outside your university. 4. You feel you're being treated unfairly. Some of this is external. And for that, you're gonna have to play a tough game against the admin. You should start seeing if any of your friends at other places would be open to hiring someone like you. Even getting an offer can sometimes be leverage for your present department to pay you more or to lessen your responsibilities. Additionally, you're going to have to come up with actual demands (e.g., I want my teaching load to be such-and-such, and I only want the following administrative duties). And you're going to have to threaten to walk away. Basically, you need to be incredibly savvy here. But a lot of this looks internal too. This isn't medical advice, but you look depressed to me, and probably burnt out. This job is eating you alive. So, if you want to survive, it's either you get out of this situation (or change it), or you change something internally. Sometimes, it can be as easy as working with a therapist to find your reason for why you do what you do. Sometimes, it can be working with a therapist to let go of expectations (e.g., the comparisons you make with others). Sometimes, it can be finding ways to cut corners on the admin and teaching stuff to pursue research that is accomplishable only by you. This profession is fucking terrible. And it's not your fault it's come to this. Academia is built on exploitation of the competent and non-wealthy. And if it's simply not your fight any more, it's not your fight. You have to ask: can I keep living under these conditions? I've had friends who left academia, and they end up loving the decision--less stress, more time for family and friends, more financial security, more autonomy for where they live and what they do. But they also have a couple years of mourning where they left all their work behind and grieved the loss of that part of their lives. But they came out whole and better for it. I'm sorry things are shit, OP. I wish you the courage to introspect on the hard questions, the tenacity for negotiations, and the luck to find better working conditions.","human_ref_B":"Are you a woman or a person of color, or both? Because this is what departments do to woman and people of color.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23003.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytob6n","c_root_id_B":"gyv6d4b","created_at_utc_A":1621519677,"created_at_utc_B":1621542461,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"This is hard to read and one of the scenarios I had in mind when I left academia after my postdoc. Prof. and PI I know have this very same problem. When I did my PhD in was the only student no top notch research so no good funding and I had 1yr. Contracts. Unfortunately that can become reality. Maybe it\u2019s time for you to move on? However I do not think that it is likely to find an academic position that is much better. This is to my experience how it works some deal with it better than others. Ever thought about going to industry? We do lots of research and what I like most is the chance to work on different things not just one topic. Unless of course teaching is super important to you","human_ref_B":">**I came to academia because I wanted to do research**, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. **I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).** I think this is the crux of the issue. I'm going to be direct, so I apologize if it comes off as rude. Your dissatisfaction seems to becoming from the following: 1. You aren't getting to do as much research. 1. Implication: teaching and administrative work aren't fulfilling or are aggravating. 2. You're comparing yourself to other colleagues in your department (who have less teaching or admin shitwork). 3. You're comparing yourself to colleagues outside your university. 4. You feel you're being treated unfairly. Some of this is external. And for that, you're gonna have to play a tough game against the admin. You should start seeing if any of your friends at other places would be open to hiring someone like you. Even getting an offer can sometimes be leverage for your present department to pay you more or to lessen your responsibilities. Additionally, you're going to have to come up with actual demands (e.g., I want my teaching load to be such-and-such, and I only want the following administrative duties). And you're going to have to threaten to walk away. Basically, you need to be incredibly savvy here. But a lot of this looks internal too. This isn't medical advice, but you look depressed to me, and probably burnt out. This job is eating you alive. So, if you want to survive, it's either you get out of this situation (or change it), or you change something internally. Sometimes, it can be as easy as working with a therapist to find your reason for why you do what you do. Sometimes, it can be working with a therapist to let go of expectations (e.g., the comparisons you make with others). Sometimes, it can be finding ways to cut corners on the admin and teaching stuff to pursue research that is accomplishable only by you. This profession is fucking terrible. And it's not your fault it's come to this. Academia is built on exploitation of the competent and non-wealthy. And if it's simply not your fight any more, it's not your fight. You have to ask: can I keep living under these conditions? I've had friends who left academia, and they end up loving the decision--less stress, more time for family and friends, more financial security, more autonomy for where they live and what they do. But they also have a couple years of mourning where they left all their work behind and grieved the loss of that part of their lives. But they came out whole and better for it. I'm sorry things are shit, OP. I wish you the courage to introspect on the hard questions, the tenacity for negotiations, and the luck to find better working conditions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22784.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gyv6d4b","c_root_id_B":"gytviwk","created_at_utc_A":1621542461,"created_at_utc_B":1621522762,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":">**I came to academia because I wanted to do research**, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. **I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).** I think this is the crux of the issue. I'm going to be direct, so I apologize if it comes off as rude. Your dissatisfaction seems to becoming from the following: 1. You aren't getting to do as much research. 1. Implication: teaching and administrative work aren't fulfilling or are aggravating. 2. You're comparing yourself to other colleagues in your department (who have less teaching or admin shitwork). 3. You're comparing yourself to colleagues outside your university. 4. You feel you're being treated unfairly. Some of this is external. And for that, you're gonna have to play a tough game against the admin. You should start seeing if any of your friends at other places would be open to hiring someone like you. Even getting an offer can sometimes be leverage for your present department to pay you more or to lessen your responsibilities. Additionally, you're going to have to come up with actual demands (e.g., I want my teaching load to be such-and-such, and I only want the following administrative duties). And you're going to have to threaten to walk away. Basically, you need to be incredibly savvy here. But a lot of this looks internal too. This isn't medical advice, but you look depressed to me, and probably burnt out. This job is eating you alive. So, if you want to survive, it's either you get out of this situation (or change it), or you change something internally. Sometimes, it can be as easy as working with a therapist to find your reason for why you do what you do. Sometimes, it can be working with a therapist to let go of expectations (e.g., the comparisons you make with others). Sometimes, it can be finding ways to cut corners on the admin and teaching stuff to pursue research that is accomplishable only by you. This profession is fucking terrible. And it's not your fault it's come to this. Academia is built on exploitation of the competent and non-wealthy. And if it's simply not your fight any more, it's not your fight. You have to ask: can I keep living under these conditions? I've had friends who left academia, and they end up loving the decision--less stress, more time for family and friends, more financial security, more autonomy for where they live and what they do. But they also have a couple years of mourning where they left all their work behind and grieved the loss of that part of their lives. But they came out whole and better for it. I'm sorry things are shit, OP. I wish you the courage to introspect on the hard questions, the tenacity for negotiations, and the luck to find better working conditions.","human_ref_B":"I was having a similar problem working at a mid-tier Russell Group uni. Completely burdened by admin duties and teaching even when I was bringing in MRC grants. They put me (as a junior faculty) in a director of programme role, which was completely ridiculous. I was only a few years in as an assistant prof, and this was around the time of Brexit, so I left for a position in North America. If you have the mobility, keep your eyes open for positions in Canada. They pay A LOT more than the UK. I went from a Russell Group school to a lower tier school, but my salary (in terms of spending power) easily doubled (from \u00a342k to $120k CAD). Feel free to DM me.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19699.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gyv57vc","c_root_id_B":"gyv6d4b","created_at_utc_A":1621541960,"created_at_utc_B":1621542461,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"In the United States, from what I can see of my colleagues, the answer is to apply to a new department. One of three things will happen 1) you don't get offers and the current university would find out and then they'll send you a very stern finger wagging 2) you get an offer and you leave for greener pastures or 3) you get an offer and then renegotiate with your current dept head for a better deal. I can't speak for you, as you know your situation better than me, but the only real risk is the 1st option. The question then becomes, is that risk worth it?","human_ref_B":">**I came to academia because I wanted to do research**, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. **I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).** I think this is the crux of the issue. I'm going to be direct, so I apologize if it comes off as rude. Your dissatisfaction seems to becoming from the following: 1. You aren't getting to do as much research. 1. Implication: teaching and administrative work aren't fulfilling or are aggravating. 2. You're comparing yourself to other colleagues in your department (who have less teaching or admin shitwork). 3. You're comparing yourself to colleagues outside your university. 4. You feel you're being treated unfairly. Some of this is external. And for that, you're gonna have to play a tough game against the admin. You should start seeing if any of your friends at other places would be open to hiring someone like you. Even getting an offer can sometimes be leverage for your present department to pay you more or to lessen your responsibilities. Additionally, you're going to have to come up with actual demands (e.g., I want my teaching load to be such-and-such, and I only want the following administrative duties). And you're going to have to threaten to walk away. Basically, you need to be incredibly savvy here. But a lot of this looks internal too. This isn't medical advice, but you look depressed to me, and probably burnt out. This job is eating you alive. So, if you want to survive, it's either you get out of this situation (or change it), or you change something internally. Sometimes, it can be as easy as working with a therapist to find your reason for why you do what you do. Sometimes, it can be working with a therapist to let go of expectations (e.g., the comparisons you make with others). Sometimes, it can be finding ways to cut corners on the admin and teaching stuff to pursue research that is accomplishable only by you. This profession is fucking terrible. And it's not your fault it's come to this. Academia is built on exploitation of the competent and non-wealthy. And if it's simply not your fight any more, it's not your fight. You have to ask: can I keep living under these conditions? I've had friends who left academia, and they end up loving the decision--less stress, more time for family and friends, more financial security, more autonomy for where they live and what they do. But they also have a couple years of mourning where they left all their work behind and grieved the loss of that part of their lives. But they came out whole and better for it. I'm sorry things are shit, OP. I wish you the courage to introspect on the hard questions, the tenacity for negotiations, and the luck to find better working conditions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":501.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gyv6d4b","c_root_id_B":"gytx8qx","created_at_utc_A":1621542461,"created_at_utc_B":1621523492,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":">**I came to academia because I wanted to do research**, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. **I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).** I think this is the crux of the issue. I'm going to be direct, so I apologize if it comes off as rude. Your dissatisfaction seems to becoming from the following: 1. You aren't getting to do as much research. 1. Implication: teaching and administrative work aren't fulfilling or are aggravating. 2. You're comparing yourself to other colleagues in your department (who have less teaching or admin shitwork). 3. You're comparing yourself to colleagues outside your university. 4. You feel you're being treated unfairly. Some of this is external. And for that, you're gonna have to play a tough game against the admin. You should start seeing if any of your friends at other places would be open to hiring someone like you. Even getting an offer can sometimes be leverage for your present department to pay you more or to lessen your responsibilities. Additionally, you're going to have to come up with actual demands (e.g., I want my teaching load to be such-and-such, and I only want the following administrative duties). And you're going to have to threaten to walk away. Basically, you need to be incredibly savvy here. But a lot of this looks internal too. This isn't medical advice, but you look depressed to me, and probably burnt out. This job is eating you alive. So, if you want to survive, it's either you get out of this situation (or change it), or you change something internally. Sometimes, it can be as easy as working with a therapist to find your reason for why you do what you do. Sometimes, it can be working with a therapist to let go of expectations (e.g., the comparisons you make with others). Sometimes, it can be finding ways to cut corners on the admin and teaching stuff to pursue research that is accomplishable only by you. This profession is fucking terrible. And it's not your fault it's come to this. Academia is built on exploitation of the competent and non-wealthy. And if it's simply not your fight any more, it's not your fight. You have to ask: can I keep living under these conditions? I've had friends who left academia, and they end up loving the decision--less stress, more time for family and friends, more financial security, more autonomy for where they live and what they do. But they also have a couple years of mourning where they left all their work behind and grieved the loss of that part of their lives. But they came out whole and better for it. I'm sorry things are shit, OP. I wish you the courage to introspect on the hard questions, the tenacity for negotiations, and the luck to find better working conditions.","human_ref_B":"Is it at a very large uni in the north of england?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18969.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gyv6d4b","c_root_id_B":"gyuicty","created_at_utc_A":1621542461,"created_at_utc_B":1621532326,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":">**I came to academia because I wanted to do research**, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. **I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).** I think this is the crux of the issue. I'm going to be direct, so I apologize if it comes off as rude. Your dissatisfaction seems to becoming from the following: 1. You aren't getting to do as much research. 1. Implication: teaching and administrative work aren't fulfilling or are aggravating. 2. You're comparing yourself to other colleagues in your department (who have less teaching or admin shitwork). 3. You're comparing yourself to colleagues outside your university. 4. You feel you're being treated unfairly. Some of this is external. And for that, you're gonna have to play a tough game against the admin. You should start seeing if any of your friends at other places would be open to hiring someone like you. Even getting an offer can sometimes be leverage for your present department to pay you more or to lessen your responsibilities. Additionally, you're going to have to come up with actual demands (e.g., I want my teaching load to be such-and-such, and I only want the following administrative duties). And you're going to have to threaten to walk away. Basically, you need to be incredibly savvy here. But a lot of this looks internal too. This isn't medical advice, but you look depressed to me, and probably burnt out. This job is eating you alive. So, if you want to survive, it's either you get out of this situation (or change it), or you change something internally. Sometimes, it can be as easy as working with a therapist to find your reason for why you do what you do. Sometimes, it can be working with a therapist to let go of expectations (e.g., the comparisons you make with others). Sometimes, it can be finding ways to cut corners on the admin and teaching stuff to pursue research that is accomplishable only by you. This profession is fucking terrible. And it's not your fault it's come to this. Academia is built on exploitation of the competent and non-wealthy. And if it's simply not your fight any more, it's not your fight. You have to ask: can I keep living under these conditions? I've had friends who left academia, and they end up loving the decision--less stress, more time for family and friends, more financial security, more autonomy for where they live and what they do. But they also have a couple years of mourning where they left all their work behind and grieved the loss of that part of their lives. But they came out whole and better for it. I'm sorry things are shit, OP. I wish you the courage to introspect on the hard questions, the tenacity for negotiations, and the luck to find better working conditions.","human_ref_B":"It could be the curse of competence: your HoD is loading you down with additional obligations because (A) they trust you to do a better job than your colleagues, and (B) you let them. Say \"No,\" and say it often. You're tenured now, so you get to set the terms of your career more aggressively than you're used to. Consider shifting jobs, or at very least getting some offers to renegotiate your practical terms at this one.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10135.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"ngzjio","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Losing hope in a successful academic career This is my first post in Reddit. Not sure how to start. Let me start with some context. I always was the top student in my class, after graduation I got a lot of academic awards in my home country (even from the government) for having the best academic records in the country (all them with nice cash prizes attached), I finished my PhD in 3.5 years (working like hell) with about 10 journal publications (most of them top journals) and almost 20 conferences (many of them quite good as well). I got my first and only postdoc job before graduating from my PhD, and two years later I finally got my first academic job in the UK as assistant professor in a Russell group university. So far so good. I have now been between 5-10 years in this department (not saying the exact number for privacy reasons), got a promotion to associate professor a couple of years ago. I have got several grants (some of them from prestigious funders, the other successfull applicants being from Oxford and Cambridge) and have done ok in publications. However I feel like the \"good luck\" (if I can call it that way) is coming to an end and I don't see good prospects for the future because of the following reasons: \\- There is little to no support from the department. We don't get any PhD scholarships to recruit PhD students. The only way I got one (1) PhD studentship from my department all this time was conditioned on a grant application being successful, which thankfully was, and I still had to request additional funding from the grant budget to give a stipend to the PhD student. All my other PhD students have been self-funded (and I got two of them because they were neglected by their supervisors and came to me to take them, which I had to do as I didn't really have many options to choose from). \\- I only have two PhD students now and won't have any other next year. I don't have money to recruit any PhD students so I can only accept self-funded students. Good self-funded students will go to USA or other higher ranked universities in UK. I only get odd emails from poor candidates who lack even basic skills from undegraduate level. \\- Despite trying to work hard in research, getting grants, papers in top journals, being editor in good journals, organise workshops and other staff, I have been overloaded with teaching and admin duties, way more than any other colleague in my department, some of them who have less than half my teaching load. I have talked to the HoD about this and in the last two years I had to keep going with my heavy teaching load under the promise of being the last year. The next academic year will be again \"the last year\" (for the third time) before my teaching and admin load decreases. This year there was an opportunity to get a course in my area of research (all my teaching is outside my area of research, to make things worse) and the course I wanted was given to another academic staff in HoD's own research group. I feel unfairly loaded, doing roles in the department that have historically been for staff in teaching and scholarship track (I'm in teaching and research track according to my contract, but effectively working as T&S). Teaching load is extremely unfairly distributed (we can see each other's courses online). All my research has been done in evenings, weekends, and holidays, so effectively unpaid labour, and even in these conditions I have done better in research than other colleague with lower teaching and admin load. I have been unable to explore other research topics I liked because I couldn't find time to read a paper, so I have been working too long in the same research are, now kind of outdated... I have started to think that the HoD doesn't like me for some reason (I can think of a few reasons but I won't say them here because then it would be easy to identify me) and this may be the result of some kind of conspiracy from HoD against me. So here I am, with a huge teaching load, no time to do research under good conditions and with no PhD students and any prospects of having anything that looks like a research group. I wonder whether is there anything I have done wrongly, or simply I have had bad luck, or maybe this is just the norm, or maybe the unfair treatment of a HoD for some reason. I came to academia because I wanted to do research, but I not only didn't get any support for this (despite having promising potentials to succeed) but also got obstacles from the department in the form of an unfair heavy teaching load. I look at colleagues in other places and feel like I'm well behind all them after so many years of suffering this huge teaching load. I have now lost all kind of motivation to even get up from bed every day and read\/reply to my emails (mostly from some of my more than 300 students that I teach).","c_root_id_A":"gytviwk","c_root_id_B":"gytob6n","created_at_utc_A":1621522762,"created_at_utc_B":1621519677,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I was having a similar problem working at a mid-tier Russell Group uni. Completely burdened by admin duties and teaching even when I was bringing in MRC grants. They put me (as a junior faculty) in a director of programme role, which was completely ridiculous. I was only a few years in as an assistant prof, and this was around the time of Brexit, so I left for a position in North America. If you have the mobility, keep your eyes open for positions in Canada. They pay A LOT more than the UK. I went from a Russell Group school to a lower tier school, but my salary (in terms of spending power) easily doubled (from \u00a342k to $120k CAD). Feel free to DM me.","human_ref_B":"This is hard to read and one of the scenarios I had in mind when I left academia after my postdoc. Prof. and PI I know have this very same problem. When I did my PhD in was the only student no top notch research so no good funding and I had 1yr. Contracts. Unfortunately that can become reality. Maybe it\u2019s time for you to move on? However I do not think that it is likely to find an academic position that is much better. This is to my experience how it works some deal with it better than others. Ever thought about going to industry? We do lots of research and what I like most is the chance to work on different things not just one topic. Unless of course teaching is super important to you","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3085.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvtrr7","c_root_id_B":"guvu7sk","created_at_utc_A":1618684394,"created_at_utc_B":1618684610,"score_A":123,"score_B":162,"human_ref_A":"I have a few general thoughts reflecting on my time as a grad student and now advising a few: *they don't give each other critical enough feedback when hearing each others presentations and reading their drafts *they spend too much time venting with other grad students such that it makes the misery seem much worse than it probably is *they rely too much on advice from other grad students and not enough time getting and understanding a variety of faculty\/advisor viewpoints who do know what they're talking about (the academic equivalent of catching yourself sounding just like your parents). too much grad student advice is the blind leading the blind. *they don't read enough. seriously you have to read as much as you can as relevant to your particular areas of study","human_ref_B":"This is only my second year as an assistant prof so I don't have extensive experience advising PhD students yet, but here is what has irritated me most. I am in econ, so some of this is probably field-specific: 1. Not taking feedback seriously. Ultimately, it's the grad student's own research and I cannot make decisions for them. But, if I tell you to think about something more carefully, there is a good reason for it. 2. Using research as an excuse to shirk other responsibilities. I saw this a lot from my classmates when I was a PhD student and among some of my advisees now. Too many grad students interpret the freedom they have to structure their own time as permission to disappear. Meeting with seminar speakers, presenting in reading groups, giving talks in internal brown bags -- these activities are all super important for professional development (especially learning how to talk about research in a clear and effective manner!), and faculty will notice if you don't show up. 3. Overstepping personal boundaries. This one is tricky. As someone who was very recently on the job market, I recognize that my value added as a dissertation committee member is being more \"relatable.\" To me, that means being transparent about the day-to-day challenges -- code not working, models not solving, results that don't make sense -- that arise in the course of doing research and helping PhD students troubleshoot those. And I try my best to normalize the fact that research is just really, really hard. What irks me is when an advisee uses me as a substitute therapist. (No judgment there, btw -- I am of the firm belief that every single PhD acceptance letter should automatically be accompanied by a referral to a local psychologist.) I want to be as supportive as possible of advisees, but addressing someone's underlying mental health difficulties is not my primary responsibility.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":216.0,"score_ratio":1.3170731707} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvu7sk","c_root_id_B":"guvtbp2","created_at_utc_A":1618684610,"created_at_utc_B":1618684164,"score_A":162,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"This is only my second year as an assistant prof so I don't have extensive experience advising PhD students yet, but here is what has irritated me most. I am in econ, so some of this is probably field-specific: 1. Not taking feedback seriously. Ultimately, it's the grad student's own research and I cannot make decisions for them. But, if I tell you to think about something more carefully, there is a good reason for it. 2. Using research as an excuse to shirk other responsibilities. I saw this a lot from my classmates when I was a PhD student and among some of my advisees now. Too many grad students interpret the freedom they have to structure their own time as permission to disappear. Meeting with seminar speakers, presenting in reading groups, giving talks in internal brown bags -- these activities are all super important for professional development (especially learning how to talk about research in a clear and effective manner!), and faculty will notice if you don't show up. 3. Overstepping personal boundaries. This one is tricky. As someone who was very recently on the job market, I recognize that my value added as a dissertation committee member is being more \"relatable.\" To me, that means being transparent about the day-to-day challenges -- code not working, models not solving, results that don't make sense -- that arise in the course of doing research and helping PhD students troubleshoot those. And I try my best to normalize the fact that research is just really, really hard. What irks me is when an advisee uses me as a substitute therapist. (No judgment there, btw -- I am of the firm belief that every single PhD acceptance letter should automatically be accompanied by a referral to a local psychologist.) I want to be as supportive as possible of advisees, but addressing someone's underlying mental health difficulties is not my primary responsibility.","human_ref_B":"Work too many jobs and not focus because they're overwhelmed on a good day. Part of time management is knowing when to stop taking stuff on. If someone works 3 to 4 jobs, that only works when life is going well. The. Add in one crisis- a breakup, a death,getting sick - then everything crumbles.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":446.0,"score_ratio":3.8571428571} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwk3xv","c_root_id_B":"guvtrr7","created_at_utc_A":1618695499,"created_at_utc_B":1618684394,"score_A":159,"score_B":123,"human_ref_A":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","human_ref_B":"I have a few general thoughts reflecting on my time as a grad student and now advising a few: *they don't give each other critical enough feedback when hearing each others presentations and reading their drafts *they spend too much time venting with other grad students such that it makes the misery seem much worse than it probably is *they rely too much on advice from other grad students and not enough time getting and understanding a variety of faculty\/advisor viewpoints who do know what they're talking about (the academic equivalent of catching yourself sounding just like your parents). too much grad student advice is the blind leading the blind. *they don't read enough. seriously you have to read as much as you can as relevant to your particular areas of study","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11105.0,"score_ratio":1.2926829268} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwk3xv","c_root_id_B":"guvw9wj","created_at_utc_A":1618695499,"created_at_utc_B":1618685598,"score_A":159,"score_B":73,"human_ref_A":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","human_ref_B":"Wth, faculty are joking about their grad students having mental health issues..??","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9901.0,"score_ratio":2.1780821918} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwikhr","c_root_id_B":"guwk3xv","created_at_utc_A":1618694694,"created_at_utc_B":1618695499,"score_A":53,"score_B":159,"human_ref_A":"I just want to say I'm a mod over at \/r\/AskLiteraryStudies studies and I feel like 90% of the time my response to posts is \"Have you talked to your advisor?\" It's like...somehow that relationship is...too scary? Too sacred? I don't even know. But if you can't lean on your advisor, either you picked the wrong person or you picked the wrong school. Harsh advice, no doubt, but if you cannot even ask a question without feeling embarrassed\/hating yourself\/imposter syndrome galore, maybe this isn't for you? It's a collaborative thing at times and at times, it is YOUR project, your thing you are doing. No one is there to grade you, they are there to help you get it done.","human_ref_B":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":805.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwk3xv","c_root_id_B":"guw9mw6","created_at_utc_A":1618695499,"created_at_utc_B":1618690778,"score_A":159,"score_B":51,"human_ref_A":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","human_ref_B":"I may be unique here: I\u2019m a postdoc in public health and supervise, work with, and assess grad students. Generally I\u2019m highly impressed and quite often intimidated by the grad students in my area. In this experience, I\u2019ve found they\u2019re very clever, hardworking, and focused, and are timely with their work. In every way they are better grad students than I was, and I went to a \u201cbig name\u201d Uni for grad school and work at a good but clearly lower tier Uni (aside: I feel I\u2019ve learned way more in my postdoc at the lower-tier than during my masters\/doctorate at the \u201cbig name.\u201d) I do often wonder if this is because my current Uni treats higher degrees more professionally, including fairly generous stipends and much more structured programmes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4721.0,"score_ratio":3.1176470588} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwk3xv","c_root_id_B":"guvtbp2","created_at_utc_A":1618695499,"created_at_utc_B":1618684164,"score_A":159,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","human_ref_B":"Work too many jobs and not focus because they're overwhelmed on a good day. Part of time management is knowing when to stop taking stuff on. If someone works 3 to 4 jobs, that only works when life is going well. The. Add in one crisis- a breakup, a death,getting sick - then everything crumbles.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11335.0,"score_ratio":3.7857142857} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guw6pno","c_root_id_B":"guwk3xv","created_at_utc_A":1618689810,"created_at_utc_B":1618695499,"score_A":32,"score_B":159,"human_ref_A":"I think the biggest thing that bothers me about GAs in specific is their failure to realise that this is a job and they can be fired. The failure to take their duties seriously and the tendency of providing undergraduate level excuses can be pretty eyeroll worthy. Edit: I saw the top post was about overloading GTAs with work. Just for clarification this is not what I\u2019m referring to. My GAs are given reasonable deadlines with every level of respect to their 20 hours\/week requirement. I\u2019m referring to basic responsibilities and procrastinating on\/neglecting them thinking the GAships they have are not important.","human_ref_B":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5689.0,"score_ratio":4.96875} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvxz0d","c_root_id_B":"guwk3xv","created_at_utc_A":1618686425,"created_at_utc_B":1618695499,"score_A":28,"score_B":159,"human_ref_A":"Doubt themselves. Spend time emailing and messaging that would be better spent writing for the course. Try to transmit their anxiety (self doubt, needing extensions, writing abilities) to their instructors.","human_ref_B":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9074.0,"score_ratio":5.6785714286} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwhc02","c_root_id_B":"guwk3xv","created_at_utc_A":1618694060,"created_at_utc_B":1618695499,"score_A":13,"score_B":159,"human_ref_A":"More something that I wish they would do: fill out those darn feedback questionnaires. My department\/facility started offering small courses to (PhD) students. As we, especially I, are quite new to this we could really use proper feedback. After the courses all students are mailed an online questionnaire with some checkboxes which takes at most 2 minutes to complete. I'll be damned before the response rate hits a double digit percentage :\/","human_ref_B":"Not work for free. Seriously. Our GTAs here are hired for 17 hours per week. They\u2019re told to keep careful track of their hours. Few do, and the ones that do often report working 20 or more hours. Much of this is trickle-down from demanding faculty supervisors, and so of course it\u2019s understandable - if you\u2019re handed a stack of 300 papers to grade, you probably don\u2019t feel permission to stop until the stack is graded. But what I scream (figuratively) at grad students is twofold: not only are they laborers in an exploitative system who *must* be their own advocates, but them doing extra work shows upper levels of administration that our needs as a School can be met with our current numbers of GTAs, or perhaps less. Last year in the budget reductions, we lost 8 GTAs, in part because of the perception that we could fill the needs of the school with fewer people. Why? Because GTAs didn\u2019t report their hours and\/or consented to unpaid overtime. I guess to bring this more in line with the spirit of your question, I\u2019d like to see every GTA view themselves as a working, professional member of academia, and all that entails. Ideally, it would lead to accountability alongside self-advocacy, two things that I think academia in general could use a bit more of.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1439.0,"score_ratio":12.2307692308} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvtrr7","c_root_id_B":"guvtbp2","created_at_utc_A":1618684394,"created_at_utc_B":1618684164,"score_A":123,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"I have a few general thoughts reflecting on my time as a grad student and now advising a few: *they don't give each other critical enough feedback when hearing each others presentations and reading their drafts *they spend too much time venting with other grad students such that it makes the misery seem much worse than it probably is *they rely too much on advice from other grad students and not enough time getting and understanding a variety of faculty\/advisor viewpoints who do know what they're talking about (the academic equivalent of catching yourself sounding just like your parents). too much grad student advice is the blind leading the blind. *they don't read enough. seriously you have to read as much as you can as relevant to your particular areas of study","human_ref_B":"Work too many jobs and not focus because they're overwhelmed on a good day. Part of time management is knowing when to stop taking stuff on. If someone works 3 to 4 jobs, that only works when life is going well. The. Add in one crisis- a breakup, a death,getting sick - then everything crumbles.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":230.0,"score_ratio":2.9285714286} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvw9wj","c_root_id_B":"guvtbp2","created_at_utc_A":1618685598,"created_at_utc_B":1618684164,"score_A":73,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"Wth, faculty are joking about their grad students having mental health issues..??","human_ref_B":"Work too many jobs and not focus because they're overwhelmed on a good day. Part of time management is knowing when to stop taking stuff on. If someone works 3 to 4 jobs, that only works when life is going well. The. Add in one crisis- a breakup, a death,getting sick - then everything crumbles.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1434.0,"score_ratio":1.7380952381} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwikhr","c_root_id_B":"guw9mw6","created_at_utc_A":1618694694,"created_at_utc_B":1618690778,"score_A":53,"score_B":51,"human_ref_A":"I just want to say I'm a mod over at \/r\/AskLiteraryStudies studies and I feel like 90% of the time my response to posts is \"Have you talked to your advisor?\" It's like...somehow that relationship is...too scary? Too sacred? I don't even know. But if you can't lean on your advisor, either you picked the wrong person or you picked the wrong school. Harsh advice, no doubt, but if you cannot even ask a question without feeling embarrassed\/hating yourself\/imposter syndrome galore, maybe this isn't for you? It's a collaborative thing at times and at times, it is YOUR project, your thing you are doing. No one is there to grade you, they are there to help you get it done.","human_ref_B":"I may be unique here: I\u2019m a postdoc in public health and supervise, work with, and assess grad students. Generally I\u2019m highly impressed and quite often intimidated by the grad students in my area. In this experience, I\u2019ve found they\u2019re very clever, hardworking, and focused, and are timely with their work. In every way they are better grad students than I was, and I went to a \u201cbig name\u201d Uni for grad school and work at a good but clearly lower tier Uni (aside: I feel I\u2019ve learned way more in my postdoc at the lower-tier than during my masters\/doctorate at the \u201cbig name.\u201d) I do often wonder if this is because my current Uni treats higher degrees more professionally, including fairly generous stipends and much more structured programmes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3916.0,"score_ratio":1.0392156863} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwikhr","c_root_id_B":"guvtbp2","created_at_utc_A":1618694694,"created_at_utc_B":1618684164,"score_A":53,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"I just want to say I'm a mod over at \/r\/AskLiteraryStudies studies and I feel like 90% of the time my response to posts is \"Have you talked to your advisor?\" It's like...somehow that relationship is...too scary? Too sacred? I don't even know. But if you can't lean on your advisor, either you picked the wrong person or you picked the wrong school. Harsh advice, no doubt, but if you cannot even ask a question without feeling embarrassed\/hating yourself\/imposter syndrome galore, maybe this isn't for you? It's a collaborative thing at times and at times, it is YOUR project, your thing you are doing. No one is there to grade you, they are there to help you get it done.","human_ref_B":"Work too many jobs and not focus because they're overwhelmed on a good day. Part of time management is knowing when to stop taking stuff on. If someone works 3 to 4 jobs, that only works when life is going well. The. Add in one crisis- a breakup, a death,getting sick - then everything crumbles.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10530.0,"score_ratio":1.2619047619} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwikhr","c_root_id_B":"guw6pno","created_at_utc_A":1618694694,"created_at_utc_B":1618689810,"score_A":53,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"I just want to say I'm a mod over at \/r\/AskLiteraryStudies studies and I feel like 90% of the time my response to posts is \"Have you talked to your advisor?\" It's like...somehow that relationship is...too scary? Too sacred? I don't even know. But if you can't lean on your advisor, either you picked the wrong person or you picked the wrong school. Harsh advice, no doubt, but if you cannot even ask a question without feeling embarrassed\/hating yourself\/imposter syndrome galore, maybe this isn't for you? It's a collaborative thing at times and at times, it is YOUR project, your thing you are doing. No one is there to grade you, they are there to help you get it done.","human_ref_B":"I think the biggest thing that bothers me about GAs in specific is their failure to realise that this is a job and they can be fired. The failure to take their duties seriously and the tendency of providing undergraduate level excuses can be pretty eyeroll worthy. Edit: I saw the top post was about overloading GTAs with work. Just for clarification this is not what I\u2019m referring to. My GAs are given reasonable deadlines with every level of respect to their 20 hours\/week requirement. I\u2019m referring to basic responsibilities and procrastinating on\/neglecting them thinking the GAships they have are not important.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4884.0,"score_ratio":1.65625} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvxz0d","c_root_id_B":"guwikhr","created_at_utc_A":1618686425,"created_at_utc_B":1618694694,"score_A":28,"score_B":53,"human_ref_A":"Doubt themselves. Spend time emailing and messaging that would be better spent writing for the course. Try to transmit their anxiety (self doubt, needing extensions, writing abilities) to their instructors.","human_ref_B":"I just want to say I'm a mod over at \/r\/AskLiteraryStudies studies and I feel like 90% of the time my response to posts is \"Have you talked to your advisor?\" It's like...somehow that relationship is...too scary? Too sacred? I don't even know. But if you can't lean on your advisor, either you picked the wrong person or you picked the wrong school. Harsh advice, no doubt, but if you cannot even ask a question without feeling embarrassed\/hating yourself\/imposter syndrome galore, maybe this isn't for you? It's a collaborative thing at times and at times, it is YOUR project, your thing you are doing. No one is there to grade you, they are there to help you get it done.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8269.0,"score_ratio":1.8928571429} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwikhr","c_root_id_B":"guwhc02","created_at_utc_A":1618694694,"created_at_utc_B":1618694060,"score_A":53,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I just want to say I'm a mod over at \/r\/AskLiteraryStudies studies and I feel like 90% of the time my response to posts is \"Have you talked to your advisor?\" It's like...somehow that relationship is...too scary? Too sacred? I don't even know. But if you can't lean on your advisor, either you picked the wrong person or you picked the wrong school. Harsh advice, no doubt, but if you cannot even ask a question without feeling embarrassed\/hating yourself\/imposter syndrome galore, maybe this isn't for you? It's a collaborative thing at times and at times, it is YOUR project, your thing you are doing. No one is there to grade you, they are there to help you get it done.","human_ref_B":"More something that I wish they would do: fill out those darn feedback questionnaires. My department\/facility started offering small courses to (PhD) students. As we, especially I, are quite new to this we could really use proper feedback. After the courses all students are mailed an online questionnaire with some checkboxes which takes at most 2 minutes to complete. I'll be damned before the response rate hits a double digit percentage :\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":634.0,"score_ratio":4.0769230769} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guw9mw6","c_root_id_B":"guvtbp2","created_at_utc_A":1618690778,"created_at_utc_B":1618684164,"score_A":51,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"I may be unique here: I\u2019m a postdoc in public health and supervise, work with, and assess grad students. Generally I\u2019m highly impressed and quite often intimidated by the grad students in my area. In this experience, I\u2019ve found they\u2019re very clever, hardworking, and focused, and are timely with their work. In every way they are better grad students than I was, and I went to a \u201cbig name\u201d Uni for grad school and work at a good but clearly lower tier Uni (aside: I feel I\u2019ve learned way more in my postdoc at the lower-tier than during my masters\/doctorate at the \u201cbig name.\u201d) I do often wonder if this is because my current Uni treats higher degrees more professionally, including fairly generous stipends and much more structured programmes.","human_ref_B":"Work too many jobs and not focus because they're overwhelmed on a good day. Part of time management is knowing when to stop taking stuff on. If someone works 3 to 4 jobs, that only works when life is going well. The. Add in one crisis- a breakup, a death,getting sick - then everything crumbles.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6614.0,"score_ratio":1.2142857143} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guw9mw6","c_root_id_B":"guw6pno","created_at_utc_A":1618690778,"created_at_utc_B":1618689810,"score_A":51,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"I may be unique here: I\u2019m a postdoc in public health and supervise, work with, and assess grad students. Generally I\u2019m highly impressed and quite often intimidated by the grad students in my area. In this experience, I\u2019ve found they\u2019re very clever, hardworking, and focused, and are timely with their work. In every way they are better grad students than I was, and I went to a \u201cbig name\u201d Uni for grad school and work at a good but clearly lower tier Uni (aside: I feel I\u2019ve learned way more in my postdoc at the lower-tier than during my masters\/doctorate at the \u201cbig name.\u201d) I do often wonder if this is because my current Uni treats higher degrees more professionally, including fairly generous stipends and much more structured programmes.","human_ref_B":"I think the biggest thing that bothers me about GAs in specific is their failure to realise that this is a job and they can be fired. The failure to take their duties seriously and the tendency of providing undergraduate level excuses can be pretty eyeroll worthy. Edit: I saw the top post was about overloading GTAs with work. Just for clarification this is not what I\u2019m referring to. My GAs are given reasonable deadlines with every level of respect to their 20 hours\/week requirement. I\u2019m referring to basic responsibilities and procrastinating on\/neglecting them thinking the GAships they have are not important.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":968.0,"score_ratio":1.59375} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guw9mw6","c_root_id_B":"guvxz0d","created_at_utc_A":1618690778,"created_at_utc_B":1618686425,"score_A":51,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"I may be unique here: I\u2019m a postdoc in public health and supervise, work with, and assess grad students. Generally I\u2019m highly impressed and quite often intimidated by the grad students in my area. In this experience, I\u2019ve found they\u2019re very clever, hardworking, and focused, and are timely with their work. In every way they are better grad students than I was, and I went to a \u201cbig name\u201d Uni for grad school and work at a good but clearly lower tier Uni (aside: I feel I\u2019ve learned way more in my postdoc at the lower-tier than during my masters\/doctorate at the \u201cbig name.\u201d) I do often wonder if this is because my current Uni treats higher degrees more professionally, including fairly generous stipends and much more structured programmes.","human_ref_B":"Doubt themselves. Spend time emailing and messaging that would be better spent writing for the course. Try to transmit their anxiety (self doubt, needing extensions, writing abilities) to their instructors.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4353.0,"score_ratio":1.8214285714} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvxz0d","c_root_id_B":"guw6pno","created_at_utc_A":1618686425,"created_at_utc_B":1618689810,"score_A":28,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"Doubt themselves. Spend time emailing and messaging that would be better spent writing for the course. Try to transmit their anxiety (self doubt, needing extensions, writing abilities) to their instructors.","human_ref_B":"I think the biggest thing that bothers me about GAs in specific is their failure to realise that this is a job and they can be fired. The failure to take their duties seriously and the tendency of providing undergraduate level excuses can be pretty eyeroll worthy. Edit: I saw the top post was about overloading GTAs with work. Just for clarification this is not what I\u2019m referring to. My GAs are given reasonable deadlines with every level of respect to their 20 hours\/week requirement. I\u2019m referring to basic responsibilities and procrastinating on\/neglecting them thinking the GAships they have are not important.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3385.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guvxz0d","c_root_id_B":"guwks79","created_at_utc_A":1618686425,"created_at_utc_B":1618695855,"score_A":28,"score_B":30,"human_ref_A":"Doubt themselves. Spend time emailing and messaging that would be better spent writing for the course. Try to transmit their anxiety (self doubt, needing extensions, writing abilities) to their instructors.","human_ref_B":"Working as a postdoc I have quite a lot of contact with our grad students, and helping them with technical aspects of their work is a big part of my job description (apologies this is going to be largely STEM-y because I am STEM). My number one thing is more something I wish they *would* do: learn the difference between something you should ask about and something you should figure out, and then act accordingly. Stuck on something? Have a quick google. Some things will take a few seconds on google so if you just ask me first it makes you look lazy. Some things might take longer to figure out on your own, but there might be some benefit to you to figuring it out, so for those things stick at it. But then for other things you could spend 5 hours trying to figure out something that someone else could tell you in 5 seconds and you gain nothing from the 5 wasted hours. Figuring out the distinction between \"it takes a while but it's worth figuring out\" and \"asking for help is the best research\/development decision\" can be tricky, but for the love of *everything* at least do that first google where you figure out if this is an easy solve yourself. Also, smaller things: * If you're stuck on something, and I tell you to try X, and then you don't try X, and then 3 hours later you ask for help again and I have to tell you to try X *again* then I'm not going to be pleased. X might not be the solution, but I have a Y and a Z lined up and we need to check X first. * If you come to me with a problem and I say \"show me your script\/error\", don't change your mind about asking for help, but if then 3 hours later ask for help again, and I have to tell you to show me *again*, then I'm not going to be pleased. You've probably just wasted 3 hours for no reason, and interrupted my work twice. * Get good at googling\/finding research papers. I've known good and intelligent people who swear up and down that they can't find a solution for \"XYZ\", and yet when I google \"How to fix XYZ\" the first hit is a winner. I have no idea how they don't find these things themselves. Finding resources\/general search engine use are genuinely important skills, and as we get further through the 21st century I find it more and more amazing that some people are not better at them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9430.0,"score_ratio":1.0714285714} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guwhc02","c_root_id_B":"guwks79","created_at_utc_A":1618694060,"created_at_utc_B":1618695855,"score_A":13,"score_B":30,"human_ref_A":"More something that I wish they would do: fill out those darn feedback questionnaires. My department\/facility started offering small courses to (PhD) students. As we, especially I, are quite new to this we could really use proper feedback. After the courses all students are mailed an online questionnaire with some checkboxes which takes at most 2 minutes to complete. I'll be damned before the response rate hits a double digit percentage :\/","human_ref_B":"Working as a postdoc I have quite a lot of contact with our grad students, and helping them with technical aspects of their work is a big part of my job description (apologies this is going to be largely STEM-y because I am STEM). My number one thing is more something I wish they *would* do: learn the difference between something you should ask about and something you should figure out, and then act accordingly. Stuck on something? Have a quick google. Some things will take a few seconds on google so if you just ask me first it makes you look lazy. Some things might take longer to figure out on your own, but there might be some benefit to you to figuring it out, so for those things stick at it. But then for other things you could spend 5 hours trying to figure out something that someone else could tell you in 5 seconds and you gain nothing from the 5 wasted hours. Figuring out the distinction between \"it takes a while but it's worth figuring out\" and \"asking for help is the best research\/development decision\" can be tricky, but for the love of *everything* at least do that first google where you figure out if this is an easy solve yourself. Also, smaller things: * If you're stuck on something, and I tell you to try X, and then you don't try X, and then 3 hours later you ask for help again and I have to tell you to try X *again* then I'm not going to be pleased. X might not be the solution, but I have a Y and a Z lined up and we need to check X first. * If you come to me with a problem and I say \"show me your script\/error\", don't change your mind about asking for help, but if then 3 hours later ask for help again, and I have to tell you to show me *again*, then I'm not going to be pleased. You've probably just wasted 3 hours for no reason, and interrupted my work twice. * Get good at googling\/finding research papers. I've known good and intelligent people who swear up and down that they can't find a solution for \"XYZ\", and yet when I google \"How to fix XYZ\" the first hit is a winner. I have no idea how they don't find these things themselves. Finding resources\/general search engine use are genuinely important skills, and as we get further through the 21st century I find it more and more amazing that some people are not better at them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1795.0,"score_ratio":2.3076923077} {"post_id":"msv4b6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What's something that you wish the grad students (that you teach or advise) wouldn't do? Are they arrogant, do they lack confidence, do they try to be your friend, do they not take their program very seriously, do they take it *too* seriously, are they not independent enough? I'm particularly interested in the humanities\/social sciences perspective because this sub gets a lot of posters in STEM, but STEM perspectives are welcome of course. I'm curious because I hear lots of complaints about undergrads from my faculty members, and there are occasional inside jokes about how so many grad students are mentally ill, but I don't know much about things that bother academics about grad students.","c_root_id_A":"guxkjmt","c_root_id_B":"guwhc02","created_at_utc_A":1618715900,"created_at_utc_B":1618694060,"score_A":18,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Humanities professor here. There are lots of great points in the comments so far. I would reiterate the strange resistance to asking advisors or professors for guidance, the requests for extensions that absolutely don't help (an extra 24 hours has never fixed a grad level research paper, I promise), and the weird personal boundaries (which are also definitely exacerbated by gender, age, and race). I'll add that lack of personal respect and gratitude is one that's bumming me out a bunch right now. Grad students are busy, but a lot of professors put our all into helping to support them in any way we can and we barely ever get a \"thank you.\" This doesn't mean I want a gift or a big show of it, but literally just saying the words without being prompted would be nice. I feel like too many grad students assume everything we do for them is just expected and part of the job. It's not. Please acknowledge the emotional and affective labor that we do for you, especially if it involves something you consider mentorship.","human_ref_B":"More something that I wish they would do: fill out those darn feedback questionnaires. My department\/facility started offering small courses to (PhD) students. As we, especially I, are quite new to this we could really use proper feedback. After the courses all students are mailed an online questionnaire with some checkboxes which takes at most 2 minutes to complete. I'll be damned before the response rate hits a double digit percentage :\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21840.0,"score_ratio":1.3846153846} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnkxtcd","c_root_id_B":"gnl2qg1","created_at_utc_A":1613427817,"created_at_utc_B":1613430298,"score_A":11,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"It should mean that. But I've read enough horror stories about mistaken e-mails that I'd want to talk to someone in the department before being 100% sure that it's an acceptance, rather than an e-mail sent to the wrong list. (What made me question it very slightly is the \"congratulations of your acceptance\" wording instead of \"congratulations! you have been accepted...\"","human_ref_B":"I don\u2019t mean to be a dick, but is there really a need to read between the lines? \u201cCongratulations on your acceptance!\u201d means... congrats, you\u2019re accepted. Either way, good luck finding a mentor and in your grad school career!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2481.0,"score_ratio":1.4545454545} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnl2qg1","c_root_id_B":"gnkrz89","created_at_utc_A":1613430298,"created_at_utc_B":1613424956,"score_A":16,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I don\u2019t mean to be a dick, but is there really a need to read between the lines? \u201cCongratulations on your acceptance!\u201d means... congrats, you\u2019re accepted. Either way, good luck finding a mentor and in your grad school career!","human_ref_B":"Congrats \ud83d\udc4f\ud83d\udc4f\ud83d\udc4f","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5342.0,"score_ratio":3.2} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnl2qg1","c_root_id_B":"gnl019p","created_at_utc_A":1613430298,"created_at_utc_B":1613428936,"score_A":16,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I don\u2019t mean to be a dick, but is there really a need to read between the lines? \u201cCongratulations on your acceptance!\u201d means... congrats, you\u2019re accepted. Either way, good luck finding a mentor and in your grad school career!","human_ref_B":"yes","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1362.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnl1mh6","c_root_id_B":"gnl2qg1","created_at_utc_A":1613429735,"created_at_utc_B":1613430298,"score_A":2,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Congrats! As a first time PhD applicant currently on the waitlist of two of my top choice programs, this really gives me hope!! That being said, for the more experienced people in the sub, does this happen frequently, i.e. getting accepted from waitlist so soon instead of waiting till April?","human_ref_B":"I don\u2019t mean to be a dick, but is there really a need to read between the lines? \u201cCongratulations on your acceptance!\u201d means... congrats, you\u2019re accepted. Either way, good luck finding a mentor and in your grad school career!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":563.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnkrz89","c_root_id_B":"gnkxtcd","created_at_utc_A":1613424956,"created_at_utc_B":1613427817,"score_A":5,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Congrats \ud83d\udc4f\ud83d\udc4f\ud83d\udc4f","human_ref_B":"It should mean that. But I've read enough horror stories about mistaken e-mails that I'd want to talk to someone in the department before being 100% sure that it's an acceptance, rather than an e-mail sent to the wrong list. (What made me question it very slightly is the \"congratulations of your acceptance\" wording instead of \"congratulations! you have been accepted...\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2861.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnl019p","c_root_id_B":"gnmqa1o","created_at_utc_A":1613428936,"created_at_utc_B":1613468256,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"yes","human_ref_B":"Damn, as an European this system sounds so alien to me. This thread is very insightful and quite interesting to read. The system here (at least the countries I have worked at) follows an entirely different \"protocol\". Here, the PI announces an open PhD position in his\/her lab (just like an open position in a company), often with a specific project in mind. Applicants then apply to that specific position and the PI interviews prospective candidates that he\/she finds could be a good fit. When the PI has decided on a single applicant he\/she wants to employ, he\/she writes up a summary for his decision and present it to the faculty board that can either accept the PI's decision (and the applicant will get offered the position) or decline the applicant and tell the PI to propose a different applicant.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":39320.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmqa1o","c_root_id_B":"gnl1mh6","created_at_utc_A":1613468256,"created_at_utc_B":1613429735,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Damn, as an European this system sounds so alien to me. This thread is very insightful and quite interesting to read. The system here (at least the countries I have worked at) follows an entirely different \"protocol\". Here, the PI announces an open PhD position in his\/her lab (just like an open position in a company), often with a specific project in mind. Applicants then apply to that specific position and the PI interviews prospective candidates that he\/she finds could be a good fit. When the PI has decided on a single applicant he\/she wants to employ, he\/she writes up a summary for his decision and present it to the faculty board that can either accept the PI's decision (and the applicant will get offered the position) or decline the applicant and tell the PI to propose a different applicant.","human_ref_B":"Congrats! As a first time PhD applicant currently on the waitlist of two of my top choice programs, this really gives me hope!! That being said, for the more experienced people in the sub, does this happen frequently, i.e. getting accepted from waitlist so soon instead of waiting till April?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":38521.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmqa1o","c_root_id_B":"gnlaumq","created_at_utc_A":1613468256,"created_at_utc_B":1613434543,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Damn, as an European this system sounds so alien to me. This thread is very insightful and quite interesting to read. The system here (at least the countries I have worked at) follows an entirely different \"protocol\". Here, the PI announces an open PhD position in his\/her lab (just like an open position in a company), often with a specific project in mind. Applicants then apply to that specific position and the PI interviews prospective candidates that he\/she finds could be a good fit. When the PI has decided on a single applicant he\/she wants to employ, he\/she writes up a summary for his decision and present it to the faculty board that can either accept the PI's decision (and the applicant will get offered the position) or decline the applicant and tell the PI to propose a different applicant.","human_ref_B":"Nice job! Congratulations!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":33713.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmqa1o","c_root_id_B":"gnligaq","created_at_utc_A":1613468256,"created_at_utc_B":1613438590,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Damn, as an European this system sounds so alien to me. This thread is very insightful and quite interesting to read. The system here (at least the countries I have worked at) follows an entirely different \"protocol\". Here, the PI announces an open PhD position in his\/her lab (just like an open position in a company), often with a specific project in mind. Applicants then apply to that specific position and the PI interviews prospective candidates that he\/she finds could be a good fit. When the PI has decided on a single applicant he\/she wants to employ, he\/she writes up a summary for his decision and present it to the faculty board that can either accept the PI's decision (and the applicant will get offered the position) or decline the applicant and tell the PI to propose a different applicant.","human_ref_B":"Yes, recruitment day is they trying to convince you to choose their school now, congrats!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29666.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmqs2k","c_root_id_B":"gnl019p","created_at_utc_A":1613468743,"created_at_utc_B":1613428936,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"What way to fish out congratulation humble brag hahahahah, I guess I know how surreal things can be so you double guess even simple stuff, congratulation!","human_ref_B":"yes","labels":1,"seconds_difference":39807.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmqs2k","c_root_id_B":"gnl1mh6","created_at_utc_A":1613468743,"created_at_utc_B":1613429735,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"What way to fish out congratulation humble brag hahahahah, I guess I know how surreal things can be so you double guess even simple stuff, congratulation!","human_ref_B":"Congrats! As a first time PhD applicant currently on the waitlist of two of my top choice programs, this really gives me hope!! That being said, for the more experienced people in the sub, does this happen frequently, i.e. getting accepted from waitlist so soon instead of waiting till April?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":39008.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnlaumq","c_root_id_B":"gnmqs2k","created_at_utc_A":1613434543,"created_at_utc_B":1613468743,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Nice job! Congratulations!!","human_ref_B":"What way to fish out congratulation humble brag hahahahah, I guess I know how surreal things can be so you double guess even simple stuff, congratulation!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":34200.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmqs2k","c_root_id_B":"gnligaq","created_at_utc_A":1613468743,"created_at_utc_B":1613438590,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"What way to fish out congratulation humble brag hahahahah, I guess I know how surreal things can be so you double guess even simple stuff, congratulation!","human_ref_B":"Yes, recruitment day is they trying to convince you to choose their school now, congrats!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":30153.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmsfjn","c_root_id_B":"gnl019p","created_at_utc_A":1613470359,"created_at_utc_B":1613428936,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Recruitment day is not a weeding out of applicants, it is a courting process. The idea is they want you to accept the school's offer and attend there for your research and PhD. The premise is that applicants are admitted to multiple programs and must decide between them. Recruitment day (some schools call it preview) is their attempt at having you meet faculty, hear about on going research, meet other students, tour the building\/campus in pre-covid times, and hopefully decide to attend. Congrats, you're in. Like they say, pick 3 faculty who match your close research interests or seem like they will be good mentors, and enjoy the experience.","human_ref_B":"yes","labels":1,"seconds_difference":41423.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnmsfjn","c_root_id_B":"gnl1mh6","created_at_utc_A":1613470359,"created_at_utc_B":1613429735,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Recruitment day is not a weeding out of applicants, it is a courting process. The idea is they want you to accept the school's offer and attend there for your research and PhD. The premise is that applicants are admitted to multiple programs and must decide between them. Recruitment day (some schools call it preview) is their attempt at having you meet faculty, hear about on going research, meet other students, tour the building\/campus in pre-covid times, and hopefully decide to attend. Congrats, you're in. Like they say, pick 3 faculty who match your close research interests or seem like they will be good mentors, and enjoy the experience.","human_ref_B":"Congrats! As a first time PhD applicant currently on the waitlist of two of my top choice programs, this really gives me hope!! That being said, for the more experienced people in the sub, does this happen frequently, i.e. getting accepted from waitlist so soon instead of waiting till April?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":40624.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnlaumq","c_root_id_B":"gnmsfjn","created_at_utc_A":1613434543,"created_at_utc_B":1613470359,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Nice job! Congratulations!!","human_ref_B":"Recruitment day is not a weeding out of applicants, it is a courting process. The idea is they want you to accept the school's offer and attend there for your research and PhD. The premise is that applicants are admitted to multiple programs and must decide between them. Recruitment day (some schools call it preview) is their attempt at having you meet faculty, hear about on going research, meet other students, tour the building\/campus in pre-covid times, and hopefully decide to attend. Congrats, you're in. Like they say, pick 3 faculty who match your close research interests or seem like they will be good mentors, and enjoy the experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":35816.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"lkneir","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I'm a first time PhD applicant. Could someone help me understand this email between the lines. Two weeks ago, I got a mail saying I'm on the waitlist at this PhD program. Today, got a mail saying \"Congratulations on your acceptance to the Ph.D. program\" in XYZ. They're asking me to respond with rank ordered list of three faculty I'd like to meet from a drop down menu - this is for 1-1 meetings which will be followed by the \"recruitment day\". Does this mean I'm off the waitlist?","c_root_id_A":"gnligaq","c_root_id_B":"gnmsfjn","created_at_utc_A":1613438590,"created_at_utc_B":1613470359,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes, recruitment day is they trying to convince you to choose their school now, congrats!","human_ref_B":"Recruitment day is not a weeding out of applicants, it is a courting process. The idea is they want you to accept the school's offer and attend there for your research and PhD. The premise is that applicants are admitted to multiple programs and must decide between them. Recruitment day (some schools call it preview) is their attempt at having you meet faculty, hear about on going research, meet other students, tour the building\/campus in pre-covid times, and hopefully decide to attend. Congrats, you're in. Like they say, pick 3 faculty who match your close research interests or seem like they will be good mentors, and enjoy the experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":31769.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2uohxq","c_root_id_B":"i2upgwo","created_at_utc_A":1648737238,"created_at_utc_B":1648737632,"score_A":68,"score_B":99,"human_ref_A":"It seems daunting coming from a normal salary but once you're in it it's not so bad. I live in a high-cost-of living city and my original package was 19k after tuition. How I made it work: 1. I live with roommates in a cheap apartment. These spots exist, but you have to put in extra effort to find them. 2. I've gotten really into cooking, I buy wine instead of going to bars, and have dinner parties with friends. I eat and drink better for way cheaper. 3. Every semester I apply for at least two fellowships and scholarships, and I take on paid RA gigs for professors. As a result my annual take home is closer to 40k. 4. I don't own a car, I have health insurance through my student union, and I use fb marketplace\/craigslist\/goodwill for clothes and furniture. 5. I limit myself to cheap hobbies. Gym, biking, running, etc. 6. I work a lot. If I was only doing 40 hours a week I probably would notice my lack of income more. When you're fully grinding you really don't have that much time to be looking for things to spend money on. 7. I take advantage of what my institution offers. Money for conferences -> flights covered for a vacation. Libraries -> unlimited book access.","human_ref_B":"You more or less have to maintain a \"student\" lifestyle. I mostly had roommates, kept costs down with my two main hobbies being cooking and brewing. I was getting $19k-$20k + tuition in 2005-2011, and remained essentially cashflow neutral.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":394.0,"score_ratio":1.4558823529} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2uttbm","c_root_id_B":"i2uvqsd","created_at_utc_A":1648739356,"created_at_utc_B":1648740113,"score_A":25,"score_B":29,"human_ref_A":"Generous packages at schools with a decent grad student union are $40k plus now, I got one for $51k this year.","human_ref_B":"So, this is actually a great reason not to do a PhD. Are there industry jobs you can attain with an MS? Not only is the stipend low during the PhD, I believe that spending 5-7 years off the job market can permanently reduce the ceiling on your salary potential. The other big hit you take is not being able to grow your retirement savings during that time \u2014 investment exposure in your 30s is essential","labels":0,"seconds_difference":757.0,"score_ratio":1.16} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2uvqsd","c_root_id_B":"i2upvbs","created_at_utc_A":1648740113,"created_at_utc_B":1648737790,"score_A":29,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"So, this is actually a great reason not to do a PhD. Are there industry jobs you can attain with an MS? Not only is the stipend low during the PhD, I believe that spending 5-7 years off the job market can permanently reduce the ceiling on your salary potential. The other big hit you take is not being able to grow your retirement savings during that time \u2014 investment exposure in your 30s is essential","human_ref_B":"Like most of my peers, I didn't pay a dime for my PhD. Obviously this depends heavily on your field (I'm in epidemiology), school, and current position. But I was in a situation where as long as I took a certain amount of TA positions and research work, my tuition was fully covered and I was afforded a mild stipend (this was partially covered through existing research grants). In the latter years, with coursework mostly completed, I was able to work part time at my previous job while completing the research portion of the PhD, which helped with financial security. I don't know what your situation looks like, but my point is that you may want to talk to people at your schools of interest and look into different ways in which the PhD could be paid for instead of immediately being scared off by that tuition price tag.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2323.0,"score_ratio":1.5263157895} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2usdk9","c_root_id_B":"i2upvbs","created_at_utc_A":1648738788,"created_at_utc_B":1648737790,"score_A":31,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"Certainly not apologizing for how much we underpay intellectual talent, but it's pretty doable. Just finished up my PhD on a low-to- mid 30k salary for most of it. Most of us lived with housemates, unless we had an SO to split the rent of a 1br. My more financially conscious classmates we saving nearly 10k a year. And this was without a second job (our program forbid any second job over 10 hours\/week). Some would tutor or freelance consult for extra cash, but definitely not a full second job. I certainly wasn't living on rice and beans or anything and still felt financially comfortable. Of course, compared to other friends my age who were buying houses and stuff, I was financially behind, but it definitely didn't feel like poverty.","human_ref_B":"Like most of my peers, I didn't pay a dime for my PhD. Obviously this depends heavily on your field (I'm in epidemiology), school, and current position. But I was in a situation where as long as I took a certain amount of TA positions and research work, my tuition was fully covered and I was afforded a mild stipend (this was partially covered through existing research grants). In the latter years, with coursework mostly completed, I was able to work part time at my previous job while completing the research portion of the PhD, which helped with financial security. I don't know what your situation looks like, but my point is that you may want to talk to people at your schools of interest and look into different ways in which the PhD could be paid for instead of immediately being scared off by that tuition price tag.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":998.0,"score_ratio":1.6315789474} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2uttbm","c_root_id_B":"i2upvbs","created_at_utc_A":1648739356,"created_at_utc_B":1648737790,"score_A":25,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"Generous packages at schools with a decent grad student union are $40k plus now, I got one for $51k this year.","human_ref_B":"Like most of my peers, I didn't pay a dime for my PhD. Obviously this depends heavily on your field (I'm in epidemiology), school, and current position. But I was in a situation where as long as I took a certain amount of TA positions and research work, my tuition was fully covered and I was afforded a mild stipend (this was partially covered through existing research grants). In the latter years, with coursework mostly completed, I was able to work part time at my previous job while completing the research portion of the PhD, which helped with financial security. I don't know what your situation looks like, but my point is that you may want to talk to people at your schools of interest and look into different ways in which the PhD could be paid for instead of immediately being scared off by that tuition price tag.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1566.0,"score_ratio":1.3157894737} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2uyznc","c_root_id_B":"i2uxgsr","created_at_utc_A":1648741364,"created_at_utc_B":1648740777,"score_A":19,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"A lot depends on the CoL where you go to school. During my PhD, I netted about $1800\/month (year-round because I got summer teaching slots). I borrowed about $5000\/year in loans because I wanted a higher quality of life. In a Midwestern city, this was enough to have a decent one-bedroom apartment and make ends meet. Admittedly I had a already paid off my car at this point, and could not have paid it off at the same time. eta: should have said borrowed that a couple of years, not every year. I think 3 years.","human_ref_B":"I was in the same position (non traditional early 30 starting my Phd). The drop in pay from my job was significant, and you have to change your lifestyle. I saved up and was still consulting with my old company to compensate some monthly payments I needed. If you are going to grad school, I would say 1) change your lifestyle, 2) seek outside income since you hopefully have years of experience.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":587.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2vahe6","c_root_id_B":"i2v2b1j","created_at_utc_A":1648745727,"created_at_utc_B":1648742639,"score_A":19,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I started my PhD in CS at 29 after spending about 10 years in industry and getting my MS along the way. My wife worked and we scraped by. It was worth it for me. My wife hated life as the spouse of a PhD student, but admitted years later that I made the right decision in leaving industry to get my PhD.","human_ref_B":"You shouldn't start a PhD at 30. This sub wants to live in a fairytale world and would never tell you this, but you're too old.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3088.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2v1ano","c_root_id_B":"i2vahe6","created_at_utc_A":1648742246,"created_at_utc_B":1648745727,"score_A":8,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"> thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But *will it*? Are you certain? I find that often it's no more helpful outside of academia as working up the ladder instead.","human_ref_B":"I started my PhD in CS at 29 after spending about 10 years in industry and getting my MS along the way. My wife worked and we scraped by. It was worth it for me. My wife hated life as the spouse of a PhD student, but admitted years later that I made the right decision in leaving industry to get my PhD.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3481.0,"score_ratio":2.375} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2vahe6","c_root_id_B":"i2v5en3","created_at_utc_A":1648745727,"created_at_utc_B":1648743821,"score_A":19,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I started my PhD in CS at 29 after spending about 10 years in industry and getting my MS along the way. My wife worked and we scraped by. It was worth it for me. My wife hated life as the spouse of a PhD student, but admitted years later that I made the right decision in leaving industry to get my PhD.","human_ref_B":"When I went to grad school in 2007, I quit a job waiting tables in Manhattan making $60k and collected my $21k stipend. I didn\u2019t make that $60k+ again until 2017 during my postdoc. Now I have a faculty job and my 9 month salary is $100k. Not sure if this is good news or not. Having a life partner to smooth out the bumps helps a lot.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1906.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2uxgsr","c_root_id_B":"i2vahe6","created_at_utc_A":1648740777,"created_at_utc_B":1648745727,"score_A":7,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I was in the same position (non traditional early 30 starting my Phd). The drop in pay from my job was significant, and you have to change your lifestyle. I saved up and was still consulting with my old company to compensate some monthly payments I needed. If you are going to grad school, I would say 1) change your lifestyle, 2) seek outside income since you hopefully have years of experience.","human_ref_B":"I started my PhD in CS at 29 after spending about 10 years in industry and getting my MS along the way. My wife worked and we scraped by. It was worth it for me. My wife hated life as the spouse of a PhD student, but admitted years later that I made the right decision in leaving industry to get my PhD.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4950.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2vahe6","c_root_id_B":"i2v3gmn","created_at_utc_A":1648745727,"created_at_utc_B":1648743084,"score_A":19,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I started my PhD in CS at 29 after spending about 10 years in industry and getting my MS along the way. My wife worked and we scraped by. It was worth it for me. My wife hated life as the spouse of a PhD student, but admitted years later that I made the right decision in leaving industry to get my PhD.","human_ref_B":"I am in much the same boat, but I already have a master's. Trying to weigh whether it's worth the extra education to open up what seem to be a lot more jobs, but then potentially pigeonholing myself at the same time. I know people are saying mastering out is a viable option, but the truth as I find it is that the market is so oversaturated with PhDs willing to work for low pay it makes a master's almost worthless. My only advice would be to have a clear job in mind and use a grad degree to accumulate the skills you need for that job.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2643.0,"score_ratio":3.8} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2vnh07","c_root_id_B":"i2v2b1j","created_at_utc_A":1648750667,"created_at_utc_B":1648742639,"score_A":15,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Just be poor. If you can't handle that then this isn't for you.","human_ref_B":"You shouldn't start a PhD at 30. This sub wants to live in a fairytale world and would never tell you this, but you're too old.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8028.0,"score_ratio":2.1428571429} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2vnh07","c_root_id_B":"i2v1ano","created_at_utc_A":1648750667,"created_at_utc_B":1648742246,"score_A":15,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Just be poor. If you can't handle that then this isn't for you.","human_ref_B":"> thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But *will it*? Are you certain? I find that often it's no more helpful outside of academia as working up the ladder instead.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8421.0,"score_ratio":1.875} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2v5en3","c_root_id_B":"i2vnh07","created_at_utc_A":1648743821,"created_at_utc_B":1648750667,"score_A":7,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"When I went to grad school in 2007, I quit a job waiting tables in Manhattan making $60k and collected my $21k stipend. I didn\u2019t make that $60k+ again until 2017 during my postdoc. Now I have a faculty job and my 9 month salary is $100k. Not sure if this is good news or not. Having a life partner to smooth out the bumps helps a lot.","human_ref_B":"Just be poor. If you can't handle that then this isn't for you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6846.0,"score_ratio":2.1428571429} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2vnh07","c_root_id_B":"i2uxgsr","created_at_utc_A":1648750667,"created_at_utc_B":1648740777,"score_A":15,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Just be poor. If you can't handle that then this isn't for you.","human_ref_B":"I was in the same position (non traditional early 30 starting my Phd). The drop in pay from my job was significant, and you have to change your lifestyle. I saved up and was still consulting with my old company to compensate some monthly payments I needed. If you are going to grad school, I would say 1) change your lifestyle, 2) seek outside income since you hopefully have years of experience.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9890.0,"score_ratio":2.1428571429} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2vnh07","c_root_id_B":"i2v3gmn","created_at_utc_A":1648750667,"created_at_utc_B":1648743084,"score_A":15,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Just be poor. If you can't handle that then this isn't for you.","human_ref_B":"I am in much the same boat, but I already have a master's. Trying to weigh whether it's worth the extra education to open up what seem to be a lot more jobs, but then potentially pigeonholing myself at the same time. I know people are saying mastering out is a viable option, but the truth as I find it is that the market is so oversaturated with PhDs willing to work for low pay it makes a master's almost worthless. My only advice would be to have a clear job in mind and use a grad degree to accumulate the skills you need for that job.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7583.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2weeci","c_root_id_B":"i2v2b1j","created_at_utc_A":1648761037,"created_at_utc_B":1648742639,"score_A":9,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"PhD stipends assume the student is fresh out of undergrad, no family or significant financial burdens, undergrad student loans are in forbearance as long as they're in grad school, and probably renting an apartment with one or more roommates, in which case $20-30k is doable.","human_ref_B":"You shouldn't start a PhD at 30. This sub wants to live in a fairytale world and would never tell you this, but you're too old.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18398.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2weeci","c_root_id_B":"i2v1ano","created_at_utc_A":1648761037,"created_at_utc_B":1648742246,"score_A":9,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"PhD stipends assume the student is fresh out of undergrad, no family or significant financial burdens, undergrad student loans are in forbearance as long as they're in grad school, and probably renting an apartment with one or more roommates, in which case $20-30k is doable.","human_ref_B":"> thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But *will it*? Are you certain? I find that often it's no more helpful outside of academia as working up the ladder instead.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18791.0,"score_ratio":1.125} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2v5en3","c_root_id_B":"i2weeci","created_at_utc_A":1648743821,"created_at_utc_B":1648761037,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"When I went to grad school in 2007, I quit a job waiting tables in Manhattan making $60k and collected my $21k stipend. I didn\u2019t make that $60k+ again until 2017 during my postdoc. Now I have a faculty job and my 9 month salary is $100k. Not sure if this is good news or not. Having a life partner to smooth out the bumps helps a lot.","human_ref_B":"PhD stipends assume the student is fresh out of undergrad, no family or significant financial burdens, undergrad student loans are in forbearance as long as they're in grad school, and probably renting an apartment with one or more roommates, in which case $20-30k is doable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17216.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2uxgsr","c_root_id_B":"i2weeci","created_at_utc_A":1648740777,"created_at_utc_B":1648761037,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I was in the same position (non traditional early 30 starting my Phd). The drop in pay from my job was significant, and you have to change your lifestyle. I saved up and was still consulting with my old company to compensate some monthly payments I needed. If you are going to grad school, I would say 1) change your lifestyle, 2) seek outside income since you hopefully have years of experience.","human_ref_B":"PhD stipends assume the student is fresh out of undergrad, no family or significant financial burdens, undergrad student loans are in forbearance as long as they're in grad school, and probably renting an apartment with one or more roommates, in which case $20-30k is doable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":20260.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2weeci","c_root_id_B":"i2v3gmn","created_at_utc_A":1648761037,"created_at_utc_B":1648743084,"score_A":9,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"PhD stipends assume the student is fresh out of undergrad, no family or significant financial burdens, undergrad student loans are in forbearance as long as they're in grad school, and probably renting an apartment with one or more roommates, in which case $20-30k is doable.","human_ref_B":"I am in much the same boat, but I already have a master's. Trying to weigh whether it's worth the extra education to open up what seem to be a lot more jobs, but then potentially pigeonholing myself at the same time. I know people are saying mastering out is a viable option, but the truth as I find it is that the market is so oversaturated with PhDs willing to work for low pay it makes a master's almost worthless. My only advice would be to have a clear job in mind and use a grad degree to accumulate the skills you need for that job.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17953.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2v1ano","c_root_id_B":"i2uxgsr","created_at_utc_A":1648742246,"created_at_utc_B":1648740777,"score_A":8,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"> thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But *will it*? Are you certain? I find that often it's no more helpful outside of academia as working up the ladder instead.","human_ref_B":"I was in the same position (non traditional early 30 starting my Phd). The drop in pay from my job was significant, and you have to change your lifestyle. I saved up and was still consulting with my old company to compensate some monthly payments I needed. If you are going to grad school, I would say 1) change your lifestyle, 2) seek outside income since you hopefully have years of experience.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1469.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"tt0nzc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"I don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m supposed to make a PhD work financially. Even the most generous fully funded packages are like low 30k range in the USA even if that I am barely scraping by as it is, thinking about doing a PhD because it\u2019ll open up a lot of opportunities in my field. But, 4-6 more years of making barely anything, not being able to save a dime, eating rice and beans mostly, damn this is going to be hard if I do it. I\u2019ll be turning 30 this year, doing science because I\u2019m passionate about it and also good at it. But they sure have made it hard to do.","c_root_id_A":"i2v3gmn","c_root_id_B":"i2v5en3","created_at_utc_A":1648743084,"created_at_utc_B":1648743821,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I am in much the same boat, but I already have a master's. Trying to weigh whether it's worth the extra education to open up what seem to be a lot more jobs, but then potentially pigeonholing myself at the same time. I know people are saying mastering out is a viable option, but the truth as I find it is that the market is so oversaturated with PhDs willing to work for low pay it makes a master's almost worthless. My only advice would be to have a clear job in mind and use a grad degree to accumulate the skills you need for that job.","human_ref_B":"When I went to grad school in 2007, I quit a job waiting tables in Manhattan making $60k and collected my $21k stipend. I didn\u2019t make that $60k+ again until 2017 during my postdoc. Now I have a faculty job and my 9 month salary is $100k. Not sure if this is good news or not. Having a life partner to smooth out the bumps helps a lot.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":737.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwy13ut","c_root_id_B":"iwxk1mk","created_at_utc_A":1668836041,"created_at_utc_B":1668826161,"score_A":40,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"I gave myself a hard limit on the amount of time I was going to be a post doc and if I hadn't secured an academic job by then I'd move on. Only fools play the 'infinite postdoc' game waiting for someone to die or retire in an institution they deem 'worthy'. Well, not only did I move on and respect that self imposed deadline I also realized by that point that I'd already had enough stress in my life and didn't want five or seven more years of it trying to get tenure (this wasn't me being a snowflake, this was me spending 10 years at two top five institutions and deciding I didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore.) Everyone dreams of academic life being sitting around doing cool work but in reality you probably spend far more time writing grant proposals trying to keep you lab funded because the success rate is something like 1 in 20 I think? So you have grad slaves do the work while you're scrounging for money. Then the grad slaves graduate and they don't have job prospects but you don't care because you just have to grind to keep the assembly line going. My thesis advisor quit at some point because of that and moved to another country with more secure funding and because he couldn't handle being part of the grad slave production complex.","human_ref_B":"The only reason these soft money positions exist is because people like you keep going for this shitty deal. If we all stop accepting those terms, it will turn into hard money.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9880.0,"score_ratio":1.1764705882} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwxxjc7","c_root_id_B":"iwy13ut","created_at_utc_A":1668833738,"created_at_utc_B":1668836041,"score_A":31,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"Yeah, I bailed for industry because even if you\u2019re successful enough for a permanent home, it\u2019s still a miserable way to make a living. You do nothing but chase money to hopefully hire students to do the only part of the job you ever enjoyed. Also, panhandlers get to at least take their dog to work with them begging for money every day.","human_ref_B":"I gave myself a hard limit on the amount of time I was going to be a post doc and if I hadn't secured an academic job by then I'd move on. Only fools play the 'infinite postdoc' game waiting for someone to die or retire in an institution they deem 'worthy'. Well, not only did I move on and respect that self imposed deadline I also realized by that point that I'd already had enough stress in my life and didn't want five or seven more years of it trying to get tenure (this wasn't me being a snowflake, this was me spending 10 years at two top five institutions and deciding I didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore.) Everyone dreams of academic life being sitting around doing cool work but in reality you probably spend far more time writing grant proposals trying to keep you lab funded because the success rate is something like 1 in 20 I think? So you have grad slaves do the work while you're scrounging for money. Then the grad slaves graduate and they don't have job prospects but you don't care because you just have to grind to keep the assembly line going. My thesis advisor quit at some point because of that and moved to another country with more secure funding and because he couldn't handle being part of the grad slave production complex.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2303.0,"score_ratio":1.2903225806} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwy13ut","c_root_id_B":"iwxjsu6","created_at_utc_A":1668836041,"created_at_utc_B":1668826031,"score_A":40,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"I gave myself a hard limit on the amount of time I was going to be a post doc and if I hadn't secured an academic job by then I'd move on. Only fools play the 'infinite postdoc' game waiting for someone to die or retire in an institution they deem 'worthy'. Well, not only did I move on and respect that self imposed deadline I also realized by that point that I'd already had enough stress in my life and didn't want five or seven more years of it trying to get tenure (this wasn't me being a snowflake, this was me spending 10 years at two top five institutions and deciding I didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore.) Everyone dreams of academic life being sitting around doing cool work but in reality you probably spend far more time writing grant proposals trying to keep you lab funded because the success rate is something like 1 in 20 I think? So you have grad slaves do the work while you're scrounging for money. Then the grad slaves graduate and they don't have job prospects but you don't care because you just have to grind to keep the assembly line going. My thesis advisor quit at some point because of that and moved to another country with more secure funding and because he couldn't handle being part of the grad slave production complex.","human_ref_B":"When the pool is small, fish eat each other. Make the pool larger. Funding issue is as simple as that. Considering the volume of hqp and universities we have in each country, academia runs on fumes. There is more money spend on dumber stuff by govs then on scientific research. Open the tap and academic funding will find its own balance.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10010.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzzorz","c_root_id_B":"iwxk1mk","created_at_utc_A":1668880929,"created_at_utc_B":1668826161,"score_A":37,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","human_ref_B":"The only reason these soft money positions exist is because people like you keep going for this shitty deal. If we all stop accepting those terms, it will turn into hard money.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":54768.0,"score_ratio":1.0882352941} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzzorz","c_root_id_B":"iwxxjc7","created_at_utc_A":1668880929,"created_at_utc_B":1668833738,"score_A":37,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","human_ref_B":"Yeah, I bailed for industry because even if you\u2019re successful enough for a permanent home, it\u2019s still a miserable way to make a living. You do nothing but chase money to hopefully hire students to do the only part of the job you ever enjoyed. Also, panhandlers get to at least take their dog to work with them begging for money every day.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":47191.0,"score_ratio":1.1935483871} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzj78v","c_root_id_B":"iwzzorz","created_at_utc_A":1668873806,"created_at_utc_B":1668880929,"score_A":24,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"As a post doc. Just leave academia. Fuck academia. I hate the funding mechanism and how it is either PI or fucking die. It\u2019s really hard to make a career and normal life out of this, boomers tell you otherwise but 20 years a go it was way easier.","human_ref_B":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7123.0,"score_ratio":1.5416666667} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzzorz","c_root_id_B":"iwxjsu6","created_at_utc_A":1668880929,"created_at_utc_B":1668826031,"score_A":37,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","human_ref_B":"When the pool is small, fish eat each other. Make the pool larger. Funding issue is as simple as that. Considering the volume of hqp and universities we have in each country, academia runs on fumes. There is more money spend on dumber stuff by govs then on scientific research. Open the tap and academic funding will find its own balance.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":54898.0,"score_ratio":1.5416666667} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzlfv5","c_root_id_B":"iwzzorz","created_at_utc_A":1668874798,"created_at_utc_B":1668880929,"score_A":17,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"Most people who succeed in academia come from affluence, precisely because it pays dick. On the other hand, natives of country typically don\u2019t go into academia because nobody wants to work that hard for little to no pay. Only someone with threat of losing a visa held over their head will bust ass that hard. My advice is to turn toward industry and it will treat you well.","human_ref_B":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6131.0,"score_ratio":2.1764705882} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwypu4v","c_root_id_B":"iwzzorz","created_at_utc_A":1668856724,"created_at_utc_B":1668880929,"score_A":11,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"It's mostly just supply and demand. There are plenty of people who will literally only do mathematics. You could dress them in a bin bag and make them sit shivering in a room with a bare lightbulb and they'd still be scratching out theorems on the walls. And that level of fanaticism creates an oversupply of candidates and they can offer worse and worse terms until they can only just fill the positions. \\--------- In terms of how to beat the system imo you need to learn how to play the system. Like firstly if you can do mathematical physics which is useful in industry then you can get plenty of nice industrial grants and maybe go part time with a stable job etc. It's also possible to learn how the funding system works better so your applications are more targeted and more likely to get accepted. \\---------- However some people are like \"no, I refuse to do anything other than study the interior of black holes, a part of space time which is practically forever unreachable!\" in which case is it really that suspiring that the rest of society isn't super hyped about supporting that person for life with a stable job and good pay so they can entertain themselves doing something of little value to anyone else?","human_ref_B":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","labels":0,"seconds_difference":24205.0,"score_ratio":3.3636363636} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzzorz","c_root_id_B":"iwzhmfs","created_at_utc_A":1668880929,"created_at_utc_B":1668873108,"score_A":37,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","human_ref_B":"I recently got the thumbs down on a large application. (The acceptance rate was <5 %, so I don't beat myself up over it.) The way I think of it is that we play the Shark Tank-game but it doesn't have to be that way. In the corporate world, research is done by researchers employed to do research. My main issue with the current culture\/system is that we waste a lot of taxpayer money on writing proposals that don't materialize.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7821.0,"score_ratio":4.625} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwznjcc","c_root_id_B":"iwzzorz","created_at_utc_A":1668875729,"created_at_utc_B":1668880929,"score_A":5,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"One thing that has come to light to me recently is how expensive everything is\u2026 thousands of dollars to buy rats\u2026 hundreds of thousands to buy microscopes\u2026 any sort of price drop in the supplying industries would be a huge boon for research itself!","human_ref_B":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5200.0,"score_ratio":7.4} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzzlrc","c_root_id_B":"iwzzorz","created_at_utc_A":1668880894,"created_at_utc_B":1668880929,"score_A":3,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"a guaranteed 7 year job is great though Thats probably more job security than most non government \"permanent\" jobs have. Theres always another merger or \"reorganization\" (aka fire a lot of people without calling it mass layoffs) coming.","human_ref_B":"Neuroscience postdoc here. The funding system has been in bad shape for decades, but in the past few years has begun to spiral downwards and in a few years will likely be in a state of \"system collapse\". In the 80's and 90's, the **balance of NIH funding to researchers was such that \\~25%-35% of grants got funded. At these funding rates, an 5 year R01 grant timelines, a professor would have to write a large grant every \\~18 months to have a reasonable chance of continuing funding.** A big time sink to be sure, but just \"one part of the job\". Grants were competitive, but not so competitive that they got denied funding for petty reasons, and easy enough to secure that novel ideas could still get funded even if they got marked down a bit. By the late 90's, success rates had begun trending down towards 20%. Congress doubled the NIH budget. This propped up success rates for a few years but 1) the NIH budget was never adjusted for inflation 2) a huge influx of new researchers entered the system. **By 2010 or so success rates were down to 10-15%. At a 10-15% success rate, a professor has to write a large grant \\~6 months to have a reasonable chance of funding.** Grant writing moved from being \"part of the job\" to \"most of the job\". Novel research ideas lacking extensive preliminary data score below payline; funded research is usually at least halfway complete (my strategy for NIH grants is literally have a gigantic preliminary data section, and then essentially propose what the preliminary data already shows in Aims 1 and 2). Grants get rejected for extremely petty reasons, one reviewer scoring the grant as just \"good\" is enough to sink the proposal. So the system has been very bad for about 10-15 years. It's now entering a state of collapse. \"Lab inflation\" has been major for the past few years; reagents are now easily 30-40% more expensive than 5 years ago. Experiments become more complex, reviewers demand more of them, the \"research cost\" per paper is exploding. Open Access is a \"curse in disguise\"; instead of paying for journal access out of university operating budgets (through library subscriptions); Open Access fees tack on anywhere from $2,000-$20,000 per publication. Student and postdoc salaries are tiny compared to industry, so there are demands for a more livable wage. This is needed, but it cuts into research budgets even more. And even a 20% boost to postdoc salaries won't be enough to stave off \"brain drain\" to industry. So we're now entering a period of collapse. Very difficult to secure the grants to fund a research lab, and even if you secure that funding, you won't have enough money to do much research. If I weren't doing dementia research (with a special carveout from the NIH), I would be leaving in a heartbeat, and even with that carevout I'm thinking of heading to the exits. **There will be no funding increase to make science funding stable and predictable, or ensure a livable wage for students or postdocs. The cavalry is not coming, the system is just going to collapse.**","labels":0,"seconds_difference":35.0,"score_ratio":12.3333333333} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwxjsu6","c_root_id_B":"iwxk1mk","created_at_utc_A":1668826031,"created_at_utc_B":1668826161,"score_A":24,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"When the pool is small, fish eat each other. Make the pool larger. Funding issue is as simple as that. Considering the volume of hqp and universities we have in each country, academia runs on fumes. There is more money spend on dumber stuff by govs then on scientific research. Open the tap and academic funding will find its own balance.","human_ref_B":"The only reason these soft money positions exist is because people like you keep going for this shitty deal. If we all stop accepting those terms, it will turn into hard money.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":130.0,"score_ratio":1.4166666667} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwxxjc7","c_root_id_B":"iwxjsu6","created_at_utc_A":1668833738,"created_at_utc_B":1668826031,"score_A":31,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Yeah, I bailed for industry because even if you\u2019re successful enough for a permanent home, it\u2019s still a miserable way to make a living. You do nothing but chase money to hopefully hire students to do the only part of the job you ever enjoyed. Also, panhandlers get to at least take their dog to work with them begging for money every day.","human_ref_B":"When the pool is small, fish eat each other. Make the pool larger. Funding issue is as simple as that. Considering the volume of hqp and universities we have in each country, academia runs on fumes. There is more money spend on dumber stuff by govs then on scientific research. Open the tap and academic funding will find its own balance.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7707.0,"score_ratio":1.2916666667} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzj78v","c_root_id_B":"iwypu4v","created_at_utc_A":1668873806,"created_at_utc_B":1668856724,"score_A":24,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"As a post doc. Just leave academia. Fuck academia. I hate the funding mechanism and how it is either PI or fucking die. It\u2019s really hard to make a career and normal life out of this, boomers tell you otherwise but 20 years a go it was way easier.","human_ref_B":"It's mostly just supply and demand. There are plenty of people who will literally only do mathematics. You could dress them in a bin bag and make them sit shivering in a room with a bare lightbulb and they'd still be scratching out theorems on the walls. And that level of fanaticism creates an oversupply of candidates and they can offer worse and worse terms until they can only just fill the positions. \\--------- In terms of how to beat the system imo you need to learn how to play the system. Like firstly if you can do mathematical physics which is useful in industry then you can get plenty of nice industrial grants and maybe go part time with a stable job etc. It's also possible to learn how the funding system works better so your applications are more targeted and more likely to get accepted. \\---------- However some people are like \"no, I refuse to do anything other than study the interior of black holes, a part of space time which is practically forever unreachable!\" in which case is it really that suspiring that the rest of society isn't super hyped about supporting that person for life with a stable job and good pay so they can entertain themselves doing something of little value to anyone else?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17082.0,"score_ratio":2.1818181818} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzhmfs","c_root_id_B":"iwzj78v","created_at_utc_A":1668873108,"created_at_utc_B":1668873806,"score_A":8,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"I recently got the thumbs down on a large application. (The acceptance rate was <5 %, so I don't beat myself up over it.) The way I think of it is that we play the Shark Tank-game but it doesn't have to be that way. In the corporate world, research is done by researchers employed to do research. My main issue with the current culture\/system is that we waste a lot of taxpayer money on writing proposals that don't materialize.","human_ref_B":"As a post doc. Just leave academia. Fuck academia. I hate the funding mechanism and how it is either PI or fucking die. It\u2019s really hard to make a career and normal life out of this, boomers tell you otherwise but 20 years a go it was way easier.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":698.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzlfv5","c_root_id_B":"iwypu4v","created_at_utc_A":1668874798,"created_at_utc_B":1668856724,"score_A":17,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Most people who succeed in academia come from affluence, precisely because it pays dick. On the other hand, natives of country typically don\u2019t go into academia because nobody wants to work that hard for little to no pay. Only someone with threat of losing a visa held over their head will bust ass that hard. My advice is to turn toward industry and it will treat you well.","human_ref_B":"It's mostly just supply and demand. There are plenty of people who will literally only do mathematics. You could dress them in a bin bag and make them sit shivering in a room with a bare lightbulb and they'd still be scratching out theorems on the walls. And that level of fanaticism creates an oversupply of candidates and they can offer worse and worse terms until they can only just fill the positions. \\--------- In terms of how to beat the system imo you need to learn how to play the system. Like firstly if you can do mathematical physics which is useful in industry then you can get plenty of nice industrial grants and maybe go part time with a stable job etc. It's also possible to learn how the funding system works better so your applications are more targeted and more likely to get accepted. \\---------- However some people are like \"no, I refuse to do anything other than study the interior of black holes, a part of space time which is practically forever unreachable!\" in which case is it really that suspiring that the rest of society isn't super hyped about supporting that person for life with a stable job and good pay so they can entertain themselves doing something of little value to anyone else?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18074.0,"score_ratio":1.5454545455} {"post_id":"yyyvjk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Research Funding is the worst thing about academia. How to make academia more financially secure? So I am from the UK. My PhD was in mathematical physics, I now work in the USA. I've been lucky and unlucky in academia after I graduated nearly 10 years ago. My first postdoc was in Germany. We had a project for 18 months, then we wanted funding to expand this idea for 2-3 more years. We published work and it was good work, but part 2 wasn't accepted. I ended up having to leave that country. My next postdoc in the USA. It was for 3 years but my final years salary was \"taken\" by the department to pay for someone else's salary. So I ended up only do 2 of my 3 years. Now I'm a research scientist, at a different place in the USA. Been here nearly 3 years. I've written two proposals, one HR didn't submit in time (they did it 2 months after the deadline) and the other wasn't submitted because \"this would be competition with our American scientists, so we can't allow it to be submitted\" (literal quote). I also asked if they have spare funding etc, they said \"we do but only for Americans\". I am guessing that's not xenophobia, it's probably to do with the funding call, it might be Americans only or something. I've been lucky in the way I've done some great research, met some good people and travelled... but I've been really unlucky with how things end. If funding ends, you pretty much have to just go. That's so depressing. So now, I have a job offer in Korea. It's for 7 or so years so it's quite secure, but it just means I will be looking for a job again at 45 years old. It would be nice to be financially stable at 45 and have my own home in a place I can be forever... but academia seems to be the opposite of that unless you are lucky. Side note, relationships like this are horrible. You meet someone, don't find funding, get deported and break up... I've been with my gf for 3years, academia doesn't help us here. The point of my post isn't just for me. I know what I need to do in general and I've been unlucky. I do want to know how other people feel about security in academia (in all aspects)? How do you try and make it more secure giving the crappy system? I am hoping this post can also be helpful to students who might want to stay in academia too. Thanks :)","c_root_id_A":"iwzhmfs","c_root_id_B":"iwzlfv5","created_at_utc_A":1668873108,"created_at_utc_B":1668874798,"score_A":8,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"I recently got the thumbs down on a large application. (The acceptance rate was <5 %, so I don't beat myself up over it.) The way I think of it is that we play the Shark Tank-game but it doesn't have to be that way. In the corporate world, research is done by researchers employed to do research. My main issue with the current culture\/system is that we waste a lot of taxpayer money on writing proposals that don't materialize.","human_ref_B":"Most people who succeed in academia come from affluence, precisely because it pays dick. On the other hand, natives of country typically don\u2019t go into academia because nobody wants to work that hard for little to no pay. Only someone with threat of losing a visa held over their head will bust ass that hard. My advice is to turn toward industry and it will treat you well.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1690.0,"score_ratio":2.125} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4p6n79","c_root_id_B":"g4pcsjz","created_at_utc_A":1599752981,"created_at_utc_B":1599754823,"score_A":6,"score_B":87,"human_ref_A":"I agree with you. In the current university where I work, this is a focus even in undergrad.","human_ref_B":"I'd like to see some sources for the \"most professors believe...\" section of your post, since I have not heard a single colleague espouse that view over my time at multiple institutions. In fact, most of us think it's a critical component of the curriculum....","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1842.0,"score_ratio":14.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4pg6ok","c_root_id_B":"g4pgpaf","created_at_utc_A":1599756149,"created_at_utc_B":1599756386,"score_A":19,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"In my PhD, we had to take an ethics course like you're describing in order to keep our training grants. It's probably already a lot more common than you think.","human_ref_B":"What is your basis for saying that this isn't already incorporated into curricula? I didn't go to a particularly progressive school (10-15 years ago) and research ethics were a topic of discussion in every class that remotely touched on human subjects research or science history (mostly biology courses). We also touched on biases particularly related to funding sources. In my grad courses we talked more about the erosion of trust in science and how that is fueled by high-profile cases of data manipulation, a rise in private interest funding of research to compensate for a decline in federal funding, and waning quality of science journalism that therefore mandates us as scientists to learn to better communicate our ideas and findings on our own terms.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":237.0,"score_ratio":1.4210526316} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4p6n79","c_root_id_B":"g4pgpaf","created_at_utc_A":1599752981,"created_at_utc_B":1599756386,"score_A":6,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I agree with you. In the current university where I work, this is a focus even in undergrad.","human_ref_B":"What is your basis for saying that this isn't already incorporated into curricula? I didn't go to a particularly progressive school (10-15 years ago) and research ethics were a topic of discussion in every class that remotely touched on human subjects research or science history (mostly biology courses). We also touched on biases particularly related to funding sources. In my grad courses we talked more about the erosion of trust in science and how that is fueled by high-profile cases of data manipulation, a rise in private interest funding of research to compensate for a decline in federal funding, and waning quality of science journalism that therefore mandates us as scientists to learn to better communicate our ideas and findings on our own terms.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3405.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4pgpaf","c_root_id_B":"g4pgi0n","created_at_utc_A":1599756386,"created_at_utc_B":1599756299,"score_A":27,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"What is your basis for saying that this isn't already incorporated into curricula? I didn't go to a particularly progressive school (10-15 years ago) and research ethics were a topic of discussion in every class that remotely touched on human subjects research or science history (mostly biology courses). We also touched on biases particularly related to funding sources. In my grad courses we talked more about the erosion of trust in science and how that is fueled by high-profile cases of data manipulation, a rise in private interest funding of research to compensate for a decline in federal funding, and waning quality of science journalism that therefore mandates us as scientists to learn to better communicate our ideas and findings on our own terms.","human_ref_B":"I do but it by itself wont be a solution if students aren't motivated to engage, it's easy to pass a 101 without learning anything and STEM majors cant realistically be expected to be given much more mandatory classes than that, ethics training should be a starting point for later self directed learning which need to be something engaged with throughout their careers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":87.0,"score_ratio":6.75} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4pg6ok","c_root_id_B":"g4p6n79","created_at_utc_A":1599756149,"created_at_utc_B":1599752981,"score_A":19,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"In my PhD, we had to take an ethics course like you're describing in order to keep our training grants. It's probably already a lot more common than you think.","human_ref_B":"I agree with you. In the current university where I work, this is a focus even in undergrad.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3168.0,"score_ratio":3.1666666667} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4p6n79","c_root_id_B":"g4qe4n5","created_at_utc_A":1599752981,"created_at_utc_B":1599766153,"score_A":6,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I agree with you. In the current university where I work, this is a focus even in undergrad.","human_ref_B":">Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion? That depends. If you're wanting to expand the ethical curriculum to include what you want, then sure, go crazy. But if you're wanting to add in this curriculum *at the expense* of the older ethical curriculum; that's a ***hard*** no. In my own ethical courses in engineering (one mandatory in undergrad, another mandatory for PhD), there are clear topics that need to be discussed first and foremost. Social justice topics can find their way in, but it *cannot* be at the expense of reminding engineers that if they don't do their jobs correctly, bad things happen. There's only 24 hours in the day, a strict limit of credit hours, and a very long laundry list of more important topics, which is why the engineers would prefer to delegate the social justice topics to those who can actually afford the time to spend on those matters.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13172.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qe4n5","c_root_id_B":"g4pgi0n","created_at_utc_A":1599766153,"created_at_utc_B":1599756299,"score_A":14,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":">Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion? That depends. If you're wanting to expand the ethical curriculum to include what you want, then sure, go crazy. But if you're wanting to add in this curriculum *at the expense* of the older ethical curriculum; that's a ***hard*** no. In my own ethical courses in engineering (one mandatory in undergrad, another mandatory for PhD), there are clear topics that need to be discussed first and foremost. Social justice topics can find their way in, but it *cannot* be at the expense of reminding engineers that if they don't do their jobs correctly, bad things happen. There's only 24 hours in the day, a strict limit of credit hours, and a very long laundry list of more important topics, which is why the engineers would prefer to delegate the social justice topics to those who can actually afford the time to spend on those matters.","human_ref_B":"I do but it by itself wont be a solution if students aren't motivated to engage, it's easy to pass a 101 without learning anything and STEM majors cant realistically be expected to be given much more mandatory classes than that, ethics training should be a starting point for later self directed learning which need to be something engaged with throughout their careers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9854.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4pht6a","c_root_id_B":"g4qe4n5","created_at_utc_A":1599756793,"created_at_utc_B":1599766153,"score_A":5,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Social justice and recognition of one's own biases is taught quite a bit in medicine. You might be interested in reading some of the literature on social accountability, which is quite the hot topic right now.","human_ref_B":">Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion? That depends. If you're wanting to expand the ethical curriculum to include what you want, then sure, go crazy. But if you're wanting to add in this curriculum *at the expense* of the older ethical curriculum; that's a ***hard*** no. In my own ethical courses in engineering (one mandatory in undergrad, another mandatory for PhD), there are clear topics that need to be discussed first and foremost. Social justice topics can find their way in, but it *cannot* be at the expense of reminding engineers that if they don't do their jobs correctly, bad things happen. There's only 24 hours in the day, a strict limit of credit hours, and a very long laundry list of more important topics, which is why the engineers would prefer to delegate the social justice topics to those who can actually afford the time to spend on those matters.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9360.0,"score_ratio":2.8} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qe4n5","c_root_id_B":"g4pzwcq","created_at_utc_A":1599766153,"created_at_utc_B":1599762257,"score_A":14,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":">Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion? That depends. If you're wanting to expand the ethical curriculum to include what you want, then sure, go crazy. But if you're wanting to add in this curriculum *at the expense* of the older ethical curriculum; that's a ***hard*** no. In my own ethical courses in engineering (one mandatory in undergrad, another mandatory for PhD), there are clear topics that need to be discussed first and foremost. Social justice topics can find their way in, but it *cannot* be at the expense of reminding engineers that if they don't do their jobs correctly, bad things happen. There's only 24 hours in the day, a strict limit of credit hours, and a very long laundry list of more important topics, which is why the engineers would prefer to delegate the social justice topics to those who can actually afford the time to spend on those matters.","human_ref_B":"What is your basis for establishing the curricula? If you're looking at \"degree requirements\", you're not going to find squat. At a minimum, you need to be surveying to the individual course syllabus level for this question, because you will rarely find an entire course dedicated to, for example, bioethics, as a required part of a major. Such courses, when they exist, are often taught out of Philosophy departments rather than Biology\/biochem\/neuro\/etc. However, virtually every Biology-ish course involving human or animal research incorporates ethics during the course of lectures. I agree with others - general chem\/general bio is a terrible place to ~~introduce~~ focus on ethics, not least because students don't have enough of a knowledge base to have those types of discussions.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3896.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4py6pp","c_root_id_B":"g4qe4n5","created_at_utc_A":1599761813,"created_at_utc_B":1599766153,"score_A":2,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","human_ref_B":">Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion? That depends. If you're wanting to expand the ethical curriculum to include what you want, then sure, go crazy. But if you're wanting to add in this curriculum *at the expense* of the older ethical curriculum; that's a ***hard*** no. In my own ethical courses in engineering (one mandatory in undergrad, another mandatory for PhD), there are clear topics that need to be discussed first and foremost. Social justice topics can find their way in, but it *cannot* be at the expense of reminding engineers that if they don't do their jobs correctly, bad things happen. There's only 24 hours in the day, a strict limit of credit hours, and a very long laundry list of more important topics, which is why the engineers would prefer to delegate the social justice topics to those who can actually afford the time to spend on those matters.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4340.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qjo09","c_root_id_B":"g4pgi0n","created_at_utc_A":1599767650,"created_at_utc_B":1599756299,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Well, the general chemistry curriculum is notoriously overburdened with too much content with an instructional tendency to focus on topics that are more physical science than general chemistry. The criticism of \"an inch deep and a mile wide\" is reflected in the rapidly expanded textbooks, which when from 90ish pages in the early 1900s to several hundred pages now. I work in curricular design and reform in chemistry education. Adding socio-scientific issues is a low priority, especially because they are poorly incorporated and assessed. It's not that they're not important but the bulk of these ethics issues need to be taught within a discipline like philosophy, and we can work across disciplines to build on those ideas within a chemistry context. It's hard enough to fix general chemistry to get instructors to focus on the chemistry, and I would argue that most of us do not have the requisite expertise in ethics to give a comprehensive view anyway. Worst case scenario, build it into lab. Most institutions don't have laboratory courses that use evidence-based curricula anyway.","human_ref_B":"I do but it by itself wont be a solution if students aren't motivated to engage, it's easy to pass a 101 without learning anything and STEM majors cant realistically be expected to be given much more mandatory classes than that, ethics training should be a starting point for later self directed learning which need to be something engaged with throughout their careers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11351.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4pht6a","c_root_id_B":"g4qjo09","created_at_utc_A":1599756793,"created_at_utc_B":1599767650,"score_A":5,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Social justice and recognition of one's own biases is taught quite a bit in medicine. You might be interested in reading some of the literature on social accountability, which is quite the hot topic right now.","human_ref_B":"Well, the general chemistry curriculum is notoriously overburdened with too much content with an instructional tendency to focus on topics that are more physical science than general chemistry. The criticism of \"an inch deep and a mile wide\" is reflected in the rapidly expanded textbooks, which when from 90ish pages in the early 1900s to several hundred pages now. I work in curricular design and reform in chemistry education. Adding socio-scientific issues is a low priority, especially because they are poorly incorporated and assessed. It's not that they're not important but the bulk of these ethics issues need to be taught within a discipline like philosophy, and we can work across disciplines to build on those ideas within a chemistry context. It's hard enough to fix general chemistry to get instructors to focus on the chemistry, and I would argue that most of us do not have the requisite expertise in ethics to give a comprehensive view anyway. Worst case scenario, build it into lab. Most institutions don't have laboratory courses that use evidence-based curricula anyway.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10857.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qjo09","c_root_id_B":"g4pzwcq","created_at_utc_A":1599767650,"created_at_utc_B":1599762257,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Well, the general chemistry curriculum is notoriously overburdened with too much content with an instructional tendency to focus on topics that are more physical science than general chemistry. The criticism of \"an inch deep and a mile wide\" is reflected in the rapidly expanded textbooks, which when from 90ish pages in the early 1900s to several hundred pages now. I work in curricular design and reform in chemistry education. Adding socio-scientific issues is a low priority, especially because they are poorly incorporated and assessed. It's not that they're not important but the bulk of these ethics issues need to be taught within a discipline like philosophy, and we can work across disciplines to build on those ideas within a chemistry context. It's hard enough to fix general chemistry to get instructors to focus on the chemistry, and I would argue that most of us do not have the requisite expertise in ethics to give a comprehensive view anyway. Worst case scenario, build it into lab. Most institutions don't have laboratory courses that use evidence-based curricula anyway.","human_ref_B":"What is your basis for establishing the curricula? If you're looking at \"degree requirements\", you're not going to find squat. At a minimum, you need to be surveying to the individual course syllabus level for this question, because you will rarely find an entire course dedicated to, for example, bioethics, as a required part of a major. Such courses, when they exist, are often taught out of Philosophy departments rather than Biology\/biochem\/neuro\/etc. However, virtually every Biology-ish course involving human or animal research incorporates ethics during the course of lectures. I agree with others - general chem\/general bio is a terrible place to ~~introduce~~ focus on ethics, not least because students don't have enough of a knowledge base to have those types of discussions.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5393.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qjo09","c_root_id_B":"g4py6pp","created_at_utc_A":1599767650,"created_at_utc_B":1599761813,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Well, the general chemistry curriculum is notoriously overburdened with too much content with an instructional tendency to focus on topics that are more physical science than general chemistry. The criticism of \"an inch deep and a mile wide\" is reflected in the rapidly expanded textbooks, which when from 90ish pages in the early 1900s to several hundred pages now. I work in curricular design and reform in chemistry education. Adding socio-scientific issues is a low priority, especially because they are poorly incorporated and assessed. It's not that they're not important but the bulk of these ethics issues need to be taught within a discipline like philosophy, and we can work across disciplines to build on those ideas within a chemistry context. It's hard enough to fix general chemistry to get instructors to focus on the chemistry, and I would argue that most of us do not have the requisite expertise in ethics to give a comprehensive view anyway. Worst case scenario, build it into lab. Most institutions don't have laboratory courses that use evidence-based curricula anyway.","human_ref_B":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5837.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qfrl2","c_root_id_B":"g4qjo09","created_at_utc_A":1599766596,"created_at_utc_B":1599767650,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I agree with you. I think most people dont realize that a lot of our medical knowledge comes from scientists experimenting on Indigenous people, slaves or other groups deemed suitable for live experiments. There are still many remnants of those practices today. People seem to think that scientists and thus doctors, are inherently objective but dont realize that there are some many ingrained injustices in how we practice science. I think learning this history will help highlight contemporary issues, for example, the lack of knowledge of heart disease among women.","human_ref_B":"Well, the general chemistry curriculum is notoriously overburdened with too much content with an instructional tendency to focus on topics that are more physical science than general chemistry. The criticism of \"an inch deep and a mile wide\" is reflected in the rapidly expanded textbooks, which when from 90ish pages in the early 1900s to several hundred pages now. I work in curricular design and reform in chemistry education. Adding socio-scientific issues is a low priority, especially because they are poorly incorporated and assessed. It's not that they're not important but the bulk of these ethics issues need to be taught within a discipline like philosophy, and we can work across disciplines to build on those ideas within a chemistry context. It's hard enough to fix general chemistry to get instructors to focus on the chemistry, and I would argue that most of us do not have the requisite expertise in ethics to give a comprehensive view anyway. Worst case scenario, build it into lab. Most institutions don't have laboratory courses that use evidence-based curricula anyway.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1054.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4roj30","c_root_id_B":"g4pgi0n","created_at_utc_A":1599780473,"created_at_utc_B":1599756299,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"As someone who has had medical ethics in medical school: it doesn't work. It just teaches people how to rationalize self-serving actions with justice vs autonomy vs benevolence. It doesn't improve ethical decision making, it just teaches people how to defend their crimes with some superficial bullshit.","human_ref_B":"I do but it by itself wont be a solution if students aren't motivated to engage, it's easy to pass a 101 without learning anything and STEM majors cant realistically be expected to be given much more mandatory classes than that, ethics training should be a starting point for later self directed learning which need to be something engaged with throughout their careers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":24174.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4roj30","c_root_id_B":"g4pht6a","created_at_utc_A":1599780473,"created_at_utc_B":1599756793,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"As someone who has had medical ethics in medical school: it doesn't work. It just teaches people how to rationalize self-serving actions with justice vs autonomy vs benevolence. It doesn't improve ethical decision making, it just teaches people how to defend their crimes with some superficial bullshit.","human_ref_B":"Social justice and recognition of one's own biases is taught quite a bit in medicine. You might be interested in reading some of the literature on social accountability, which is quite the hot topic right now.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23680.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4roj30","c_root_id_B":"g4r05sb","created_at_utc_A":1599780473,"created_at_utc_B":1599771813,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"As someone who has had medical ethics in medical school: it doesn't work. It just teaches people how to rationalize self-serving actions with justice vs autonomy vs benevolence. It doesn't improve ethical decision making, it just teaches people how to defend their crimes with some superficial bullshit.","human_ref_B":"We do have an ethics course as part of my graduate program that discusses personal responsibility and making sure you're aware of others circumstances.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8660.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4pzwcq","c_root_id_B":"g4roj30","created_at_utc_A":1599762257,"created_at_utc_B":1599780473,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"What is your basis for establishing the curricula? If you're looking at \"degree requirements\", you're not going to find squat. At a minimum, you need to be surveying to the individual course syllabus level for this question, because you will rarely find an entire course dedicated to, for example, bioethics, as a required part of a major. Such courses, when they exist, are often taught out of Philosophy departments rather than Biology\/biochem\/neuro\/etc. However, virtually every Biology-ish course involving human or animal research incorporates ethics during the course of lectures. I agree with others - general chem\/general bio is a terrible place to ~~introduce~~ focus on ethics, not least because students don't have enough of a knowledge base to have those types of discussions.","human_ref_B":"As someone who has had medical ethics in medical school: it doesn't work. It just teaches people how to rationalize self-serving actions with justice vs autonomy vs benevolence. It doesn't improve ethical decision making, it just teaches people how to defend their crimes with some superficial bullshit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18216.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4rl9w4","c_root_id_B":"g4roj30","created_at_utc_A":1599778790,"created_at_utc_B":1599780473,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"During my PhD (OChem) too, ethics was a required course. So naturally, everybody waited until the last possible moment to take that course. I think the PhD job teaches ethics better than any course theory.","human_ref_B":"As someone who has had medical ethics in medical school: it doesn't work. It just teaches people how to rationalize self-serving actions with justice vs autonomy vs benevolence. It doesn't improve ethical decision making, it just teaches people how to defend their crimes with some superficial bullshit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1683.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4py6pp","c_root_id_B":"g4roj30","created_at_utc_A":1599761813,"created_at_utc_B":1599780473,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","human_ref_B":"As someone who has had medical ethics in medical school: it doesn't work. It just teaches people how to rationalize self-serving actions with justice vs autonomy vs benevolence. It doesn't improve ethical decision making, it just teaches people how to defend their crimes with some superficial bullshit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18660.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qfrl2","c_root_id_B":"g4roj30","created_at_utc_A":1599766596,"created_at_utc_B":1599780473,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I agree with you. I think most people dont realize that a lot of our medical knowledge comes from scientists experimenting on Indigenous people, slaves or other groups deemed suitable for live experiments. There are still many remnants of those practices today. People seem to think that scientists and thus doctors, are inherently objective but dont realize that there are some many ingrained injustices in how we practice science. I think learning this history will help highlight contemporary issues, for example, the lack of knowledge of heart disease among women.","human_ref_B":"As someone who has had medical ethics in medical school: it doesn't work. It just teaches people how to rationalize self-serving actions with justice vs autonomy vs benevolence. It doesn't improve ethical decision making, it just teaches people how to defend their crimes with some superficial bullshit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13877.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4pgi0n","c_root_id_B":"g4pht6a","created_at_utc_A":1599756299,"created_at_utc_B":1599756793,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I do but it by itself wont be a solution if students aren't motivated to engage, it's easy to pass a 101 without learning anything and STEM majors cant realistically be expected to be given much more mandatory classes than that, ethics training should be a starting point for later self directed learning which need to be something engaged with throughout their careers.","human_ref_B":"Social justice and recognition of one's own biases is taught quite a bit in medicine. You might be interested in reading some of the literature on social accountability, which is quite the hot topic right now.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":494.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4r05sb","c_root_id_B":"g4pzwcq","created_at_utc_A":1599771813,"created_at_utc_B":1599762257,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"We do have an ethics course as part of my graduate program that discusses personal responsibility and making sure you're aware of others circumstances.","human_ref_B":"What is your basis for establishing the curricula? If you're looking at \"degree requirements\", you're not going to find squat. At a minimum, you need to be surveying to the individual course syllabus level for this question, because you will rarely find an entire course dedicated to, for example, bioethics, as a required part of a major. Such courses, when they exist, are often taught out of Philosophy departments rather than Biology\/biochem\/neuro\/etc. However, virtually every Biology-ish course involving human or animal research incorporates ethics during the course of lectures. I agree with others - general chem\/general bio is a terrible place to ~~introduce~~ focus on ethics, not least because students don't have enough of a knowledge base to have those types of discussions.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9556.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4r05sb","c_root_id_B":"g4py6pp","created_at_utc_A":1599771813,"created_at_utc_B":1599761813,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"We do have an ethics course as part of my graduate program that discusses personal responsibility and making sure you're aware of others circumstances.","human_ref_B":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10000.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4qfrl2","c_root_id_B":"g4r05sb","created_at_utc_A":1599766596,"created_at_utc_B":1599771813,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I agree with you. I think most people dont realize that a lot of our medical knowledge comes from scientists experimenting on Indigenous people, slaves or other groups deemed suitable for live experiments. There are still many remnants of those practices today. People seem to think that scientists and thus doctors, are inherently objective but dont realize that there are some many ingrained injustices in how we practice science. I think learning this history will help highlight contemporary issues, for example, the lack of knowledge of heart disease among women.","human_ref_B":"We do have an ethics course as part of my graduate program that discusses personal responsibility and making sure you're aware of others circumstances.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5217.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4py6pp","c_root_id_B":"g4pzwcq","created_at_utc_A":1599761813,"created_at_utc_B":1599762257,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","human_ref_B":"What is your basis for establishing the curricula? If you're looking at \"degree requirements\", you're not going to find squat. At a minimum, you need to be surveying to the individual course syllabus level for this question, because you will rarely find an entire course dedicated to, for example, bioethics, as a required part of a major. Such courses, when they exist, are often taught out of Philosophy departments rather than Biology\/biochem\/neuro\/etc. However, virtually every Biology-ish course involving human or animal research incorporates ethics during the course of lectures. I agree with others - general chem\/general bio is a terrible place to ~~introduce~~ focus on ethics, not least because students don't have enough of a knowledge base to have those types of discussions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":444.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4rl9w4","c_root_id_B":"g4py6pp","created_at_utc_A":1599778790,"created_at_utc_B":1599761813,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"During my PhD (OChem) too, ethics was a required course. So naturally, everybody waited until the last possible moment to take that course. I think the PhD job teaches ethics better than any course theory.","human_ref_B":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16977.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4rl9w4","c_root_id_B":"g4qfrl2","created_at_utc_A":1599778790,"created_at_utc_B":1599766596,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"During my PhD (OChem) too, ethics was a required course. So naturally, everybody waited until the last possible moment to take that course. I think the PhD job teaches ethics better than any course theory.","human_ref_B":"I agree with you. I think most people dont realize that a lot of our medical knowledge comes from scientists experimenting on Indigenous people, slaves or other groups deemed suitable for live experiments. There are still many remnants of those practices today. People seem to think that scientists and thus doctors, are inherently objective but dont realize that there are some many ingrained injustices in how we practice science. I think learning this history will help highlight contemporary issues, for example, the lack of knowledge of heart disease among women.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12194.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4py6pp","c_root_id_B":"g4s3w4a","created_at_utc_A":1599761813,"created_at_utc_B":1599788499,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","human_ref_B":"AFAIK, ethics classes are required by anyone receiving NIH money, at a frequency of at least 1 every 4 years.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26686.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4s3w4a","c_root_id_B":"g4qfrl2","created_at_utc_A":1599788499,"created_at_utc_B":1599766596,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"AFAIK, ethics classes are required by anyone receiving NIH money, at a frequency of at least 1 every 4 years.","human_ref_B":"I agree with you. I think most people dont realize that a lot of our medical knowledge comes from scientists experimenting on Indigenous people, slaves or other groups deemed suitable for live experiments. There are still many remnants of those practices today. People seem to think that scientists and thus doctors, are inherently objective but dont realize that there are some many ingrained injustices in how we practice science. I think learning this history will help highlight contemporary issues, for example, the lack of knowledge of heart disease among women.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21903.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4py6pp","c_root_id_B":"g4s5oe7","created_at_utc_A":1599761813,"created_at_utc_B":1599789418,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Social ethics in my opinion should not be just a checkmark on a degree plan. Ethics should be at the forefront of training for ALL professions that interface with human beings. It should start at the beginning of one\u2019s academic journey and continue throughout. There should be deep, introspective, critical reflection at every stage of the way. For undergraduates this may look like a yearly reflection on their encounters with ethical dilemmas and how they navigated them. Graduate and Professional schools should require prospective applicants to submit portfolios based on ethics. Anyone who is remotely bothered by discussions on ethics or integrating ethics into academic programs are actively upholding structures that thrive on disenfranchisement of others. Professors not wanting to teach ethics\/integrate it into their courses do not want to take ownership of the part they play in maintaining elitist and discriminatory practices of higher education and professional communities. I find it interesting that we want to focus on \u201cgood science\u201d and not policing personal conduct until someone\u2019s personal conduct impacts our lived directly... then we want to snatch their credentials and punish the hospital or even medical school where they attended... but things should have never gotten that far in the first place.","human_ref_B":"NIH T32 training grants require research ethics grants every 4 years for grad students. This is a huge % of biomedical research PhD programs at top schools and even the others end up following suit (at least at my institution). I'm an engineer by training so we do more professional development\/ethics training comparatively than science majors in undergrad.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27605.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"iq5r1y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Should social ethics be a required curriculum component for scientists\/pre-health professionals? Undergraduate senior here. My thesis project revolves around analyzing case studies of science and medical curriculum that discuss scientific professional ethics, and then recommending a general chemistry curriculum with a greater focus on equity and understanding\/recognizing personal and external bias, and analyzing ethical situation. Most professors believe that the ethics component should only be focused on teaching how to present \u201cGood Science\u201d and less on \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d (the argument being that you can\u2019t change someones morals). My perspective is that by teaching awareness of historical and current social injustice in research and greater science, students begin to recognize more of their own and other biases, and may act accordingly. What\u2019s your opinion?","c_root_id_A":"g4s5oe7","c_root_id_B":"g4qfrl2","created_at_utc_A":1599789418,"created_at_utc_B":1599766596,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"NIH T32 training grants require research ethics grants every 4 years for grad students. This is a huge % of biomedical research PhD programs at top schools and even the others end up following suit (at least at my institution). I'm an engineer by training so we do more professional development\/ethics training comparatively than science majors in undergrad.","human_ref_B":"I agree with you. I think most people dont realize that a lot of our medical knowledge comes from scientists experimenting on Indigenous people, slaves or other groups deemed suitable for live experiments. There are still many remnants of those practices today. People seem to think that scientists and thus doctors, are inherently objective but dont realize that there are some many ingrained injustices in how we practice science. I think learning this history will help highlight contemporary issues, for example, the lack of knowledge of heart disease among women.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22822.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjysiwg","c_root_id_B":"fjyopah","created_at_utc_A":1583703656,"created_at_utc_B":1583701300,"score_A":95,"score_B":72,"human_ref_A":"Quarantine is the right decision in this case. Afterall if everything is fine after 2 weeks, she can come again. But no compromise with safety.","human_ref_B":"Right decision.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2356.0,"score_ratio":1.3194444444} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjynuh2","c_root_id_B":"fjysiwg","created_at_utc_A":1583700776,"created_at_utc_B":1583703656,"score_A":50,"score_B":95,"human_ref_A":"You did the right thing IMO!","human_ref_B":"Quarantine is the right decision in this case. Afterall if everything is fine after 2 weeks, she can come again. But no compromise with safety.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2880.0,"score_ratio":1.9} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjysiwg","c_root_id_B":"fjypogr","created_at_utc_A":1583703656,"created_at_utc_B":1583701902,"score_A":95,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"Quarantine is the right decision in this case. Afterall if everything is fine after 2 weeks, she can come again. But no compromise with safety.","human_ref_B":"Great leadership on your part!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1754.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyrlob","c_root_id_B":"fjysiwg","created_at_utc_A":1583703087,"created_at_utc_B":1583703656,"score_A":27,"score_B":95,"human_ref_A":"That was the right thing to do. This pandemic can only be slowed down now\u2014not stopped\u2014and reducing vectors through quarantine is the way to go.","human_ref_B":"Quarantine is the right decision in this case. Afterall if everything is fine after 2 weeks, she can come again. But no compromise with safety.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":569.0,"score_ratio":3.5185185185} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjysiwg","c_root_id_B":"fjysi1x","created_at_utc_A":1583703656,"created_at_utc_B":1583703641,"score_A":95,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"Quarantine is the right decision in this case. Afterall if everything is fine after 2 weeks, she can come again. But no compromise with safety.","human_ref_B":"If the state was something like North Carolina, this is way out of proportion. If it was Washington, then this was reasonable.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15.0,"score_ratio":4.5238095238} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fjysiwg","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583703656,"score_A":2,"score_B":95,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"Quarantine is the right decision in this case. Afterall if everything is fine after 2 weeks, she can come again. But no compromise with safety.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1129.0,"score_ratio":47.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjywq60","c_root_id_B":"fjyopah","created_at_utc_A":1583706205,"created_at_utc_B":1583701300,"score_A":82,"score_B":72,"human_ref_A":"Yeah that was dumb on the postdocs' part. I'm in Europe right now and my institution is asking for people to self-quarantine if they visit Italy or China. My labmate had a family emergency in Italy so he's just going to work from home for two weeks. I'm even only going into work 3 days a week now just to be safe. I can do enough from home.","human_ref_B":"Right decision.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4905.0,"score_ratio":1.1388888889} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjynuh2","c_root_id_B":"fjywq60","created_at_utc_A":1583700776,"created_at_utc_B":1583706205,"score_A":50,"score_B":82,"human_ref_A":"You did the right thing IMO!","human_ref_B":"Yeah that was dumb on the postdocs' part. I'm in Europe right now and my institution is asking for people to self-quarantine if they visit Italy or China. My labmate had a family emergency in Italy so he's just going to work from home for two weeks. I'm even only going into work 3 days a week now just to be safe. I can do enough from home.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5429.0,"score_ratio":1.64} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjywq60","c_root_id_B":"fjypogr","created_at_utc_A":1583706205,"created_at_utc_B":1583701902,"score_A":82,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"Yeah that was dumb on the postdocs' part. I'm in Europe right now and my institution is asking for people to self-quarantine if they visit Italy or China. My labmate had a family emergency in Italy so he's just going to work from home for two weeks. I'm even only going into work 3 days a week now just to be safe. I can do enough from home.","human_ref_B":"Great leadership on your part!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4303.0,"score_ratio":2.3428571429} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjywq60","c_root_id_B":"fjyrlob","created_at_utc_A":1583706205,"created_at_utc_B":1583703087,"score_A":82,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"Yeah that was dumb on the postdocs' part. I'm in Europe right now and my institution is asking for people to self-quarantine if they visit Italy or China. My labmate had a family emergency in Italy so he's just going to work from home for two weeks. I'm even only going into work 3 days a week now just to be safe. I can do enough from home.","human_ref_B":"That was the right thing to do. This pandemic can only be slowed down now\u2014not stopped\u2014and reducing vectors through quarantine is the way to go.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3118.0,"score_ratio":3.037037037} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjysi1x","c_root_id_B":"fjywq60","created_at_utc_A":1583703641,"created_at_utc_B":1583706205,"score_A":21,"score_B":82,"human_ref_A":"If the state was something like North Carolina, this is way out of proportion. If it was Washington, then this was reasonable.","human_ref_B":"Yeah that was dumb on the postdocs' part. I'm in Europe right now and my institution is asking for people to self-quarantine if they visit Italy or China. My labmate had a family emergency in Italy so he's just going to work from home for two weeks. I'm even only going into work 3 days a week now just to be safe. I can do enough from home.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2564.0,"score_ratio":3.9047619048} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyvetw","c_root_id_B":"fjywq60","created_at_utc_A":1583705413,"created_at_utc_B":1583706205,"score_A":6,"score_B":82,"human_ref_A":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","human_ref_B":"Yeah that was dumb on the postdocs' part. I'm in Europe right now and my institution is asking for people to self-quarantine if they visit Italy or China. My labmate had a family emergency in Italy so he's just going to work from home for two weeks. I'm even only going into work 3 days a week now just to be safe. I can do enough from home.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":792.0,"score_ratio":13.6666666667} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fjywq60","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583706205,"score_A":2,"score_B":82,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"Yeah that was dumb on the postdocs' part. I'm in Europe right now and my institution is asking for people to self-quarantine if they visit Italy or China. My labmate had a family emergency in Italy so he's just going to work from home for two weeks. I'm even only going into work 3 days a week now just to be safe. I can do enough from home.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3678.0,"score_ratio":41.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjynuh2","c_root_id_B":"fjyopah","created_at_utc_A":1583700776,"created_at_utc_B":1583701300,"score_A":50,"score_B":72,"human_ref_A":"You did the right thing IMO!","human_ref_B":"Right decision.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":524.0,"score_ratio":1.44} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjynuh2","c_root_id_B":"fjz301q","created_at_utc_A":1583700776,"created_at_utc_B":1583710201,"score_A":50,"score_B":54,"human_ref_A":"You did the right thing IMO!","human_ref_B":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9425.0,"score_ratio":1.08} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjypogr","c_root_id_B":"fjz301q","created_at_utc_A":1583701902,"created_at_utc_B":1583710201,"score_A":35,"score_B":54,"human_ref_A":"Great leadership on your part!","human_ref_B":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8299.0,"score_ratio":1.5428571429} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyrlob","c_root_id_B":"fjz301q","created_at_utc_A":1583703087,"created_at_utc_B":1583710201,"score_A":27,"score_B":54,"human_ref_A":"That was the right thing to do. This pandemic can only be slowed down now\u2014not stopped\u2014and reducing vectors through quarantine is the way to go.","human_ref_B":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7114.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz301q","c_root_id_B":"fjysi1x","created_at_utc_A":1583710201,"created_at_utc_B":1583703641,"score_A":54,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","human_ref_B":"If the state was something like North Carolina, this is way out of proportion. If it was Washington, then this was reasonable.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6560.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz1vg2","c_root_id_B":"fjz301q","created_at_utc_A":1583709474,"created_at_utc_B":1583710201,"score_A":23,"score_B":54,"human_ref_A":"Honestly this seems like overkill to me. Just because they visited a U.S. state with cases? So what should every person in Washington or California quarantine themselves?","human_ref_B":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":727.0,"score_ratio":2.347826087} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz301q","c_root_id_B":"fjyy0ht","created_at_utc_A":1583710201,"created_at_utc_B":1583707012,"score_A":54,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","human_ref_B":"I mean, nyc declared a state of emergency and I would think that would be highly unreasonable.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3189.0,"score_ratio":3.375} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz301q","c_root_id_B":"fjyvetw","created_at_utc_A":1583710201,"created_at_utc_B":1583705413,"score_A":54,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","human_ref_B":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4788.0,"score_ratio":9.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz301q","c_root_id_B":"fjyqp60","created_at_utc_A":1583710201,"created_at_utc_B":1583702527,"score_A":54,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"For myself, I decided to go with whatever institution policy is, as it is too murky for us to just make our own determinations, even though as a pulmonologist i have more experience than some. (In US)","human_ref_B":"That's great!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7674.0,"score_ratio":27.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fjyrlob","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583703087,"score_A":2,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"That was the right thing to do. This pandemic can only be slowed down now\u2014not stopped\u2014and reducing vectors through quarantine is the way to go.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":560.0,"score_ratio":13.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz1vg2","c_root_id_B":"fjysi1x","created_at_utc_A":1583709474,"created_at_utc_B":1583703641,"score_A":23,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"Honestly this seems like overkill to me. Just because they visited a U.S. state with cases? So what should every person in Washington or California quarantine themselves?","human_ref_B":"If the state was something like North Carolina, this is way out of proportion. If it was Washington, then this was reasonable.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5833.0,"score_ratio":1.0952380952} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjysi1x","c_root_id_B":"fjzgfe2","created_at_utc_A":1583703641,"created_at_utc_B":1583719129,"score_A":21,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"If the state was something like North Carolina, this is way out of proportion. If it was Washington, then this was reasonable.","human_ref_B":"Sure, quarantine them. But let's not pretend this is the postdoc's fault either. This virus is everywhere and people have the right to travel on their days off.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15488.0,"score_ratio":1.0476190476} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjysi1x","c_root_id_B":"fjyqp60","created_at_utc_A":1583703641,"created_at_utc_B":1583702527,"score_A":21,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"If the state was something like North Carolina, this is way out of proportion. If it was Washington, then this was reasonable.","human_ref_B":"That's great!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1114.0,"score_ratio":10.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyy0ht","c_root_id_B":"fjz1vg2","created_at_utc_A":1583707012,"created_at_utc_B":1583709474,"score_A":16,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I mean, nyc declared a state of emergency and I would think that would be highly unreasonable.","human_ref_B":"Honestly this seems like overkill to me. Just because they visited a U.S. state with cases? So what should every person in Washington or California quarantine themselves?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2462.0,"score_ratio":1.4375} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz1vg2","c_root_id_B":"fjyvetw","created_at_utc_A":1583709474,"created_at_utc_B":1583705413,"score_A":23,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Honestly this seems like overkill to me. Just because they visited a U.S. state with cases? So what should every person in Washington or California quarantine themselves?","human_ref_B":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4061.0,"score_ratio":3.8333333333} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fjz1vg2","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583709474,"score_A":2,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"Honestly this seems like overkill to me. Just because they visited a U.S. state with cases? So what should every person in Washington or California quarantine themselves?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6947.0,"score_ratio":11.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyy0ht","c_root_id_B":"fjzgfe2","created_at_utc_A":1583707012,"created_at_utc_B":1583719129,"score_A":16,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"I mean, nyc declared a state of emergency and I would think that would be highly unreasonable.","human_ref_B":"Sure, quarantine them. But let's not pretend this is the postdoc's fault either. This virus is everywhere and people have the right to travel on their days off.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12117.0,"score_ratio":1.375} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzeb7y","c_root_id_B":"fjzgfe2","created_at_utc_A":1583717717,"created_at_utc_B":1583719129,"score_A":7,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"She is responsible for her choices, and you're responsible to protect yourself and others. She made the decision to go in a high-risk state knowing the risks.You shouldn't have had to put her in a quarantine, she should have done that herself. You did good. I think the CCDC now upped the quarantine from 14 to 21 days, due to a long incubation period.","human_ref_B":"Sure, quarantine them. But let's not pretend this is the postdoc's fault either. This virus is everywhere and people have the right to travel on their days off.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1412.0,"score_ratio":3.1428571429} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyvetw","c_root_id_B":"fjzgfe2","created_at_utc_A":1583705413,"created_at_utc_B":1583719129,"score_A":6,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","human_ref_B":"Sure, quarantine them. But let's not pretend this is the postdoc's fault either. This virus is everywhere and people have the right to travel on their days off.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13716.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzgfe2","c_root_id_B":"fjyqp60","created_at_utc_A":1583719129,"created_at_utc_B":1583702527,"score_A":22,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Sure, quarantine them. But let's not pretend this is the postdoc's fault either. This virus is everywhere and people have the right to travel on their days off.","human_ref_B":"That's great!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16602.0,"score_ratio":11.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjza0t8","c_root_id_B":"fjzgfe2","created_at_utc_A":1583714832,"created_at_utc_B":1583719129,"score_A":2,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"If that\u2019s what the university said! Then that\u2019s what should happen.","human_ref_B":"Sure, quarantine them. But let's not pretend this is the postdoc's fault either. This virus is everywhere and people have the right to travel on their days off.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4297.0,"score_ratio":11.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzgfe2","c_root_id_B":"fjz33h0","created_at_utc_A":1583719129,"created_at_utc_B":1583710264,"score_A":22,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Sure, quarantine them. But let's not pretend this is the postdoc's fault either. This virus is everywhere and people have the right to travel on their days off.","human_ref_B":"Was there some legal requirement to do this? If so, you didn't have a choice in the first place. > I think it was a careless decision on her part to go Were there any instructions given *beforehand* that you shouldn't travel to a certain place? If not, nobody can be blamed for not following instructions not given to them in the first place. In general, nobody is required to tell their employer where they go on their free time, with very limited exceptions. (And if it was a work trip and you authorized it, then it's kind of obvious whose fault this is.) Also, COVID-19 is not contagious without symptoms. Simply visiting a region with an ongoing epidemic does not mean that the person is a hazard. > I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. At this point, you'll have accept that the postdoc has a good excuse, and you can't blame them for not doing that experiment you're talking about. It's not her fault that she's not getting it done if her superior actively forbids here for doing it. You can't take it up in a performance review and blame her for it. Did you check what are the rules exactly on quarantine? Quarantine is not sick leave. Where I did my DSc, if you are officially quarantined because of a contagious disease, you're on full pay (100%), and the employer will be reimbursed. The rules for regular sick leave do not apply in this case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8865.0,"score_ratio":11.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyvetw","c_root_id_B":"fjyy0ht","created_at_utc_A":1583705413,"created_at_utc_B":1583707012,"score_A":6,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","human_ref_B":"I mean, nyc declared a state of emergency and I would think that would be highly unreasonable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1599.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fjyy0ht","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583707012,"score_A":2,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"I mean, nyc declared a state of emergency and I would think that would be highly unreasonable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4485.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzeb7y","c_root_id_B":"fk07c00","created_at_utc_A":1583717717,"created_at_utc_B":1583745351,"score_A":7,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"She is responsible for her choices, and you're responsible to protect yourself and others. She made the decision to go in a high-risk state knowing the risks.You shouldn't have had to put her in a quarantine, she should have done that herself. You did good. I think the CCDC now upped the quarantine from 14 to 21 days, due to a long incubation period.","human_ref_B":"A delay of two (or three) weeks in experiments is worth the safety of others. Best case she's healthy, then she can just continue as normal in two weeks (probably loosing a bit of extra time for getting back on track, but nothing severe). If she gets sick you actually prevented having to quarantine your whole lab, which would also mean that her experiment would be delayed (probably even further). I don't know the whole situation (e.g. how fast she can reschedule her experiment) but from the sounds of it the costs for everyone involved are much lower than the possible risks. I know we scientists hate any delay that is avoidable (including going on vacations, sometimes) because it always feel like we might cause a gigantic butterfly effect that will come back biting us later but in reality no ones work is so essential that it can't wait two weeks and is worth risking people's health. We were also advised to be smart about our travels and when to self-quarantine because if we have a single case in the institute the responsible authorities might just decide to shut down the whole institute (because with shared facilities like the cafeteria and bathrooms and entry points into the building, one might argue that everyone had potential contact points with everyone else). And obviously no one would benefit from that.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27634.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzeb7y","c_root_id_B":"fjyvetw","created_at_utc_A":1583717717,"created_at_utc_B":1583705413,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"She is responsible for her choices, and you're responsible to protect yourself and others. She made the decision to go in a high-risk state knowing the risks.You shouldn't have had to put her in a quarantine, she should have done that herself. You did good. I think the CCDC now upped the quarantine from 14 to 21 days, due to a long incubation period.","human_ref_B":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12304.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fjzeb7y","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583717717,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"She is responsible for her choices, and you're responsible to protect yourself and others. She made the decision to go in a high-risk state knowing the risks.You shouldn't have had to put her in a quarantine, she should have done that herself. You did good. I think the CCDC now upped the quarantine from 14 to 21 days, due to a long incubation period.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15190.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzeb7y","c_root_id_B":"fjza0t8","created_at_utc_A":1583717717,"created_at_utc_B":1583714832,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"She is responsible for her choices, and you're responsible to protect yourself and others. She made the decision to go in a high-risk state knowing the risks.You shouldn't have had to put her in a quarantine, she should have done that herself. You did good. I think the CCDC now upped the quarantine from 14 to 21 days, due to a long incubation period.","human_ref_B":"If that\u2019s what the university said! Then that\u2019s what should happen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2885.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzeb7y","c_root_id_B":"fjz33h0","created_at_utc_A":1583717717,"created_at_utc_B":1583710264,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"She is responsible for her choices, and you're responsible to protect yourself and others. She made the decision to go in a high-risk state knowing the risks.You shouldn't have had to put her in a quarantine, she should have done that herself. You did good. I think the CCDC now upped the quarantine from 14 to 21 days, due to a long incubation period.","human_ref_B":"Was there some legal requirement to do this? If so, you didn't have a choice in the first place. > I think it was a careless decision on her part to go Were there any instructions given *beforehand* that you shouldn't travel to a certain place? If not, nobody can be blamed for not following instructions not given to them in the first place. In general, nobody is required to tell their employer where they go on their free time, with very limited exceptions. (And if it was a work trip and you authorized it, then it's kind of obvious whose fault this is.) Also, COVID-19 is not contagious without symptoms. Simply visiting a region with an ongoing epidemic does not mean that the person is a hazard. > I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. At this point, you'll have accept that the postdoc has a good excuse, and you can't blame them for not doing that experiment you're talking about. It's not her fault that she's not getting it done if her superior actively forbids here for doing it. You can't take it up in a performance review and blame her for it. Did you check what are the rules exactly on quarantine? Quarantine is not sick leave. Where I did my DSc, if you are officially quarantined because of a contagious disease, you're on full pay (100%), and the employer will be reimbursed. The rules for regular sick leave do not apply in this case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7453.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyvetw","c_root_id_B":"fk07c00","created_at_utc_A":1583705413,"created_at_utc_B":1583745351,"score_A":6,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","human_ref_B":"A delay of two (or three) weeks in experiments is worth the safety of others. Best case she's healthy, then she can just continue as normal in two weeks (probably loosing a bit of extra time for getting back on track, but nothing severe). If she gets sick you actually prevented having to quarantine your whole lab, which would also mean that her experiment would be delayed (probably even further). I don't know the whole situation (e.g. how fast she can reschedule her experiment) but from the sounds of it the costs for everyone involved are much lower than the possible risks. I know we scientists hate any delay that is avoidable (including going on vacations, sometimes) because it always feel like we might cause a gigantic butterfly effect that will come back biting us later but in reality no ones work is so essential that it can't wait two weeks and is worth risking people's health. We were also advised to be smart about our travels and when to self-quarantine because if we have a single case in the institute the responsible authorities might just decide to shut down the whole institute (because with shared facilities like the cafeteria and bathrooms and entry points into the building, one might argue that everyone had potential contact points with everyone else). And obviously no one would benefit from that.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":39938.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk07c00","c_root_id_B":"fjzzu7k","created_at_utc_A":1583745351,"created_at_utc_B":1583735468,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"A delay of two (or three) weeks in experiments is worth the safety of others. Best case she's healthy, then she can just continue as normal in two weeks (probably loosing a bit of extra time for getting back on track, but nothing severe). If she gets sick you actually prevented having to quarantine your whole lab, which would also mean that her experiment would be delayed (probably even further). I don't know the whole situation (e.g. how fast she can reschedule her experiment) but from the sounds of it the costs for everyone involved are much lower than the possible risks. I know we scientists hate any delay that is avoidable (including going on vacations, sometimes) because it always feel like we might cause a gigantic butterfly effect that will come back biting us later but in reality no ones work is so essential that it can't wait two weeks and is worth risking people's health. We were also advised to be smart about our travels and when to self-quarantine because if we have a single case in the institute the responsible authorities might just decide to shut down the whole institute (because with shared facilities like the cafeteria and bathrooms and entry points into the building, one might argue that everyone had potential contact points with everyone else). And obviously no one would benefit from that.","human_ref_B":"I would take the same course of action. I'm a staff employee in a wet lab and our decision making process has been similar. We have parents to very small children in our lab and a few older employees whose health we have to care for. Health and safety of everyone has become our guiding principle.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9883.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fk07c00","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583745351,"score_A":2,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"A delay of two (or three) weeks in experiments is worth the safety of others. Best case she's healthy, then she can just continue as normal in two weeks (probably loosing a bit of extra time for getting back on track, but nothing severe). If she gets sick you actually prevented having to quarantine your whole lab, which would also mean that her experiment would be delayed (probably even further). I don't know the whole situation (e.g. how fast she can reschedule her experiment) but from the sounds of it the costs for everyone involved are much lower than the possible risks. I know we scientists hate any delay that is avoidable (including going on vacations, sometimes) because it always feel like we might cause a gigantic butterfly effect that will come back biting us later but in reality no ones work is so essential that it can't wait two weeks and is worth risking people's health. We were also advised to be smart about our travels and when to self-quarantine because if we have a single case in the institute the responsible authorities might just decide to shut down the whole institute (because with shared facilities like the cafeteria and bathrooms and entry points into the building, one might argue that everyone had potential contact points with everyone else). And obviously no one would benefit from that.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":42824.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk07c00","c_root_id_B":"fjza0t8","created_at_utc_A":1583745351,"created_at_utc_B":1583714832,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"A delay of two (or three) weeks in experiments is worth the safety of others. Best case she's healthy, then she can just continue as normal in two weeks (probably loosing a bit of extra time for getting back on track, but nothing severe). If she gets sick you actually prevented having to quarantine your whole lab, which would also mean that her experiment would be delayed (probably even further). I don't know the whole situation (e.g. how fast she can reschedule her experiment) but from the sounds of it the costs for everyone involved are much lower than the possible risks. I know we scientists hate any delay that is avoidable (including going on vacations, sometimes) because it always feel like we might cause a gigantic butterfly effect that will come back biting us later but in reality no ones work is so essential that it can't wait two weeks and is worth risking people's health. We were also advised to be smart about our travels and when to self-quarantine because if we have a single case in the institute the responsible authorities might just decide to shut down the whole institute (because with shared facilities like the cafeteria and bathrooms and entry points into the building, one might argue that everyone had potential contact points with everyone else). And obviously no one would benefit from that.","human_ref_B":"If that\u2019s what the university said! Then that\u2019s what should happen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":30519.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk07c00","c_root_id_B":"fjz33h0","created_at_utc_A":1583745351,"created_at_utc_B":1583710264,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"A delay of two (or three) weeks in experiments is worth the safety of others. Best case she's healthy, then she can just continue as normal in two weeks (probably loosing a bit of extra time for getting back on track, but nothing severe). If she gets sick you actually prevented having to quarantine your whole lab, which would also mean that her experiment would be delayed (probably even further). I don't know the whole situation (e.g. how fast she can reschedule her experiment) but from the sounds of it the costs for everyone involved are much lower than the possible risks. I know we scientists hate any delay that is avoidable (including going on vacations, sometimes) because it always feel like we might cause a gigantic butterfly effect that will come back biting us later but in reality no ones work is so essential that it can't wait two weeks and is worth risking people's health. We were also advised to be smart about our travels and when to self-quarantine because if we have a single case in the institute the responsible authorities might just decide to shut down the whole institute (because with shared facilities like the cafeteria and bathrooms and entry points into the building, one might argue that everyone had potential contact points with everyone else). And obviously no one would benefit from that.","human_ref_B":"Was there some legal requirement to do this? If so, you didn't have a choice in the first place. > I think it was a careless decision on her part to go Were there any instructions given *beforehand* that you shouldn't travel to a certain place? If not, nobody can be blamed for not following instructions not given to them in the first place. In general, nobody is required to tell their employer where they go on their free time, with very limited exceptions. (And if it was a work trip and you authorized it, then it's kind of obvious whose fault this is.) Also, COVID-19 is not contagious without symptoms. Simply visiting a region with an ongoing epidemic does not mean that the person is a hazard. > I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. At this point, you'll have accept that the postdoc has a good excuse, and you can't blame them for not doing that experiment you're talking about. It's not her fault that she's not getting it done if her superior actively forbids here for doing it. You can't take it up in a performance review and blame her for it. Did you check what are the rules exactly on quarantine? Quarantine is not sick leave. Where I did my DSc, if you are officially quarantined because of a contagious disease, you're on full pay (100%), and the employer will be reimbursed. The rules for regular sick leave do not apply in this case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":35087.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk0jbzv","c_root_id_B":"fk0f0r6","created_at_utc_A":1583758616,"created_at_utc_B":1583754803,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Agreed that it was the correct decision to quarantine them, but I think it's a little bit unfair to call this \"careless\", because your postdoc has a life and if she wants to go travelling then that's entirely within her rights. She's done nothing wrong by leaving the state and you've done nothing wrong by quarantining her.","human_ref_B":"I applaud you. Thank you for being a PI and putting your personnel above results. Just because an experiment is \"big\" doesn't mean that it cannot be performed again, or finished by someone else. I would bar them from coming back to work for at least 14 days after their return. You should make sure they know they will be paid for that time (even though post-docs are salaried...you should make it clear to your hourlys that you will support them should they need to do this as well). I'd also inform the university administration so that they can be aware of this situation and determine whether it is appropriate to inform the local public health department.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3813.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk0jbzv","c_root_id_B":"fjzzu7k","created_at_utc_A":1583758616,"created_at_utc_B":1583735468,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Agreed that it was the correct decision to quarantine them, but I think it's a little bit unfair to call this \"careless\", because your postdoc has a life and if she wants to go travelling then that's entirely within her rights. She's done nothing wrong by leaving the state and you've done nothing wrong by quarantining her.","human_ref_B":"I would take the same course of action. I'm a staff employee in a wet lab and our decision making process has been similar. We have parents to very small children in our lab and a few older employees whose health we have to care for. Health and safety of everyone has become our guiding principle.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23148.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk0jbzv","c_root_id_B":"fjyqp60","created_at_utc_A":1583758616,"created_at_utc_B":1583702527,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Agreed that it was the correct decision to quarantine them, but I think it's a little bit unfair to call this \"careless\", because your postdoc has a life and if she wants to go travelling then that's entirely within her rights. She's done nothing wrong by leaving the state and you've done nothing wrong by quarantining her.","human_ref_B":"That's great!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":56089.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk0jbzv","c_root_id_B":"fjza0t8","created_at_utc_A":1583758616,"created_at_utc_B":1583714832,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Agreed that it was the correct decision to quarantine them, but I think it's a little bit unfair to call this \"careless\", because your postdoc has a life and if she wants to go travelling then that's entirely within her rights. She's done nothing wrong by leaving the state and you've done nothing wrong by quarantining her.","human_ref_B":"If that\u2019s what the university said! Then that\u2019s what should happen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":43784.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk0e7k3","c_root_id_B":"fk0jbzv","created_at_utc_A":1583753985,"created_at_utc_B":1583758616,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I'd go either way our university only had a policy of quarantine if you visit a few specific foreign countries, not for any states at this point.","human_ref_B":"Agreed that it was the correct decision to quarantine them, but I think it's a little bit unfair to call this \"careless\", because your postdoc has a life and if she wants to go travelling then that's entirely within her rights. She's done nothing wrong by leaving the state and you've done nothing wrong by quarantining her.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4631.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz33h0","c_root_id_B":"fk0jbzv","created_at_utc_A":1583710264,"created_at_utc_B":1583758616,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Was there some legal requirement to do this? If so, you didn't have a choice in the first place. > I think it was a careless decision on her part to go Were there any instructions given *beforehand* that you shouldn't travel to a certain place? If not, nobody can be blamed for not following instructions not given to them in the first place. In general, nobody is required to tell their employer where they go on their free time, with very limited exceptions. (And if it was a work trip and you authorized it, then it's kind of obvious whose fault this is.) Also, COVID-19 is not contagious without symptoms. Simply visiting a region with an ongoing epidemic does not mean that the person is a hazard. > I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. At this point, you'll have accept that the postdoc has a good excuse, and you can't blame them for not doing that experiment you're talking about. It's not her fault that she's not getting it done if her superior actively forbids here for doing it. You can't take it up in a performance review and blame her for it. Did you check what are the rules exactly on quarantine? Quarantine is not sick leave. Where I did my DSc, if you are officially quarantined because of a contagious disease, you're on full pay (100%), and the employer will be reimbursed. The rules for regular sick leave do not apply in this case.","human_ref_B":"Agreed that it was the correct decision to quarantine them, but I think it's a little bit unfair to call this \"careless\", because your postdoc has a life and if she wants to go travelling then that's entirely within her rights. She's done nothing wrong by leaving the state and you've done nothing wrong by quarantining her.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":48352.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyvetw","c_root_id_B":"fjyqp60","created_at_utc_A":1583705413,"created_at_utc_B":1583702527,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Technical clarification: did you really put an employee in quarantine? Is that even possible?","human_ref_B":"That's great!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2886.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzzu7k","c_root_id_B":"fk08pb5","created_at_utc_A":1583735468,"created_at_utc_B":1583747284,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I would take the same course of action. I'm a staff employee in a wet lab and our decision making process has been similar. We have parents to very small children in our lab and a few older employees whose health we have to care for. Health and safety of everyone has become our guiding principle.","human_ref_B":"My academic institution in Israel has been quarantining for 14 days everyone who returned from \"problem areas\" already for over a month (at full pay, to work from home on what they can), regardless of whom they work with. Even when that may mean an instrument\/service being unavailable to the whole department for that time. Cancelled all the conferences, all the foreign speakers and other guests, and from a couple of weeks ago also new arrivals of foreign students and postdocs, and all the unnecessary gatherings such as thesis defenses (we'll get our PhDs and MScs based only on evaluation of our written theses, the alternative procedure which was originally conceived in case of war-related states of emergency). And all of us who can fully work from home (such as me writing my thesis) are to work from home and not to enter lab\/office buildings even if we haven't traveled. Notice that Israelis are quite used to states of emergency and not prone to panic.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11816.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk08pb5","c_root_id_B":"fjyqp60","created_at_utc_A":1583747284,"created_at_utc_B":1583702527,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"My academic institution in Israel has been quarantining for 14 days everyone who returned from \"problem areas\" already for over a month (at full pay, to work from home on what they can), regardless of whom they work with. Even when that may mean an instrument\/service being unavailable to the whole department for that time. Cancelled all the conferences, all the foreign speakers and other guests, and from a couple of weeks ago also new arrivals of foreign students and postdocs, and all the unnecessary gatherings such as thesis defenses (we'll get our PhDs and MScs based only on evaluation of our written theses, the alternative procedure which was originally conceived in case of war-related states of emergency). And all of us who can fully work from home (such as me writing my thesis) are to work from home and not to enter lab\/office buildings even if we haven't traveled. Notice that Israelis are quite used to states of emergency and not prone to panic.","human_ref_B":"That's great!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":44757.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjza0t8","c_root_id_B":"fk08pb5","created_at_utc_A":1583714832,"created_at_utc_B":1583747284,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"If that\u2019s what the university said! Then that\u2019s what should happen.","human_ref_B":"My academic institution in Israel has been quarantining for 14 days everyone who returned from \"problem areas\" already for over a month (at full pay, to work from home on what they can), regardless of whom they work with. Even when that may mean an instrument\/service being unavailable to the whole department for that time. Cancelled all the conferences, all the foreign speakers and other guests, and from a couple of weeks ago also new arrivals of foreign students and postdocs, and all the unnecessary gatherings such as thesis defenses (we'll get our PhDs and MScs based only on evaluation of our written theses, the alternative procedure which was originally conceived in case of war-related states of emergency). And all of us who can fully work from home (such as me writing my thesis) are to work from home and not to enter lab\/office buildings even if we haven't traveled. Notice that Israelis are quite used to states of emergency and not prone to panic.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":32452.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz33h0","c_root_id_B":"fk08pb5","created_at_utc_A":1583710264,"created_at_utc_B":1583747284,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Was there some legal requirement to do this? If so, you didn't have a choice in the first place. > I think it was a careless decision on her part to go Were there any instructions given *beforehand* that you shouldn't travel to a certain place? If not, nobody can be blamed for not following instructions not given to them in the first place. In general, nobody is required to tell their employer where they go on their free time, with very limited exceptions. (And if it was a work trip and you authorized it, then it's kind of obvious whose fault this is.) Also, COVID-19 is not contagious without symptoms. Simply visiting a region with an ongoing epidemic does not mean that the person is a hazard. > I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. At this point, you'll have accept that the postdoc has a good excuse, and you can't blame them for not doing that experiment you're talking about. It's not her fault that she's not getting it done if her superior actively forbids here for doing it. You can't take it up in a performance review and blame her for it. Did you check what are the rules exactly on quarantine? Quarantine is not sick leave. Where I did my DSc, if you are officially quarantined because of a contagious disease, you're on full pay (100%), and the employer will be reimbursed. The rules for regular sick leave do not apply in this case.","human_ref_B":"My academic institution in Israel has been quarantining for 14 days everyone who returned from \"problem areas\" already for over a month (at full pay, to work from home on what they can), regardless of whom they work with. Even when that may mean an instrument\/service being unavailable to the whole department for that time. Cancelled all the conferences, all the foreign speakers and other guests, and from a couple of weeks ago also new arrivals of foreign students and postdocs, and all the unnecessary gatherings such as thesis defenses (we'll get our PhDs and MScs based only on evaluation of our written theses, the alternative procedure which was originally conceived in case of war-related states of emergency). And all of us who can fully work from home (such as me writing my thesis) are to work from home and not to enter lab\/office buildings even if we haven't traveled. Notice that Israelis are quite used to states of emergency and not prone to panic.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":37020.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk0f0r6","c_root_id_B":"fjzzu7k","created_at_utc_A":1583754803,"created_at_utc_B":1583735468,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I applaud you. Thank you for being a PI and putting your personnel above results. Just because an experiment is \"big\" doesn't mean that it cannot be performed again, or finished by someone else. I would bar them from coming back to work for at least 14 days after their return. You should make sure they know they will be paid for that time (even though post-docs are salaried...you should make it clear to your hourlys that you will support them should they need to do this as well). I'd also inform the university administration so that they can be aware of this situation and determine whether it is appropriate to inform the local public health department.","human_ref_B":"I would take the same course of action. I'm a staff employee in a wet lab and our decision making process has been similar. We have parents to very small children in our lab and a few older employees whose health we have to care for. Health and safety of everyone has become our guiding principle.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19335.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjyqp60","c_root_id_B":"fk0f0r6","created_at_utc_A":1583702527,"created_at_utc_B":1583754803,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"That's great!!","human_ref_B":"I applaud you. Thank you for being a PI and putting your personnel above results. Just because an experiment is \"big\" doesn't mean that it cannot be performed again, or finished by someone else. I would bar them from coming back to work for at least 14 days after their return. You should make sure they know they will be paid for that time (even though post-docs are salaried...you should make it clear to your hourlys that you will support them should they need to do this as well). I'd also inform the university administration so that they can be aware of this situation and determine whether it is appropriate to inform the local public health department.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":52276.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjza0t8","c_root_id_B":"fk0f0r6","created_at_utc_A":1583714832,"created_at_utc_B":1583754803,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"If that\u2019s what the university said! Then that\u2019s what should happen.","human_ref_B":"I applaud you. Thank you for being a PI and putting your personnel above results. Just because an experiment is \"big\" doesn't mean that it cannot be performed again, or finished by someone else. I would bar them from coming back to work for at least 14 days after their return. You should make sure they know they will be paid for that time (even though post-docs are salaried...you should make it clear to your hourlys that you will support them should they need to do this as well). I'd also inform the university administration so that they can be aware of this situation and determine whether it is appropriate to inform the local public health department.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":39971.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fk0f0r6","c_root_id_B":"fk0e7k3","created_at_utc_A":1583754803,"created_at_utc_B":1583753985,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I applaud you. Thank you for being a PI and putting your personnel above results. Just because an experiment is \"big\" doesn't mean that it cannot be performed again, or finished by someone else. I would bar them from coming back to work for at least 14 days after their return. You should make sure they know they will be paid for that time (even though post-docs are salaried...you should make it clear to your hourlys that you will support them should they need to do this as well). I'd also inform the university administration so that they can be aware of this situation and determine whether it is appropriate to inform the local public health department.","human_ref_B":"I'd go either way our university only had a policy of quarantine if you visit a few specific foreign countries, not for any states at this point.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":818.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz33h0","c_root_id_B":"fk0f0r6","created_at_utc_A":1583710264,"created_at_utc_B":1583754803,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Was there some legal requirement to do this? If so, you didn't have a choice in the first place. > I think it was a careless decision on her part to go Were there any instructions given *beforehand* that you shouldn't travel to a certain place? If not, nobody can be blamed for not following instructions not given to them in the first place. In general, nobody is required to tell their employer where they go on their free time, with very limited exceptions. (And if it was a work trip and you authorized it, then it's kind of obvious whose fault this is.) Also, COVID-19 is not contagious without symptoms. Simply visiting a region with an ongoing epidemic does not mean that the person is a hazard. > I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. At this point, you'll have accept that the postdoc has a good excuse, and you can't blame them for not doing that experiment you're talking about. It's not her fault that she's not getting it done if her superior actively forbids here for doing it. You can't take it up in a performance review and blame her for it. Did you check what are the rules exactly on quarantine? Quarantine is not sick leave. Where I did my DSc, if you are officially quarantined because of a contagious disease, you're on full pay (100%), and the employer will be reimbursed. The rules for regular sick leave do not apply in this case.","human_ref_B":"I applaud you. Thank you for being a PI and putting your personnel above results. Just because an experiment is \"big\" doesn't mean that it cannot be performed again, or finished by someone else. I would bar them from coming back to work for at least 14 days after their return. You should make sure they know they will be paid for that time (even though post-docs are salaried...you should make it clear to your hourlys that you will support them should they need to do this as well). I'd also inform the university administration so that they can be aware of this situation and determine whether it is appropriate to inform the local public health department.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":44539.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzzu7k","c_root_id_B":"fjyqp60","created_at_utc_A":1583735468,"created_at_utc_B":1583702527,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I would take the same course of action. I'm a staff employee in a wet lab and our decision making process has been similar. We have parents to very small children in our lab and a few older employees whose health we have to care for. Health and safety of everyone has become our guiding principle.","human_ref_B":"That's great!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32941.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjzzu7k","c_root_id_B":"fjza0t8","created_at_utc_A":1583735468,"created_at_utc_B":1583714832,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I would take the same course of action. I'm a staff employee in a wet lab and our decision making process has been similar. We have parents to very small children in our lab and a few older employees whose health we have to care for. Health and safety of everyone has become our guiding principle.","human_ref_B":"If that\u2019s what the university said! Then that\u2019s what should happen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20636.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ffhr75","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Post doc takes a weekend in a state (several states away) that has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, days after University says you may be quarantined if you visit such a state. I quarantined them. What would you do? I have a wet lab of about 12 with one pregnant post doc (with a 18 mo old at home), and another with an infant. They would have to interact with the traveling post doc. Additionally, there are lots of elderly faculty around where my lab is. I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. I think it was a careless decision on her part to go and she did not ask me in advance, or I would have said that. I have told all other lab members to inform me if they travel outside the state until this is over.","c_root_id_A":"fjz33h0","c_root_id_B":"fjzzu7k","created_at_utc_A":1583710264,"created_at_utc_B":1583735468,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Was there some legal requirement to do this? If so, you didn't have a choice in the first place. > I think it was a careless decision on her part to go Were there any instructions given *beforehand* that you shouldn't travel to a certain place? If not, nobody can be blamed for not following instructions not given to them in the first place. In general, nobody is required to tell their employer where they go on their free time, with very limited exceptions. (And if it was a work trip and you authorized it, then it's kind of obvious whose fault this is.) Also, COVID-19 is not contagious without symptoms. Simply visiting a region with an ongoing epidemic does not mean that the person is a hazard. > I know the traveling post doc had a big experiment planned that probably will not occur now. At this point, you'll have accept that the postdoc has a good excuse, and you can't blame them for not doing that experiment you're talking about. It's not her fault that she's not getting it done if her superior actively forbids here for doing it. You can't take it up in a performance review and blame her for it. Did you check what are the rules exactly on quarantine? Quarantine is not sick leave. Where I did my DSc, if you are officially quarantined because of a contagious disease, you're on full pay (100%), and the employer will be reimbursed. The rules for regular sick leave do not apply in this case.","human_ref_B":"I would take the same course of action. I'm a staff employee in a wet lab and our decision making process has been similar. We have parents to very small children in our lab and a few older employees whose health we have to care for. Health and safety of everyone has become our guiding principle.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25204.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4m0s5","c_root_id_B":"gz4j8im","created_at_utc_A":1621742433,"created_at_utc_B":1621740510,"score_A":127,"score_B":38,"human_ref_A":"Everyone, not just students, learn at their own pace. However, I only get 16 weeks to get everything done sooooooo","human_ref_B":"Yes I agree students learn and grow at their own pace. Hell no do I agree that current academia encourages that. I am finally graduating next month with a biology degree from a Uni and it was so cookie cutter that I was almost convinced I was too dumb to finish. It didn't help that I was diagnosed, after a year at uni, with learning disabilities and when I got my accommodations things got slightly easier. Then lockdowns happened and I was forced into cookie cutter learning again.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1923.0,"score_ratio":3.3421052632} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4586f","c_root_id_B":"gz4m0s5","created_at_utc_A":1621731741,"created_at_utc_B":1621742433,"score_A":13,"score_B":127,"human_ref_A":"I feel less and less. Academia and the PhD program are becoming a cookie cutter more and more.","human_ref_B":"Everyone, not just students, learn at their own pace. However, I only get 16 weeks to get everything done sooooooo","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10692.0,"score_ratio":9.7692307692} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4m0s5","c_root_id_B":"gz4ly40","created_at_utc_A":1621742433,"created_at_utc_B":1621742381,"score_A":127,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Everyone, not just students, learn at their own pace. However, I only get 16 weeks to get everything done sooooooo","human_ref_B":"I agree with your first statement. I suppose I simply can't image there being a single way of learning and of personal growth that would be applicable for each and everyone of us. Difference is key. Otherwise one might be able to establish a rough period of time needed for each and every student for learning, for instance, Freudian psycho-analysis. Perhaps we can calculate a rough time frame for getting the basics across, but which aspects of those fundamentals will be acquired by each student varies and therefore, again, implies difference. Regarding the second statement: I do but it perhaps depends on a variety of factors like your own expectations, *which* academia it is we are talking about (academic practices vary from field to field and country to country) or your socio-economic background. Just take this last point as an example: Being more flexible when it comes to time management is crucial for being able to learn and grow \"at your own pace\". Students from wealthy backgrounds or at university programs which pay scholarships and such are therefore at a great advantage over students from trickier circumstances. Now imagine you're doing an undergraduate program without any type of scholarship while having a kid, while needing to work, without having a family that helps you out, etc. I believe in most cases academia isn't able and\/or willing to permit those people the flexibility that \"studying and growing at your own pace\" would require. It is, after all, a system put in place in very concrete socio-cultural and historic contexts. It goes without saying that academia is not only about learning and growing. One might even argue that those aspects were never a fundamental part of what academia constitutes. There are hierarchies, expectations, external influences from politics, from the economy, even religion, etc.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":52.0,"score_ratio":18.1428571429} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4jldn","c_root_id_B":"gz4m0s5","created_at_utc_A":1621740755,"created_at_utc_B":1621742433,"score_A":4,"score_B":127,"human_ref_A":"I agree. All children are not born with the same intellectual capabilities. With Autism, Dyslexia, etc. becoming so prevalent now it\u2019s important to encourage proper assessment and diagnosis so that children can *properly* learn and grow at the pace appropriate for them","human_ref_B":"Everyone, not just students, learn at their own pace. However, I only get 16 weeks to get everything done sooooooo","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1678.0,"score_ratio":31.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4m0s5","c_root_id_B":"gz4kv7o","created_at_utc_A":1621742433,"created_at_utc_B":1621741625,"score_A":127,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Everyone, not just students, learn at their own pace. However, I only get 16 weeks to get everything done sooooooo","human_ref_B":"This is part of why I\u2019m experimenting with competency based education next semester for my gen ed class. I\u2019ll have my lectures like usual but they\u2019ll be recorded and students will be allowed to work at their pace. As long as everything is completed by the end of the semester they\u2019re good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":808.0,"score_ratio":31.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4j8im","c_root_id_B":"gz4586f","created_at_utc_A":1621740510,"created_at_utc_B":1621731741,"score_A":38,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Yes I agree students learn and grow at their own pace. Hell no do I agree that current academia encourages that. I am finally graduating next month with a biology degree from a Uni and it was so cookie cutter that I was almost convinced I was too dumb to finish. It didn't help that I was diagnosed, after a year at uni, with learning disabilities and when I got my accommodations things got slightly easier. Then lockdowns happened and I was forced into cookie cutter learning again.","human_ref_B":"I feel less and less. Academia and the PhD program are becoming a cookie cutter more and more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8769.0,"score_ratio":2.9230769231} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz55gal","c_root_id_B":"gz50vdf","created_at_utc_A":1621759042,"created_at_utc_B":1621754615,"score_A":31,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","human_ref_B":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4427.0,"score_ratio":1.7222222222} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz55gal","c_root_id_B":"gz4586f","created_at_utc_A":1621759042,"created_at_utc_B":1621731741,"score_A":31,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","human_ref_B":"I feel less and less. Academia and the PhD program are becoming a cookie cutter more and more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27301.0,"score_ratio":2.3846153846} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4pb0j","c_root_id_B":"gz55gal","created_at_utc_A":1621744833,"created_at_utc_B":1621759042,"score_A":11,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"I totally agree. The state of academia now encourages and improves the pharmaceutical industry to make drugs to help absolutely healthy students to study faster than their own pace. By academia I assume you mean the educational system? (semesters, midterms, group projects, etc.) I know my answer might be a stretch, but i believe academia is not healthy at all to those students who take their time.","human_ref_B":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14209.0,"score_ratio":2.8181818182} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4qxo4","c_root_id_B":"gz55gal","created_at_utc_A":1621746070,"created_at_utc_B":1621759042,"score_A":9,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"Yes. But the world doesn't stop for someone to go at their own pace. And increasingly, the rewards are for the quick. So academics not only provides structure and a frame for learning and skills development, it also creates a training ground for pace. It is a lot more forgiving than the world at large.","human_ref_B":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12972.0,"score_ratio":3.4444444444} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz55gal","c_root_id_B":"gz4ly40","created_at_utc_A":1621759042,"created_at_utc_B":1621742381,"score_A":31,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","human_ref_B":"I agree with your first statement. I suppose I simply can't image there being a single way of learning and of personal growth that would be applicable for each and everyone of us. Difference is key. Otherwise one might be able to establish a rough period of time needed for each and every student for learning, for instance, Freudian psycho-analysis. Perhaps we can calculate a rough time frame for getting the basics across, but which aspects of those fundamentals will be acquired by each student varies and therefore, again, implies difference. Regarding the second statement: I do but it perhaps depends on a variety of factors like your own expectations, *which* academia it is we are talking about (academic practices vary from field to field and country to country) or your socio-economic background. Just take this last point as an example: Being more flexible when it comes to time management is crucial for being able to learn and grow \"at your own pace\". Students from wealthy backgrounds or at university programs which pay scholarships and such are therefore at a great advantage over students from trickier circumstances. Now imagine you're doing an undergraduate program without any type of scholarship while having a kid, while needing to work, without having a family that helps you out, etc. I believe in most cases academia isn't able and\/or willing to permit those people the flexibility that \"studying and growing at your own pace\" would require. It is, after all, a system put in place in very concrete socio-cultural and historic contexts. It goes without saying that academia is not only about learning and growing. One might even argue that those aspects were never a fundamental part of what academia constitutes. There are hierarchies, expectations, external influences from politics, from the economy, even religion, etc.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16661.0,"score_ratio":4.4285714286} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz55gal","c_root_id_B":"gz4jldn","created_at_utc_A":1621759042,"created_at_utc_B":1621740755,"score_A":31,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","human_ref_B":"I agree. All children are not born with the same intellectual capabilities. With Autism, Dyslexia, etc. becoming so prevalent now it\u2019s important to encourage proper assessment and diagnosis so that children can *properly* learn and grow at the pace appropriate for them","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18287.0,"score_ratio":7.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz55gal","c_root_id_B":"gz4slih","created_at_utc_A":1621759042,"created_at_utc_B":1621747361,"score_A":31,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","human_ref_B":"Title: yes Post text: no","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11681.0,"score_ratio":7.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz55gal","c_root_id_B":"gz4kv7o","created_at_utc_A":1621759042,"created_at_utc_B":1621741625,"score_A":31,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Students learn in 12 week blocks.. Always.","human_ref_B":"This is part of why I\u2019m experimenting with competency based education next semester for my gen ed class. I\u2019ll have my lectures like usual but they\u2019ll be recorded and students will be allowed to work at their pace. As long as everything is completed by the end of the semester they\u2019re good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17417.0,"score_ratio":7.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4586f","c_root_id_B":"gz50vdf","created_at_utc_A":1621731741,"created_at_utc_B":1621754615,"score_A":13,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I feel less and less. Academia and the PhD program are becoming a cookie cutter more and more.","human_ref_B":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22874.0,"score_ratio":1.3846153846} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz50vdf","c_root_id_B":"gz4pb0j","created_at_utc_A":1621754615,"created_at_utc_B":1621744833,"score_A":18,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","human_ref_B":"I totally agree. The state of academia now encourages and improves the pharmaceutical industry to make drugs to help absolutely healthy students to study faster than their own pace. By academia I assume you mean the educational system? (semesters, midterms, group projects, etc.) I know my answer might be a stretch, but i believe academia is not healthy at all to those students who take their time.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9782.0,"score_ratio":1.6363636364} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz50vdf","c_root_id_B":"gz4qxo4","created_at_utc_A":1621754615,"created_at_utc_B":1621746070,"score_A":18,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","human_ref_B":"Yes. But the world doesn't stop for someone to go at their own pace. And increasingly, the rewards are for the quick. So academics not only provides structure and a frame for learning and skills development, it also creates a training ground for pace. It is a lot more forgiving than the world at large.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8545.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz50vdf","c_root_id_B":"gz4ly40","created_at_utc_A":1621754615,"created_at_utc_B":1621742381,"score_A":18,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","human_ref_B":"I agree with your first statement. I suppose I simply can't image there being a single way of learning and of personal growth that would be applicable for each and everyone of us. Difference is key. Otherwise one might be able to establish a rough period of time needed for each and every student for learning, for instance, Freudian psycho-analysis. Perhaps we can calculate a rough time frame for getting the basics across, but which aspects of those fundamentals will be acquired by each student varies and therefore, again, implies difference. Regarding the second statement: I do but it perhaps depends on a variety of factors like your own expectations, *which* academia it is we are talking about (academic practices vary from field to field and country to country) or your socio-economic background. Just take this last point as an example: Being more flexible when it comes to time management is crucial for being able to learn and grow \"at your own pace\". Students from wealthy backgrounds or at university programs which pay scholarships and such are therefore at a great advantage over students from trickier circumstances. Now imagine you're doing an undergraduate program without any type of scholarship while having a kid, while needing to work, without having a family that helps you out, etc. I believe in most cases academia isn't able and\/or willing to permit those people the flexibility that \"studying and growing at your own pace\" would require. It is, after all, a system put in place in very concrete socio-cultural and historic contexts. It goes without saying that academia is not only about learning and growing. One might even argue that those aspects were never a fundamental part of what academia constitutes. There are hierarchies, expectations, external influences from politics, from the economy, even religion, etc.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12234.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4jldn","c_root_id_B":"gz50vdf","created_at_utc_A":1621740755,"created_at_utc_B":1621754615,"score_A":4,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I agree. All children are not born with the same intellectual capabilities. With Autism, Dyslexia, etc. becoming so prevalent now it\u2019s important to encourage proper assessment and diagnosis so that children can *properly* learn and grow at the pace appropriate for them","human_ref_B":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13860.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4slih","c_root_id_B":"gz50vdf","created_at_utc_A":1621747361,"created_at_utc_B":1621754615,"score_A":4,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Title: yes Post text: no","human_ref_B":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7254.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz50vdf","c_root_id_B":"gz4kv7o","created_at_utc_A":1621754615,"created_at_utc_B":1621741625,"score_A":18,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Of course... but when I see this phrase used, often it's an excuse by the administration and\/or \"experts\" to pressure faculty to dial back expectations... which is shitty. (for the students.) We're humans. Humans are (like all animals) quite *lazy*. (This is not a flaw, but an adaptive trait--save energy whenever you can, so that you have the energy\/fat reserves for when it's necessary, in fighting or hunting.) In academia, humans work better when pushed. (A huge caveat: not all forms of pressure are useful or productive. And everyone responds to pressure in different ways...) But basically, I've found that the more (supportive, good-natured) pressure I put on students, the more effort that most students put into the class, and the more they learn and grow. That's just a fact. In fact, this has been recognized over thousands of years of teaching, going all the way back to Socrates. Now, however, there's a not-so-subtle pushback developing, saying that students shouldn't be pressured, that they all \"learn and grow at their own pace\". Hmm. The fact is, only a *tiny* fraction of students have the capacity for true self-motivation. I'd say, based on my two decades of teaching at a university, that about 1 in a 1000 students are true \"self-starters.\" The rest--myself included--need deadlines, need social pressure and peer pressure (everyone's studying for finals, I'd better study too), need to be faced with high standards (\"damn I so badly want to quit and watch videos, but I got a C on my last paper, so I'd better do another 2 or 3 rounds of editing\"), in order to actually reach our potential. (Note: this is NOT an excuse for a professor to be an asshole who belittles students. That's exactly the kind of pressure that doesn't work, because it provokes anger and\/or resistance and\/or despair, not engagement and\/or re-commitment to work harder.) But lowering standards just hurts students. Period. (best thing that ever happened to me was to get an \"F\" on my first real college paper.) So when I see this quotation, it's usually a subtle or not-so-subtle hint to make my classes easier. And I hate that. It's making us dumber as a society.","human_ref_B":"This is part of why I\u2019m experimenting with competency based education next semester for my gen ed class. I\u2019ll have my lectures like usual but they\u2019ll be recorded and students will be allowed to work at their pace. As long as everything is completed by the end of the semester they\u2019re good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12990.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4pb0j","c_root_id_B":"gz4ly40","created_at_utc_A":1621744833,"created_at_utc_B":1621742381,"score_A":11,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I totally agree. The state of academia now encourages and improves the pharmaceutical industry to make drugs to help absolutely healthy students to study faster than their own pace. By academia I assume you mean the educational system? (semesters, midterms, group projects, etc.) I know my answer might be a stretch, but i believe academia is not healthy at all to those students who take their time.","human_ref_B":"I agree with your first statement. I suppose I simply can't image there being a single way of learning and of personal growth that would be applicable for each and everyone of us. Difference is key. Otherwise one might be able to establish a rough period of time needed for each and every student for learning, for instance, Freudian psycho-analysis. Perhaps we can calculate a rough time frame for getting the basics across, but which aspects of those fundamentals will be acquired by each student varies and therefore, again, implies difference. Regarding the second statement: I do but it perhaps depends on a variety of factors like your own expectations, *which* academia it is we are talking about (academic practices vary from field to field and country to country) or your socio-economic background. Just take this last point as an example: Being more flexible when it comes to time management is crucial for being able to learn and grow \"at your own pace\". Students from wealthy backgrounds or at university programs which pay scholarships and such are therefore at a great advantage over students from trickier circumstances. Now imagine you're doing an undergraduate program without any type of scholarship while having a kid, while needing to work, without having a family that helps you out, etc. I believe in most cases academia isn't able and\/or willing to permit those people the flexibility that \"studying and growing at your own pace\" would require. It is, after all, a system put in place in very concrete socio-cultural and historic contexts. It goes without saying that academia is not only about learning and growing. One might even argue that those aspects were never a fundamental part of what academia constitutes. There are hierarchies, expectations, external influences from politics, from the economy, even religion, etc.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2452.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4pb0j","c_root_id_B":"gz4jldn","created_at_utc_A":1621744833,"created_at_utc_B":1621740755,"score_A":11,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I totally agree. The state of academia now encourages and improves the pharmaceutical industry to make drugs to help absolutely healthy students to study faster than their own pace. By academia I assume you mean the educational system? (semesters, midterms, group projects, etc.) I know my answer might be a stretch, but i believe academia is not healthy at all to those students who take their time.","human_ref_B":"I agree. All children are not born with the same intellectual capabilities. With Autism, Dyslexia, etc. becoming so prevalent now it\u2019s important to encourage proper assessment and diagnosis so that children can *properly* learn and grow at the pace appropriate for them","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4078.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4pb0j","c_root_id_B":"gz4kv7o","created_at_utc_A":1621744833,"created_at_utc_B":1621741625,"score_A":11,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I totally agree. The state of academia now encourages and improves the pharmaceutical industry to make drugs to help absolutely healthy students to study faster than their own pace. By academia I assume you mean the educational system? (semesters, midterms, group projects, etc.) I know my answer might be a stretch, but i believe academia is not healthy at all to those students who take their time.","human_ref_B":"This is part of why I\u2019m experimenting with competency based education next semester for my gen ed class. I\u2019ll have my lectures like usual but they\u2019ll be recorded and students will be allowed to work at their pace. As long as everything is completed by the end of the semester they\u2019re good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3208.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4qxo4","c_root_id_B":"gz4ly40","created_at_utc_A":1621746070,"created_at_utc_B":1621742381,"score_A":9,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Yes. But the world doesn't stop for someone to go at their own pace. And increasingly, the rewards are for the quick. So academics not only provides structure and a frame for learning and skills development, it also creates a training ground for pace. It is a lot more forgiving than the world at large.","human_ref_B":"I agree with your first statement. I suppose I simply can't image there being a single way of learning and of personal growth that would be applicable for each and everyone of us. Difference is key. Otherwise one might be able to establish a rough period of time needed for each and every student for learning, for instance, Freudian psycho-analysis. Perhaps we can calculate a rough time frame for getting the basics across, but which aspects of those fundamentals will be acquired by each student varies and therefore, again, implies difference. Regarding the second statement: I do but it perhaps depends on a variety of factors like your own expectations, *which* academia it is we are talking about (academic practices vary from field to field and country to country) or your socio-economic background. Just take this last point as an example: Being more flexible when it comes to time management is crucial for being able to learn and grow \"at your own pace\". Students from wealthy backgrounds or at university programs which pay scholarships and such are therefore at a great advantage over students from trickier circumstances. Now imagine you're doing an undergraduate program without any type of scholarship while having a kid, while needing to work, without having a family that helps you out, etc. I believe in most cases academia isn't able and\/or willing to permit those people the flexibility that \"studying and growing at your own pace\" would require. It is, after all, a system put in place in very concrete socio-cultural and historic contexts. It goes without saying that academia is not only about learning and growing. One might even argue that those aspects were never a fundamental part of what academia constitutes. There are hierarchies, expectations, external influences from politics, from the economy, even religion, etc.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3689.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4qxo4","c_root_id_B":"gz4jldn","created_at_utc_A":1621746070,"created_at_utc_B":1621740755,"score_A":9,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes. But the world doesn't stop for someone to go at their own pace. And increasingly, the rewards are for the quick. So academics not only provides structure and a frame for learning and skills development, it also creates a training ground for pace. It is a lot more forgiving than the world at large.","human_ref_B":"I agree. All children are not born with the same intellectual capabilities. With Autism, Dyslexia, etc. becoming so prevalent now it\u2019s important to encourage proper assessment and diagnosis so that children can *properly* learn and grow at the pace appropriate for them","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5315.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4qxo4","c_root_id_B":"gz4kv7o","created_at_utc_A":1621746070,"created_at_utc_B":1621741625,"score_A":9,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes. But the world doesn't stop for someone to go at their own pace. And increasingly, the rewards are for the quick. So academics not only provides structure and a frame for learning and skills development, it also creates a training ground for pace. It is a lot more forgiving than the world at large.","human_ref_B":"This is part of why I\u2019m experimenting with competency based education next semester for my gen ed class. I\u2019ll have my lectures like usual but they\u2019ll be recorded and students will be allowed to work at their pace. As long as everything is completed by the end of the semester they\u2019re good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4445.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4jldn","c_root_id_B":"gz4ly40","created_at_utc_A":1621740755,"created_at_utc_B":1621742381,"score_A":4,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I agree. All children are not born with the same intellectual capabilities. With Autism, Dyslexia, etc. becoming so prevalent now it\u2019s important to encourage proper assessment and diagnosis so that children can *properly* learn and grow at the pace appropriate for them","human_ref_B":"I agree with your first statement. I suppose I simply can't image there being a single way of learning and of personal growth that would be applicable for each and everyone of us. Difference is key. Otherwise one might be able to establish a rough period of time needed for each and every student for learning, for instance, Freudian psycho-analysis. Perhaps we can calculate a rough time frame for getting the basics across, but which aspects of those fundamentals will be acquired by each student varies and therefore, again, implies difference. Regarding the second statement: I do but it perhaps depends on a variety of factors like your own expectations, *which* academia it is we are talking about (academic practices vary from field to field and country to country) or your socio-economic background. Just take this last point as an example: Being more flexible when it comes to time management is crucial for being able to learn and grow \"at your own pace\". Students from wealthy backgrounds or at university programs which pay scholarships and such are therefore at a great advantage over students from trickier circumstances. Now imagine you're doing an undergraduate program without any type of scholarship while having a kid, while needing to work, without having a family that helps you out, etc. I believe in most cases academia isn't able and\/or willing to permit those people the flexibility that \"studying and growing at your own pace\" would require. It is, after all, a system put in place in very concrete socio-cultural and historic contexts. It goes without saying that academia is not only about learning and growing. One might even argue that those aspects were never a fundamental part of what academia constitutes. There are hierarchies, expectations, external influences from politics, from the economy, even religion, etc.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1626.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"nivvyz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Do you agree with the sentiment that \u201cevery student learns and grows at their own pace\u201d? And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development?","c_root_id_A":"gz4ly40","c_root_id_B":"gz4kv7o","created_at_utc_A":1621742381,"created_at_utc_B":1621741625,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I agree with your first statement. I suppose I simply can't image there being a single way of learning and of personal growth that would be applicable for each and everyone of us. Difference is key. Otherwise one might be able to establish a rough period of time needed for each and every student for learning, for instance, Freudian psycho-analysis. Perhaps we can calculate a rough time frame for getting the basics across, but which aspects of those fundamentals will be acquired by each student varies and therefore, again, implies difference. Regarding the second statement: I do but it perhaps depends on a variety of factors like your own expectations, *which* academia it is we are talking about (academic practices vary from field to field and country to country) or your socio-economic background. Just take this last point as an example: Being more flexible when it comes to time management is crucial for being able to learn and grow \"at your own pace\". Students from wealthy backgrounds or at university programs which pay scholarships and such are therefore at a great advantage over students from trickier circumstances. Now imagine you're doing an undergraduate program without any type of scholarship while having a kid, while needing to work, without having a family that helps you out, etc. I believe in most cases academia isn't able and\/or willing to permit those people the flexibility that \"studying and growing at your own pace\" would require. It is, after all, a system put in place in very concrete socio-cultural and historic contexts. It goes without saying that academia is not only about learning and growing. One might even argue that those aspects were never a fundamental part of what academia constitutes. There are hierarchies, expectations, external influences from politics, from the economy, even religion, etc.","human_ref_B":"This is part of why I\u2019m experimenting with competency based education next semester for my gen ed class. I\u2019ll have my lectures like usual but they\u2019ll be recorded and students will be allowed to work at their pace. As long as everything is completed by the end of the semester they\u2019re good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":756.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikp0vl1","c_root_id_B":"ikof9ti","created_at_utc_A":1660763340,"created_at_utc_B":1660755245,"score_A":75,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"Hey thanks for sharing with the community. I tried it out a bit and I'm a bit disappointed with the results. It seems to be able to pick on general themes in my questions, but doesn't offer specific answers. Sometimes it merely quotes authors stating that the topic of the question is an important one. Other times, alarmingly, it quotes the author as saying the exact opposite of their conclusion because it has taken a phrase from the introduction or conclusion sections completely out of context. YIKES! I am concerned that you do not have any warnings or clear instructions on how to interpret what the search engine returns. If your target audience is laypeople, you are setting up a dangerous situation without proper guardrails.","human_ref_B":"What advantages does your product offer compared to Google Scholar, ConnectedPapers, or Research Rabbit?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8095.0,"score_ratio":2.4193548387} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikp0vl1","c_root_id_B":"ikotyy3","created_at_utc_A":1660763340,"created_at_utc_B":1660760756,"score_A":75,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Hey thanks for sharing with the community. I tried it out a bit and I'm a bit disappointed with the results. It seems to be able to pick on general themes in my questions, but doesn't offer specific answers. Sometimes it merely quotes authors stating that the topic of the question is an important one. Other times, alarmingly, it quotes the author as saying the exact opposite of their conclusion because it has taken a phrase from the introduction or conclusion sections completely out of context. YIKES! I am concerned that you do not have any warnings or clear instructions on how to interpret what the search engine returns. If your target audience is laypeople, you are setting up a dangerous situation without proper guardrails.","human_ref_B":"how does it deal with qualitative scientific research?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2584.0,"score_ratio":5.3571428571} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikp0vl1","c_root_id_B":"ikoxr7g","created_at_utc_A":1660763340,"created_at_utc_B":1660762170,"score_A":75,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Hey thanks for sharing with the community. I tried it out a bit and I'm a bit disappointed with the results. It seems to be able to pick on general themes in my questions, but doesn't offer specific answers. Sometimes it merely quotes authors stating that the topic of the question is an important one. Other times, alarmingly, it quotes the author as saying the exact opposite of their conclusion because it has taken a phrase from the introduction or conclusion sections completely out of context. YIKES! I am concerned that you do not have any warnings or clear instructions on how to interpret what the search engine returns. If your target audience is laypeople, you are setting up a dangerous situation without proper guardrails.","human_ref_B":"Will this give me findings from journals i may not normally have access to? Since this is academia is this going to be open sourced or made available to researchers at no \/ low cost? Sounds like it will certainly help w my thesis","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1170.0,"score_ratio":9.375} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikotm92","c_root_id_B":"ikp0vl1","created_at_utc_A":1660760625,"created_at_utc_B":1660763340,"score_A":6,"score_B":75,"human_ref_A":"What databases do you scan for the papers? Crossref? Scopus? WoS? I got in, signed up for an account. Nicely done with the search engine! I tried a query and am impressed with the range of results. Will I be able to sort the results by #citations, or by date or by first author\u2019s last name?","human_ref_B":"Hey thanks for sharing with the community. I tried it out a bit and I'm a bit disappointed with the results. It seems to be able to pick on general themes in my questions, but doesn't offer specific answers. Sometimes it merely quotes authors stating that the topic of the question is an important one. Other times, alarmingly, it quotes the author as saying the exact opposite of their conclusion because it has taken a phrase from the introduction or conclusion sections completely out of context. YIKES! I am concerned that you do not have any warnings or clear instructions on how to interpret what the search engine returns. If your target audience is laypeople, you are setting up a dangerous situation without proper guardrails.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2715.0,"score_ratio":12.5} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikov0n9","c_root_id_B":"ikp0vl1","created_at_utc_A":1660761147,"created_at_utc_B":1660763340,"score_A":3,"score_B":75,"human_ref_A":"Oooo I can\u2019t wait to try this","human_ref_B":"Hey thanks for sharing with the community. I tried it out a bit and I'm a bit disappointed with the results. It seems to be able to pick on general themes in my questions, but doesn't offer specific answers. Sometimes it merely quotes authors stating that the topic of the question is an important one. Other times, alarmingly, it quotes the author as saying the exact opposite of their conclusion because it has taken a phrase from the introduction or conclusion sections completely out of context. YIKES! I am concerned that you do not have any warnings or clear instructions on how to interpret what the search engine returns. If your target audience is laypeople, you are setting up a dangerous situation without proper guardrails.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2193.0,"score_ratio":25.0} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikotyy3","c_root_id_B":"ikotm92","created_at_utc_A":1660760756,"created_at_utc_B":1660760625,"score_A":14,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"how does it deal with qualitative scientific research?","human_ref_B":"What databases do you scan for the papers? Crossref? Scopus? WoS? I got in, signed up for an account. Nicely done with the search engine! I tried a query and am impressed with the range of results. Will I be able to sort the results by #citations, or by date or by first author\u2019s last name?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":131.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikoxr7g","c_root_id_B":"ikotm92","created_at_utc_A":1660762170,"created_at_utc_B":1660760625,"score_A":8,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Will this give me findings from journals i may not normally have access to? Since this is academia is this going to be open sourced or made available to researchers at no \/ low cost? Sounds like it will certainly help w my thesis","human_ref_B":"What databases do you scan for the papers? Crossref? Scopus? WoS? I got in, signed up for an account. Nicely done with the search engine! I tried a query and am impressed with the range of results. Will I be able to sort the results by #citations, or by date or by first author\u2019s last name?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1545.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikoxr7g","c_root_id_B":"ikov0n9","created_at_utc_A":1660762170,"created_at_utc_B":1660761147,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Will this give me findings from journals i may not normally have access to? Since this is academia is this going to be open sourced or made available to researchers at no \/ low cost? Sounds like it will certainly help w my thesis","human_ref_B":"Oooo I can\u2019t wait to try this","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1023.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikov0n9","c_root_id_B":"ikprugw","created_at_utc_A":1660761147,"created_at_utc_B":1660773486,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Oooo I can\u2019t wait to try this","human_ref_B":"I just checked two searches, and I was a bit surprised at how few reviews were in the results. For a more general search, I would think that one or a few good reviews from the field are more useful and relevant than specific studies that are much narrower. Another thing is that it doesn't seem to take into account the popularity (i.e. citations) of an article in search results. While there are some arguments against raking based on popularity, many of the low citation papers are either more niche or outside the, well, consensus of activity and research in that field.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12339.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikr84dh","c_root_id_B":"ikq90lv","created_at_utc_A":1660797309,"created_at_utc_B":1660780716,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Very neat! This seems a lot like Elicit which is also an AI search engine for research questions. Elicit is very much under development too, but how is Consensus different?","human_ref_B":"I don't mean to hijack the thread, but have you considered trying to utilize this as a Knowledge Management tool for industry? My employer probably won't ever use anything like it because they're crazy about their IP and we do defense work, but this could help other companies in dealing with knowledge silos and knowledge lost due to attrition.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16593.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"wqtbmk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"New search engine that find answers in academic papers Check out our new AI-powered search engine that lets you ask questions and instantly be returned answers from hundreds of millions of academic papers. Join the free beta here: Sign-up Given this a thread for asking academics questions, I hope you all might find this interesting! Here's an example query: Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Disclosure: I work for the company","c_root_id_A":"ikpzru2","c_root_id_B":"ikov0n9","created_at_utc_A":1660776716,"created_at_utc_B":1660761147,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Many of the snippets on the example search are from abstracts and describing other work. e.g. here are three (similar) lines: \"Recent research demonstrates that intergroup contact effectively reduces prejudice even among prejudice-prone persons\" - attributed to (\"Found by\") Nour Sami Kteily et al. 2019 \"Across cultures, intergroup contact\u2014interpersonal interaction with out-group members\u2014is associated with less prejudice.\" - attributed to (\"Found by\") Judit Kende et al 2018 \"Numerous studies point to the potential of intergroup contact for reducing prejudice and intergroup tension.\" - attributed to (\"Found by\") Yiftach Ron et al 2017 It seems highly inappropriate to attribute these findings to the authors\/teams listed. In fact, all three of those articles point out an issue with the claim in the following sentence. In taking data from abstracts, you're also losing bibliographic information. What numerous studies are Ron et al (2017) referring to? I'm imagining how easily a student could take this information at face value and then put something in a paper like \"Contact between groups reduces prejudice (Kende et al, 2018; Ron et al, 2017; Kteily et al, 2019).\"","human_ref_B":"Oooo I can\u2019t wait to try this","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15569.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4w2g","c_root_id_B":"ihiyxgo","created_at_utc_A":1658718101,"created_at_utc_B":1658715158,"score_A":87,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"\u201cThank you for thinking of me. This is not something I can take on right now.\u201d That\u2019s all you have to say!","human_ref_B":"No. Sorry, I'm busy at that time. And so on. The trick is to keep it lacking detail. No elaborate excuses\/stories whatever. Just say you aren't able to make it. Or can't do it. Or you have this other thing you already committed to doing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2943.0,"score_ratio":3.7826086957} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4w2g","c_root_id_B":"ihij90m","created_at_utc_A":1658718101,"created_at_utc_B":1658707724,"score_A":87,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"\u201cThank you for thinking of me. This is not something I can take on right now.\u201d That\u2019s all you have to say!","human_ref_B":"For me, reading \u2018the power of a positive no\u2019 by William Ury was absolutely life changing. You sandwich your no with statements of what you ARE committed to, deliver your no, and then state what you are committed to doing for this person. Helped me so much preserve the relationship while also feeling like I enforced my boundary","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10377.0,"score_ratio":4.1428571429} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4mm0","c_root_id_B":"ihj4w2g","created_at_utc_A":1658717968,"created_at_utc_B":1658718101,"score_A":18,"score_B":87,"human_ref_A":"I blame my department chair a lot. \u201cI would love to take that on, but my department chair would kill me if I add something else to my plate\u201d (which is true). If my chair asks me for something, we have a solid enough relationship that I could say no. But she also knows my plate pretty well and wouldn\u2019t ask in the first place if she didn\u2019t think I could handle it.","human_ref_B":"\u201cThank you for thinking of me. This is not something I can take on right now.\u201d That\u2019s all you have to say!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":133.0,"score_ratio":4.8333333333} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihity8m","c_root_id_B":"ihj4w2g","created_at_utc_A":1658712773,"created_at_utc_B":1658718101,"score_A":13,"score_B":87,"human_ref_A":"I sometimes tell them that I will put it in my queue but I have current priorities that are ahead of what they asked for and I will get to when and it if I can.","human_ref_B":"\u201cThank you for thinking of me. This is not something I can take on right now.\u201d That\u2019s all you have to say!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5328.0,"score_ratio":6.6923076923} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihixeun","c_root_id_B":"ihj4w2g","created_at_utc_A":1658714427,"created_at_utc_B":1658718101,"score_A":11,"score_B":87,"human_ref_A":"I prefer not to.","human_ref_B":"\u201cThank you for thinking of me. This is not something I can take on right now.\u201d That\u2019s all you have to say!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3674.0,"score_ratio":7.9090909091} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4w2g","c_root_id_B":"ihiv9yy","created_at_utc_A":1658718101,"created_at_utc_B":1658713400,"score_A":87,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"\u201cThank you for thinking of me. This is not something I can take on right now.\u201d That\u2019s all you have to say!","human_ref_B":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4701.0,"score_ratio":8.7} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4w2g","c_root_id_B":"ihiw919","created_at_utc_A":1658718101,"created_at_utc_B":1658713866,"score_A":87,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"\u201cThank you for thinking of me. This is not something I can take on right now.\u201d That\u2019s all you have to say!","human_ref_B":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4235.0,"score_ratio":12.4285714286} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihkifog","c_root_id_B":"ihiyxgo","created_at_utc_A":1658751931,"created_at_utc_B":1658715158,"score_A":26,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","human_ref_B":"No. Sorry, I'm busy at that time. And so on. The trick is to keep it lacking detail. No elaborate excuses\/stories whatever. Just say you aren't able to make it. Or can't do it. Or you have this other thing you already committed to doing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":36773.0,"score_ratio":1.1304347826} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihkifog","c_root_id_B":"ihij90m","created_at_utc_A":1658751931,"created_at_utc_B":1658707724,"score_A":26,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","human_ref_B":"For me, reading \u2018the power of a positive no\u2019 by William Ury was absolutely life changing. You sandwich your no with statements of what you ARE committed to, deliver your no, and then state what you are committed to doing for this person. Helped me so much preserve the relationship while also feeling like I enforced my boundary","labels":1,"seconds_difference":44207.0,"score_ratio":1.2380952381} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4mm0","c_root_id_B":"ihkifog","created_at_utc_A":1658717968,"created_at_utc_B":1658751931,"score_A":18,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"I blame my department chair a lot. \u201cI would love to take that on, but my department chair would kill me if I add something else to my plate\u201d (which is true). If my chair asks me for something, we have a solid enough relationship that I could say no. But she also knows my plate pretty well and wouldn\u2019t ask in the first place if she didn\u2019t think I could handle it.","human_ref_B":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":33963.0,"score_ratio":1.4444444444} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihkifog","c_root_id_B":"ihjpvt8","created_at_utc_A":1658751931,"created_at_utc_B":1658730902,"score_A":26,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","human_ref_B":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21029.0,"score_ratio":1.4444444444} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjvnae","c_root_id_B":"ihkifog","created_at_utc_A":1658735394,"created_at_utc_B":1658751931,"score_A":14,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","human_ref_B":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16537.0,"score_ratio":1.8571428571} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihkifog","c_root_id_B":"ihity8m","created_at_utc_A":1658751931,"created_at_utc_B":1658712773,"score_A":26,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","human_ref_B":"I sometimes tell them that I will put it in my queue but I have current priorities that are ahead of what they asked for and I will get to when and it if I can.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":39158.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihkifog","c_root_id_B":"ihixeun","created_at_utc_A":1658751931,"created_at_utc_B":1658714427,"score_A":26,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","human_ref_B":"I prefer not to.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":37504.0,"score_ratio":2.3636363636} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj6kw0","c_root_id_B":"ihkifog","created_at_utc_A":1658718968,"created_at_utc_B":1658751931,"score_A":11,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"i am a student and say no all the time. i am not cheap. my time matters.","human_ref_B":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":32963.0,"score_ratio":2.3636363636} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiv9yy","c_root_id_B":"ihkifog","created_at_utc_A":1658713400,"created_at_utc_B":1658751931,"score_A":10,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","human_ref_B":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":38531.0,"score_ratio":2.6} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjbmf4","c_root_id_B":"ihkifog","created_at_utc_A":1658721656,"created_at_utc_B":1658751931,"score_A":10,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"Aside from suggestions on how to go about actually saying no (of which there are already plenty of good options here), to address your issue of it feeling hard to worry about the impact of \"no\"s on your career - I remind myself that it looks a lot worse if I say yes, then don't deliver because I'm overcommitted - than if I just say no.","human_ref_B":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":30275.0,"score_ratio":2.6} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiw919","c_root_id_B":"ihkifog","created_at_utc_A":1658713866,"created_at_utc_B":1658751931,"score_A":7,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","human_ref_B":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":38065.0,"score_ratio":3.7142857143} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjd2o2","c_root_id_B":"ihkifog","created_at_utc_A":1658722479,"created_at_utc_B":1658751931,"score_A":6,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"After a few supervisors simply refused to accept \u201cno\u201d and then piled on abuse for saying it in the first place, I developed a sixth sense to detect it and skill to prevent the ask. It wasn\u2019t foolproof (I still had to be very direct in getting out of something that was softly slipped onto my plate anyway), but it mostly worked. Fortunately, more recent bosses have only made reasonable requests and have even refused when I\u2019ve offered to take on something that would have eventually been overwhelming.","human_ref_B":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":29452.0,"score_ratio":4.3333333333} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihkifog","c_root_id_B":"ihjcigp","created_at_utc_A":1658751931,"created_at_utc_B":1658722158,"score_A":26,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","human_ref_B":"For me is hard but in general I try to see what benefit will it have, can I get away from the commitment, what is the level of effort, etc. My honest response in some cases is that I don\u2019t have the bandwidth \u2014 and I say no.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29773.0,"score_ratio":8.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihkifog","c_root_id_B":"ihjfqeq","created_at_utc_A":1658751931,"created_at_utc_B":1658724051,"score_A":26,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I know it sounds a bit corny, but I once in a supervision told a PhD student to consider that saying 'no' to things is a way of reaffirming the 'yes' you have said to previous commitments, and I quite like the phrasing. It seems to make the no a more positive act.","human_ref_B":"\"Don't have the bandwidth\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27880.0,"score_ratio":8.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihij90m","c_root_id_B":"ihiyxgo","created_at_utc_A":1658707724,"created_at_utc_B":1658715158,"score_A":21,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"For me, reading \u2018the power of a positive no\u2019 by William Ury was absolutely life changing. You sandwich your no with statements of what you ARE committed to, deliver your no, and then state what you are committed to doing for this person. Helped me so much preserve the relationship while also feeling like I enforced my boundary","human_ref_B":"No. Sorry, I'm busy at that time. And so on. The trick is to keep it lacking detail. No elaborate excuses\/stories whatever. Just say you aren't able to make it. Or can't do it. Or you have this other thing you already committed to doing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7434.0,"score_ratio":1.0952380952} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihity8m","c_root_id_B":"ihiyxgo","created_at_utc_A":1658712773,"created_at_utc_B":1658715158,"score_A":13,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I sometimes tell them that I will put it in my queue but I have current priorities that are ahead of what they asked for and I will get to when and it if I can.","human_ref_B":"No. Sorry, I'm busy at that time. And so on. The trick is to keep it lacking detail. No elaborate excuses\/stories whatever. Just say you aren't able to make it. Or can't do it. Or you have this other thing you already committed to doing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2385.0,"score_ratio":1.7692307692} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiyxgo","c_root_id_B":"ihixeun","created_at_utc_A":1658715158,"created_at_utc_B":1658714427,"score_A":23,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"No. Sorry, I'm busy at that time. And so on. The trick is to keep it lacking detail. No elaborate excuses\/stories whatever. Just say you aren't able to make it. Or can't do it. Or you have this other thing you already committed to doing.","human_ref_B":"I prefer not to.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":731.0,"score_ratio":2.0909090909} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiv9yy","c_root_id_B":"ihiyxgo","created_at_utc_A":1658713400,"created_at_utc_B":1658715158,"score_A":10,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","human_ref_B":"No. Sorry, I'm busy at that time. And so on. The trick is to keep it lacking detail. No elaborate excuses\/stories whatever. Just say you aren't able to make it. Or can't do it. Or you have this other thing you already committed to doing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1758.0,"score_ratio":2.3} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiyxgo","c_root_id_B":"ihiw919","created_at_utc_A":1658715158,"created_at_utc_B":1658713866,"score_A":23,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"No. Sorry, I'm busy at that time. And so on. The trick is to keep it lacking detail. No elaborate excuses\/stories whatever. Just say you aren't able to make it. Or can't do it. Or you have this other thing you already committed to doing.","human_ref_B":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1292.0,"score_ratio":3.2857142857} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihity8m","c_root_id_B":"ihj4mm0","created_at_utc_A":1658712773,"created_at_utc_B":1658717968,"score_A":13,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I sometimes tell them that I will put it in my queue but I have current priorities that are ahead of what they asked for and I will get to when and it if I can.","human_ref_B":"I blame my department chair a lot. \u201cI would love to take that on, but my department chair would kill me if I add something else to my plate\u201d (which is true). If my chair asks me for something, we have a solid enough relationship that I could say no. But she also knows my plate pretty well and wouldn\u2019t ask in the first place if she didn\u2019t think I could handle it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5195.0,"score_ratio":1.3846153846} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4mm0","c_root_id_B":"ihixeun","created_at_utc_A":1658717968,"created_at_utc_B":1658714427,"score_A":18,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I blame my department chair a lot. \u201cI would love to take that on, but my department chair would kill me if I add something else to my plate\u201d (which is true). If my chair asks me for something, we have a solid enough relationship that I could say no. But she also knows my plate pretty well and wouldn\u2019t ask in the first place if she didn\u2019t think I could handle it.","human_ref_B":"I prefer not to.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3541.0,"score_ratio":1.6363636364} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiv9yy","c_root_id_B":"ihj4mm0","created_at_utc_A":1658713400,"created_at_utc_B":1658717968,"score_A":10,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","human_ref_B":"I blame my department chair a lot. \u201cI would love to take that on, but my department chair would kill me if I add something else to my plate\u201d (which is true). If my chair asks me for something, we have a solid enough relationship that I could say no. But she also knows my plate pretty well and wouldn\u2019t ask in the first place if she didn\u2019t think I could handle it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4568.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihj4mm0","c_root_id_B":"ihiw919","created_at_utc_A":1658717968,"created_at_utc_B":1658713866,"score_A":18,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I blame my department chair a lot. \u201cI would love to take that on, but my department chair would kill me if I add something else to my plate\u201d (which is true). If my chair asks me for something, we have a solid enough relationship that I could say no. But she also knows my plate pretty well and wouldn\u2019t ask in the first place if she didn\u2019t think I could handle it.","human_ref_B":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4102.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihity8m","c_root_id_B":"ihjpvt8","created_at_utc_A":1658712773,"created_at_utc_B":1658730902,"score_A":13,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I sometimes tell them that I will put it in my queue but I have current priorities that are ahead of what they asked for and I will get to when and it if I can.","human_ref_B":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18129.0,"score_ratio":1.3846153846} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihixeun","c_root_id_B":"ihjpvt8","created_at_utc_A":1658714427,"created_at_utc_B":1658730902,"score_A":11,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I prefer not to.","human_ref_B":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16475.0,"score_ratio":1.6363636364} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjpvt8","c_root_id_B":"ihj6kw0","created_at_utc_A":1658730902,"created_at_utc_B":1658718968,"score_A":18,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","human_ref_B":"i am a student and say no all the time. i am not cheap. my time matters.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11934.0,"score_ratio":1.6363636364} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiv9yy","c_root_id_B":"ihjpvt8","created_at_utc_A":1658713400,"created_at_utc_B":1658730902,"score_A":10,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","human_ref_B":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17502.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjbmf4","c_root_id_B":"ihjpvt8","created_at_utc_A":1658721656,"created_at_utc_B":1658730902,"score_A":10,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Aside from suggestions on how to go about actually saying no (of which there are already plenty of good options here), to address your issue of it feeling hard to worry about the impact of \"no\"s on your career - I remind myself that it looks a lot worse if I say yes, then don't deliver because I'm overcommitted - than if I just say no.","human_ref_B":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9246.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiw919","c_root_id_B":"ihjpvt8","created_at_utc_A":1658713866,"created_at_utc_B":1658730902,"score_A":7,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","human_ref_B":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17036.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjpvt8","c_root_id_B":"ihjd2o2","created_at_utc_A":1658730902,"created_at_utc_B":1658722479,"score_A":18,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","human_ref_B":"After a few supervisors simply refused to accept \u201cno\u201d and then piled on abuse for saying it in the first place, I developed a sixth sense to detect it and skill to prevent the ask. It wasn\u2019t foolproof (I still had to be very direct in getting out of something that was softly slipped onto my plate anyway), but it mostly worked. Fortunately, more recent bosses have only made reasonable requests and have even refused when I\u2019ve offered to take on something that would have eventually been overwhelming.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8423.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjcigp","c_root_id_B":"ihjpvt8","created_at_utc_A":1658722158,"created_at_utc_B":1658730902,"score_A":3,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"For me is hard but in general I try to see what benefit will it have, can I get away from the commitment, what is the level of effort, etc. My honest response in some cases is that I don\u2019t have the bandwidth \u2014 and I say no.","human_ref_B":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8744.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjpvt8","c_root_id_B":"ihjfqeq","created_at_utc_A":1658730902,"created_at_utc_B":1658724051,"score_A":18,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Two things clinched it for me, in terms of, no matter how I play it, I will say no: 1. Irredeemably fucking up a project because of making a software error while juggling far too many things at once and working while exhausted. Hurt a really good student who was involved too. 2. Realizing that almost always (in my case), if someone wants you to say \"yes\" to something, it means they'll profit from you and you'll lose the chance to seriously progress your own research. I found out I was only doing scientific work I found interesting and worthwhile after cutting ties\/burning bridges\/declining \"opportunities\". Point (1) does indeed mean you're human and have limitations, but that's the reality. You'll impress nobody by being an exploited fuck-up! You have to know who and what you need to keep on your side career-wise of course, sadly - there are people with far too much power and they know it. \"Lack of time due to other masters\" seems to be an excuse they seem to accept, more than their thing just not being your priority. (I also knew a guy who was a master at vagueing himself out of conversations without ever actually saying no. Hm, ah, ooh, difficult, . But never saying yes.)","human_ref_B":"\"Don't have the bandwidth\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6851.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihity8m","c_root_id_B":"ihjvnae","created_at_utc_A":1658712773,"created_at_utc_B":1658735394,"score_A":13,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I sometimes tell them that I will put it in my queue but I have current priorities that are ahead of what they asked for and I will get to when and it if I can.","human_ref_B":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22621.0,"score_ratio":1.0769230769} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjvnae","c_root_id_B":"ihixeun","created_at_utc_A":1658735394,"created_at_utc_B":1658714427,"score_A":14,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","human_ref_B":"I prefer not to.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20967.0,"score_ratio":1.2727272727} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjvnae","c_root_id_B":"ihj6kw0","created_at_utc_A":1658735394,"created_at_utc_B":1658718968,"score_A":14,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","human_ref_B":"i am a student and say no all the time. i am not cheap. my time matters.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16426.0,"score_ratio":1.2727272727} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjvnae","c_root_id_B":"ihiv9yy","created_at_utc_A":1658735394,"created_at_utc_B":1658713400,"score_A":14,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","human_ref_B":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21994.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjbmf4","c_root_id_B":"ihjvnae","created_at_utc_A":1658721656,"created_at_utc_B":1658735394,"score_A":10,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Aside from suggestions on how to go about actually saying no (of which there are already plenty of good options here), to address your issue of it feeling hard to worry about the impact of \"no\"s on your career - I remind myself that it looks a lot worse if I say yes, then don't deliver because I'm overcommitted - than if I just say no.","human_ref_B":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13738.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiw919","c_root_id_B":"ihjvnae","created_at_utc_A":1658713866,"created_at_utc_B":1658735394,"score_A":7,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","human_ref_B":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21528.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjvnae","c_root_id_B":"ihjd2o2","created_at_utc_A":1658735394,"created_at_utc_B":1658722479,"score_A":14,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","human_ref_B":"After a few supervisors simply refused to accept \u201cno\u201d and then piled on abuse for saying it in the first place, I developed a sixth sense to detect it and skill to prevent the ask. It wasn\u2019t foolproof (I still had to be very direct in getting out of something that was softly slipped onto my plate anyway), but it mostly worked. Fortunately, more recent bosses have only made reasonable requests and have even refused when I\u2019ve offered to take on something that would have eventually been overwhelming.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12915.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjvnae","c_root_id_B":"ihjcigp","created_at_utc_A":1658735394,"created_at_utc_B":1658722158,"score_A":14,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","human_ref_B":"For me is hard but in general I try to see what benefit will it have, can I get away from the commitment, what is the level of effort, etc. My honest response in some cases is that I don\u2019t have the bandwidth \u2014 and I say no.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13236.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjvnae","c_root_id_B":"ihjfqeq","created_at_utc_A":1658735394,"created_at_utc_B":1658724051,"score_A":14,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I never never explain - I also don't say \"I'll think about it\". If they persist I then move to \"I have a lot of paid work during this period - what does this pay?\" Silence.","human_ref_B":"\"Don't have the bandwidth\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11343.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiv9yy","c_root_id_B":"ihixeun","created_at_utc_A":1658713400,"created_at_utc_B":1658714427,"score_A":10,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","human_ref_B":"I prefer not to.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1027.0,"score_ratio":1.1} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiw919","c_root_id_B":"ihixeun","created_at_utc_A":1658713866,"created_at_utc_B":1658714427,"score_A":7,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","human_ref_B":"I prefer not to.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":561.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiv9yy","c_root_id_B":"ihj6kw0","created_at_utc_A":1658713400,"created_at_utc_B":1658718968,"score_A":10,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"\"I respectfully decline.\"","human_ref_B":"i am a student and say no all the time. i am not cheap. my time matters.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5568.0,"score_ratio":1.1} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiw919","c_root_id_B":"ihj6kw0","created_at_utc_A":1658713866,"created_at_utc_B":1658718968,"score_A":7,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","human_ref_B":"i am a student and say no all the time. i am not cheap. my time matters.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5102.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjbmf4","c_root_id_B":"ihiw919","created_at_utc_A":1658721656,"created_at_utc_B":1658713866,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Aside from suggestions on how to go about actually saying no (of which there are already plenty of good options here), to address your issue of it feeling hard to worry about the impact of \"no\"s on your career - I remind myself that it looks a lot worse if I say yes, then don't deliver because I'm overcommitted - than if I just say no.","human_ref_B":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7790.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihiw919","c_root_id_B":"ihlg04e","created_at_utc_A":1658713866,"created_at_utc_B":1658766387,"score_A":7,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I have a very full plate (as most of us do). If asked to do something new that's going to take significant time\/energy, I often show interest (if I legitimately feel that way) and then ask which of my other obligations they want me to put on hold while I do the new thing. I'll also usually say yes to smaller, less time-intensive and short-term items so they're not always getting a no or a qualified yes (like the above). It helps that I did say yes to a couple higher-profile priority items to the administration to fill that plate, and that they can easily see that I'm legitimately at capacity. Does it work? When our dept. chair left unexpectedly last month, I was the obvious choice to replace him. But that ask would be a hard HELL NO. When they came to me, it was to acknowledge my workload as important and to ask my advice on who they should select as the new chair. I didn't even have to say no!!","human_ref_B":"When I'm not interested - \"No, don't have time at the moment.\" When I'm interested but don't have time - \"Sounds really interesting but I'm swamped at the moment. When do you need a commit by? I might have some more time at X date.\" When I'm not asked directly - No response. This is one I see people failing at, surprisingly. Unless someone directly asks you, you do not need to respond to them. An email sent to the whole department saying we need a person to serve on X committee doesn't need a response.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":52521.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjd2o2","c_root_id_B":"ihlg04e","created_at_utc_A":1658722479,"created_at_utc_B":1658766387,"score_A":6,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"After a few supervisors simply refused to accept \u201cno\u201d and then piled on abuse for saying it in the first place, I developed a sixth sense to detect it and skill to prevent the ask. It wasn\u2019t foolproof (I still had to be very direct in getting out of something that was softly slipped onto my plate anyway), but it mostly worked. Fortunately, more recent bosses have only made reasonable requests and have even refused when I\u2019ve offered to take on something that would have eventually been overwhelming.","human_ref_B":"When I'm not interested - \"No, don't have time at the moment.\" When I'm interested but don't have time - \"Sounds really interesting but I'm swamped at the moment. When do you need a commit by? I might have some more time at X date.\" When I'm not asked directly - No response. This is one I see people failing at, surprisingly. Unless someone directly asks you, you do not need to respond to them. An email sent to the whole department saying we need a person to serve on X committee doesn't need a response.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":43908.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihlg04e","c_root_id_B":"ihku93q","created_at_utc_A":1658766387,"created_at_utc_B":1658757649,"score_A":8,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"When I'm not interested - \"No, don't have time at the moment.\" When I'm interested but don't have time - \"Sounds really interesting but I'm swamped at the moment. When do you need a commit by? I might have some more time at X date.\" When I'm not asked directly - No response. This is one I see people failing at, surprisingly. Unless someone directly asks you, you do not need to respond to them. An email sent to the whole department saying we need a person to serve on X committee doesn't need a response.","human_ref_B":"\u201cI\u2019m too busy\/overcommitted to give this the time it needs.\u201d","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8738.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjcigp","c_root_id_B":"ihlg04e","created_at_utc_A":1658722158,"created_at_utc_B":1658766387,"score_A":3,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"For me is hard but in general I try to see what benefit will it have, can I get away from the commitment, what is the level of effort, etc. My honest response in some cases is that I don\u2019t have the bandwidth \u2014 and I say no.","human_ref_B":"When I'm not interested - \"No, don't have time at the moment.\" When I'm interested but don't have time - \"Sounds really interesting but I'm swamped at the moment. When do you need a commit by? I might have some more time at X date.\" When I'm not asked directly - No response. This is one I see people failing at, surprisingly. Unless someone directly asks you, you do not need to respond to them. An email sent to the whole department saying we need a person to serve on X committee doesn't need a response.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":44229.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjfqeq","c_root_id_B":"ihlg04e","created_at_utc_A":1658724051,"created_at_utc_B":1658766387,"score_A":3,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"\"Don't have the bandwidth\"","human_ref_B":"When I'm not interested - \"No, don't have time at the moment.\" When I'm interested but don't have time - \"Sounds really interesting but I'm swamped at the moment. When do you need a commit by? I might have some more time at X date.\" When I'm not asked directly - No response. This is one I see people failing at, surprisingly. Unless someone directly asks you, you do not need to respond to them. An email sent to the whole department saying we need a person to serve on X committee doesn't need a response.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":42336.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihjcigp","c_root_id_B":"ihjd2o2","created_at_utc_A":1658722158,"created_at_utc_B":1658722479,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"For me is hard but in general I try to see what benefit will it have, can I get away from the commitment, what is the level of effort, etc. My honest response in some cases is that I don\u2019t have the bandwidth \u2014 and I say no.","human_ref_B":"After a few supervisors simply refused to accept \u201cno\u201d and then piled on abuse for saying it in the first place, I developed a sixth sense to detect it and skill to prevent the ask. It wasn\u2019t foolproof (I still had to be very direct in getting out of something that was softly slipped onto my plate anyway), but it mostly worked. Fortunately, more recent bosses have only made reasonable requests and have even refused when I\u2019ve offered to take on something that would have eventually been overwhelming.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":321.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihku93q","c_root_id_B":"ihjcigp","created_at_utc_A":1658757649,"created_at_utc_B":1658722158,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\u201cI\u2019m too busy\/overcommitted to give this the time it needs.\u201d","human_ref_B":"For me is hard but in general I try to see what benefit will it have, can I get away from the commitment, what is the level of effort, etc. My honest response in some cases is that I don\u2019t have the bandwidth \u2014 and I say no.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":35491.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihku93q","c_root_id_B":"ihjfqeq","created_at_utc_A":1658757649,"created_at_utc_B":1658724051,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\u201cI\u2019m too busy\/overcommitted to give this the time it needs.\u201d","human_ref_B":"\"Don't have the bandwidth\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":33598.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"w77hwr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How to say no in Academia? Whether you're a new graduate student, a tenture track professor, or a department chair, saying no is a necessity for survival in the academic world. ​ The fear of making a bad impression or losing the confidence of your leaders\/followers is hard to navigate, and telling others you do not have the time or bandwidth to take on more can make or break your career. ​ What are ways you have been able to establish positive boundaries and say no that you could recommend to others?","c_root_id_A":"ihmjjcg","c_root_id_B":"ihm7c7k","created_at_utc_A":1658781410,"created_at_utc_B":1658776787,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s one of the most difficult skills to learn. One way is to push it further into the future, many requests will not stick. Like \u201cI am busy with the setup of the new course until late September, why don\u2019t you get back to me by then and we see what we can do?\u201d Another one is to commit only to things that have an end date, or agree on one. So it a colleague says that we should have a joint meeting every week with their students to discuss some research idea, I may say yes but I also clarify that I am putting it in my calendar until the end of the semester. It\u2019s not even a controversial thing to state or ask, but it is good practice to avoid getting stuck in collaborations that are overall pleasant but don\u2019t lead anywhere.","human_ref_B":"How to answer your question without answering your question \ud83e\udd14 \ud83d\ude02","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4623.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"gdqomi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Does anyone else have anxiety attacks when you see a dense textbook chapter or research paper? For example yesterday I had to read and write a summary of two chapters of Janeway's Immunology and I am freaking out and can't force myself to get started. This has sometimes happened in the past, but it got so much worse","c_root_id_A":"fpj7khz","c_root_id_B":"fpja9s1","created_at_utc_A":1588658958,"created_at_utc_B":1588661435,"score_A":12,"score_B":30,"human_ref_A":"I used to do this all the time, but as my literature skills have gone up, the anxiety has subsided. But you can look at one or two pictures right? Start there and then see how much you can figure out from pictures, then \"backfill\" with the text.","human_ref_B":"Yeah. A friend of mine gave me this excellent advice: your brain is a baby, baby it. That is to say, take it one small step at a time, don't expect perfection, and just put one word in front of the other. As someone very rightly said, revisions take time. Just focus on hitting the word limit. You can fix a summary that's not up to the mark; you can't fix something if there's nothing to fix. Focus on getting *something* on the page that you can fix later. Good luck!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2477.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"gdqomi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Does anyone else have anxiety attacks when you see a dense textbook chapter or research paper? For example yesterday I had to read and write a summary of two chapters of Janeway's Immunology and I am freaking out and can't force myself to get started. This has sometimes happened in the past, but it got so much worse","c_root_id_A":"fpjhnvq","c_root_id_B":"fpj7khz","created_at_utc_A":1588668861,"created_at_utc_B":1588658958,"score_A":29,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Abstract -> figures\/tables -> conclusion -> intro\/lit review. That\u2019s my process for reading. If it\u2019s an unfamiliar article starting with the abstract figures and conclusion usually give you a good overview of what\u2019s going on. The intro is usually helpful for a broad level overview, and I save the lit review\/data sections for the end when I have a solid grasp of what\u2019s going on. This is what I\u2019ve done for all my seminars.","human_ref_B":"I used to do this all the time, but as my literature skills have gone up, the anxiety has subsided. But you can look at one or two pictures right? Start there and then see how much you can figure out from pictures, then \"backfill\" with the text.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9903.0,"score_ratio":2.4166666667} {"post_id":"gdqomi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Does anyone else have anxiety attacks when you see a dense textbook chapter or research paper? For example yesterday I had to read and write a summary of two chapters of Janeway's Immunology and I am freaking out and can't force myself to get started. This has sometimes happened in the past, but it got so much worse","c_root_id_A":"fpk1win","c_root_id_B":"fpk9at3","created_at_utc_A":1588686314,"created_at_utc_B":1588690457,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"That's me! The scary equations intimidate me as well. There are times when I have to read the same paper again and again for days.","human_ref_B":"Formal scholarly papers have built-in advantages. They are arranged in well-worn sections, discussions go where they are supposed to go and summaries are usually provided. I think that all of these things and more make reading scholarly papers easier. Harder are the ones with streams of consciousness writing prevalent in some disciplines. Historical works can be even more difficult to read.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4143.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3x0wf","c_root_id_B":"gh3uows","created_at_utc_A":1609020437,"created_at_utc_B":1609019054,"score_A":169,"score_B":125,"human_ref_A":"We weren\u2019t encouraged to \u201cgo easy\u201d but to be accommodating- which means more deadline extensions and that sort of thing. Scores in my classes ended up being pretty typical. Lots of As and Bs but also some Ds and Fs. I didn\u2019t make it easier, I just took more late assignments and allowed quizzes to be made up late.","human_ref_B":"We were definitely not encouraged to do that. This semester I gave some of the best AND worst grades I've ever given in my decade of teaching. Some students seemed to really thrive under remote learning, though I suspect these are the students who would have done really well otherwise, while others not so much...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1383.0,"score_ratio":1.352} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3x0wf","c_root_id_B":"gh3w51x","created_at_utc_A":1609020437,"created_at_utc_B":1609019911,"score_A":169,"score_B":79,"human_ref_A":"We weren\u2019t encouraged to \u201cgo easy\u201d but to be accommodating- which means more deadline extensions and that sort of thing. Scores in my classes ended up being pretty typical. Lots of As and Bs but also some Ds and Fs. I didn\u2019t make it easier, I just took more late assignments and allowed quizzes to be made up late.","human_ref_B":"I was very understanding with my grading. Especially on late submissions. And I think that was true across the department. Professors and TAs have been pretty gentle and are avoiding being punitive. I'd say while the same proportion of people have gotten As, there's more crowding at the middle level. Less people have gotten lower grades such as Cs.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":526.0,"score_ratio":2.1392405063} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3rfj5","c_root_id_B":"gh3x0wf","created_at_utc_A":1609017112,"created_at_utc_B":1609020437,"score_A":43,"score_B":169,"human_ref_A":"As a TA, I gave some very poor problem sets some very good scores.","human_ref_B":"We weren\u2019t encouraged to \u201cgo easy\u201d but to be accommodating- which means more deadline extensions and that sort of thing. Scores in my classes ended up being pretty typical. Lots of As and Bs but also some Ds and Fs. I didn\u2019t make it easier, I just took more late assignments and allowed quizzes to be made up late.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3325.0,"score_ratio":3.9302325581} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3rsnj","c_root_id_B":"gh3x0wf","created_at_utc_A":1609017327,"created_at_utc_B":1609020437,"score_A":27,"score_B":169,"human_ref_A":"I pretty much bumped everyone up an extra half grade. It's covid, might as well do what we can.","human_ref_B":"We weren\u2019t encouraged to \u201cgo easy\u201d but to be accommodating- which means more deadline extensions and that sort of thing. Scores in my classes ended up being pretty typical. Lots of As and Bs but also some Ds and Fs. I didn\u2019t make it easier, I just took more late assignments and allowed quizzes to be made up late.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3110.0,"score_ratio":6.2592592593} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3x0wf","c_root_id_B":"gh3s5rm","created_at_utc_A":1609020437,"created_at_utc_B":1609017547,"score_A":169,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"We weren\u2019t encouraged to \u201cgo easy\u201d but to be accommodating- which means more deadline extensions and that sort of thing. Scores in my classes ended up being pretty typical. Lots of As and Bs but also some Ds and Fs. I didn\u2019t make it easier, I just took more late assignments and allowed quizzes to be made up late.","human_ref_B":"Grading here hasn't changed. We have set standards that have to be met; the assessment criteria are the same.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2890.0,"score_ratio":13.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3x0wf","c_root_id_B":"gh3uest","created_at_utc_A":1609020437,"created_at_utc_B":1609018888,"score_A":169,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"We weren\u2019t encouraged to \u201cgo easy\u201d but to be accommodating- which means more deadline extensions and that sort of thing. Scores in my classes ended up being pretty typical. Lots of As and Bs but also some Ds and Fs. I didn\u2019t make it easier, I just took more late assignments and allowed quizzes to be made up late.","human_ref_B":"I did. I'm a first year composition instructor, and if students put in a legitimate effort, I gave a lot of 100s. A lot of students still didn't make it...if they had turned in anything really, I would have helped them. I wasn't interested in giving anyone a hard time this past semester - they needed to express an understanding of the material, but no, I was absolutely not interested in grading strictly at all.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1549.0,"score_ratio":16.9} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3uows","c_root_id_B":"gh3rfj5","created_at_utc_A":1609019054,"created_at_utc_B":1609017112,"score_A":125,"score_B":43,"human_ref_A":"We were definitely not encouraged to do that. This semester I gave some of the best AND worst grades I've ever given in my decade of teaching. Some students seemed to really thrive under remote learning, though I suspect these are the students who would have done really well otherwise, while others not so much...","human_ref_B":"As a TA, I gave some very poor problem sets some very good scores.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1942.0,"score_ratio":2.9069767442} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3uows","c_root_id_B":"gh3rsnj","created_at_utc_A":1609019054,"created_at_utc_B":1609017327,"score_A":125,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"We were definitely not encouraged to do that. This semester I gave some of the best AND worst grades I've ever given in my decade of teaching. Some students seemed to really thrive under remote learning, though I suspect these are the students who would have done really well otherwise, while others not so much...","human_ref_B":"I pretty much bumped everyone up an extra half grade. It's covid, might as well do what we can.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1727.0,"score_ratio":4.6296296296} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3s5rm","c_root_id_B":"gh3uows","created_at_utc_A":1609017547,"created_at_utc_B":1609019054,"score_A":13,"score_B":125,"human_ref_A":"Grading here hasn't changed. We have set standards that have to be met; the assessment criteria are the same.","human_ref_B":"We were definitely not encouraged to do that. This semester I gave some of the best AND worst grades I've ever given in my decade of teaching. Some students seemed to really thrive under remote learning, though I suspect these are the students who would have done really well otherwise, while others not so much...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1507.0,"score_ratio":9.6153846154} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3uest","c_root_id_B":"gh3uows","created_at_utc_A":1609018888,"created_at_utc_B":1609019054,"score_A":10,"score_B":125,"human_ref_A":"I did. I'm a first year composition instructor, and if students put in a legitimate effort, I gave a lot of 100s. A lot of students still didn't make it...if they had turned in anything really, I would have helped them. I wasn't interested in giving anyone a hard time this past semester - they needed to express an understanding of the material, but no, I was absolutely not interested in grading strictly at all.","human_ref_B":"We were definitely not encouraged to do that. This semester I gave some of the best AND worst grades I've ever given in my decade of teaching. Some students seemed to really thrive under remote learning, though I suspect these are the students who would have done really well otherwise, while others not so much...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":166.0,"score_ratio":12.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3w51x","c_root_id_B":"gh3rfj5","created_at_utc_A":1609019911,"created_at_utc_B":1609017112,"score_A":79,"score_B":43,"human_ref_A":"I was very understanding with my grading. Especially on late submissions. And I think that was true across the department. Professors and TAs have been pretty gentle and are avoiding being punitive. I'd say while the same proportion of people have gotten As, there's more crowding at the middle level. Less people have gotten lower grades such as Cs.","human_ref_B":"As a TA, I gave some very poor problem sets some very good scores.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2799.0,"score_ratio":1.8372093023} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3rsnj","c_root_id_B":"gh3w51x","created_at_utc_A":1609017327,"created_at_utc_B":1609019911,"score_A":27,"score_B":79,"human_ref_A":"I pretty much bumped everyone up an extra half grade. It's covid, might as well do what we can.","human_ref_B":"I was very understanding with my grading. Especially on late submissions. And I think that was true across the department. Professors and TAs have been pretty gentle and are avoiding being punitive. I'd say while the same proportion of people have gotten As, there's more crowding at the middle level. Less people have gotten lower grades such as Cs.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2584.0,"score_ratio":2.9259259259} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3w51x","c_root_id_B":"gh3s5rm","created_at_utc_A":1609019911,"created_at_utc_B":1609017547,"score_A":79,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I was very understanding with my grading. Especially on late submissions. And I think that was true across the department. Professors and TAs have been pretty gentle and are avoiding being punitive. I'd say while the same proportion of people have gotten As, there's more crowding at the middle level. Less people have gotten lower grades such as Cs.","human_ref_B":"Grading here hasn't changed. We have set standards that have to be met; the assessment criteria are the same.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2364.0,"score_ratio":6.0769230769} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3w51x","c_root_id_B":"gh3uest","created_at_utc_A":1609019911,"created_at_utc_B":1609018888,"score_A":79,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I was very understanding with my grading. Especially on late submissions. And I think that was true across the department. Professors and TAs have been pretty gentle and are avoiding being punitive. I'd say while the same proportion of people have gotten As, there's more crowding at the middle level. Less people have gotten lower grades such as Cs.","human_ref_B":"I did. I'm a first year composition instructor, and if students put in a legitimate effort, I gave a lot of 100s. A lot of students still didn't make it...if they had turned in anything really, I would have helped them. I wasn't interested in giving anyone a hard time this past semester - they needed to express an understanding of the material, but no, I was absolutely not interested in grading strictly at all.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1023.0,"score_ratio":7.9} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3xvug","c_root_id_B":"gh3rsnj","created_at_utc_A":1609020946,"created_at_utc_B":1609017327,"score_A":41,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"My grades ended up being higher because I changed my assessment for online learning - more small assignments, more use of rubrics. Just ended up skewing things higher.","human_ref_B":"I pretty much bumped everyone up an extra half grade. It's covid, might as well do what we can.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3619.0,"score_ratio":1.5185185185} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3s5rm","c_root_id_B":"gh3xvug","created_at_utc_A":1609017547,"created_at_utc_B":1609020946,"score_A":13,"score_B":41,"human_ref_A":"Grading here hasn't changed. We have set standards that have to be met; the assessment criteria are the same.","human_ref_B":"My grades ended up being higher because I changed my assessment for online learning - more small assignments, more use of rubrics. Just ended up skewing things higher.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3399.0,"score_ratio":3.1538461538} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3uest","c_root_id_B":"gh3xvug","created_at_utc_A":1609018888,"created_at_utc_B":1609020946,"score_A":10,"score_B":41,"human_ref_A":"I did. I'm a first year composition instructor, and if students put in a legitimate effort, I gave a lot of 100s. A lot of students still didn't make it...if they had turned in anything really, I would have helped them. I wasn't interested in giving anyone a hard time this past semester - they needed to express an understanding of the material, but no, I was absolutely not interested in grading strictly at all.","human_ref_B":"My grades ended up being higher because I changed my assessment for online learning - more small assignments, more use of rubrics. Just ended up skewing things higher.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2058.0,"score_ratio":4.1} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3s5rm","c_root_id_B":"gh4482l","created_at_utc_A":1609017547,"created_at_utc_B":1609024686,"score_A":13,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"Grading here hasn't changed. We have set standards that have to be met; the assessment criteria are the same.","human_ref_B":"I was very generous with my rounding","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7139.0,"score_ratio":1.7692307692} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3uest","c_root_id_B":"gh4482l","created_at_utc_A":1609018888,"created_at_utc_B":1609024686,"score_A":10,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I did. I'm a first year composition instructor, and if students put in a legitimate effort, I gave a lot of 100s. A lot of students still didn't make it...if they had turned in anything really, I would have helped them. I wasn't interested in giving anyone a hard time this past semester - they needed to express an understanding of the material, but no, I was absolutely not interested in grading strictly at all.","human_ref_B":"I was very generous with my rounding","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5798.0,"score_ratio":2.3} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh40b1m","c_root_id_B":"gh4482l","created_at_utc_A":1609022377,"created_at_utc_B":1609024686,"score_A":7,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"Not so much easy, but I was definitely much more forgiving and more lenient when it came to extensions","human_ref_B":"I was very generous with my rounding","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2309.0,"score_ratio":3.2857142857} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4482l","c_root_id_B":"gh43k0e","created_at_utc_A":1609024686,"created_at_utc_B":1609024297,"score_A":23,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I was very generous with my rounding","human_ref_B":"I didn't go easier on the grading (nor could I... I teach in a discipline where there are very commonly grade distribution rules), but I was more lenient about extensions and accommodations. I also simplified the content a bit.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":389.0,"score_ratio":3.8333333333} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh4482l","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609024686,"score_A":2,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"I was very generous with my rounding","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3536.0,"score_ratio":11.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43se0","c_root_id_B":"gh4482l","created_at_utc_A":1609024431,"created_at_utc_B":1609024686,"score_A":2,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","human_ref_B":"I was very generous with my rounding","labels":0,"seconds_difference":255.0,"score_ratio":11.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh44mjb","c_root_id_B":"gh3s5rm","created_at_utc_A":1609024925,"created_at_utc_B":1609017547,"score_A":17,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I wouldn't overthink it. Take the As and run with it.","human_ref_B":"Grading here hasn't changed. We have set standards that have to be met; the assessment criteria are the same.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7378.0,"score_ratio":1.3076923077} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh44mjb","c_root_id_B":"gh3uest","created_at_utc_A":1609024925,"created_at_utc_B":1609018888,"score_A":17,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I wouldn't overthink it. Take the As and run with it.","human_ref_B":"I did. I'm a first year composition instructor, and if students put in a legitimate effort, I gave a lot of 100s. A lot of students still didn't make it...if they had turned in anything really, I would have helped them. I wasn't interested in giving anyone a hard time this past semester - they needed to express an understanding of the material, but no, I was absolutely not interested in grading strictly at all.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6037.0,"score_ratio":1.7} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh44mjb","c_root_id_B":"gh40b1m","created_at_utc_A":1609024925,"created_at_utc_B":1609022377,"score_A":17,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I wouldn't overthink it. Take the As and run with it.","human_ref_B":"Not so much easy, but I was definitely much more forgiving and more lenient when it came to extensions","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2548.0,"score_ratio":2.4285714286} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh44mjb","c_root_id_B":"gh43k0e","created_at_utc_A":1609024925,"created_at_utc_B":1609024297,"score_A":17,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I wouldn't overthink it. Take the As and run with it.","human_ref_B":"I didn't go easier on the grading (nor could I... I teach in a discipline where there are very commonly grade distribution rules), but I was more lenient about extensions and accommodations. I also simplified the content a bit.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":628.0,"score_ratio":2.8333333333} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh44mjb","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609024925,"score_A":2,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"I wouldn't overthink it. Take the As and run with it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3775.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh44mjb","c_root_id_B":"gh43se0","created_at_utc_A":1609024925,"created_at_utc_B":1609024431,"score_A":17,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I wouldn't overthink it. Take the As and run with it.","human_ref_B":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":494.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4kzf9","c_root_id_B":"gh3uest","created_at_utc_A":1609034650,"created_at_utc_B":1609018888,"score_A":12,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","human_ref_B":"I did. I'm a first year composition instructor, and if students put in a legitimate effort, I gave a lot of 100s. A lot of students still didn't make it...if they had turned in anything really, I would have helped them. I wasn't interested in giving anyone a hard time this past semester - they needed to express an understanding of the material, but no, I was absolutely not interested in grading strictly at all.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15762.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh40b1m","c_root_id_B":"gh4kzf9","created_at_utc_A":1609022377,"created_at_utc_B":1609034650,"score_A":7,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Not so much easy, but I was definitely much more forgiving and more lenient when it came to extensions","human_ref_B":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12273.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4kzf9","c_root_id_B":"gh44szs","created_at_utc_A":1609034650,"created_at_utc_B":1609025029,"score_A":12,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","human_ref_B":"I grade according to a pre-written mark scheme (computer science), so no scope for going easier or harder - if you did the thing you get the marks!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9621.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4ajtn","c_root_id_B":"gh4kzf9","created_at_utc_A":1609028377,"created_at_utc_B":1609034650,"score_A":6,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I can confirm that at I received explicit instructions to go easy on students","human_ref_B":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6273.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43k0e","c_root_id_B":"gh4kzf9","created_at_utc_A":1609024297,"created_at_utc_B":1609034650,"score_A":6,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I didn't go easier on the grading (nor could I... I teach in a discipline where there are very commonly grade distribution rules), but I was more lenient about extensions and accommodations. I also simplified the content a bit.","human_ref_B":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10353.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4a42u","c_root_id_B":"gh4kzf9","created_at_utc_A":1609028119,"created_at_utc_B":1609034650,"score_A":3,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I didn\u2019t go easier with my grading, but as some others pointed out, many instructors (including myself) were more lenient with deadlines. You mention having social anxiety, so perhaps you have found that you thrive in an online learning environment.","human_ref_B":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6531.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4kzf9","c_root_id_B":"gh46fxg","created_at_utc_A":1609034650,"created_at_utc_B":1609025978,"score_A":12,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","human_ref_B":"In lab-based classes that didn\u2019t fully work online, I was very generous. If it was a class that withstood the weird hybrid thing we did, I didn\u2019t change a thing about grading.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8672.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh4kzf9","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609034650,"score_A":2,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13500.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43se0","c_root_id_B":"gh4kzf9","created_at_utc_A":1609024431,"created_at_utc_B":1609034650,"score_A":2,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","human_ref_B":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10219.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4kzf9","c_root_id_B":"gh49exa","created_at_utc_A":1609034650,"created_at_utc_B":1609027709,"score_A":12,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","human_ref_B":"As a TA, unless someone didn\u2019t turn something in, the lowest grade they could get on any assignment was a C, yet there were still a handful of students who failed (mainly because they didn\u2019t turn anything in for half of the semester). The class average was an 80%. This was for a History GenEd course, for context.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6941.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4dp00","c_root_id_B":"gh4kzf9","created_at_utc_A":1609030225,"created_at_utc_B":1609034650,"score_A":2,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Anecdotally, some of my classes were easier than usual and some were harder. \u201cLab\u201d classes definetely were harder imo whereas lecture based classes were easier. Professors seemed more generous with deadlines and I found recorded lectures to be really helpful for studying.","human_ref_B":"Every professor I know, which includes myself, found it very hard to stick to deadlines this year. As a result, I found it pretty easy to be lenient about deadlines for others. I also found it very hard to concentrate at various times in this chaotic, stressful year, so I am more than happy to cut everyone else a little slack especially at those times.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4425.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh40b1m","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609022377,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"Not so much easy, but I was definitely much more forgiving and more lenient when it came to extensions","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1227.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh44szs","c_root_id_B":"gh5b0yn","created_at_utc_A":1609025029,"created_at_utc_B":1609048783,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I grade according to a pre-written mark scheme (computer science), so no scope for going easier or harder - if you did the thing you get the marks!","human_ref_B":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23754.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh44szs","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609025029,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"I grade according to a pre-written mark scheme (computer science), so no scope for going easier or harder - if you did the thing you get the marks!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3879.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43se0","c_root_id_B":"gh44szs","created_at_utc_A":1609024431,"created_at_utc_B":1609025029,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","human_ref_B":"I grade according to a pre-written mark scheme (computer science), so no scope for going easier or harder - if you did the thing you get the marks!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":598.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4ajtn","c_root_id_B":"gh5b0yn","created_at_utc_A":1609028377,"created_at_utc_B":1609048783,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I can confirm that at I received explicit instructions to go easy on students","human_ref_B":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":20406.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43k0e","c_root_id_B":"gh5b0yn","created_at_utc_A":1609024297,"created_at_utc_B":1609048783,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I didn't go easier on the grading (nor could I... I teach in a discipline where there are very commonly grade distribution rules), but I was more lenient about extensions and accommodations. I also simplified the content a bit.","human_ref_B":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":24486.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh5b0yn","c_root_id_B":"gh4l6r7","created_at_utc_A":1609048783,"created_at_utc_B":1609034774,"score_A":7,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","human_ref_B":"Oh no, schools still have standards to keep. They just requested more accommodations to make up for the forced adjustment learning environment. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing school from home, it\u2019s not SO impossible to have normal expectations from online school too, with appropriate adjustments. I\u2019m at a big research university in Canada though.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14009.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4a42u","c_root_id_B":"gh5b0yn","created_at_utc_A":1609028119,"created_at_utc_B":1609048783,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I didn\u2019t go easier with my grading, but as some others pointed out, many instructors (including myself) were more lenient with deadlines. You mention having social anxiety, so perhaps you have found that you thrive in an online learning environment.","human_ref_B":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":20664.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh5b0yn","c_root_id_B":"gh46fxg","created_at_utc_A":1609048783,"created_at_utc_B":1609025978,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","human_ref_B":"In lab-based classes that didn\u2019t fully work online, I was very generous. If it was a class that withstood the weird hybrid thing we did, I didn\u2019t change a thing about grading.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22805.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh5b0yn","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609048783,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27633.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43se0","c_root_id_B":"gh5b0yn","created_at_utc_A":1609024431,"created_at_utc_B":1609048783,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","human_ref_B":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":24352.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh5b0yn","c_root_id_B":"gh49exa","created_at_utc_A":1609048783,"created_at_utc_B":1609027709,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","human_ref_B":"As a TA, unless someone didn\u2019t turn something in, the lowest grade they could get on any assignment was a C, yet there were still a handful of students who failed (mainly because they didn\u2019t turn anything in for half of the semester). The class average was an 80%. This was for a History GenEd course, for context.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21074.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh5b0yn","c_root_id_B":"gh4dp00","created_at_utc_A":1609048783,"created_at_utc_B":1609030225,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","human_ref_B":"Anecdotally, some of my classes were easier than usual and some were harder. \u201cLab\u201d classes definetely were harder imo whereas lecture based classes were easier. Professors seemed more generous with deadlines and I found recorded lectures to be really helpful for studying.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18558.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh5b0yn","c_root_id_B":"gh56hz3","created_at_utc_A":1609048783,"created_at_utc_B":1609046482,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I definitely did but that shouldn\u2019t take away from your accomplishment! Way to go! All As is great in any condition. Live it up and get back in there in the Spring and do it again. And in case no one else ever tells you, I\u2019m proud of you.","human_ref_B":"Not at my uni. We were encouraged to be patient and to work with anyone facing unusual situations, but we were explicitly told not to lower standards.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2301.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4a42u","c_root_id_B":"gh4ajtn","created_at_utc_A":1609028119,"created_at_utc_B":1609028377,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I didn\u2019t go easier with my grading, but as some others pointed out, many instructors (including myself) were more lenient with deadlines. You mention having social anxiety, so perhaps you have found that you thrive in an online learning environment.","human_ref_B":"I can confirm that at I received explicit instructions to go easy on students","labels":0,"seconds_difference":258.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4ajtn","c_root_id_B":"gh46fxg","created_at_utc_A":1609028377,"created_at_utc_B":1609025978,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I can confirm that at I received explicit instructions to go easy on students","human_ref_B":"In lab-based classes that didn\u2019t fully work online, I was very generous. If it was a class that withstood the weird hybrid thing we did, I didn\u2019t change a thing about grading.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2399.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh4ajtn","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609028377,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"I can confirm that at I received explicit instructions to go easy on students","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7227.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43se0","c_root_id_B":"gh4ajtn","created_at_utc_A":1609024431,"created_at_utc_B":1609028377,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","human_ref_B":"I can confirm that at I received explicit instructions to go easy on students","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3946.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh49exa","c_root_id_B":"gh4ajtn","created_at_utc_A":1609027709,"created_at_utc_B":1609028377,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"As a TA, unless someone didn\u2019t turn something in, the lowest grade they could get on any assignment was a C, yet there were still a handful of students who failed (mainly because they didn\u2019t turn anything in for half of the semester). The class average was an 80%. This was for a History GenEd course, for context.","human_ref_B":"I can confirm that at I received explicit instructions to go easy on students","labels":0,"seconds_difference":668.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43k0e","c_root_id_B":"gh3y8gy","created_at_utc_A":1609024297,"created_at_utc_B":1609021150,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I didn't go easier on the grading (nor could I... I teach in a discipline where there are very commonly grade distribution rules), but I was more lenient about extensions and accommodations. I also simplified the content a bit.","human_ref_B":"Yes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3147.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4a42u","c_root_id_B":"gh4l6r7","created_at_utc_A":1609028119,"created_at_utc_B":1609034774,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I didn\u2019t go easier with my grading, but as some others pointed out, many instructors (including myself) were more lenient with deadlines. You mention having social anxiety, so perhaps you have found that you thrive in an online learning environment.","human_ref_B":"Oh no, schools still have standards to keep. They just requested more accommodations to make up for the forced adjustment learning environment. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing school from home, it\u2019s not SO impossible to have normal expectations from online school too, with appropriate adjustments. I\u2019m at a big research university in Canada though.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6655.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4l6r7","c_root_id_B":"gh46fxg","created_at_utc_A":1609034774,"created_at_utc_B":1609025978,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Oh no, schools still have standards to keep. They just requested more accommodations to make up for the forced adjustment learning environment. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing school from home, it\u2019s not SO impossible to have normal expectations from online school too, with appropriate adjustments. I\u2019m at a big research university in Canada though.","human_ref_B":"In lab-based classes that didn\u2019t fully work online, I was very generous. If it was a class that withstood the weird hybrid thing we did, I didn\u2019t change a thing about grading.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8796.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh4l6r7","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609034774,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"Oh no, schools still have standards to keep. They just requested more accommodations to make up for the forced adjustment learning environment. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing school from home, it\u2019s not SO impossible to have normal expectations from online school too, with appropriate adjustments. I\u2019m at a big research university in Canada though.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13624.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh43se0","c_root_id_B":"gh4l6r7","created_at_utc_A":1609024431,"created_at_utc_B":1609034774,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","human_ref_B":"Oh no, schools still have standards to keep. They just requested more accommodations to make up for the forced adjustment learning environment. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing school from home, it\u2019s not SO impossible to have normal expectations from online school too, with appropriate adjustments. I\u2019m at a big research university in Canada though.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10343.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh49exa","c_root_id_B":"gh4l6r7","created_at_utc_A":1609027709,"created_at_utc_B":1609034774,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"As a TA, unless someone didn\u2019t turn something in, the lowest grade they could get on any assignment was a C, yet there were still a handful of students who failed (mainly because they didn\u2019t turn anything in for half of the semester). The class average was an 80%. This was for a History GenEd course, for context.","human_ref_B":"Oh no, schools still have standards to keep. They just requested more accommodations to make up for the forced adjustment learning environment. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing school from home, it\u2019s not SO impossible to have normal expectations from online school too, with appropriate adjustments. I\u2019m at a big research university in Canada though.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7065.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4dp00","c_root_id_B":"gh4l6r7","created_at_utc_A":1609030225,"created_at_utc_B":1609034774,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Anecdotally, some of my classes were easier than usual and some were harder. \u201cLab\u201d classes definetely were harder imo whereas lecture based classes were easier. Professors seemed more generous with deadlines and I found recorded lectures to be really helpful for studying.","human_ref_B":"Oh no, schools still have standards to keep. They just requested more accommodations to make up for the forced adjustment learning environment. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing school from home, it\u2019s not SO impossible to have normal expectations from online school too, with appropriate adjustments. I\u2019m at a big research university in Canada though.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4549.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4a42u","c_root_id_B":"gh3y8gy","created_at_utc_A":1609028119,"created_at_utc_B":1609021150,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I didn\u2019t go easier with my grading, but as some others pointed out, many instructors (including myself) were more lenient with deadlines. You mention having social anxiety, so perhaps you have found that you thrive in an online learning environment.","human_ref_B":"Yes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6969.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh4a42u","c_root_id_B":"gh43se0","created_at_utc_A":1609028119,"created_at_utc_B":1609024431,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I didn\u2019t go easier with my grading, but as some others pointed out, many instructors (including myself) were more lenient with deadlines. You mention having social anxiety, so perhaps you have found that you thrive in an online learning environment.","human_ref_B":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3688.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh49exa","c_root_id_B":"gh4a42u","created_at_utc_A":1609027709,"created_at_utc_B":1609028119,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"As a TA, unless someone didn\u2019t turn something in, the lowest grade they could get on any assignment was a C, yet there were still a handful of students who failed (mainly because they didn\u2019t turn anything in for half of the semester). The class average was an 80%. This was for a History GenEd course, for context.","human_ref_B":"I didn\u2019t go easier with my grading, but as some others pointed out, many instructors (including myself) were more lenient with deadlines. You mention having social anxiety, so perhaps you have found that you thrive in an online learning environment.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":410.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh3y8gy","c_root_id_B":"gh46fxg","created_at_utc_A":1609021150,"created_at_utc_B":1609025978,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"In lab-based classes that didn\u2019t fully work online, I was very generous. If it was a class that withstood the weird hybrid thing we did, I didn\u2019t change a thing about grading.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4828.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kkq09m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Did any Professors go easy on the grades this semester? I am a literature major in my last year at a University in CA. Due to virus, campus closed and everything moved online. I have social anxiety, so I was ecstatic to switch to remote learning. I attended zoom class from the beach, for christ\u2019s sake. This semester, I got the highest grades of my life, period. Straight As, and I am typically a poor student (am also a first generation college student, so not a lot of support or motivation). I worked hard this semester, but I expected maybe a B average. Is there any chance that our professors were encouraged to go easy on the grades this semester (due to covid)?","c_root_id_A":"gh46fxg","c_root_id_B":"gh43se0","created_at_utc_A":1609025978,"created_at_utc_B":1609024431,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In lab-based classes that didn\u2019t fully work online, I was very generous. If it was a class that withstood the weird hybrid thing we did, I didn\u2019t change a thing about grading.","human_ref_B":"My expectations and grading were all exactly the same \u2014 this semester students were actively choosing to be remote (versus last semester where it got switched mid semester)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1547.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyme6r","c_root_id_B":"ebyl5je","created_at_utc_A":1545023463,"created_at_utc_B":1545022079,"score_A":26,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"You haven't even started grad school yet... don't give up on academia this easily! The level of elitism you encounter will vary widely between institutions and departments. Try to get a sense of that when you visit places! My department has a very low level of elitism and is extremely intellectually fulfilling for me. Also, and maybe this doesn't mean much to you, but we have plenty of minorities similar to you and nobody cares! Everyone is welcome as long as you are enthusiastically participating in the department (which you probably are or else you wouldn't be accepted!).","human_ref_B":"\"I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia.\" Agreed. Politics seem to infect everything, though, so anything you get in academia, you'll get in a whole lot of other fields. You'll find some like-minded people in academia - hang out with them. Take time to take care of yourself, work hard, keep your head down and don't piss off big-name people, and you'll more or less escape a lot of the fire they give to people who complain.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1384.0,"score_ratio":2.1666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyme6r","c_root_id_B":"ebyksqo","created_at_utc_A":1545023463,"created_at_utc_B":1545021709,"score_A":26,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"You haven't even started grad school yet... don't give up on academia this easily! The level of elitism you encounter will vary widely between institutions and departments. Try to get a sense of that when you visit places! My department has a very low level of elitism and is extremely intellectually fulfilling for me. Also, and maybe this doesn't mean much to you, but we have plenty of minorities similar to you and nobody cares! Everyone is welcome as long as you are enthusiastically participating in the department (which you probably are or else you wouldn't be accepted!).","human_ref_B":"There will always be parts of your chosen career that you hate, but you get to choose what bullshit you have to deal with. Assuming you stay in academia, which you definitely do not have to do as there are plenty of opportunities in industry, you will hopefully love research and mentorship more than you hate academic BS. You can also choose to go to institutions where the BS isn't as palpable. That may mean taking jobs at lower-prestige places but if it's important to you then it's worth it. Good luck!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1754.0,"score_ratio":4.3333333333} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyl5je","c_root_id_B":"ebyw1pn","created_at_utc_A":1545022079,"created_at_utc_B":1545038134,"score_A":12,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"\"I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia.\" Agreed. Politics seem to infect everything, though, so anything you get in academia, you'll get in a whole lot of other fields. You'll find some like-minded people in academia - hang out with them. Take time to take care of yourself, work hard, keep your head down and don't piss off big-name people, and you'll more or less escape a lot of the fire they give to people who complain.","human_ref_B":"The central element of academia isn't learning; it's producing knowledge. Maybe you can still fulfill your intellectual goals without grad school, if you're mainly interested in your own self study?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16055.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyksqo","c_root_id_B":"ebyw1pn","created_at_utc_A":1545021709,"created_at_utc_B":1545038134,"score_A":6,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"There will always be parts of your chosen career that you hate, but you get to choose what bullshit you have to deal with. Assuming you stay in academia, which you definitely do not have to do as there are plenty of opportunities in industry, you will hopefully love research and mentorship more than you hate academic BS. You can also choose to go to institutions where the BS isn't as palpable. That may mean taking jobs at lower-prestige places but if it's important to you then it's worth it. Good luck!","human_ref_B":"The central element of academia isn't learning; it's producing knowledge. Maybe you can still fulfill your intellectual goals without grad school, if you're mainly interested in your own self study?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16425.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyw1pn","c_root_id_B":"ebysq0w","created_at_utc_A":1545038134,"created_at_utc_B":1545032185,"score_A":22,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The central element of academia isn't learning; it's producing knowledge. Maybe you can still fulfill your intellectual goals without grad school, if you're mainly interested in your own self study?","human_ref_B":"depends on your luck.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5949.0,"score_ratio":7.3333333333} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyl5je","c_root_id_B":"ebyksqo","created_at_utc_A":1545022079,"created_at_utc_B":1545021709,"score_A":12,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"\"I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia.\" Agreed. Politics seem to infect everything, though, so anything you get in academia, you'll get in a whole lot of other fields. You'll find some like-minded people in academia - hang out with them. Take time to take care of yourself, work hard, keep your head down and don't piss off big-name people, and you'll more or less escape a lot of the fire they give to people who complain.","human_ref_B":"There will always be parts of your chosen career that you hate, but you get to choose what bullshit you have to deal with. Assuming you stay in academia, which you definitely do not have to do as there are plenty of opportunities in industry, you will hopefully love research and mentorship more than you hate academic BS. You can also choose to go to institutions where the BS isn't as palpable. That may mean taking jobs at lower-prestige places but if it's important to you then it's worth it. Good luck!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":370.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebywrns","c_root_id_B":"ebyxuys","created_at_utc_A":1545039564,"created_at_utc_B":1545041772,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I've seen students get fired because of politics - someone was power tripping, credit-grabbing, it varies, and it happens. In some parts of the world, you have no \"worker's\" rights as a grad student. Get someone pissed off and you're out the next day. Just keep that in mind. I'm a second-generation college graduate, I rely completely on my scholarship, I'm female, foreigner from the third world. Getting kicked out is practically a death sentence for me so I'm forced to keep my head low, work, and agree to everyone because I have no choice. That's how I reconcile with it. I do love my job, tho.","human_ref_B":"It all depends on where you go. Each university has a different culture. Also, you seem to be basing your opinion on what others have written or how you think they \"seem\" (stressed and depressed). Since you're applying for grad school, I would guess you've only done undergraduate work. Graduate level study is a whole different world. I think you should make up your own mind and not talk yourself out of liking something you've never experienced.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2208.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyxuys","c_root_id_B":"ebysq0w","created_at_utc_A":1545041772,"created_at_utc_B":1545032185,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It all depends on where you go. Each university has a different culture. Also, you seem to be basing your opinion on what others have written or how you think they \"seem\" (stressed and depressed). Since you're applying for grad school, I would guess you've only done undergraduate work. Graduate level study is a whole different world. I think you should make up your own mind and not talk yourself out of liking something you've never experienced.","human_ref_B":"depends on your luck.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9587.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebz76ah","c_root_id_B":"ebywrns","created_at_utc_A":1545055760,"created_at_utc_B":1545039564,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"For academic careers, keep this in mind: there are \\~4,500 colleges and universities in the US. only a tiny fraction of those are \"elite\" and a small minority actually reflect the culture of prestige and competition that sometimes brings out the worst in people. Numerically, the *majority* of all schools are going to be student-focused: liberal arts colleges, community colleges, public comprehensives, and other types of schools where teaching is more important than research and students are at the center of the mission. In my experience work in those environments is still stressful, but there are lots of places where one can spend a career in a rewarding, non-toxic environment where what you do matters more than where you got your degrees.","human_ref_B":"I've seen students get fired because of politics - someone was power tripping, credit-grabbing, it varies, and it happens. In some parts of the world, you have no \"worker's\" rights as a grad student. Get someone pissed off and you're out the next day. Just keep that in mind. I'm a second-generation college graduate, I rely completely on my scholarship, I'm female, foreigner from the third world. Getting kicked out is practically a death sentence for me so I'm forced to keep my head low, work, and agree to everyone because I have no choice. That's how I reconcile with it. I do love my job, tho.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16196.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebz76ah","c_root_id_B":"ebz2s5e","created_at_utc_A":1545055760,"created_at_utc_B":1545050418,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"For academic careers, keep this in mind: there are \\~4,500 colleges and universities in the US. only a tiny fraction of those are \"elite\" and a small minority actually reflect the culture of prestige and competition that sometimes brings out the worst in people. Numerically, the *majority* of all schools are going to be student-focused: liberal arts colleges, community colleges, public comprehensives, and other types of schools where teaching is more important than research and students are at the center of the mission. In my experience work in those environments is still stressful, but there are lots of places where one can spend a career in a rewarding, non-toxic environment where what you do matters more than where you got your degrees.","human_ref_B":"The competition for jobs is more important for you than the rest of it at this stage, if you'd like to stay. Once you *have* a job on the tenure track, it isn't any more dysfunctional than other groups of smart knowledge workers in the private sector.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5342.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebz76ah","c_root_id_B":"ebysq0w","created_at_utc_A":1545055760,"created_at_utc_B":1545032185,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"For academic careers, keep this in mind: there are \\~4,500 colleges and universities in the US. only a tiny fraction of those are \"elite\" and a small minority actually reflect the culture of prestige and competition that sometimes brings out the worst in people. Numerically, the *majority* of all schools are going to be student-focused: liberal arts colleges, community colleges, public comprehensives, and other types of schools where teaching is more important than research and students are at the center of the mission. In my experience work in those environments is still stressful, but there are lots of places where one can spend a career in a rewarding, non-toxic environment where what you do matters more than where you got your degrees.","human_ref_B":"depends on your luck.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23575.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyyinm","c_root_id_B":"ebz76ah","created_at_utc_A":1545043102,"created_at_utc_B":1545055760,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Try to get a feel of different institutes in different countries. Maybe a less prestigious university in a less competition-obsessed or hierarchical country may suit your personality better. The Netherlands may be a good place to look for a more laid back non-elitist academic culture.","human_ref_B":"For academic careers, keep this in mind: there are \\~4,500 colleges and universities in the US. only a tiny fraction of those are \"elite\" and a small minority actually reflect the culture of prestige and competition that sometimes brings out the worst in people. Numerically, the *majority* of all schools are going to be student-focused: liberal arts colleges, community colleges, public comprehensives, and other types of schools where teaching is more important than research and students are at the center of the mission. In my experience work in those environments is still stressful, but there are lots of places where one can spend a career in a rewarding, non-toxic environment where what you do matters more than where you got your degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12658.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebz2klo","c_root_id_B":"ebz76ah","created_at_utc_A":1545050123,"created_at_utc_B":1545055760,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Doctoral candidate here at an R01. I see it and I ignore it and have paved my own way. While the Chair of my department is snooty about us graduates going to a private college or an R01, I was forthright that I had no interest in going to an R01. It\u2019s fine if that\u2019s what you end up wanting, but I just don\u2019t. I plan to still do research and teach. As others have said, your advisor relationship is key. I am super fortunate because I applied to this school because of what my advisor is studying and he is just awesome. We are similar people too so that was a plus. We\u2019re friends but still respect the professional line. It\u2019s a great fit. So, you can do it!! You got this!","human_ref_B":"For academic careers, keep this in mind: there are \\~4,500 colleges and universities in the US. only a tiny fraction of those are \"elite\" and a small minority actually reflect the culture of prestige and competition that sometimes brings out the worst in people. Numerically, the *majority* of all schools are going to be student-focused: liberal arts colleges, community colleges, public comprehensives, and other types of schools where teaching is more important than research and students are at the center of the mission. In my experience work in those environments is still stressful, but there are lots of places where one can spend a career in a rewarding, non-toxic environment where what you do matters more than where you got your degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5637.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebzb1r9","c_root_id_B":"ebywrns","created_at_utc_A":1545059236,"created_at_utc_B":1545039564,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Look for grad programs with other queer students and students of color.","human_ref_B":"I've seen students get fired because of politics - someone was power tripping, credit-grabbing, it varies, and it happens. In some parts of the world, you have no \"worker's\" rights as a grad student. Get someone pissed off and you're out the next day. Just keep that in mind. I'm a second-generation college graduate, I rely completely on my scholarship, I'm female, foreigner from the third world. Getting kicked out is practically a death sentence for me so I'm forced to keep my head low, work, and agree to everyone because I have no choice. That's how I reconcile with it. I do love my job, tho.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19672.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebywrns","c_root_id_B":"ebysq0w","created_at_utc_A":1545039564,"created_at_utc_B":1545032185,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I've seen students get fired because of politics - someone was power tripping, credit-grabbing, it varies, and it happens. In some parts of the world, you have no \"worker's\" rights as a grad student. Get someone pissed off and you're out the next day. Just keep that in mind. I'm a second-generation college graduate, I rely completely on my scholarship, I'm female, foreigner from the third world. Getting kicked out is practically a death sentence for me so I'm forced to keep my head low, work, and agree to everyone because I have no choice. That's how I reconcile with it. I do love my job, tho.","human_ref_B":"depends on your luck.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7379.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebzb1r9","c_root_id_B":"ebz2s5e","created_at_utc_A":1545059236,"created_at_utc_B":1545050418,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Look for grad programs with other queer students and students of color.","human_ref_B":"The competition for jobs is more important for you than the rest of it at this stage, if you'd like to stay. Once you *have* a job on the tenure track, it isn't any more dysfunctional than other groups of smart knowledge workers in the private sector.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8818.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebysq0w","c_root_id_B":"ebz2s5e","created_at_utc_A":1545032185,"created_at_utc_B":1545050418,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"depends on your luck.","human_ref_B":"The competition for jobs is more important for you than the rest of it at this stage, if you'd like to stay. Once you *have* a job on the tenure track, it isn't any more dysfunctional than other groups of smart knowledge workers in the private sector.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18233.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebyyinm","c_root_id_B":"ebz2s5e","created_at_utc_A":1545043102,"created_at_utc_B":1545050418,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Try to get a feel of different institutes in different countries. Maybe a less prestigious university in a less competition-obsessed or hierarchical country may suit your personality better. The Netherlands may be a good place to look for a more laid back non-elitist academic culture.","human_ref_B":"The competition for jobs is more important for you than the rest of it at this stage, if you'd like to stay. Once you *have* a job on the tenure track, it isn't any more dysfunctional than other groups of smart knowledge workers in the private sector.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7316.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebz2s5e","c_root_id_B":"ebz2klo","created_at_utc_A":1545050418,"created_at_utc_B":1545050123,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The competition for jobs is more important for you than the rest of it at this stage, if you'd like to stay. Once you *have* a job on the tenure track, it isn't any more dysfunctional than other groups of smart knowledge workers in the private sector.","human_ref_B":"Doctoral candidate here at an R01. I see it and I ignore it and have paved my own way. While the Chair of my department is snooty about us graduates going to a private college or an R01, I was forthright that I had no interest in going to an R01. It\u2019s fine if that\u2019s what you end up wanting, but I just don\u2019t. I plan to still do research and teach. As others have said, your advisor relationship is key. I am super fortunate because I applied to this school because of what my advisor is studying and he is just awesome. We are similar people too so that was a plus. We\u2019re friends but still respect the professional line. It\u2019s a great fit. So, you can do it!! You got this!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":295.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebysq0w","c_root_id_B":"ebzb1r9","created_at_utc_A":1545032185,"created_at_utc_B":1545059236,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"depends on your luck.","human_ref_B":"Look for grad programs with other queer students and students of color.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27051.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebzb1r9","c_root_id_B":"ebyyinm","created_at_utc_A":1545059236,"created_at_utc_B":1545043102,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Look for grad programs with other queer students and students of color.","human_ref_B":"Try to get a feel of different institutes in different countries. Maybe a less prestigious university in a less competition-obsessed or hierarchical country may suit your personality better. The Netherlands may be a good place to look for a more laid back non-elitist academic culture.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16134.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebzb1r9","c_root_id_B":"ebz2klo","created_at_utc_A":1545059236,"created_at_utc_B":1545050123,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Look for grad programs with other queer students and students of color.","human_ref_B":"Doctoral candidate here at an R01. I see it and I ignore it and have paved my own way. While the Chair of my department is snooty about us graduates going to a private college or an R01, I was forthright that I had no interest in going to an R01. It\u2019s fine if that\u2019s what you end up wanting, but I just don\u2019t. I plan to still do research and teach. As others have said, your advisor relationship is key. I am super fortunate because I applied to this school because of what my advisor is studying and he is just awesome. We are similar people too so that was a plus. We\u2019re friends but still respect the professional line. It\u2019s a great fit. So, you can do it!! You got this!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9113.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebzm5h7","c_root_id_B":"ebzgcbf","created_at_utc_A":1545067818,"created_at_utc_B":1545063485,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Being a part of fostering an elitist culture is your choice. Be sure to understand though what your definition of that actually is. And always try to place yourself in the shoes of the other person.","human_ref_B":"This is a part of academia, but it's definitely not all of it. Find an advisor that feels the same way you do. I also get irritated by some of the same aspects of academia, but it's totally possible to build a community that isn't like that. You have to deal with the fact that it still exists (especially when publishing), but like you said, nothing is perfect.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4333.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"a6w96r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"I love learning, but hate academia. How do you manage with the love\/hate relationship? I feel like many folks might be able to relate. I love learning and being in a setting where people are bright, asking important questions about the world, and creating solutions. I like my research. But I cannot stand the elitist culture of academia. This has become more irritating to me the longer I've spent in higher ed. In particular, as I'm prepping for grad school apps, I keep reading about basically the culture of academia runs off prestige, seniority, not questioning authority, etc. I've also had really smart friends who left academia because of the culture. To be honest, most of my friends in grad school or academia seem stressed and depressed. Lastly, I feel like all of these problems feel more acute to me because I don't fit into the academic majority\/mainstream. I am a first-generation, low-income college student and a queer person of color. Despite all of this, I understand that no career is perfect and academia still seems like the best possible fit and has amazing smaller communities of students, professors, and others who really share my values. How do other folks reconcile their love\/hate of academia?","c_root_id_A":"ebzgcbf","c_root_id_B":"ec14mbw","created_at_utc_A":1545063485,"created_at_utc_B":1545115508,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"This is a part of academia, but it's definitely not all of it. Find an advisor that feels the same way you do. I also get irritated by some of the same aspects of academia, but it's totally possible to build a community that isn't like that. You have to deal with the fact that it still exists (especially when publishing), but like you said, nothing is perfect.","human_ref_B":"You CAN find the people you need to succeed in academia, but connections and mentors help. They\u2019ll help you navigate murky waters. If you\u2019re a first gen, queer POC I recommend trying to find some similarly identified folks at your institution, or even on academic twitter and asking for their advice. Of course you can find their professional websites and emails too but they tend to be quicker on Twitter in my experience. We need more diversity in all disciplines. If you can get funded, don\u2019t stop. There is space for you here.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":52023.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwq2kif","c_root_id_B":"fwq0z9h","created_at_utc_A":1593714481,"created_at_utc_B":1593713729,"score_A":142,"score_B":87,"human_ref_A":"\"You have publications, you'll get something ( a job).\" Not a single interview in 3 years. \"Keep applying, you'll eventually get something.\" 3 wasted years of my life, when I spent falls churring out application materials and springs recovering from a flurry of rejections.","human_ref_B":"\"Adjuncting will help get your foot in the door.\" If anything, I've let my current schools know that I'm willing to work for peanuts, so it wouldn't make sense for them to hire me full-time. Cobbling together a bunch of classes every semester also makes it difficult to find time to write\/publish and build up my CV.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":752.0,"score_ratio":1.632183908} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwqd9be","c_root_id_B":"fwq0z9h","created_at_utc_A":1593719576,"created_at_utc_B":1593713729,"score_A":98,"score_B":87,"human_ref_A":"\"You are going to graduate school at the perfect time. We're looking at a huge wave of faculty retirements throughout the 1990s, and by the time you have your PhD, there will more jobs than candidates.\"","human_ref_B":"\"Adjuncting will help get your foot in the door.\" If anything, I've let my current schools know that I'm willing to work for peanuts, so it wouldn't make sense for them to hire me full-time. Cobbling together a bunch of classes every semester also makes it difficult to find time to write\/publish and build up my CV.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5847.0,"score_ratio":1.1264367816} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwqadf8","c_root_id_B":"fwqd9be","created_at_utc_A":1593718193,"created_at_utc_B":1593719576,"score_A":34,"score_B":98,"human_ref_A":"My aunt's job advice -- \"Marry a white American and change your last name. You'll never climb the ladder otherwise.\"","human_ref_B":"\"You are going to graduate school at the perfect time. We're looking at a huge wave of faculty retirements throughout the 1990s, and by the time you have your PhD, there will more jobs than candidates.\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1383.0,"score_ratio":2.8823529412} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwqadf8","c_root_id_B":"fwqp8mn","created_at_utc_A":1593718193,"created_at_utc_B":1593725397,"score_A":34,"score_B":68,"human_ref_A":"My aunt's job advice -- \"Marry a white American and change your last name. You'll never climb the ladder otherwise.\"","human_ref_B":"It was basically lack-of-advice. I went to a \u201cwomen in tech\u201d panel at a conference. One of the grad students asked the panel if they had any tips for surviving grad school, especially as a woman in a very male dominated field. One of the panelists basically said \u201cthose who are meant to make it will make it. Just keep pushing\u201d. I absolutely hate that attitude in academia. It discounts so many possible factors for why people may not make it through a PhD.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7204.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwrbx83","c_root_id_B":"fwr61o9","created_at_utc_A":1593737995,"created_at_utc_B":1593734468,"score_A":55,"score_B":50,"human_ref_A":"More academic\/life \"advice\", but in my first year of undergrad I finally worked up the courage to ask for an extension on an assignment due to depression\/anxiety issues I was having, and the professor told me no and said \"You know, some people just aren't cut out for a college education.\" I've got a Masters now, and working on my PhD. Fuck that guy.","human_ref_B":"I have 2 pieces of bad advice given to me. 1) Don't start writing your thesis at all until you've finished your lab work\/data collection 2) Don't apply for a job until you've actually submitted your thesis (giving yourself about 2 weeks to apply, be interviewed and move before your funding runs out)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3527.0,"score_ratio":1.1} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwqadf8","c_root_id_B":"fwrbx83","created_at_utc_A":1593718193,"created_at_utc_B":1593737995,"score_A":34,"score_B":55,"human_ref_A":"My aunt's job advice -- \"Marry a white American and change your last name. You'll never climb the ladder otherwise.\"","human_ref_B":"More academic\/life \"advice\", but in my first year of undergrad I finally worked up the courage to ask for an extension on an assignment due to depression\/anxiety issues I was having, and the professor told me no and said \"You know, some people just aren't cut out for a college education.\" I've got a Masters now, and working on my PhD. Fuck that guy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19802.0,"score_ratio":1.6176470588} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwqx89f","c_root_id_B":"fwrbx83","created_at_utc_A":1593729506,"created_at_utc_B":1593737995,"score_A":23,"score_B":55,"human_ref_A":"\\*context: a glut of positions available in a specialty I neither enjoy nor conduct research in\\* \"Sometimes you need to do what you don't want to do until you can do what you want to do.\" I did NOT take that advice and am very glad about that to this day.","human_ref_B":"More academic\/life \"advice\", but in my first year of undergrad I finally worked up the courage to ask for an extension on an assignment due to depression\/anxiety issues I was having, and the professor told me no and said \"You know, some people just aren't cut out for a college education.\" I've got a Masters now, and working on my PhD. Fuck that guy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8489.0,"score_ratio":2.3913043478} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwr5css","c_root_id_B":"fwrbx83","created_at_utc_A":1593734067,"created_at_utc_B":1593737995,"score_A":17,"score_B":55,"human_ref_A":"The worst one: go to reddit to ask for career advise.","human_ref_B":"More academic\/life \"advice\", but in my first year of undergrad I finally worked up the courage to ask for an extension on an assignment due to depression\/anxiety issues I was having, and the professor told me no and said \"You know, some people just aren't cut out for a college education.\" I've got a Masters now, and working on my PhD. Fuck that guy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3928.0,"score_ratio":3.2352941176} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwqadf8","c_root_id_B":"fwr61o9","created_at_utc_A":1593718193,"created_at_utc_B":1593734468,"score_A":34,"score_B":50,"human_ref_A":"My aunt's job advice -- \"Marry a white American and change your last name. You'll never climb the ladder otherwise.\"","human_ref_B":"I have 2 pieces of bad advice given to me. 1) Don't start writing your thesis at all until you've finished your lab work\/data collection 2) Don't apply for a job until you've actually submitted your thesis (giving yourself about 2 weeks to apply, be interviewed and move before your funding runs out)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16275.0,"score_ratio":1.4705882353} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwqx89f","c_root_id_B":"fwr61o9","created_at_utc_A":1593729506,"created_at_utc_B":1593734468,"score_A":23,"score_B":50,"human_ref_A":"\\*context: a glut of positions available in a specialty I neither enjoy nor conduct research in\\* \"Sometimes you need to do what you don't want to do until you can do what you want to do.\" I did NOT take that advice and am very glad about that to this day.","human_ref_B":"I have 2 pieces of bad advice given to me. 1) Don't start writing your thesis at all until you've finished your lab work\/data collection 2) Don't apply for a job until you've actually submitted your thesis (giving yourself about 2 weeks to apply, be interviewed and move before your funding runs out)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4962.0,"score_ratio":2.1739130435} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwr61o9","c_root_id_B":"fwr5css","created_at_utc_A":1593734468,"created_at_utc_B":1593734067,"score_A":50,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"I have 2 pieces of bad advice given to me. 1) Don't start writing your thesis at all until you've finished your lab work\/data collection 2) Don't apply for a job until you've actually submitted your thesis (giving yourself about 2 weeks to apply, be interviewed and move before your funding runs out)","human_ref_B":"The worst one: go to reddit to ask for career advise.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":401.0,"score_ratio":2.9411764706} {"post_id":"hk1lut","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"What's the WORST career advice you've ever received? Something that, years later, makes you say, \"what the hell were they thinking??\"","c_root_id_A":"fwr5css","c_root_id_B":"fwrhp6t","created_at_utc_A":1593734067,"created_at_utc_B":1593741583,"score_A":17,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"The worst one: go to reddit to ask for career advise.","human_ref_B":"My former advisor suggested I relocate (breaking my current lease) from my field site where I was writing my dissertation back to where my university in the mid west. I had no guaranteed job there, no support of any kind...he just thought it'd be cool if I was near the archive (that I did not need for my research whatsoever). I explained that I would need to break my current lease, move, pay deposits on a new place - all of those expenses that are associated with relocating and that I, as a first year graduate student from a poor family who was now living on a grant (while not allowed to work as a part time instructor to supplement my grant - about $20,000 to live on for a year in a major city - because said advisor forbade me from working while hold my grant...as it would be abusing the university....despite the fact that my grant allowed the recipient to work...anyway)....I've lost track of this sentence....In other words, I could not afford to do this. So, I tell him I can't afford to relocate in the middle of my lease for now particular reason. He replied that my \"cold and calculated response\" was \"fine.\" He didn't understand. He was the primary reason I was in financial trouble at that point in my research. Subsequently, he told me (having received his job in the 1990s and never having been on the market since then) that I should only apply to a handful of teaching positions...that something would work out. I applied to about 150 jobs while finishing my dissertation and finalizing my divorce. It was a rough ride. I landed a tenure track job where I now work. Every step of the way, he gave me piss poor advice that was completely out of touch, generally and, specifically, with the reality of the academia job market. This year, I asked for a letter of recommendation for a potential better TT job. He sent me a completely weird and socially unaware message that amounted to no and 'cause. He is - I feel - a turd in every way a that human being possibly can imitate and\/or embody the qualities of a turd or the state of turdness, if you will.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7516.0,"score_ratio":1.2941176471} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io407ev","c_root_id_B":"io222lb","created_at_utc_A":1662982879,"created_at_utc_B":1662938956,"score_A":119,"score_B":97,"human_ref_A":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","human_ref_B":"My take on this has always been that unethical businesses eventually develop work cultures that are equally as toxic. \"The fruit of the poisonous tree.\" I think that there are many people, including myself, who are looking for a good place to work, just as much as you are. Idk if the general culture of business can ever sustain strong ethical players. The game seems fully tainted by greed and players seeking to get the most they can. It's a shame... But there is still hope. The best we can do is to be on guard and vigilant against the bad players, but to live our own lives the best we can. In the end, nothing humanity does can be pure. However, each of us can own and influence the world by how we individually play the game. You can either strive from the inside to make those places better in whatever ways you can, or you can try to start your own company with a team of like-minded people. Either way, doing the right thing also means taking some hard hits and being at a type of disadvantage. Own it and be who you are regardless.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":43923.0,"score_ratio":1.2268041237} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io407ev","c_root_id_B":"io2gkti","created_at_utc_A":1662982879,"created_at_utc_B":1662945586,"score_A":119,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","human_ref_B":"Yes, of course, big companies\u2014 those you named, big oil, pharma, etc., have ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) departments, which are essentially the consciences of corporations. Sometimes they meet huge resistance and pushback. More and more, contemporary CEOs want to establish responsible business practices. ESG is an up-and-coming field for those who want to make big business better, even good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":37293.0,"score_ratio":4.4074074074} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io29iro","c_root_id_B":"io407ev","created_at_utc_A":1662942329,"created_at_utc_B":1662982879,"score_A":20,"score_B":119,"human_ref_A":"An option many take is to do the work, swallow your morals, take the pay, and give money to organizations that seek to offset. That way you get the big fancy house, nice cars, etc. AND a nifty tote bag and the well-being that comes from supporting a cause. Alternatively you can put your actual talents toward that cause. You may earn less and be much more vulnerable to economic cycles, but you'll sleep well knowing you actually worked to make the world a better place.","human_ref_B":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":40550.0,"score_ratio":5.95} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io3sl1v","c_root_id_B":"io407ev","created_at_utc_A":1662977392,"created_at_utc_B":1662982879,"score_A":17,"score_B":119,"human_ref_A":"You will take a pay cut, but you can always work in the non-profit sector, plenty of less objectionable jobs there. Or start your own business. There's lots of relatively \"low hanging fruit\" programming tasks available in the crypto space, and plenty of those projects *are* working on \"exciting technical challenges\" without the exploitative baggage that many other large tech companies have. This is an awesome website to help you answer the question of how to make a positive impact with your career.","human_ref_B":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5487.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io31lx1","c_root_id_B":"io407ev","created_at_utc_A":1662956122,"created_at_utc_B":1662982879,"score_A":6,"score_B":119,"human_ref_A":"Go with one of the lucrative options and join efforts to unionize your workplace - you\u2019ll be doing far more net good than stressing over trying to find an \u201cethical company\u201d to work for","human_ref_B":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26757.0,"score_ratio":19.8333333333} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io407ev","c_root_id_B":"io1ynng","created_at_utc_A":1662982879,"created_at_utc_B":1662937485,"score_A":119,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","human_ref_B":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":45394.0,"score_ratio":59.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io407ev","c_root_id_B":"io339kt","created_at_utc_A":1662982879,"created_at_utc_B":1662957133,"score_A":119,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","human_ref_B":"I personally worked in the equity and inclusion team of a major media company for a while recently before I decided to proceed into the academic PhD world. Would be happy to chat about my experience with the whole corporate altruism shtick if you\u2019re interested.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":25746.0,"score_ratio":29.75} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io407ev","c_root_id_B":"io39x4i","created_at_utc_A":1662982879,"created_at_utc_B":1662961601,"score_A":119,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","human_ref_B":"Waste their money, take the job and shirk. If you want to do \"effective\" or \"good\" work then not so possible. But wasting money that could be spent elsewhere, sure.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21278.0,"score_ratio":59.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io407ev","c_root_id_B":"io3xt7g","created_at_utc_A":1662982879,"created_at_utc_B":1662981316,"score_A":119,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm not in STEM--I'm a humanities professor. But many (many) years ago, before I went back for my PhD, I took a job with an aerospace company. It was great--I was working (in the publications section) on a solar optical space-born telescope project. How cool is that??! Loved it. Then the project finished, and they shifted me to another project. One involving the deployment of nuclear weapons systems... and though I needed the job, I screwed up the courage, and told them I wouldn't work on it... they needed to shift me back to another NASA-like project. My bosses' boss, when I explained my position, looked at me with disgust , and said (I will never forget it, or the look on her face): \"I didn't know you were one of *them.*\" She then said they didn't have any current needs on space-stuff, and let me go. I'm still kind of proud of the decision I made that day... I was young, and it took a lot of courage. (and it cost me... I had to work on a cleanup crew for a construction company for months after that, just to pay bills.) But I didn't have kids or a mortgage or anything, so it wasn't a big deal. Then I went back to grad school. I guess what I'm trying to say is: even if you get into an \"ethical\" side of the company, there's a pretty good chance you'll be moved\/asked to work with the unethical side of the company. (and unethical sides of companies attract very specific types of people.) Probably not totally relevant, because this was so long ago, but still.... thought I'd share just in case.","human_ref_B":"*Every* company is some kind of unethical. But we've got to eat, right? So you find the least of the evils. Amazon and Google, are pretty up there in terms of evilness, the weapons companies too. I'm working at a bank after graduation, and while that's its own can of worms, they at least talk about trying to support their community, they donate a good chunk of money, we get 40 hours of volunteer time paid a year, things like that.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1563.0,"score_ratio":59.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io222lb","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1662938956,"score_A":2,"score_B":97,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"My take on this has always been that unethical businesses eventually develop work cultures that are equally as toxic. \"The fruit of the poisonous tree.\" I think that there are many people, including myself, who are looking for a good place to work, just as much as you are. Idk if the general culture of business can ever sustain strong ethical players. The game seems fully tainted by greed and players seeking to get the most they can. It's a shame... But there is still hope. The best we can do is to be on guard and vigilant against the bad players, but to live our own lives the best we can. In the end, nothing humanity does can be pure. However, each of us can own and influence the world by how we individually play the game. You can either strive from the inside to make those places better in whatever ways you can, or you can try to start your own company with a team of like-minded people. Either way, doing the right thing also means taking some hard hits and being at a type of disadvantage. Own it and be who you are regardless.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1471.0,"score_ratio":48.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io2gkti","c_root_id_B":"io29iro","created_at_utc_A":1662945586,"created_at_utc_B":1662942329,"score_A":27,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Yes, of course, big companies\u2014 those you named, big oil, pharma, etc., have ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) departments, which are essentially the consciences of corporations. Sometimes they meet huge resistance and pushback. More and more, contemporary CEOs want to establish responsible business practices. ESG is an up-and-coming field for those who want to make big business better, even good.","human_ref_B":"An option many take is to do the work, swallow your morals, take the pay, and give money to organizations that seek to offset. That way you get the big fancy house, nice cars, etc. AND a nifty tote bag and the well-being that comes from supporting a cause. Alternatively you can put your actual talents toward that cause. You may earn less and be much more vulnerable to economic cycles, but you'll sleep well knowing you actually worked to make the world a better place.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3257.0,"score_ratio":1.35} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io2gkti","c_root_id_B":"io1ynng","created_at_utc_A":1662945586,"created_at_utc_B":1662937485,"score_A":27,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Yes, of course, big companies\u2014 those you named, big oil, pharma, etc., have ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) departments, which are essentially the consciences of corporations. Sometimes they meet huge resistance and pushback. More and more, contemporary CEOs want to establish responsible business practices. ESG is an up-and-coming field for those who want to make big business better, even good.","human_ref_B":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8101.0,"score_ratio":13.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io29iro","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1662942329,"score_A":2,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"An option many take is to do the work, swallow your morals, take the pay, and give money to organizations that seek to offset. That way you get the big fancy house, nice cars, etc. AND a nifty tote bag and the well-being that comes from supporting a cause. Alternatively you can put your actual talents toward that cause. You may earn less and be much more vulnerable to economic cycles, but you'll sleep well knowing you actually worked to make the world a better place.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4844.0,"score_ratio":10.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io3sl1v","c_root_id_B":"io31lx1","created_at_utc_A":1662977392,"created_at_utc_B":1662956122,"score_A":17,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"You will take a pay cut, but you can always work in the non-profit sector, plenty of less objectionable jobs there. Or start your own business. There's lots of relatively \"low hanging fruit\" programming tasks available in the crypto space, and plenty of those projects *are* working on \"exciting technical challenges\" without the exploitative baggage that many other large tech companies have. This is an awesome website to help you answer the question of how to make a positive impact with your career.","human_ref_B":"Go with one of the lucrative options and join efforts to unionize your workplace - you\u2019ll be doing far more net good than stressing over trying to find an \u201cethical company\u201d to work for","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21270.0,"score_ratio":2.8333333333} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io3sl1v","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1662977392,"score_A":2,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"You will take a pay cut, but you can always work in the non-profit sector, plenty of less objectionable jobs there. Or start your own business. There's lots of relatively \"low hanging fruit\" programming tasks available in the crypto space, and plenty of those projects *are* working on \"exciting technical challenges\" without the exploitative baggage that many other large tech companies have. This is an awesome website to help you answer the question of how to make a positive impact with your career.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":39907.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io339kt","c_root_id_B":"io3sl1v","created_at_utc_A":1662957133,"created_at_utc_B":1662977392,"score_A":4,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"I personally worked in the equity and inclusion team of a major media company for a while recently before I decided to proceed into the academic PhD world. Would be happy to chat about my experience with the whole corporate altruism shtick if you\u2019re interested.","human_ref_B":"You will take a pay cut, but you can always work in the non-profit sector, plenty of less objectionable jobs there. Or start your own business. There's lots of relatively \"low hanging fruit\" programming tasks available in the crypto space, and plenty of those projects *are* working on \"exciting technical challenges\" without the exploitative baggage that many other large tech companies have. This is an awesome website to help you answer the question of how to make a positive impact with your career.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":20259.0,"score_ratio":4.25} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io39x4i","c_root_id_B":"io3sl1v","created_at_utc_A":1662961601,"created_at_utc_B":1662977392,"score_A":2,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Waste their money, take the job and shirk. If you want to do \"effective\" or \"good\" work then not so possible. But wasting money that could be spent elsewhere, sure.","human_ref_B":"You will take a pay cut, but you can always work in the non-profit sector, plenty of less objectionable jobs there. Or start your own business. There's lots of relatively \"low hanging fruit\" programming tasks available in the crypto space, and plenty of those projects *are* working on \"exciting technical challenges\" without the exploitative baggage that many other large tech companies have. This is an awesome website to help you answer the question of how to make a positive impact with your career.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15791.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io44bex","c_root_id_B":"io31lx1","created_at_utc_A":1662985305,"created_at_utc_B":1662956122,"score_A":12,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Expand your options. You're only listing the biggest names in tech. There are an awful lot of tech companies and many of them have much better ethical principles than Google or Meta. If you want to take your ethical principles into account, you have to accept that doing so will change the optimization parameters you are using for the \"best\" companies and that may in turn affect how much money you make and how fancy your resume is. You need to make a choice. Are you actually willing to take your principles into account and turn down a job at e.g. Apple to work for a company like Hugging Face, Blue River, or Treeswift? Or will you accept nothing but the biggest paycheck and fanciest company name?","human_ref_B":"Go with one of the lucrative options and join efforts to unionize your workplace - you\u2019ll be doing far more net good than stressing over trying to find an \u201cethical company\u201d to work for","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29183.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io44bex","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1662985305,"score_A":2,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"Expand your options. You're only listing the biggest names in tech. There are an awful lot of tech companies and many of them have much better ethical principles than Google or Meta. If you want to take your ethical principles into account, you have to accept that doing so will change the optimization parameters you are using for the \"best\" companies and that may in turn affect how much money you make and how fancy your resume is. You need to make a choice. Are you actually willing to take your principles into account and turn down a job at e.g. Apple to work for a company like Hugging Face, Blue River, or Treeswift? Or will you accept nothing but the biggest paycheck and fanciest company name?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":47820.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io44bex","c_root_id_B":"io339kt","created_at_utc_A":1662985305,"created_at_utc_B":1662957133,"score_A":12,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Expand your options. You're only listing the biggest names in tech. There are an awful lot of tech companies and many of them have much better ethical principles than Google or Meta. If you want to take your ethical principles into account, you have to accept that doing so will change the optimization parameters you are using for the \"best\" companies and that may in turn affect how much money you make and how fancy your resume is. You need to make a choice. Are you actually willing to take your principles into account and turn down a job at e.g. Apple to work for a company like Hugging Face, Blue River, or Treeswift? Or will you accept nothing but the biggest paycheck and fanciest company name?","human_ref_B":"I personally worked in the equity and inclusion team of a major media company for a while recently before I decided to proceed into the academic PhD world. Would be happy to chat about my experience with the whole corporate altruism shtick if you\u2019re interested.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28172.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io44bex","c_root_id_B":"io39x4i","created_at_utc_A":1662985305,"created_at_utc_B":1662961601,"score_A":12,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Expand your options. You're only listing the biggest names in tech. There are an awful lot of tech companies and many of them have much better ethical principles than Google or Meta. If you want to take your ethical principles into account, you have to accept that doing so will change the optimization parameters you are using for the \"best\" companies and that may in turn affect how much money you make and how fancy your resume is. You need to make a choice. Are you actually willing to take your principles into account and turn down a job at e.g. Apple to work for a company like Hugging Face, Blue River, or Treeswift? Or will you accept nothing but the biggest paycheck and fanciest company name?","human_ref_B":"Waste their money, take the job and shirk. If you want to do \"effective\" or \"good\" work then not so possible. But wasting money that could be spent elsewhere, sure.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23704.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io3xt7g","c_root_id_B":"io44bex","created_at_utc_A":1662981316,"created_at_utc_B":1662985305,"score_A":2,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"*Every* company is some kind of unethical. But we've got to eat, right? So you find the least of the evils. Amazon and Google, are pretty up there in terms of evilness, the weapons companies too. I'm working at a bank after graduation, and while that's its own can of worms, they at least talk about trying to support their community, they donate a good chunk of money, we get 40 hours of volunteer time paid a year, things like that.","human_ref_B":"Expand your options. You're only listing the biggest names in tech. There are an awful lot of tech companies and many of them have much better ethical principles than Google or Meta. If you want to take your ethical principles into account, you have to accept that doing so will change the optimization parameters you are using for the \"best\" companies and that may in turn affect how much money you make and how fancy your resume is. You need to make a choice. Are you actually willing to take your principles into account and turn down a job at e.g. Apple to work for a company like Hugging Face, Blue River, or Treeswift? Or will you accept nothing but the biggest paycheck and fanciest company name?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3989.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io31lx1","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1662956122,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"Go with one of the lucrative options and join efforts to unionize your workplace - you\u2019ll be doing far more net good than stressing over trying to find an \u201cethical company\u201d to work for","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18637.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4n0rj","c_root_id_B":"io4bx35","created_at_utc_A":1662994001,"created_at_utc_B":1662989149,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I was in a similar position as yourself and my decision was to disregard these companies altogether, including others that I felt like were operated under despicable people or otherwise making the world a worse place. My labor contributes to the continuity of these companies and the impending destruction. No amount of mental gymnastics was able to convince me that I could \"get mine\" while being free from the consequences of working for these corporations. That isn't to say that other corporations are completely ethical and you should find one. But I do view things on a spectrum, and where you draw that line on the spectrum will determine what companies you will and won't consider supporting via labor. That's a personal decision and one that I still battle with to this day every now and again when I hear how much money others make at companies that I've sworn off already. But, that's expected. Good luck to you.","human_ref_B":"Where do you get your info about industry being notorious for that ? Any research academic is in fierce competition for funds, space , resources and personnel and if you think they don\u2019t make mercenary decision about what looks good and cut corners - or worse, you are very wrong. Alzheimer\u2019s research has been set back probably decades because of the bad science at every level, from reviewers, to cult of opinions and domination of study sections to fraud. My school makes very mercenary decisions about how to attract the kind of students that can pay the most, and not in anyway that furthers education or academics. If you think this system isn\u2019t probably inherently exploitative, you really need to talk to a post doc. WOuld you work for DARPA? What about if your specific project was landmine finding rats? This exact project led to people trying to make land mines that can\u2019t be detected by rats and will go off with lower load. The guy who invented dynamite was trying to save lives because nitroglycerin used in industry and mining was so inherently unstable. This lead to wartime use of it. You have no idea who can take the most innocuous thing and what they can turn it into. The real question is even if you work for an ethical company (which probably doesn\u2019t exist anyway) can you ever do anything ethical. And you need to stop having a Disney view of what companies do and are.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4852.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4bx35","c_root_id_B":"io1ynng","created_at_utc_A":1662989149,"created_at_utc_B":1662937485,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Where do you get your info about industry being notorious for that ? Any research academic is in fierce competition for funds, space , resources and personnel and if you think they don\u2019t make mercenary decision about what looks good and cut corners - or worse, you are very wrong. Alzheimer\u2019s research has been set back probably decades because of the bad science at every level, from reviewers, to cult of opinions and domination of study sections to fraud. My school makes very mercenary decisions about how to attract the kind of students that can pay the most, and not in anyway that furthers education or academics. If you think this system isn\u2019t probably inherently exploitative, you really need to talk to a post doc. WOuld you work for DARPA? What about if your specific project was landmine finding rats? This exact project led to people trying to make land mines that can\u2019t be detected by rats and will go off with lower load. The guy who invented dynamite was trying to save lives because nitroglycerin used in industry and mining was so inherently unstable. This lead to wartime use of it. You have no idea who can take the most innocuous thing and what they can turn it into. The real question is even if you work for an ethical company (which probably doesn\u2019t exist anyway) can you ever do anything ethical. And you need to stop having a Disney view of what companies do and are.","human_ref_B":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":51664.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io39x4i","c_root_id_B":"io4bx35","created_at_utc_A":1662961601,"created_at_utc_B":1662989149,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Waste their money, take the job and shirk. If you want to do \"effective\" or \"good\" work then not so possible. But wasting money that could be spent elsewhere, sure.","human_ref_B":"Where do you get your info about industry being notorious for that ? Any research academic is in fierce competition for funds, space , resources and personnel and if you think they don\u2019t make mercenary decision about what looks good and cut corners - or worse, you are very wrong. Alzheimer\u2019s research has been set back probably decades because of the bad science at every level, from reviewers, to cult of opinions and domination of study sections to fraud. My school makes very mercenary decisions about how to attract the kind of students that can pay the most, and not in anyway that furthers education or academics. If you think this system isn\u2019t probably inherently exploitative, you really need to talk to a post doc. WOuld you work for DARPA? What about if your specific project was landmine finding rats? This exact project led to people trying to make land mines that can\u2019t be detected by rats and will go off with lower load. The guy who invented dynamite was trying to save lives because nitroglycerin used in industry and mining was so inherently unstable. This lead to wartime use of it. You have no idea who can take the most innocuous thing and what they can turn it into. The real question is even if you work for an ethical company (which probably doesn\u2019t exist anyway) can you ever do anything ethical. And you need to stop having a Disney view of what companies do and are.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27548.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io3xt7g","c_root_id_B":"io4bx35","created_at_utc_A":1662981316,"created_at_utc_B":1662989149,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"*Every* company is some kind of unethical. But we've got to eat, right? So you find the least of the evils. Amazon and Google, are pretty up there in terms of evilness, the weapons companies too. I'm working at a bank after graduation, and while that's its own can of worms, they at least talk about trying to support their community, they donate a good chunk of money, we get 40 hours of volunteer time paid a year, things like that.","human_ref_B":"Where do you get your info about industry being notorious for that ? Any research academic is in fierce competition for funds, space , resources and personnel and if you think they don\u2019t make mercenary decision about what looks good and cut corners - or worse, you are very wrong. Alzheimer\u2019s research has been set back probably decades because of the bad science at every level, from reviewers, to cult of opinions and domination of study sections to fraud. My school makes very mercenary decisions about how to attract the kind of students that can pay the most, and not in anyway that furthers education or academics. If you think this system isn\u2019t probably inherently exploitative, you really need to talk to a post doc. WOuld you work for DARPA? What about if your specific project was landmine finding rats? This exact project led to people trying to make land mines that can\u2019t be detected by rats and will go off with lower load. The guy who invented dynamite was trying to save lives because nitroglycerin used in industry and mining was so inherently unstable. This lead to wartime use of it. You have no idea who can take the most innocuous thing and what they can turn it into. The real question is even if you work for an ethical company (which probably doesn\u2019t exist anyway) can you ever do anything ethical. And you need to stop having a Disney view of what companies do and are.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7833.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4azdy","c_root_id_B":"io4bx35","created_at_utc_A":1662988712,"created_at_utc_B":1662989149,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I don't think you can. But maybe if you have zero oversight... Unlikely but I guess it's possible.... Greed and profit over people are the core values of these types of companies. That hits at all levels.","human_ref_B":"Where do you get your info about industry being notorious for that ? Any research academic is in fierce competition for funds, space , resources and personnel and if you think they don\u2019t make mercenary decision about what looks good and cut corners - or worse, you are very wrong. Alzheimer\u2019s research has been set back probably decades because of the bad science at every level, from reviewers, to cult of opinions and domination of study sections to fraud. My school makes very mercenary decisions about how to attract the kind of students that can pay the most, and not in anyway that furthers education or academics. If you think this system isn\u2019t probably inherently exploitative, you really need to talk to a post doc. WOuld you work for DARPA? What about if your specific project was landmine finding rats? This exact project led to people trying to make land mines that can\u2019t be detected by rats and will go off with lower load. The guy who invented dynamite was trying to save lives because nitroglycerin used in industry and mining was so inherently unstable. This lead to wartime use of it. You have no idea who can take the most innocuous thing and what they can turn it into. The real question is even if you work for an ethical company (which probably doesn\u2019t exist anyway) can you ever do anything ethical. And you need to stop having a Disney view of what companies do and are.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":437.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io4n0rj","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1662994001,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"I was in a similar position as yourself and my decision was to disregard these companies altogether, including others that I felt like were operated under despicable people or otherwise making the world a worse place. My labor contributes to the continuity of these companies and the impending destruction. No amount of mental gymnastics was able to convince me that I could \"get mine\" while being free from the consequences of working for these corporations. That isn't to say that other corporations are completely ethical and you should find one. But I do view things on a spectrum, and where you draw that line on the spectrum will determine what companies you will and won't consider supporting via labor. That's a personal decision and one that I still battle with to this day every now and again when I hear how much money others make at companies that I've sworn off already. But, that's expected. Good luck to you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":56516.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io339kt","c_root_id_B":"io4n0rj","created_at_utc_A":1662957133,"created_at_utc_B":1662994001,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I personally worked in the equity and inclusion team of a major media company for a while recently before I decided to proceed into the academic PhD world. Would be happy to chat about my experience with the whole corporate altruism shtick if you\u2019re interested.","human_ref_B":"I was in a similar position as yourself and my decision was to disregard these companies altogether, including others that I felt like were operated under despicable people or otherwise making the world a worse place. My labor contributes to the continuity of these companies and the impending destruction. No amount of mental gymnastics was able to convince me that I could \"get mine\" while being free from the consequences of working for these corporations. That isn't to say that other corporations are completely ethical and you should find one. But I do view things on a spectrum, and where you draw that line on the spectrum will determine what companies you will and won't consider supporting via labor. That's a personal decision and one that I still battle with to this day every now and again when I hear how much money others make at companies that I've sworn off already. But, that's expected. Good luck to you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":36868.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io39x4i","c_root_id_B":"io4n0rj","created_at_utc_A":1662961601,"created_at_utc_B":1662994001,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Waste their money, take the job and shirk. If you want to do \"effective\" or \"good\" work then not so possible. But wasting money that could be spent elsewhere, sure.","human_ref_B":"I was in a similar position as yourself and my decision was to disregard these companies altogether, including others that I felt like were operated under despicable people or otherwise making the world a worse place. My labor contributes to the continuity of these companies and the impending destruction. No amount of mental gymnastics was able to convince me that I could \"get mine\" while being free from the consequences of working for these corporations. That isn't to say that other corporations are completely ethical and you should find one. But I do view things on a spectrum, and where you draw that line on the spectrum will determine what companies you will and won't consider supporting via labor. That's a personal decision and one that I still battle with to this day every now and again when I hear how much money others make at companies that I've sworn off already. But, that's expected. Good luck to you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":32400.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4n0rj","c_root_id_B":"io3xt7g","created_at_utc_A":1662994001,"created_at_utc_B":1662981316,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I was in a similar position as yourself and my decision was to disregard these companies altogether, including others that I felt like were operated under despicable people or otherwise making the world a worse place. My labor contributes to the continuity of these companies and the impending destruction. No amount of mental gymnastics was able to convince me that I could \"get mine\" while being free from the consequences of working for these corporations. That isn't to say that other corporations are completely ethical and you should find one. But I do view things on a spectrum, and where you draw that line on the spectrum will determine what companies you will and won't consider supporting via labor. That's a personal decision and one that I still battle with to this day every now and again when I hear how much money others make at companies that I've sworn off already. But, that's expected. Good luck to you.","human_ref_B":"*Every* company is some kind of unethical. But we've got to eat, right? So you find the least of the evils. Amazon and Google, are pretty up there in terms of evilness, the weapons companies too. I'm working at a bank after graduation, and while that's its own can of worms, they at least talk about trying to support their community, they donate a good chunk of money, we get 40 hours of volunteer time paid a year, things like that.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12685.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4n0rj","c_root_id_B":"io4azdy","created_at_utc_A":1662994001,"created_at_utc_B":1662988712,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I was in a similar position as yourself and my decision was to disregard these companies altogether, including others that I felt like were operated under despicable people or otherwise making the world a worse place. My labor contributes to the continuity of these companies and the impending destruction. No amount of mental gymnastics was able to convince me that I could \"get mine\" while being free from the consequences of working for these corporations. That isn't to say that other corporations are completely ethical and you should find one. But I do view things on a spectrum, and where you draw that line on the spectrum will determine what companies you will and won't consider supporting via labor. That's a personal decision and one that I still battle with to this day every now and again when I hear how much money others make at companies that I've sworn off already. But, that's expected. Good luck to you.","human_ref_B":"I don't think you can. But maybe if you have zero oversight... Unlikely but I guess it's possible.... Greed and profit over people are the core values of these types of companies. That hits at all levels.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5289.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4n0rj","c_root_id_B":"io4gqvh","created_at_utc_A":1662994001,"created_at_utc_B":1662991340,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I was in a similar position as yourself and my decision was to disregard these companies altogether, including others that I felt like were operated under despicable people or otherwise making the world a worse place. My labor contributes to the continuity of these companies and the impending destruction. No amount of mental gymnastics was able to convince me that I could \"get mine\" while being free from the consequences of working for these corporations. That isn't to say that other corporations are completely ethical and you should find one. But I do view things on a spectrum, and where you draw that line on the spectrum will determine what companies you will and won't consider supporting via labor. That's a personal decision and one that I still battle with to this day every now and again when I hear how much money others make at companies that I've sworn off already. But, that's expected. Good luck to you.","human_ref_B":"The ethical corporation spectrum is dark grey the entire way across","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2661.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io5tedp","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1663010866,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"I honestly think there\u2019s no 100% ethical consumption under capitalism. I guess is a matter of choosing the \u201cleast worst\u201d. I used to work for non-profits to help young adults get a job. But a good portion of the jobs they got were in not so \u201cethically good\u201d companies. So, even though helping them get a job, at the end they became part of a system that doesn\u2019t have best practices. And it\u2019s really hard to NOT BE part of it. We are born into it and a lot of aspects of our life are surrounded by it (if not all of them).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":73381.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io39x4i","c_root_id_B":"io5tedp","created_at_utc_A":1662961601,"created_at_utc_B":1663010866,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Waste their money, take the job and shirk. If you want to do \"effective\" or \"good\" work then not so possible. But wasting money that could be spent elsewhere, sure.","human_ref_B":"I honestly think there\u2019s no 100% ethical consumption under capitalism. I guess is a matter of choosing the \u201cleast worst\u201d. I used to work for non-profits to help young adults get a job. But a good portion of the jobs they got were in not so \u201cethically good\u201d companies. So, even though helping them get a job, at the end they became part of a system that doesn\u2019t have best practices. And it\u2019s really hard to NOT BE part of it. We are born into it and a lot of aspects of our life are surrounded by it (if not all of them).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":49265.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io3xt7g","c_root_id_B":"io5tedp","created_at_utc_A":1662981316,"created_at_utc_B":1663010866,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"*Every* company is some kind of unethical. But we've got to eat, right? So you find the least of the evils. Amazon and Google, are pretty up there in terms of evilness, the weapons companies too. I'm working at a bank after graduation, and while that's its own can of worms, they at least talk about trying to support their community, they donate a good chunk of money, we get 40 hours of volunteer time paid a year, things like that.","human_ref_B":"I honestly think there\u2019s no 100% ethical consumption under capitalism. I guess is a matter of choosing the \u201cleast worst\u201d. I used to work for non-profits to help young adults get a job. But a good portion of the jobs they got were in not so \u201cethically good\u201d companies. So, even though helping them get a job, at the end they became part of a system that doesn\u2019t have best practices. And it\u2019s really hard to NOT BE part of it. We are born into it and a lot of aspects of our life are surrounded by it (if not all of them).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":29550.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io5tedp","c_root_id_B":"io4azdy","created_at_utc_A":1663010866,"created_at_utc_B":1662988712,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I honestly think there\u2019s no 100% ethical consumption under capitalism. I guess is a matter of choosing the \u201cleast worst\u201d. I used to work for non-profits to help young adults get a job. But a good portion of the jobs they got were in not so \u201cethically good\u201d companies. So, even though helping them get a job, at the end they became part of a system that doesn\u2019t have best practices. And it\u2019s really hard to NOT BE part of it. We are born into it and a lot of aspects of our life are surrounded by it (if not all of them).","human_ref_B":"I don't think you can. But maybe if you have zero oversight... Unlikely but I guess it's possible.... Greed and profit over people are the core values of these types of companies. That hits at all levels.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22154.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4gqvh","c_root_id_B":"io5tedp","created_at_utc_A":1662991340,"created_at_utc_B":1663010866,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The ethical corporation spectrum is dark grey the entire way across","human_ref_B":"I honestly think there\u2019s no 100% ethical consumption under capitalism. I guess is a matter of choosing the \u201cleast worst\u201d. I used to work for non-profits to help young adults get a job. But a good portion of the jobs they got were in not so \u201cethically good\u201d companies. So, even though helping them get a job, at the end they became part of a system that doesn\u2019t have best practices. And it\u2019s really hard to NOT BE part of it. We are born into it and a lot of aspects of our life are surrounded by it (if not all of them).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19526.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io5tedp","c_root_id_B":"io4ohfl","created_at_utc_A":1663010866,"created_at_utc_B":1662994608,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I honestly think there\u2019s no 100% ethical consumption under capitalism. I guess is a matter of choosing the \u201cleast worst\u201d. I used to work for non-profits to help young adults get a job. But a good portion of the jobs they got were in not so \u201cethically good\u201d companies. So, even though helping them get a job, at the end they became part of a system that doesn\u2019t have best practices. And it\u2019s really hard to NOT BE part of it. We are born into it and a lot of aspects of our life are surrounded by it (if not all of them).","human_ref_B":"I mean, the companies will say whatever. But you have to look at what they're doing and have done, and you can see if they're lying (they usually are). You're a small part of the puzzle, and won't be doing anything the company doesn't want you doing. But it's not that bad a thing to work there if you need a job, want to grow your expertise and get experience. Just know what you're getting into, and have an escape plan. because you're not going to change the company itself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16258.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io1ynng","c_root_id_B":"io339kt","created_at_utc_A":1662937485,"created_at_utc_B":1662957133,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","human_ref_B":"I personally worked in the equity and inclusion team of a major media company for a while recently before I decided to proceed into the academic PhD world. Would be happy to chat about my experience with the whole corporate altruism shtick if you\u2019re interested.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19648.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io5aq9f","c_root_id_B":"io1ynng","created_at_utc_A":1663003438,"created_at_utc_B":1662937485,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"You are just as complicit in the non-ethical behaviour of a company even if you're working on projects that have a positive impact. That's just their attempt at reputation washing. There's also no guarantee that they won't shift you onto a project that you find morally objectionable. If you feel strongly that any of the business fields or practices that these companies are engaged in is unethical, and you care about that, I do not see how you can in good conscience justify working for them under any circumstances. I understand that it can be difficult to give up the opportunity for great pay and potentially interesting projects to work on, but if you choose to work for them, then you are morally complicit in any unethical practices they knowingly engage in.","human_ref_B":"Have you considered starting up your own STEM related business?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":65953.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io5aq9f","c_root_id_B":"io39x4i","created_at_utc_A":1663003438,"created_at_utc_B":1662961601,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"You are just as complicit in the non-ethical behaviour of a company even if you're working on projects that have a positive impact. That's just their attempt at reputation washing. There's also no guarantee that they won't shift you onto a project that you find morally objectionable. If you feel strongly that any of the business fields or practices that these companies are engaged in is unethical, and you care about that, I do not see how you can in good conscience justify working for them under any circumstances. I understand that it can be difficult to give up the opportunity for great pay and potentially interesting projects to work on, but if you choose to work for them, then you are morally complicit in any unethical practices they knowingly engage in.","human_ref_B":"Waste their money, take the job and shirk. If you want to do \"effective\" or \"good\" work then not so possible. But wasting money that could be spent elsewhere, sure.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":41837.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io3xt7g","c_root_id_B":"io5aq9f","created_at_utc_A":1662981316,"created_at_utc_B":1663003438,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"*Every* company is some kind of unethical. But we've got to eat, right? So you find the least of the evils. Amazon and Google, are pretty up there in terms of evilness, the weapons companies too. I'm working at a bank after graduation, and while that's its own can of worms, they at least talk about trying to support their community, they donate a good chunk of money, we get 40 hours of volunteer time paid a year, things like that.","human_ref_B":"You are just as complicit in the non-ethical behaviour of a company even if you're working on projects that have a positive impact. That's just their attempt at reputation washing. There's also no guarantee that they won't shift you onto a project that you find morally objectionable. If you feel strongly that any of the business fields or practices that these companies are engaged in is unethical, and you care about that, I do not see how you can in good conscience justify working for them under any circumstances. I understand that it can be difficult to give up the opportunity for great pay and potentially interesting projects to work on, but if you choose to work for them, then you are morally complicit in any unethical practices they knowingly engage in.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22122.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io5aq9f","c_root_id_B":"io4azdy","created_at_utc_A":1663003438,"created_at_utc_B":1662988712,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"You are just as complicit in the non-ethical behaviour of a company even if you're working on projects that have a positive impact. That's just their attempt at reputation washing. There's also no guarantee that they won't shift you onto a project that you find morally objectionable. If you feel strongly that any of the business fields or practices that these companies are engaged in is unethical, and you care about that, I do not see how you can in good conscience justify working for them under any circumstances. I understand that it can be difficult to give up the opportunity for great pay and potentially interesting projects to work on, but if you choose to work for them, then you are morally complicit in any unethical practices they knowingly engage in.","human_ref_B":"I don't think you can. But maybe if you have zero oversight... Unlikely but I guess it's possible.... Greed and profit over people are the core values of these types of companies. That hits at all levels.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14726.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io4gqvh","c_root_id_B":"io5aq9f","created_at_utc_A":1662991340,"created_at_utc_B":1663003438,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The ethical corporation spectrum is dark grey the entire way across","human_ref_B":"You are just as complicit in the non-ethical behaviour of a company even if you're working on projects that have a positive impact. That's just their attempt at reputation washing. There's also no guarantee that they won't shift you onto a project that you find morally objectionable. If you feel strongly that any of the business fields or practices that these companies are engaged in is unethical, and you care about that, I do not see how you can in good conscience justify working for them under any circumstances. I understand that it can be difficult to give up the opportunity for great pay and potentially interesting projects to work on, but if you choose to work for them, then you are morally complicit in any unethical practices they knowingly engage in.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12098.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xbw71o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it possible to find ethical work in unethical companies? I am (STEM graduate student) currently applying for jobs in industry. However, I am someone who really cares about doing something positive (or at least not overtly harmful) to society, people, or environment. Industry are notorious in treating all three with utter disdain. Chaos in the world seems to be good for business. There are many lucrative option for me: Google, Amazon, Meta, Big Finance, ... any place where tech, software, AI, intersect. These companies lure new grads with the promise of tackling exciting technical challenges. But those same technical challenges mainly involve how to more efficiently exploit\/control people or extract money (from environment). Some of them are even directly associated with making weapons. I am on the verge of completely giving up on these options, but I am curious if anyone has worked in some of these companies with bad reputations, where you feel you still could make a positive impact to the rest of the world. If so, what do these opportunities look like?","c_root_id_A":"io5aq9f","c_root_id_B":"io4ohfl","created_at_utc_A":1663003438,"created_at_utc_B":1662994608,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"You are just as complicit in the non-ethical behaviour of a company even if you're working on projects that have a positive impact. That's just their attempt at reputation washing. There's also no guarantee that they won't shift you onto a project that you find morally objectionable. If you feel strongly that any of the business fields or practices that these companies are engaged in is unethical, and you care about that, I do not see how you can in good conscience justify working for them under any circumstances. I understand that it can be difficult to give up the opportunity for great pay and potentially interesting projects to work on, but if you choose to work for them, then you are morally complicit in any unethical practices they knowingly engage in.","human_ref_B":"I mean, the companies will say whatever. But you have to look at what they're doing and have done, and you can see if they're lying (they usually are). You're a small part of the puzzle, and won't be doing anything the company doesn't want you doing. But it's not that bad a thing to work there if you need a job, want to grow your expertise and get experience. Just know what you're getting into, and have an escape plan. because you're not going to change the company itself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8830.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvxl1ji","c_root_id_B":"gvxhc4l","created_at_utc_A":1619447115,"created_at_utc_B":1619445366,"score_A":126,"score_B":71,"human_ref_A":"\"An academic career was all I ever wanted. \" Why? To me it looks like that is the central delusion. Admit that maybe you're wrong. Maybe a career in industry is what you really need","human_ref_B":"Sounds like it might be time for a change! At the end of the day, \"Ivy League\" means very little in comparison to your mental health. A job means little in comparison to your well being. Maybe take a step back and visualize what you'd really like to do and pursue that. Wish you all the best!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1749.0,"score_ratio":1.7746478873} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvygxdh","c_root_id_B":"gvxqczv","created_at_utc_A":1619460736,"created_at_utc_B":1619449491,"score_A":24,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Maybe you are being disillusioned by the reality of academia. This could be your life for the rest of your life and covid made you stop and realize your situation. It suonds like you need more meaning to your life than running for your life (papers\/positions) and external validation.","human_ref_B":"I disagree with the other comments saying you should leave and go to industry, as if it was easy and would obviously make you happier. I guess the US situation where you spend more time hunting for grants than researching, enhanced by the pandemic, must really be awful. I can't decide for you but perhaps it is a question of whether you can see light at the end of this tunnel, with the pandemic ending, and perhaps the opportunity to eventually do fun and interesting research again ?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11245.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvygxdh","c_root_id_B":"gvxq0l6","created_at_utc_A":1619460736,"created_at_utc_B":1619449337,"score_A":24,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"Maybe you are being disillusioned by the reality of academia. This could be your life for the rest of your life and covid made you stop and realize your situation. It suonds like you need more meaning to your life than running for your life (papers\/positions) and external validation.","human_ref_B":"I just wanted to drop in and say I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re having a hard time. I hope things turn around for you. I\u2019m finishing up my PhD and I\u2019m realizing that\u2019s it\u2019s okay to change directions, a career in academia might be what many of us thought we wanted coming in, but it might not be what\u2019s best for us or what\u2019ll give us the lifestyle we want. Making decent money so I can start a family is important for me now in a way it wasn\u2019t when I started grad school so I\u2019ve decided maybe I shouldn\u2019t go the postdoc route. For you, I\u2019m sure you feel super lucky and fortunate that you have the career that everyone wishes for, but that shouldn\u2019t be the reason you stay if you\u2019re unhappy and you realize maybe this isn\u2019t right. Sending you love!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11399.0,"score_ratio":1.2631578947} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvygxdh","c_root_id_B":"gvyfjlm","created_at_utc_A":1619460736,"created_at_utc_B":1619460148,"score_A":24,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Maybe you are being disillusioned by the reality of academia. This could be your life for the rest of your life and covid made you stop and realize your situation. It suonds like you need more meaning to your life than running for your life (papers\/positions) and external validation.","human_ref_B":"Sorry to hear you are struggling u\/anitabewise ! It sounds like you have put in a lot of effort to get to where you are only to find yourself in a hard place still. I can understand how that would feel disheartening. To your point: \"I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support.\" This is really challenging! I moved for grad school during the pandemic and experienced some similar challenges (no community, new rhythms, different culture), and that was just another place in my own country! Don't underestimate the impact of this on your experiences right now. Perhaps trying to engage in these social aspects of life will also help with some of your experiences at work? Is there some local group you can join to share some common hobbies with others maybe once per week or month? For me, I know this helped, but the process was slow due to pandemic-related challenges. Take heart! Things won't feel this hard always!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":588.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvxq0l6","c_root_id_B":"gvxqczv","created_at_utc_A":1619449337,"created_at_utc_B":1619449491,"score_A":19,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I just wanted to drop in and say I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re having a hard time. I hope things turn around for you. I\u2019m finishing up my PhD and I\u2019m realizing that\u2019s it\u2019s okay to change directions, a career in academia might be what many of us thought we wanted coming in, but it might not be what\u2019s best for us or what\u2019ll give us the lifestyle we want. Making decent money so I can start a family is important for me now in a way it wasn\u2019t when I started grad school so I\u2019ve decided maybe I shouldn\u2019t go the postdoc route. For you, I\u2019m sure you feel super lucky and fortunate that you have the career that everyone wishes for, but that shouldn\u2019t be the reason you stay if you\u2019re unhappy and you realize maybe this isn\u2019t right. Sending you love!","human_ref_B":"I disagree with the other comments saying you should leave and go to industry, as if it was easy and would obviously make you happier. I guess the US situation where you spend more time hunting for grants than researching, enhanced by the pandemic, must really be awful. I can't decide for you but perhaps it is a question of whether you can see light at the end of this tunnel, with the pandemic ending, and perhaps the opportunity to eventually do fun and interesting research again ?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":154.0,"score_ratio":1.0526315789} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvyfjlm","c_root_id_B":"gvyhred","created_at_utc_A":1619460148,"created_at_utc_B":1619461092,"score_A":8,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Sorry to hear you are struggling u\/anitabewise ! It sounds like you have put in a lot of effort to get to where you are only to find yourself in a hard place still. I can understand how that would feel disheartening. To your point: \"I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support.\" This is really challenging! I moved for grad school during the pandemic and experienced some similar challenges (no community, new rhythms, different culture), and that was just another place in my own country! Don't underestimate the impact of this on your experiences right now. Perhaps trying to engage in these social aspects of life will also help with some of your experiences at work? Is there some local group you can join to share some common hobbies with others maybe once per week or month? For me, I know this helped, but the process was slow due to pandemic-related challenges. Take heart! Things won't feel this hard always!","human_ref_B":"I can relate to this. Here's what worked for me before: take a weekend off, go for a walk, get some air, and start daydreaming about what your ideal position would be like (including working conditions). What did you want to be doing at this point in your career? Where do you want to be in the future? Can you find a vision that sparks something inside you? Finding a vision won't solve anything per se, but if you have a clear idea of what you want -- and can feel how good it'll be to have it -- then you'll have the motivation to start making the necessary changes towards it. Be mindful of other motives that might be getting in the way of that vision too. In my case, I found chasing prestige was killing my creativity and love of research. This is probably terrible advice for most people (and you certainly shouldn't follow it) but I tried to forget about papers and grants for awhile, and allowed myself to relax and play again. Not worrying about falling behind my peers helped tremendously.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":944.0,"score_ratio":2.125} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvyxd65","c_root_id_B":"gw0jh1o","created_at_utc_A":1619467726,"created_at_utc_B":1619497039,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"\u201cAnxiosity\u201d is exactly the word I needed these days! My only advice\u2014really think about what you will look back at when you are like 80 on the rocking chair in the retirement home and say, \u201cI\u2019m glad I did that.\u201d Sounds like what you\u2019re doing is not fulfilling. What about positions at less prestigious institutions\u2014perhaps ones with more security?","human_ref_B":"I'm on the same boat, except I don't want to stay in academia, never apply for a grant, and I have my husband. I stay because of interesting research projects that keep stimulating my mind, and because I need time to get my GC. I have worked in different research labs and carefully watched how PIs run their labs. I see how challenging PI's job is, how PIs play politics with each other, how PIs have to deal with special Ph.D. students and nightmare collaborators. Many of the PIs whom I worked with stay single, or if they got married and have kids, a few years down the road in their professorship, their job duties ruin their marriages, if their spouse doesn't work in the same lab. I also had an opportunity to observe an old professor who was kicked out by the university because he's in his early 70s and didn't bring funding to the university for some years. It was very sad, he still came in every day, young and new people didn't bother to greet him, and he didn't have his office anymore. They took his office to make room for a new faculty member. He had to close his lab, so new faculty could start a new lab. I have seen PIs who established their lab for 10 years but still struggling to find solid research questions\/direction and lacking leadership, management, and collaborative skills, so their lab can't take off even though they got good funding due to the supports from their former bosses. Personally, I think, if you don't have a passion\/call for a specific research topic, if you are interested in many research topics like I do, if you don't develop a solid research question\/direction, or don't bother to obtain leadership, management, collaborative, and politic skills, please don't waste tax money and your personal life by becoming a PI. To OP, I think loneliness is touching your soul. Besides, you have given to academia for a long time but the rewards couldn't be compensated, so your resentful level starts to rise up and that bothers you. It's also a good sign though... I was there 6 years back, then I made some changes. I treat my postdoc work as a 9-10 hours\/day job. Evenings and most of the weekends are my time. It's annoying at the beginning and at many times I fought between going to work during the weekends or not. But that feeling faded since I developed new interests in other fields like psychology, human interactions\/politics of promotion, the stock market... Reading a lot about these fields help me to understand why I was at that place. After that, I pushed myself out to date, luckily met my husband. Now, I know what next steps are for my career, and what I want for my life besides work, so I know when I need to stop a working day and go home. Sometimes, I still slide back to the old habit of overworking, but the marriage life reminds me that if I want a happy life, I need to balance between my work and personal needs. Hope that gives you some ideas to improve your situation.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":29313.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gvz9d7j","c_root_id_B":"gw0jh1o","created_at_utc_A":1619473026,"created_at_utc_B":1619497039,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I've been through a similar path, where many of my grant applications have gone nowhere, despite working tirelessly and with great teams, and amazing research data. I hope to give an economic explanation, that will at least provide insight and clarity of why, and solutions forward. 1. There is a massive influx of scientists into this field due to the university sector pyramid scheme. They sell millions of student courses, degrees and PHDs. Also like me, they found science\/medical research sexy. 2. There is no supply central control of scientists into the field. Unlike Medicine or Big Four accounting firms (graduate programs)\/ Defence Force. While there are big budgets for research, there is no system that projects what the number of scientists should be based on the budget. In Medicine Big four accounting and Defnece force, they calculate backward, based on the needs and demands of the global requirements, and their measured turnover. 3. There is little to no monetary Return on Investment on Institutional research. In the scenario 2 above, it would be ok to train an infinite amount of 'app' developing software programmers, because they would then make apps that make money for companies, that would then pay them a cut. However, scientists usually 99.9% of the time don't make money from their research, they produce publications and data. However, they can't eat, or pay the bills with publications and data. 4. Grants are an economically unsustainable method for sustaining continued long term financing both projects and salaries. As we have seen in socialist and Marxists economics, it is very difficult to control economies based on central planning. Inevitably, something falls thru the cracks, or some error gap in the system, starts getting bigger and bigger. Capitalistic industries and economies (though have weaknesses), are dynamic, fluid and self-correcting. A boss will redirect an employee's job or role to ensure the company continues to make money for example thus paying for the employee. A common mythology in research funding is 'this small grant will lead to a big grant' ' this big grant will lead to further big grants' etc. How can everyone all get big grants? the only way this can happen is if research funding exponentially grows faster than the research is completed. However a country usually fixes their research funding at 0.2-3% GDP every year. Solution: Both Scientists and institutions are to blame for this messed up economics, which wrecks pple's careers. Its evolved over many decades, however the solution is to bring research back to it's original origins, which was to develop a new product or service, which can be commercialised and sold for money. With this money, you use this to pay yourself a wage. My challenge here is to take responsibility for the value of the research that you create, and to channel it into something that people will pay money for. If someone is willing to pay money for it then it is of value, and your research is of value. If no-one is willing to pay money for it, be it a company, the medical field, hospital, patient, etc. Then it has no value. **TLDR: Align yourself in a supply chain that produces or supplies an in-demand product or service.**","human_ref_B":"I'm on the same boat, except I don't want to stay in academia, never apply for a grant, and I have my husband. I stay because of interesting research projects that keep stimulating my mind, and because I need time to get my GC. I have worked in different research labs and carefully watched how PIs run their labs. I see how challenging PI's job is, how PIs play politics with each other, how PIs have to deal with special Ph.D. students and nightmare collaborators. Many of the PIs whom I worked with stay single, or if they got married and have kids, a few years down the road in their professorship, their job duties ruin their marriages, if their spouse doesn't work in the same lab. I also had an opportunity to observe an old professor who was kicked out by the university because he's in his early 70s and didn't bring funding to the university for some years. It was very sad, he still came in every day, young and new people didn't bother to greet him, and he didn't have his office anymore. They took his office to make room for a new faculty member. He had to close his lab, so new faculty could start a new lab. I have seen PIs who established their lab for 10 years but still struggling to find solid research questions\/direction and lacking leadership, management, and collaborative skills, so their lab can't take off even though they got good funding due to the supports from their former bosses. Personally, I think, if you don't have a passion\/call for a specific research topic, if you are interested in many research topics like I do, if you don't develop a solid research question\/direction, or don't bother to obtain leadership, management, collaborative, and politic skills, please don't waste tax money and your personal life by becoming a PI. To OP, I think loneliness is touching your soul. Besides, you have given to academia for a long time but the rewards couldn't be compensated, so your resentful level starts to rise up and that bothers you. It's also a good sign though... I was there 6 years back, then I made some changes. I treat my postdoc work as a 9-10 hours\/day job. Evenings and most of the weekends are my time. It's annoying at the beginning and at many times I fought between going to work during the weekends or not. But that feeling faded since I developed new interests in other fields like psychology, human interactions\/politics of promotion, the stock market... Reading a lot about these fields help me to understand why I was at that place. After that, I pushed myself out to date, luckily met my husband. Now, I know what next steps are for my career, and what I want for my life besides work, so I know when I need to stop a working day and go home. Sometimes, I still slide back to the old habit of overworking, but the marriage life reminds me that if I want a happy life, I need to balance between my work and personal needs. Hope that gives you some ideas to improve your situation.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":24013.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"myxn1k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"beating a dead donkey STEM Since a year back I am holding an instructor position at an ivy league school and I am miserable. I am supposed to be excited and look for the opportunities-grants-my own research questions. I fought hard to get this position, but I am dragging myself out of bed every day. Sundays I have anxiosity and I dont sleep more than 2h a night. I dont know whats wrong with me. An academic career was all I ever wanted. I sacrificed everything for it- constant moving countries (5x), no family,no partner, I have aquintances all over the world but no friends or feeling of belonging anywhere. I am currently seeing a therapist because, prior to this I was 10y a post doc, in a toxic place with high abuse of people. My strategy to survive was to put my head down and work harder, but the price was that I became exhausted- leading 5 different projects at any time, doing the experiements with only help from 1 undergrad, writing grants for my boss but never getting recogniton, 2 conferences in 10y was our allowance...you get the drill. There was no time or energy for personal relationships. Yes, I got publications but for a TT job it was not enough. Now, I am on this 2 year contract, in a new country, in the middle of pandemic. I have almost no funding, but I got one RA. Everything has been painfully slow. Because of lockdowns my experiments are behind. The leadership in the department is struggling to aquire funding and they have asked me to provide them with a strategy-because if they get money, I get money. And I am trying to use my collaborations in the world and create a program grant. Not sure if this should be on me, because if it fails they still have positions but I have nothing. Frankly, I have never put together a 2.5 milion program grant before. My advisor is a clinician that never had anyone with my background-or seniority-to mentor. His advise for me is to ask his post doc of 2 years to join the project- like a new pair of hands. I am also not happy in this country. I have been isolated for a year and I have no social network, and besides my therapist- no support. Maybe I am just not being honest with myself, maybe I am beating a dead donkey. I am just deeply heartbroken.","c_root_id_A":"gw04pto","c_root_id_B":"gw0jh1o","created_at_utc_A":1619488493,"created_at_utc_B":1619497039,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Maybe you need a job in another country. Why you came here is beyond me. America is divided n hate-filled now. They worship the gods of money and greed. They celebrate every type of debauchery under the Napoleanic Code. No morals, character, love or kindness anyone. No wonder you feel miserable- you are living in a war zone: a civil war. Worse still- you are at an Ivy League college where the hatred is at the highest level. No one outside rich politicians, their friends\/family n donors is happy. Find another country. Or go home. Please do not be miserable in a country whose leaders entire existence is to make us more miserable. Not worth it.","human_ref_B":"I'm on the same boat, except I don't want to stay in academia, never apply for a grant, and I have my husband. I stay because of interesting research projects that keep stimulating my mind, and because I need time to get my GC. I have worked in different research labs and carefully watched how PIs run their labs. I see how challenging PI's job is, how PIs play politics with each other, how PIs have to deal with special Ph.D. students and nightmare collaborators. Many of the PIs whom I worked with stay single, or if they got married and have kids, a few years down the road in their professorship, their job duties ruin their marriages, if their spouse doesn't work in the same lab. I also had an opportunity to observe an old professor who was kicked out by the university because he's in his early 70s and didn't bring funding to the university for some years. It was very sad, he still came in every day, young and new people didn't bother to greet him, and he didn't have his office anymore. They took his office to make room for a new faculty member. He had to close his lab, so new faculty could start a new lab. I have seen PIs who established their lab for 10 years but still struggling to find solid research questions\/direction and lacking leadership, management, and collaborative skills, so their lab can't take off even though they got good funding due to the supports from their former bosses. Personally, I think, if you don't have a passion\/call for a specific research topic, if you are interested in many research topics like I do, if you don't develop a solid research question\/direction, or don't bother to obtain leadership, management, collaborative, and politic skills, please don't waste tax money and your personal life by becoming a PI. To OP, I think loneliness is touching your soul. Besides, you have given to academia for a long time but the rewards couldn't be compensated, so your resentful level starts to rise up and that bothers you. It's also a good sign though... I was there 6 years back, then I made some changes. I treat my postdoc work as a 9-10 hours\/day job. Evenings and most of the weekends are my time. It's annoying at the beginning and at many times I fought between going to work during the weekends or not. But that feeling faded since I developed new interests in other fields like psychology, human interactions\/politics of promotion, the stock market... Reading a lot about these fields help me to understand why I was at that place. After that, I pushed myself out to date, luckily met my husband. Now, I know what next steps are for my career, and what I want for my life besides work, so I know when I need to stop a working day and go home. Sometimes, I still slide back to the old habit of overworking, but the marriage life reminds me that if I want a happy life, I need to balance between my work and personal needs. Hope that gives you some ideas to improve your situation.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8546.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"inl0aa","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Scientists who left academia for the corporate world, did you find your education to be helpful? Im talking about chemists\/biochemists\/geneticists and others involved in laboratory related sciences rather than CS\/Engineering academics. If you've left the academic world, do you believe your experiences in science have benefited you in your new roles?","c_root_id_A":"g48codn","c_root_id_B":"g48cc6g","created_at_utc_A":1599401242,"created_at_utc_B":1599401038,"score_A":88,"score_B":45,"human_ref_A":"I always targeted industrial RnD roles right from the get go when I started my PhD so that\u2019s the perspective my answer is coming from. My experience has been that if you want a job in a hard science (like chemistry, biochemistry, genetics etc. as you say) you basically need a PhD in order to have any meaningful career progression, at least in large companies. BS and to a lesser extent MS holders do not get promoted into management and have much lower salaries (like 50% of PhD holders). It\u2019s not fair, but that\u2019s what it\u2019s looked like to me from the inside. You basically need a PhD to do my job (physical chemistry RnD) but not every job. You can definitely get there and be competent at my and other jobs where the employee has a PhD but it\u2019s a lot easier to start with a PhD since you have a lot of background to understand what you\u2019re doing and more importantly design and analyze your experiments in any meaningful way. Most industrial RnD (in chemistry) is largely streamlined anyway with most cutting edge stuff being acquired or assimilated through industry-academic collaborations (which again a PhD is helpful for).","human_ref_B":"Of course. During grad school I developed technical skills (data analysis, programming) but also the ability to learn new things independently (some of the new machine learning techniques I use today I first learned about during literature reviews). While I don't use them as much as I might have in academia, my writing and presentation skills are also generally better than my colleagues with less academic training. Things like working on a deadline, etc. are also useful skills I developed both in my upper undergraduate and graduate studies.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":204.0,"score_ratio":1.9555555556} {"post_id":"gm3zk2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Librarians of Reddit, what tools or systems at the library could greatly benefit a researcher\u2019s search and workflow, but is rarely or improperly used? ***TL;DR:* Researcher and Librarians of reddit, I was hoping you could share techniques and tools\/services\/features that are often forgotten, tucked away, or just plain underutilized. I\u2019m referring to things that could greatly help researchers in their lit- or topical searches, and information collection & management after they\u2019ve begun finding info.** ___   I was going through some old documents that I needed to organize and thought about the systems that librarians used to use, such as index cards, and topic bibliographies. I remember getting a library ran crash-course in my undergraduate education on using EBSCO and other things, but it was relatively identical to what they taught to highschool students in the late 2000s: relatively analog methods of search, easybib and EBSCO as a search engine. Before that we learned about bibliographies written by subject-experts in a field that lists books and publications on a subject or sub-discipline. These were rarely used or findable during undergrad. *Is there a good digital version of subject bibliographies?* Most search algorithms don\u2019t seam to curate the best books for a subject matter for a given year. Mendeley is a great tool it was relatively fresh in My undergrad years. However I\u2019ve always wanted to know more about little known research tools that could drastically improve your research workflow and it\u2019s organization. Researchers in academia often have access to software or database subscriptions as well interlibrary programs, but there are many facets to these things. *What tools or functions (digital or self-used) in a library is often underutilized or in-plain sight but is so useful if people actually knew about it?* When I think of tools & services, I typically think of EBSCO\/EBSCO-Host, JSTOR, or WorldCat. Basically things almost every University provides. *What little known, tucked away, or underutilized features such as source referencing and search management, workflow aids, or other features that are super useful are rarely found by the average first year grad student?* Or *what features or common tool do you share that are rarely talked about that is a game-changer?* ***Side-notes:*** 1. I know that reference librarians are invaluable tools and people, but I want to focus on things that they and other librarians provide or teach about. 2. I hope this is the right place to ask.","c_root_id_A":"fr1fodk","c_root_id_B":"fr1vr1w","created_at_utc_A":1589818909,"created_at_utc_B":1589826754,"score_A":30,"score_B":64,"human_ref_A":"Talk to the research librarians. It\u2019s amazing how they can help you sometimes","human_ref_B":"I'm an academic librarian... I've learned about research through my degree, and through dogfooding, my university has faculty librarians so I have to do personal research, as well as helping students. I'm cribbing from my instructional presentation for incoming PhDs: \\- Forward citation searching. Very few grad students know about this. Scopus used to be the only tool, but now Google Scholar is so good at it, just truly choice. I teach this all the time. Most of them know about regular (backwards) citation searching, so the idea of doing it in the other directions pleasurably blows minds. \\- Google Scholar Alerts \\- Statistics, how to find them. Usually subject specific so you'd have to tell me what you're into. Also getting students to understand stats don't just come out of some ethereal butt - no one can say \"How many people use potholders instead of oven gloves in the US?\" unless someone pays to do a study to get that number. \\- HathiTrust, search-inside feature for in-copyright books, you can use it as a power index for books you have in your hand \\- Subject Heading searches in catalogs and databases - this is the main value of professional databases over Google Scholar \\- LibGuides - these are the modern version of the subject bibliography (though I am tickled pink to see someone who doesn't have an MSLIS who remembers them), if you can hit on a good one you've got a hot little ticket to get your research in an area going. I maintain a very specific one for a unique study of subject that gets thousands of hits a year, outside of my university. That's all I can think of off the top of my head! But I can answer questions about the mysterious powers on the other side of the reference desk.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7845.0,"score_ratio":2.1333333333} {"post_id":"gm3zk2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Librarians of Reddit, what tools or systems at the library could greatly benefit a researcher\u2019s search and workflow, but is rarely or improperly used? ***TL;DR:* Researcher and Librarians of reddit, I was hoping you could share techniques and tools\/services\/features that are often forgotten, tucked away, or just plain underutilized. I\u2019m referring to things that could greatly help researchers in their lit- or topical searches, and information collection & management after they\u2019ve begun finding info.** ___   I was going through some old documents that I needed to organize and thought about the systems that librarians used to use, such as index cards, and topic bibliographies. I remember getting a library ran crash-course in my undergraduate education on using EBSCO and other things, but it was relatively identical to what they taught to highschool students in the late 2000s: relatively analog methods of search, easybib and EBSCO as a search engine. Before that we learned about bibliographies written by subject-experts in a field that lists books and publications on a subject or sub-discipline. These were rarely used or findable during undergrad. *Is there a good digital version of subject bibliographies?* Most search algorithms don\u2019t seam to curate the best books for a subject matter for a given year. Mendeley is a great tool it was relatively fresh in My undergrad years. However I\u2019ve always wanted to know more about little known research tools that could drastically improve your research workflow and it\u2019s organization. Researchers in academia often have access to software or database subscriptions as well interlibrary programs, but there are many facets to these things. *What tools or functions (digital or self-used) in a library is often underutilized or in-plain sight but is so useful if people actually knew about it?* When I think of tools & services, I typically think of EBSCO\/EBSCO-Host, JSTOR, or WorldCat. Basically things almost every University provides. *What little known, tucked away, or underutilized features such as source referencing and search management, workflow aids, or other features that are super useful are rarely found by the average first year grad student?* Or *what features or common tool do you share that are rarely talked about that is a game-changer?* ***Side-notes:*** 1. I know that reference librarians are invaluable tools and people, but I want to focus on things that they and other librarians provide or teach about. 2. I hope this is the right place to ask.","c_root_id_A":"fr1vr1w","c_root_id_B":"fr1r62v","created_at_utc_A":1589826754,"created_at_utc_B":1589824547,"score_A":64,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I'm an academic librarian... I've learned about research through my degree, and through dogfooding, my university has faculty librarians so I have to do personal research, as well as helping students. I'm cribbing from my instructional presentation for incoming PhDs: \\- Forward citation searching. Very few grad students know about this. Scopus used to be the only tool, but now Google Scholar is so good at it, just truly choice. I teach this all the time. Most of them know about regular (backwards) citation searching, so the idea of doing it in the other directions pleasurably blows minds. \\- Google Scholar Alerts \\- Statistics, how to find them. Usually subject specific so you'd have to tell me what you're into. Also getting students to understand stats don't just come out of some ethereal butt - no one can say \"How many people use potholders instead of oven gloves in the US?\" unless someone pays to do a study to get that number. \\- HathiTrust, search-inside feature for in-copyright books, you can use it as a power index for books you have in your hand \\- Subject Heading searches in catalogs and databases - this is the main value of professional databases over Google Scholar \\- LibGuides - these are the modern version of the subject bibliography (though I am tickled pink to see someone who doesn't have an MSLIS who remembers them), if you can hit on a good one you've got a hot little ticket to get your research in an area going. I maintain a very specific one for a unique study of subject that gets thousands of hits a year, outside of my university. That's all I can think of off the top of my head! But I can answer questions about the mysterious powers on the other side of the reference desk.","human_ref_B":"Not a librarian, but I personally like publish or perish, sci-val and playing around with Zotero plugins","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2207.0,"score_ratio":9.1428571429} {"post_id":"gm3zk2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Librarians of Reddit, what tools or systems at the library could greatly benefit a researcher\u2019s search and workflow, but is rarely or improperly used? ***TL;DR:* Researcher and Librarians of reddit, I was hoping you could share techniques and tools\/services\/features that are often forgotten, tucked away, or just plain underutilized. I\u2019m referring to things that could greatly help researchers in their lit- or topical searches, and information collection & management after they\u2019ve begun finding info.** ___   I was going through some old documents that I needed to organize and thought about the systems that librarians used to use, such as index cards, and topic bibliographies. I remember getting a library ran crash-course in my undergraduate education on using EBSCO and other things, but it was relatively identical to what they taught to highschool students in the late 2000s: relatively analog methods of search, easybib and EBSCO as a search engine. Before that we learned about bibliographies written by subject-experts in a field that lists books and publications on a subject or sub-discipline. These were rarely used or findable during undergrad. *Is there a good digital version of subject bibliographies?* Most search algorithms don\u2019t seam to curate the best books for a subject matter for a given year. Mendeley is a great tool it was relatively fresh in My undergrad years. However I\u2019ve always wanted to know more about little known research tools that could drastically improve your research workflow and it\u2019s organization. Researchers in academia often have access to software or database subscriptions as well interlibrary programs, but there are many facets to these things. *What tools or functions (digital or self-used) in a library is often underutilized or in-plain sight but is so useful if people actually knew about it?* When I think of tools & services, I typically think of EBSCO\/EBSCO-Host, JSTOR, or WorldCat. Basically things almost every University provides. *What little known, tucked away, or underutilized features such as source referencing and search management, workflow aids, or other features that are super useful are rarely found by the average first year grad student?* Or *what features or common tool do you share that are rarely talked about that is a game-changer?* ***Side-notes:*** 1. I know that reference librarians are invaluable tools and people, but I want to focus on things that they and other librarians provide or teach about. 2. I hope this is the right place to ask.","c_root_id_A":"fr1x871","c_root_id_B":"fr1r62v","created_at_utc_A":1589827463,"created_at_utc_B":1589824547,"score_A":21,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Anyone of those that can show you network graphs of interconnected citations. Many times during literature reviews, I find that there is a \u201ccore\u201d set of papers that represent the current understanding of my topic and these will be those nodes that are highly interconnected. It helps me find research areas that have sprouted off of this and identify what I\u2019ve missed. Great for writing reviews.","human_ref_B":"Not a librarian, but I personally like publish or perish, sci-val and playing around with Zotero plugins","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2916.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"gm3zk2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Librarians of Reddit, what tools or systems at the library could greatly benefit a researcher\u2019s search and workflow, but is rarely or improperly used? ***TL;DR:* Researcher and Librarians of reddit, I was hoping you could share techniques and tools\/services\/features that are often forgotten, tucked away, or just plain underutilized. I\u2019m referring to things that could greatly help researchers in their lit- or topical searches, and information collection & management after they\u2019ve begun finding info.** ___   I was going through some old documents that I needed to organize and thought about the systems that librarians used to use, such as index cards, and topic bibliographies. I remember getting a library ran crash-course in my undergraduate education on using EBSCO and other things, but it was relatively identical to what they taught to highschool students in the late 2000s: relatively analog methods of search, easybib and EBSCO as a search engine. Before that we learned about bibliographies written by subject-experts in a field that lists books and publications on a subject or sub-discipline. These were rarely used or findable during undergrad. *Is there a good digital version of subject bibliographies?* Most search algorithms don\u2019t seam to curate the best books for a subject matter for a given year. Mendeley is a great tool it was relatively fresh in My undergrad years. However I\u2019ve always wanted to know more about little known research tools that could drastically improve your research workflow and it\u2019s organization. Researchers in academia often have access to software or database subscriptions as well interlibrary programs, but there are many facets to these things. *What tools or functions (digital or self-used) in a library is often underutilized or in-plain sight but is so useful if people actually knew about it?* When I think of tools & services, I typically think of EBSCO\/EBSCO-Host, JSTOR, or WorldCat. Basically things almost every University provides. *What little known, tucked away, or underutilized features such as source referencing and search management, workflow aids, or other features that are super useful are rarely found by the average first year grad student?* Or *what features or common tool do you share that are rarely talked about that is a game-changer?* ***Side-notes:*** 1. I know that reference librarians are invaluable tools and people, but I want to focus on things that they and other librarians provide or teach about. 2. I hope this is the right place to ask.","c_root_id_A":"fr1r62v","c_root_id_B":"fr1z92z","created_at_utc_A":1589824547,"created_at_utc_B":1589828456,"score_A":7,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Not a librarian, but I personally like publish or perish, sci-val and playing around with Zotero plugins","human_ref_B":"Not a librarian but a professor that is routinely shocked to meet advanced undergrads (from other departments) that not only do not use, but are not aware of the existence of citation\/bibliography management software. We are an Endnote campus, but any of them will work wonders compared to trying to maintain lists on your own, much less shifting between citation formats. We teach Endnote in our first-year classes in my department, but most other departments never do. I often run into senior STEM majors for whom a bibliography is just a long Word document and they have no record at all of citations used in their prior courses. That anyone would be in graduate school and still not using some software solution to manage references is a real puzzle, but I know it happens.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3909.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"gm3zk2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Librarians of Reddit, what tools or systems at the library could greatly benefit a researcher\u2019s search and workflow, but is rarely or improperly used? ***TL;DR:* Researcher and Librarians of reddit, I was hoping you could share techniques and tools\/services\/features that are often forgotten, tucked away, or just plain underutilized. I\u2019m referring to things that could greatly help researchers in their lit- or topical searches, and information collection & management after they\u2019ve begun finding info.** ___   I was going through some old documents that I needed to organize and thought about the systems that librarians used to use, such as index cards, and topic bibliographies. I remember getting a library ran crash-course in my undergraduate education on using EBSCO and other things, but it was relatively identical to what they taught to highschool students in the late 2000s: relatively analog methods of search, easybib and EBSCO as a search engine. Before that we learned about bibliographies written by subject-experts in a field that lists books and publications on a subject or sub-discipline. These were rarely used or findable during undergrad. *Is there a good digital version of subject bibliographies?* Most search algorithms don\u2019t seam to curate the best books for a subject matter for a given year. Mendeley is a great tool it was relatively fresh in My undergrad years. However I\u2019ve always wanted to know more about little known research tools that could drastically improve your research workflow and it\u2019s organization. Researchers in academia often have access to software or database subscriptions as well interlibrary programs, but there are many facets to these things. *What tools or functions (digital or self-used) in a library is often underutilized or in-plain sight but is so useful if people actually knew about it?* When I think of tools & services, I typically think of EBSCO\/EBSCO-Host, JSTOR, or WorldCat. Basically things almost every University provides. *What little known, tucked away, or underutilized features such as source referencing and search management, workflow aids, or other features that are super useful are rarely found by the average first year grad student?* Or *what features or common tool do you share that are rarely talked about that is a game-changer?* ***Side-notes:*** 1. I know that reference librarians are invaluable tools and people, but I want to focus on things that they and other librarians provide or teach about. 2. I hope this is the right place to ask.","c_root_id_A":"fr1z285","c_root_id_B":"fr1z92z","created_at_utc_A":1589828364,"created_at_utc_B":1589828456,"score_A":6,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I'm not a librarian, but have recently started doing a bunch of information management. I would definitely recommend looking into data management plans, and data protection regulations. They weren't even on my radar during my PhD, but are a massive deal in professional research.","human_ref_B":"Not a librarian but a professor that is routinely shocked to meet advanced undergrads (from other departments) that not only do not use, but are not aware of the existence of citation\/bibliography management software. We are an Endnote campus, but any of them will work wonders compared to trying to maintain lists on your own, much less shifting between citation formats. We teach Endnote in our first-year classes in my department, but most other departments never do. I often run into senior STEM majors for whom a bibliography is just a long Word document and they have no record at all of citations used in their prior courses. That anyone would be in graduate school and still not using some software solution to manage references is a real puzzle, but I know it happens.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":92.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzkjmw","c_root_id_B":"fxzi6bv","created_at_utc_A":1594686761,"created_at_utc_B":1594685419,"score_A":449,"score_B":171,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, in my opinion, you are making a terrible mistake if academia is the only outcome that would make you happy. If you are just as happy working in industry, then turning down the job might not be a big deal. But if you are committed to academia, and you get offered a decent tenure track job offer in a bad economy, then you take it. Going to a potentially shitty location is always part of the deal when you get into academia.","human_ref_B":"It is easier to find another job when you are already employed. I wouldn\u2019t turn it down unless there was a more compelling reason not to. TT positions are difficult to come by...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1342.0,"score_ratio":2.6257309942} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzi6bv","c_root_id_B":"fxzlxtw","created_at_utc_A":1594685419,"created_at_utc_B":1594687573,"score_A":171,"score_B":175,"human_ref_A":"It is easier to find another job when you are already employed. I wouldn\u2019t turn it down unless there was a more compelling reason not to. TT positions are difficult to come by...","human_ref_B":"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If you want to be an academic I don't think you should turn this down. Like the others have said, much easier to land another tenure job if you are already in one.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2154.0,"score_ratio":1.0233918129} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzx0j7","c_root_id_B":"fxzrpkd","created_at_utc_A":1594694037,"created_at_utc_B":1594690912,"score_A":75,"score_B":53,"human_ref_A":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","human_ref_B":"Well, it depends on how important it is for you to stay in academia. Realistically, hiring will continue to be tight for the forseeable future, and you're unlikely to improve on your existing offer in the next few years. A reasonable tenure-track position will provide you with the critical opportunity to develop an independent reputation as a PI, and to secure independent funding. If you miss this opportunity, it might be another couple of years before hiring starts to thaw out again, by which time you'll be dangerously close to the being 10 years out from the Ph.D. without a tenure-track position, which will not feed into the narrative of being a rising star, which is critical to be competitive at the most prestigious institutions. At the end of the day, you're really making a choice between staying in academia, or a non-academic career.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3125.0,"score_ratio":1.4150943396} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzx0j7","c_root_id_B":"fxzuix1","created_at_utc_A":1594694037,"created_at_utc_B":1594692549,"score_A":75,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","human_ref_B":"I'm having trouble understanding why you're not taking it. It sounds like it's fine, just not your dream job. Am I missing something?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1488.0,"score_ratio":1.5957446809} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzx0j7","c_root_id_B":"fxzsaxp","created_at_utc_A":1594694037,"created_at_utc_B":1594691262,"score_A":75,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","human_ref_B":"Social Science PhD Student here. Please, take the TT job because of all the reasons everyone else so far has cited. If you are in academia for the long haul, take a tenure track job if you have the option!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2775.0,"score_ratio":1.9230769231} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzx0j7","c_root_id_B":"fxzpxr1","created_at_utc_A":1594694037,"created_at_utc_B":1594689884,"score_A":75,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","human_ref_B":"Still better than a postdoc? Remember that a lot of the early career awards are time since doctorate, so you are getting to the tail end of that window to apply. Take the job, do awesome at it, move on up. I'd say basically 0 chance you'll get a job this next year with the market, so unless 2+ more years as a postdoc sounds great, you are throwing something better out the window!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4153.0,"score_ratio":2.2058823529} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzx0j7","c_root_id_B":"fxzw54v","created_at_utc_A":1594694037,"created_at_utc_B":1594693516,"score_A":75,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","human_ref_B":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":521.0,"score_ratio":2.8846153846} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzx0j7","c_root_id_B":"fxzuh70","created_at_utc_A":1594694037,"created_at_utc_B":1594692522,"score_A":75,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","human_ref_B":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1515.0,"score_ratio":3.75} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzx0j7","c_root_id_B":"fxzv9te","created_at_utc_A":1594694037,"created_at_utc_B":1594692997,"score_A":75,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","human_ref_B":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1040.0,"score_ratio":8.3333333333} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fxzx0j7","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594694037,"score_A":5,"score_B":75,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"You're riding a pretty damn high horse to be picky about TT at 6 years post doc, aside from the market, and with no other offers too. Shit or get off the pot - this is your shot to stay in academia.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1625.0,"score_ratio":15.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fxzrpkd","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594690912,"score_A":67,"score_B":53,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"Well, it depends on how important it is for you to stay in academia. Realistically, hiring will continue to be tight for the forseeable future, and you're unlikely to improve on your existing offer in the next few years. A reasonable tenure-track position will provide you with the critical opportunity to develop an independent reputation as a PI, and to secure independent funding. If you miss this opportunity, it might be another couple of years before hiring starts to thaw out again, by which time you'll be dangerously close to the being 10 years out from the Ph.D. without a tenure-track position, which will not feed into the narrative of being a rising star, which is critical to be competitive at the most prestigious institutions. At the end of the day, you're really making a choice between staying in academia, or a non-academic career.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11232.0,"score_ratio":1.2641509434} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuix1","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594692549,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":47,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"I'm having trouble understanding why you're not taking it. It sounds like it's fine, just not your dream job. Am I missing something?","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9595.0,"score_ratio":1.4255319149} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fxzsaxp","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594691262,"score_A":67,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"Social Science PhD Student here. Please, take the TT job because of all the reasons everyone else so far has cited. If you are in academia for the long haul, take a tenure track job if you have the option!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10882.0,"score_ratio":1.7179487179} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzpxr1","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594689884,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":34,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"Still better than a postdoc? Remember that a lot of the early career awards are time since doctorate, so you are getting to the tail end of that window to apply. Take the job, do awesome at it, move on up. I'd say basically 0 chance you'll get a job this next year with the market, so unless 2+ more years as a postdoc sounds great, you are throwing something better out the window!","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12260.0,"score_ratio":1.9705882353} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy03rwu","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594698274,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":35,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3870.0,"score_ratio":1.9142857143} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fy0111e","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594696507,"score_A":67,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5637.0,"score_ratio":2.09375} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fxzw54v","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594693516,"score_A":67,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8628.0,"score_ratio":2.5769230769} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fy08gjb","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594701498,"score_A":67,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","labels":1,"seconds_difference":646.0,"score_ratio":2.4814814815} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fxzxjyu","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594694360,"score_A":67,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7784.0,"score_ratio":2.9130434783} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fxzze5e","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594695485,"score_A":67,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6659.0,"score_ratio":3.35} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fxzuh70","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594692522,"score_A":67,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9622.0,"score_ratio":3.35} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz1vw","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594695273,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":17,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6871.0,"score_ratio":3.9411764706} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fxzxtfx","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594694519,"score_A":67,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7625.0,"score_ratio":3.5263157895} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fy02iw4","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594697461,"score_A":67,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4683.0,"score_ratio":4.7857142857} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxin0","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594694337,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":10,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7807.0,"score_ratio":6.7} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":9,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9147.0,"score_ratio":7.4444444444} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz99m","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594695400,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":9,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"If you don't want the job, don't take the job. If there's a part of you that does want to job, even if its maybe not perfect, consider that maybe you can adjust some of those things\/make up for it in other ways. Or, perhaps this would be good experience for eventually transitioning into your dream job. As far as the other things: if your saying taking this job might impeded your spouse's happiness\/ability to have THEIR dream job, then that's a whole other thing. We need more info, OP.","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6744.0,"score_ratio":7.4444444444} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fy0567q","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594699203,"score_A":67,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"Just to echo the other comments... ...TAKE THE DAMN JOB! If you want to stay in academia. I was lucky enough to land a TT gig in my actual field (which is even rare) that I start in two weeks. A friend and colleague of mine recently joked that I may have gotten the last tenure track job in my field. The economy SUCKS and tenure track jobs are not necessarily becoming more numerous... I was told by a faculty member at my new institution that I should start applying for jobs at other places immediately, which I plan to do. My SO is finishing her PhD soon, so we\u2019re going to try our hardest to get a spousal hire at my current institution, or alternatively (hopefully) one or both of us gets a TT job elsewhere and negotiates a spousal hire. None of this would be remotely possible if I wasn\u2019t starting a TT job right now. The experience and resources (e.g. research startup), and not to mention financial security, will enable me to build up my CV so that I can be competitive as an Assistant Professor attempting to move institutions. In a perfect world I\u2019d move elsewhere with tenure... Take the job!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2941.0,"score_ratio":7.4444444444} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy00gcl","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594696148,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":7,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5996.0,"score_ratio":9.5714285714} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy01lg0","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594696868,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":7,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"Take the job and work hard \u2014 if they don\u2019t improve salary and other items, you can leave.","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5276.0,"score_ratio":9.5714285714} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fy09byd","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594702144,"score_A":5,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9732.0,"score_ratio":13.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy09byd","c_root_id_B":"fy04uhh","created_at_utc_A":1594702144,"created_at_utc_B":1594698982,"score_A":67,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I got four interviews for TT jobs right out of the gate, and got offered one of them. I turned it down for the same reason as you: it wasn't ideal, and because I had four great interviews my first year on the market, I saw no reason why it shouldn't be the same next year. Then... five years without a single interview. Turning down that job is my #1 regret. If you get offered a TT job, *take it.*","human_ref_B":"I have heard that most TT change their job locations at, or around, the three year mark. The first three years, I\u2019ve heard provide opportunities to start creating a research agenda and also developing connects to where people really want to go. Take the job, you May end up liking it... and remember if you don\u2019t like it, like everything else, you can go somewhere else...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3162.0,"score_ratio":11.1666666667} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzrpkd","c_root_id_B":"fxzpxr1","created_at_utc_A":1594690912,"created_at_utc_B":1594689884,"score_A":53,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"Well, it depends on how important it is for you to stay in academia. Realistically, hiring will continue to be tight for the forseeable future, and you're unlikely to improve on your existing offer in the next few years. A reasonable tenure-track position will provide you with the critical opportunity to develop an independent reputation as a PI, and to secure independent funding. If you miss this opportunity, it might be another couple of years before hiring starts to thaw out again, by which time you'll be dangerously close to the being 10 years out from the Ph.D. without a tenure-track position, which will not feed into the narrative of being a rising star, which is critical to be competitive at the most prestigious institutions. At the end of the day, you're really making a choice between staying in academia, or a non-academic career.","human_ref_B":"Still better than a postdoc? Remember that a lot of the early career awards are time since doctorate, so you are getting to the tail end of that window to apply. Take the job, do awesome at it, move on up. I'd say basically 0 chance you'll get a job this next year with the market, so unless 2+ more years as a postdoc sounds great, you are throwing something better out the window!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1028.0,"score_ratio":1.5588235294} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuix1","c_root_id_B":"fxzsaxp","created_at_utc_A":1594692549,"created_at_utc_B":1594691262,"score_A":47,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"I'm having trouble understanding why you're not taking it. It sounds like it's fine, just not your dream job. Am I missing something?","human_ref_B":"Social Science PhD Student here. Please, take the TT job because of all the reasons everyone else so far has cited. If you are in academia for the long haul, take a tenure track job if you have the option!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1287.0,"score_ratio":1.2051282051} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzpxr1","c_root_id_B":"fxzuix1","created_at_utc_A":1594689884,"created_at_utc_B":1594692549,"score_A":34,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"Still better than a postdoc? Remember that a lot of the early career awards are time since doctorate, so you are getting to the tail end of that window to apply. Take the job, do awesome at it, move on up. I'd say basically 0 chance you'll get a job this next year with the market, so unless 2+ more years as a postdoc sounds great, you are throwing something better out the window!","human_ref_B":"I'm having trouble understanding why you're not taking it. It sounds like it's fine, just not your dream job. Am I missing something?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2665.0,"score_ratio":1.3823529412} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuix1","c_root_id_B":"fxzuh70","created_at_utc_A":1594692549,"created_at_utc_B":1594692522,"score_A":47,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I'm having trouble understanding why you're not taking it. It sounds like it's fine, just not your dream job. Am I missing something?","human_ref_B":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27.0,"score_ratio":2.35} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuix1","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594692549,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":47,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I'm having trouble understanding why you're not taking it. It sounds like it's fine, just not your dream job. Am I missing something?","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":137.0,"score_ratio":9.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzsaxp","c_root_id_B":"fxzpxr1","created_at_utc_A":1594691262,"created_at_utc_B":1594689884,"score_A":39,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"Social Science PhD Student here. Please, take the TT job because of all the reasons everyone else so far has cited. If you are in academia for the long haul, take a tenure track job if you have the option!","human_ref_B":"Still better than a postdoc? Remember that a lot of the early career awards are time since doctorate, so you are getting to the tail end of that window to apply. Take the job, do awesome at it, move on up. I'd say basically 0 chance you'll get a job this next year with the market, so unless 2+ more years as a postdoc sounds great, you are throwing something better out the window!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1378.0,"score_ratio":1.1470588235} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy03rwu","c_root_id_B":"fxzpxr1","created_at_utc_A":1594698274,"created_at_utc_B":1594689884,"score_A":35,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","human_ref_B":"Still better than a postdoc? Remember that a lot of the early career awards are time since doctorate, so you are getting to the tail end of that window to apply. Take the job, do awesome at it, move on up. I'd say basically 0 chance you'll get a job this next year with the market, so unless 2+ more years as a postdoc sounds great, you are throwing something better out the window!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8390.0,"score_ratio":1.0294117647} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0111e","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594696507,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":32,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1767.0,"score_ratio":1.09375} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy03rwu","c_root_id_B":"fxzw54v","created_at_utc_A":1594698274,"created_at_utc_B":1594693516,"score_A":35,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","human_ref_B":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4758.0,"score_ratio":1.3461538462} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxjyu","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594694360,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":23,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3914.0,"score_ratio":1.5217391304} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzze5e","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594695485,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":20,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2789.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuh70","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594692522,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":20,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5752.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz1vw","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594695273,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":17,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3001.0,"score_ratio":2.0588235294} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxtfx","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594694519,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":19,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3755.0,"score_ratio":1.8421052632} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy02iw4","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594697461,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":14,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":813.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxin0","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594694337,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":10,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3937.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy03rwu","c_root_id_B":"fxzv9te","created_at_utc_A":1594698274,"created_at_utc_B":1594692997,"score_A":35,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","human_ref_B":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5277.0,"score_ratio":3.8888888889} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz99m","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594695400,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":9,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"If you don't want the job, don't take the job. If there's a part of you that does want to job, even if its maybe not perfect, consider that maybe you can adjust some of those things\/make up for it in other ways. Or, perhaps this would be good experience for eventually transitioning into your dream job. As far as the other things: if your saying taking this job might impeded your spouse's happiness\/ability to have THEIR dream job, then that's a whole other thing. We need more info, OP.","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2874.0,"score_ratio":3.8888888889} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy03rwu","c_root_id_B":"fy00gcl","created_at_utc_A":1594698274,"created_at_utc_B":1594696148,"score_A":35,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","human_ref_B":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2126.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy03rwu","c_root_id_B":"fy01lg0","created_at_utc_A":1594698274,"created_at_utc_B":1594696868,"score_A":35,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","human_ref_B":"Take the job and work hard \u2014 if they don\u2019t improve salary and other items, you can leave.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1406.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fy03rwu","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594698274,"score_A":5,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"Have you **SEEN** the job market out there? Good god. If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you take it, or would you turn it down because next time you might win $11 million in the lottery? Right now, you don't have a choice between this offer and another theoretical offer that will maybe be *everything* you ever dreamed of. You have a choice between this and applying to be a driver for UberEats.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5862.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzw54v","c_root_id_B":"fy0111e","created_at_utc_A":1594693516,"created_at_utc_B":1594696507,"score_A":26,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","human_ref_B":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2991.0,"score_ratio":1.2307692308} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0111e","c_root_id_B":"fxzxjyu","created_at_utc_A":1594696507,"created_at_utc_B":1594694360,"score_A":32,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","human_ref_B":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2147.0,"score_ratio":1.3913043478} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0111e","c_root_id_B":"fxzze5e","created_at_utc_A":1594696507,"created_at_utc_B":1594695485,"score_A":32,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","human_ref_B":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1022.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0111e","c_root_id_B":"fxzuh70","created_at_utc_A":1594696507,"created_at_utc_B":1594692522,"score_A":32,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","human_ref_B":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3985.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz1vw","c_root_id_B":"fy0111e","created_at_utc_A":1594695273,"created_at_utc_B":1594696507,"score_A":17,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","human_ref_B":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1234.0,"score_ratio":1.8823529412} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxtfx","c_root_id_B":"fy0111e","created_at_utc_A":1594694519,"created_at_utc_B":1594696507,"score_A":19,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","human_ref_B":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1988.0,"score_ratio":1.6842105263} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxin0","c_root_id_B":"fy0111e","created_at_utc_A":1594694337,"created_at_utc_B":1594696507,"score_A":10,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","human_ref_B":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2170.0,"score_ratio":3.2} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fy0111e","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594696507,"score_A":9,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3510.0,"score_ratio":3.5555555556} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz99m","c_root_id_B":"fy0111e","created_at_utc_A":1594695400,"created_at_utc_B":1594696507,"score_A":9,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"If you don't want the job, don't take the job. If there's a part of you that does want to job, even if its maybe not perfect, consider that maybe you can adjust some of those things\/make up for it in other ways. Or, perhaps this would be good experience for eventually transitioning into your dream job. As far as the other things: if your saying taking this job might impeded your spouse's happiness\/ability to have THEIR dream job, then that's a whole other thing. We need more info, OP.","human_ref_B":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1107.0,"score_ratio":3.5555555556} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0111e","c_root_id_B":"fy00gcl","created_at_utc_A":1594696507,"created_at_utc_B":1594696148,"score_A":32,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","human_ref_B":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":359.0,"score_ratio":4.5714285714} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0111e","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594696507,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":32,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I also learned from this experience: you will NOT get your dream job in the first round. Also, you will be a better candidate as a TT than a postdoc. Take it, save some money, and gain experience as a professor. If you see any red flags, you should turn it down. However, based on your description, it seems like you are considering to reject because the job is just average. It's hard to get a R1 job right away - if that's what you wanted.","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4095.0,"score_ratio":6.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fxzw54v","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594693516,"score_A":27,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7982.0,"score_ratio":1.0384615385} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuh70","c_root_id_B":"fxzw54v","created_at_utc_A":1594692522,"created_at_utc_B":1594693516,"score_A":20,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","human_ref_B":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":994.0,"score_ratio":1.3} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzw54v","c_root_id_B":"fxzv9te","created_at_utc_A":1594693516,"created_at_utc_B":1594692997,"score_A":26,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","human_ref_B":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":519.0,"score_ratio":2.8888888889} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fxzw54v","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594693516,"score_A":5,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"Bruh, I just hope you have the stats to back up that attitude. If you're cranking up papers, making it rain grant and have a healthy pipeline over the next few years, then yeah, wait it out. Google up the TT staff of people who are employed in 'your range of schools', and estimate if you can have 1.5x pubs\/grants of those people by 2022 because that's probably when schools will start hiring again for real, and by that time the competition will be even fiercer.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1104.0,"score_ratio":5.2} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fxzxjyu","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594694360,"score_A":27,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7138.0,"score_ratio":1.1739130435} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzze5e","c_root_id_B":"fy08gjb","created_at_utc_A":1594695485,"created_at_utc_B":1594701498,"score_A":20,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","human_ref_B":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6013.0,"score_ratio":1.35} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fxzuh70","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594692522,"score_A":27,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8976.0,"score_ratio":1.35} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz1vw","c_root_id_B":"fy08gjb","created_at_utc_A":1594695273,"created_at_utc_B":1594701498,"score_A":17,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","human_ref_B":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6225.0,"score_ratio":1.5882352941} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fxzxtfx","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594694519,"score_A":27,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6979.0,"score_ratio":1.4210526316} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fy02iw4","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594697461,"score_A":27,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4037.0,"score_ratio":1.9285714286} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fxzxin0","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594694337,"score_A":27,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7161.0,"score_ratio":2.7} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fy08gjb","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594701498,"score_A":9,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8501.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fxzz99m","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594695400,"score_A":27,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"If you don't want the job, don't take the job. If there's a part of you that does want to job, even if its maybe not perfect, consider that maybe you can adjust some of those things\/make up for it in other ways. Or, perhaps this would be good experience for eventually transitioning into your dream job. As far as the other things: if your saying taking this job might impeded your spouse's happiness\/ability to have THEIR dream job, then that's a whole other thing. We need more info, OP.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6098.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0567q","c_root_id_B":"fy08gjb","created_at_utc_A":1594699203,"created_at_utc_B":1594701498,"score_A":9,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"Just to echo the other comments... ...TAKE THE DAMN JOB! If you want to stay in academia. I was lucky enough to land a TT gig in my actual field (which is even rare) that I start in two weeks. A friend and colleague of mine recently joked that I may have gotten the last tenure track job in my field. The economy SUCKS and tenure track jobs are not necessarily becoming more numerous... I was told by a faculty member at my new institution that I should start applying for jobs at other places immediately, which I plan to do. My SO is finishing her PhD soon, so we\u2019re going to try our hardest to get a spousal hire at my current institution, or alternatively (hopefully) one or both of us gets a TT job elsewhere and negotiates a spousal hire. None of this would be remotely possible if I wasn\u2019t starting a TT job right now. The experience and resources (e.g. research startup), and not to mention financial security, will enable me to build up my CV so that I can be competitive as an Assistant Professor attempting to move institutions. In a perfect world I\u2019d move elsewhere with tenure... Take the job!","human_ref_B":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2295.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fy00gcl","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594696148,"score_A":27,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5350.0,"score_ratio":3.8571428571} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fy01lg0","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594696868,"score_A":27,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"Take the job and work hard \u2014 if they don\u2019t improve salary and other items, you can leave.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4630.0,"score_ratio":3.8571428571} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy08gjb","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594701498,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":27,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9086.0,"score_ratio":5.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy04uhh","c_root_id_B":"fy08gjb","created_at_utc_A":1594698982,"created_at_utc_B":1594701498,"score_A":6,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I have heard that most TT change their job locations at, or around, the three year mark. The first three years, I\u2019ve heard provide opportunities to start creating a research agenda and also developing connects to where people really want to go. Take the job, you May end up liking it... and remember if you don\u2019t like it, like everything else, you can go somewhere else...","human_ref_B":"The group has already piled on so I won't add to it (not that I think they are wrong). The thing for me here is that you haven't actually articulated any concerns. Yes, the job is suboptimal (whose isn't) but is there are an actual showstopper here? ​ >spousal happiness\/job prospects This can indeed be a show stopper but you're so vague here that it's hard to evaluate how serious this concern is. Would your spouse be unemployed? underemployed? If it's just desirability of location (say a small town rather than big city) then you and your spouse need to have a serious discussion about your career plans for academia. Also, why did you bother applying if you couldn't\/wouldn't live there? Academic jobs don't exist everywhere - they are where they are - and 99% of the locations will be undesirable\/too competitive to land that you need to discuss whether this is is something you should actually pursue or whether you should move on. No one here can answer that for you but you. But as pointed out, the further out you are from your PhD, if you're still in a non-independent role your academic job prospects will shrink with each passing day. That's not saying anything about the current climate","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2516.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuh70","c_root_id_B":"fxzxjyu","created_at_utc_A":1594692522,"created_at_utc_B":1594694360,"score_A":20,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","human_ref_B":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1838.0,"score_ratio":1.15} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxjyu","c_root_id_B":"fxzxin0","created_at_utc_A":1594694360,"created_at_utc_B":1594694337,"score_A":23,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","human_ref_B":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23.0,"score_ratio":2.3} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fxzxjyu","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594694360,"score_A":9,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1363.0,"score_ratio":2.5555555556} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxjyu","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594694360,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":23,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Not that academia is the end all be all but IF you are committed to working in academia, you should take the job (you can try negotiating your salary and start-up a bit). It is so much easier to move horizontally as a junior faculty then trying to get TT job anew.","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1948.0,"score_ratio":4.6} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz1vw","c_root_id_B":"fxzze5e","created_at_utc_A":1594695273,"created_at_utc_B":1594695485,"score_A":17,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","human_ref_B":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":212.0,"score_ratio":1.1764705882} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzze5e","c_root_id_B":"fxzxtfx","created_at_utc_A":1594695485,"created_at_utc_B":1594694519,"score_A":20,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","human_ref_B":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":966.0,"score_ratio":1.0526315789} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxin0","c_root_id_B":"fxzze5e","created_at_utc_A":1594694337,"created_at_utc_B":1594695485,"score_A":10,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","human_ref_B":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1148.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzze5e","c_root_id_B":"fxzv9te","created_at_utc_A":1594695485,"created_at_utc_B":1594692997,"score_A":20,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","human_ref_B":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2488.0,"score_ratio":2.2222222222} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzze5e","c_root_id_B":"fxzz99m","created_at_utc_A":1594695485,"created_at_utc_B":1594695400,"score_A":20,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","human_ref_B":"If you don't want the job, don't take the job. If there's a part of you that does want to job, even if its maybe not perfect, consider that maybe you can adjust some of those things\/make up for it in other ways. Or, perhaps this would be good experience for eventually transitioning into your dream job. As far as the other things: if your saying taking this job might impeded your spouse's happiness\/ability to have THEIR dream job, then that's a whole other thing. We need more info, OP.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":85.0,"score_ratio":2.2222222222} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzze5e","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594695485,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":20,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Spousal happiness is the big one to me. Is your partner going to hate you for taking the job? if so then don't do it. If I am blowing up the spousal happiness and they will be happy for the next 3 or 5 years then I think you should strongly consider taking the job.","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3073.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuh70","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594692522,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":20,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"This seems like such a terrible idea, but you do you, OP...","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":110.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz1vw","c_root_id_B":"fxzxin0","created_at_utc_A":1594695273,"created_at_utc_B":1594694337,"score_A":17,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","human_ref_B":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":936.0,"score_ratio":1.7} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fxzz1vw","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594695273,"score_A":9,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2276.0,"score_ratio":1.8888888889} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fxzz1vw","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594695273,"score_A":5,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"If you want to be in academia, and the job is truly just \"a little off,\" then most everyone would take it. Many institutions are worried about closing; I can't imagine many are out there waiting for GuyNBlack to knock on their door. If you are planning on looking for a better job, you will appear much more qualified with a year of full time teaching\/research on your resume.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2861.0,"score_ratio":3.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxin0","c_root_id_B":"fxzxtfx","created_at_utc_A":1594694337,"created_at_utc_B":1594694519,"score_A":10,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","human_ref_B":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":182.0,"score_ratio":1.9} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fxzxtfx","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594694519,"score_A":9,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1522.0,"score_ratio":2.1111111111} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxtfx","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594694519,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":19,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I am surprised you got any position at all. Academia is frozen.","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2107.0,"score_ratio":3.8} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxin0","c_root_id_B":"fy02iw4","created_at_utc_A":1594694337,"created_at_utc_B":1594697461,"score_A":10,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","human_ref_B":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3124.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fy02iw4","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594697461,"score_A":9,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4464.0,"score_ratio":1.5555555556} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz99m","c_root_id_B":"fy02iw4","created_at_utc_A":1594695400,"created_at_utc_B":1594697461,"score_A":9,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"If you don't want the job, don't take the job. If there's a part of you that does want to job, even if its maybe not perfect, consider that maybe you can adjust some of those things\/make up for it in other ways. Or, perhaps this would be good experience for eventually transitioning into your dream job. As far as the other things: if your saying taking this job might impeded your spouse's happiness\/ability to have THEIR dream job, then that's a whole other thing. We need more info, OP.","human_ref_B":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2061.0,"score_ratio":1.5555555556} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy02iw4","c_root_id_B":"fy00gcl","created_at_utc_A":1594697461,"created_at_utc_B":1594696148,"score_A":14,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","human_ref_B":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1313.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy02iw4","c_root_id_B":"fy01lg0","created_at_utc_A":1594697461,"created_at_utc_B":1594696868,"score_A":14,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","human_ref_B":"Take the job and work hard \u2014 if they don\u2019t improve salary and other items, you can leave.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":593.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy02iw4","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594697461,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":14,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":">(teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ) All those things are incredibly important, especially spousal happiness, but this is also how academia works. We often take not-so-great TT positions as our first step and try to make a better move after 2-3 years.","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5049.0,"score_ratio":2.8} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzxin0","c_root_id_B":"fxzv9te","created_at_utc_A":1594694337,"created_at_utc_B":1594692997,"score_A":10,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","human_ref_B":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1340.0,"score_ratio":1.1111111111} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fxzxin0","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594694337,"score_A":5,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"You are an idiot. Unless you have multiple Nature papers that you're hiding. Turning down a reasonable offer is only going to make you a less attractive candidate in the future because no one will know if you are serious or just jerking them around. Take the offer, get a grant, get renewed, then take your pick because you will be very portable with that record.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1925.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzv9te","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594692997,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":9,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"This is a bad idea, IMO. I'd take the job. If you're looking to be in academia, this is your shot.","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":585.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzz99m","c_root_id_B":"fxzuafo","created_at_utc_A":1594695400,"created_at_utc_B":1594692412,"score_A":9,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"If you don't want the job, don't take the job. If there's a part of you that does want to job, even if its maybe not perfect, consider that maybe you can adjust some of those things\/make up for it in other ways. Or, perhaps this would be good experience for eventually transitioning into your dream job. As far as the other things: if your saying taking this job might impeded your spouse's happiness\/ability to have THEIR dream job, then that's a whole other thing. We need more info, OP.","human_ref_B":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2988.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy00gcl","c_root_id_B":"fy0rmk0","created_at_utc_A":1594696148,"created_at_utc_B":1594719103,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","human_ref_B":"If you want to stay in academia, this is your golden ticket. If you're happy to leave academia, don't take the job. Don't place any confidence or hope in getting further offers in the next few years - let alone ones which are better than this one.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22955.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0rmk0","c_root_id_B":"fy01lg0","created_at_utc_A":1594719103,"created_at_utc_B":1594696868,"score_A":9,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"If you want to stay in academia, this is your golden ticket. If you're happy to leave academia, don't take the job. Don't place any confidence or hope in getting further offers in the next few years - let alone ones which are better than this one.","human_ref_B":"Take the job and work hard \u2014 if they don\u2019t improve salary and other items, you can leave.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22235.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fy0rmk0","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594719103,"score_A":5,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"If you want to stay in academia, this is your golden ticket. If you're happy to leave academia, don't take the job. Don't place any confidence or hope in getting further offers in the next few years - let alone ones which are better than this one.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26691.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy0rmk0","c_root_id_B":"fy04uhh","created_at_utc_A":1594719103,"created_at_utc_B":1594698982,"score_A":9,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"If you want to stay in academia, this is your golden ticket. If you're happy to leave academia, don't take the job. Don't place any confidence or hope in getting further offers in the next few years - let alone ones which are better than this one.","human_ref_B":"I have heard that most TT change their job locations at, or around, the three year mark. The first three years, I\u2019ve heard provide opportunities to start creating a research agenda and also developing connects to where people really want to go. Take the job, you May end up liking it... and remember if you don\u2019t like it, like everything else, you can go somewhere else...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20121.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy00gcl","c_root_id_B":"fy0567q","created_at_utc_A":1594696148,"created_at_utc_B":1594699203,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","human_ref_B":"Just to echo the other comments... ...TAKE THE DAMN JOB! If you want to stay in academia. I was lucky enough to land a TT gig in my actual field (which is even rare) that I start in two weeks. A friend and colleague of mine recently joked that I may have gotten the last tenure track job in my field. The economy SUCKS and tenure track jobs are not necessarily becoming more numerous... I was told by a faculty member at my new institution that I should start applying for jobs at other places immediately, which I plan to do. My SO is finishing her PhD soon, so we\u2019re going to try our hardest to get a spousal hire at my current institution, or alternatively (hopefully) one or both of us gets a TT job elsewhere and negotiates a spousal hire. None of this would be remotely possible if I wasn\u2019t starting a TT job right now. The experience and resources (e.g. research startup), and not to mention financial security, will enable me to build up my CV so that I can be competitive as an Assistant Professor attempting to move institutions. In a perfect world I\u2019d move elsewhere with tenure... Take the job!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3055.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy01lg0","c_root_id_B":"fy0567q","created_at_utc_A":1594696868,"created_at_utc_B":1594699203,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Take the job and work hard \u2014 if they don\u2019t improve salary and other items, you can leave.","human_ref_B":"Just to echo the other comments... ...TAKE THE DAMN JOB! If you want to stay in academia. I was lucky enough to land a TT gig in my actual field (which is even rare) that I start in two weeks. A friend and colleague of mine recently joked that I may have gotten the last tenure track job in my field. The economy SUCKS and tenure track jobs are not necessarily becoming more numerous... I was told by a faculty member at my new institution that I should start applying for jobs at other places immediately, which I plan to do. My SO is finishing her PhD soon, so we\u2019re going to try our hardest to get a spousal hire at my current institution, or alternatively (hopefully) one or both of us gets a TT job elsewhere and negotiates a spousal hire. None of this would be remotely possible if I wasn\u2019t starting a TT job right now. The experience and resources (e.g. research startup), and not to mention financial security, will enable me to build up my CV so that I can be competitive as an Assistant Professor attempting to move institutions. In a perfect world I\u2019d move elsewhere with tenure... Take the job!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2335.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fy0567q","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594699203,"score_A":5,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"Just to echo the other comments... ...TAKE THE DAMN JOB! If you want to stay in academia. I was lucky enough to land a TT gig in my actual field (which is even rare) that I start in two weeks. A friend and colleague of mine recently joked that I may have gotten the last tenure track job in my field. The economy SUCKS and tenure track jobs are not necessarily becoming more numerous... I was told by a faculty member at my new institution that I should start applying for jobs at other places immediately, which I plan to do. My SO is finishing her PhD soon, so we\u2019re going to try our hardest to get a spousal hire at my current institution, or alternatively (hopefully) one or both of us gets a TT job elsewhere and negotiates a spousal hire. None of this would be remotely possible if I wasn\u2019t starting a TT job right now. The experience and resources (e.g. research startup), and not to mention financial security, will enable me to build up my CV so that I can be competitive as an Assistant Professor attempting to move institutions. In a perfect world I\u2019d move elsewhere with tenure... Take the job!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6791.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fy04uhh","c_root_id_B":"fy0567q","created_at_utc_A":1594698982,"created_at_utc_B":1594699203,"score_A":6,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I have heard that most TT change their job locations at, or around, the three year mark. The first three years, I\u2019ve heard provide opportunities to start creating a research agenda and also developing connects to where people really want to go. Take the job, you May end up liking it... and remember if you don\u2019t like it, like everything else, you can go somewhere else...","human_ref_B":"Just to echo the other comments... ...TAKE THE DAMN JOB! If you want to stay in academia. I was lucky enough to land a TT gig in my actual field (which is even rare) that I start in two weeks. A friend and colleague of mine recently joked that I may have gotten the last tenure track job in my field. The economy SUCKS and tenure track jobs are not necessarily becoming more numerous... I was told by a faculty member at my new institution that I should start applying for jobs at other places immediately, which I plan to do. My SO is finishing her PhD soon, so we\u2019re going to try our hardest to get a spousal hire at my current institution, or alternatively (hopefully) one or both of us gets a TT job elsewhere and negotiates a spousal hire. None of this would be remotely possible if I wasn\u2019t starting a TT job right now. The experience and resources (e.g. research startup), and not to mention financial security, will enable me to build up my CV so that I can be competitive as an Assistant Professor attempting to move institutions. In a perfect world I\u2019d move elsewhere with tenure... Take the job!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":221.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fy00gcl","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594696148,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"As others have said, you'll be more likely to get a tt job if you already have a tt job. What are the other options, stay in the postdoc position? OP might be anticipating another offer, but it's getting late in the season, and the better offer might not come. The job market is not going to improve for at least a couple of years, and might not improve at all. The tt jobs may very well not come back. Sounds like OP is ambivalent about academia.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3736.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fy01lg0","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594696868,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"Take the job and work hard \u2014 if they don\u2019t improve salary and other items, you can leave.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4456.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"hqqxlw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"So I'm getting ready to turn down a TT job offer... ...I'm a postdoc. I'm 6 years since my doctorate in a biological science. The salary and start-up are reasonable for the school but on the low end of the range I told myself I would take. Everything else is good just a little off for my particular situation (teaching load, location, department fit, spousal happiness\/job prospects ). But, if I took the job I'd only be treading water in until I could start applying other places. How big of a mistake am I making turning down a reasonable TT job at the start of the worst academic hiring market in a century? Please talk me out of this or at least try to so I know I've considered everything.","c_root_id_A":"fxzuafo","c_root_id_B":"fy04uhh","created_at_utc_A":1594692412,"created_at_utc_B":1594698982,"score_A":5,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO","human_ref_B":"I have heard that most TT change their job locations at, or around, the three year mark. The first three years, I\u2019ve heard provide opportunities to start creating a research agenda and also developing connects to where people really want to go. Take the job, you May end up liking it... and remember if you don\u2019t like it, like everything else, you can go somewhere else...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6570.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdda5z0","c_root_id_B":"hdb1dah","created_at_utc_A":1631993686,"created_at_utc_B":1631949745,"score_A":16,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","human_ref_B":"Nice! I would add one very easy way to find more people to follow: Check who the researchers you're interested in are following (you can do that by going on their profile). Since you'll have similar interests, it is very likely you'll discover at least a handful of interesting new people.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":43941.0,"score_ratio":1.0666666667} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdc9ntk","c_root_id_B":"hdda5z0","created_at_utc_A":1631978520,"created_at_utc_B":1631993686,"score_A":11,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Remember, other people can see the tweets you like!","human_ref_B":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15166.0,"score_ratio":1.4545454545} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdcfsgj","c_root_id_B":"hdda5z0","created_at_utc_A":1631981154,"created_at_utc_B":1631993686,"score_A":12,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"I just realised how much this sounds like LinkedIn...","human_ref_B":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12532.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdda5z0","c_root_id_B":"hdd55ki","created_at_utc_A":1631993686,"created_at_utc_B":1631991609,"score_A":16,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","human_ref_B":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2077.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdda5z0","c_root_id_B":"hdbo6o3","created_at_utc_A":1631993686,"created_at_utc_B":1631967755,"score_A":16,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","human_ref_B":"Here's my advice may serve as details of OP's which may improve user experience. TL;DR: keep away from toxicity! Always switch to \"latest tweets\" (the timeline is generated by what or who you follow) instead of \"top tweets\" (the timeline is generated by twitter's mysterious algorithm). If the twitter account is for purely academic purposes seeing a full timeline of tweets by academic bots (for example, arXiv bots with topics you are interested in, though you may never click the link) is 100 times better than seeing ten tweets of a clueless debate. I think one thing need to keep in mind is, using twitter does not make one an activist or politician or a politician, it's who we are that determine our twitter profile. I think many people not knowing this is why twitter's reputation is keep being ruined. One cannot be immune to politics but making it one's everyday life is not a good idea in general. **If I become edgy as f and want to argue with whoever doesn't agree with me, or keep posting political compass memes, I think I need to take a long or permanent break from twitter.** On who to follow, I think I don't tend to follow those with whatever flag emojis in their username or bio, if I don't know the person already; or those with a lot of standpoints in their bio, as if they were some professional politician. Whatever flag or opinion they put in their username or bio is not of my concern, but yeah, I don't think it is a good idea, and I think the reason is already explained.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":25931.0,"score_ratio":1.7777777778} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdda5z0","c_root_id_B":"hdbn0no","created_at_utc_A":1631993686,"created_at_utc_B":1631967038,"score_A":16,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","human_ref_B":"Some fields have hashtags that make it easier to find relevant content, but you\u2019d probably have to google to find yours. History is #twitterstorians","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26648.0,"score_ratio":2.2857142857} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdcbg2y","c_root_id_B":"hdda5z0","created_at_utc_A":1631979301,"created_at_utc_B":1631993686,"score_A":5,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Just be warned the twitter is a political shitshow and negative public interactions are something that employers will look at and care about regardless of your political affiliation. Personally some of the stuff I've seen PhD's tweet has made me question whether or not a doctorate actually makes you dumber","human_ref_B":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14385.0,"score_ratio":3.2} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdboqsr","c_root_id_B":"hdda5z0","created_at_utc_A":1631968091,"created_at_utc_B":1631993686,"score_A":3,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Besides, I think working with academy bots is a good idea. For example if you use arXiv then you can find many good bots keep posting new papers on arXiv. Something like that.","human_ref_B":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25595.0,"score_ratio":5.3333333333} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdda5z0","c_root_id_B":"hdcnfrd","created_at_utc_A":1631993686,"created_at_utc_B":1631984346,"score_A":16,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","human_ref_B":"There are hash tags on Twitter that makes it easy to find broad academia professionals. One of them is #academictwitter. There are others and some more specific but the hash tag method seems to be a sure fire way to find the broad\/general academia circles on Twitter.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9340.0,"score_ratio":5.3333333333} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdd1qdh","c_root_id_B":"hdda5z0","created_at_utc_A":1631990196,"created_at_utc_B":1631993686,"score_A":2,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Very good advice for getting started, and this describes exactly how I use twitter. I think it's a great tool for networking and for getting info. I recommend it to everyone in my group.","human_ref_B":"I actually do not recommend operating a stringently professional Twitter profile. Many of my best relationships that have begun with peers or potential mentors on Twitter began by discussing Normal Life Things. We're all human beings with more than just a professional life. As long as you aren't detailing your drug use, sexcapades, or most controversial opinions constantly, it is fine to share extra-professional information.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3490.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdc9ntk","c_root_id_B":"hdcfsgj","created_at_utc_A":1631978520,"created_at_utc_B":1631981154,"score_A":11,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Remember, other people can see the tweets you like!","human_ref_B":"I just realised how much this sounds like LinkedIn...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2634.0,"score_ratio":1.0909090909} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdd55ki","c_root_id_B":"hdc9ntk","created_at_utc_A":1631991609,"created_at_utc_B":1631978520,"score_A":12,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","human_ref_B":"Remember, other people can see the tweets you like!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13089.0,"score_ratio":1.0909090909} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdbo6o3","c_root_id_B":"hdc9ntk","created_at_utc_A":1631967755,"created_at_utc_B":1631978520,"score_A":9,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Here's my advice may serve as details of OP's which may improve user experience. TL;DR: keep away from toxicity! Always switch to \"latest tweets\" (the timeline is generated by what or who you follow) instead of \"top tweets\" (the timeline is generated by twitter's mysterious algorithm). If the twitter account is for purely academic purposes seeing a full timeline of tweets by academic bots (for example, arXiv bots with topics you are interested in, though you may never click the link) is 100 times better than seeing ten tweets of a clueless debate. I think one thing need to keep in mind is, using twitter does not make one an activist or politician or a politician, it's who we are that determine our twitter profile. I think many people not knowing this is why twitter's reputation is keep being ruined. One cannot be immune to politics but making it one's everyday life is not a good idea in general. **If I become edgy as f and want to argue with whoever doesn't agree with me, or keep posting political compass memes, I think I need to take a long or permanent break from twitter.** On who to follow, I think I don't tend to follow those with whatever flag emojis in their username or bio, if I don't know the person already; or those with a lot of standpoints in their bio, as if they were some professional politician. Whatever flag or opinion they put in their username or bio is not of my concern, but yeah, I don't think it is a good idea, and I think the reason is already explained.","human_ref_B":"Remember, other people can see the tweets you like!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10765.0,"score_ratio":1.2222222222} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdbn0no","c_root_id_B":"hdc9ntk","created_at_utc_A":1631967038,"created_at_utc_B":1631978520,"score_A":7,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Some fields have hashtags that make it easier to find relevant content, but you\u2019d probably have to google to find yours. History is #twitterstorians","human_ref_B":"Remember, other people can see the tweets you like!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11482.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdboqsr","c_root_id_B":"hdc9ntk","created_at_utc_A":1631968091,"created_at_utc_B":1631978520,"score_A":3,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Besides, I think working with academy bots is a good idea. For example if you use arXiv then you can find many good bots keep posting new papers on arXiv. Something like that.","human_ref_B":"Remember, other people can see the tweets you like!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10429.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdbo6o3","c_root_id_B":"hdcfsgj","created_at_utc_A":1631967755,"created_at_utc_B":1631981154,"score_A":9,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Here's my advice may serve as details of OP's which may improve user experience. TL;DR: keep away from toxicity! Always switch to \"latest tweets\" (the timeline is generated by what or who you follow) instead of \"top tweets\" (the timeline is generated by twitter's mysterious algorithm). If the twitter account is for purely academic purposes seeing a full timeline of tweets by academic bots (for example, arXiv bots with topics you are interested in, though you may never click the link) is 100 times better than seeing ten tweets of a clueless debate. I think one thing need to keep in mind is, using twitter does not make one an activist or politician or a politician, it's who we are that determine our twitter profile. I think many people not knowing this is why twitter's reputation is keep being ruined. One cannot be immune to politics but making it one's everyday life is not a good idea in general. **If I become edgy as f and want to argue with whoever doesn't agree with me, or keep posting political compass memes, I think I need to take a long or permanent break from twitter.** On who to follow, I think I don't tend to follow those with whatever flag emojis in their username or bio, if I don't know the person already; or those with a lot of standpoints in their bio, as if they were some professional politician. Whatever flag or opinion they put in their username or bio is not of my concern, but yeah, I don't think it is a good idea, and I think the reason is already explained.","human_ref_B":"I just realised how much this sounds like LinkedIn...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13399.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdcfsgj","c_root_id_B":"hdbn0no","created_at_utc_A":1631981154,"created_at_utc_B":1631967038,"score_A":12,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I just realised how much this sounds like LinkedIn...","human_ref_B":"Some fields have hashtags that make it easier to find relevant content, but you\u2019d probably have to google to find yours. History is #twitterstorians","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14116.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdcfsgj","c_root_id_B":"hdcbg2y","created_at_utc_A":1631981154,"created_at_utc_B":1631979301,"score_A":12,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I just realised how much this sounds like LinkedIn...","human_ref_B":"Just be warned the twitter is a political shitshow and negative public interactions are something that employers will look at and care about regardless of your political affiliation. Personally some of the stuff I've seen PhD's tweet has made me question whether or not a doctorate actually makes you dumber","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1853.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdcfsgj","c_root_id_B":"hdboqsr","created_at_utc_A":1631981154,"created_at_utc_B":1631968091,"score_A":12,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I just realised how much this sounds like LinkedIn...","human_ref_B":"Besides, I think working with academy bots is a good idea. For example if you use arXiv then you can find many good bots keep posting new papers on arXiv. Something like that.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13063.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdd55ki","c_root_id_B":"hdbo6o3","created_at_utc_A":1631991609,"created_at_utc_B":1631967755,"score_A":12,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","human_ref_B":"Here's my advice may serve as details of OP's which may improve user experience. TL;DR: keep away from toxicity! Always switch to \"latest tweets\" (the timeline is generated by what or who you follow) instead of \"top tweets\" (the timeline is generated by twitter's mysterious algorithm). If the twitter account is for purely academic purposes seeing a full timeline of tweets by academic bots (for example, arXiv bots with topics you are interested in, though you may never click the link) is 100 times better than seeing ten tweets of a clueless debate. I think one thing need to keep in mind is, using twitter does not make one an activist or politician or a politician, it's who we are that determine our twitter profile. I think many people not knowing this is why twitter's reputation is keep being ruined. One cannot be immune to politics but making it one's everyday life is not a good idea in general. **If I become edgy as f and want to argue with whoever doesn't agree with me, or keep posting political compass memes, I think I need to take a long or permanent break from twitter.** On who to follow, I think I don't tend to follow those with whatever flag emojis in their username or bio, if I don't know the person already; or those with a lot of standpoints in their bio, as if they were some professional politician. Whatever flag or opinion they put in their username or bio is not of my concern, but yeah, I don't think it is a good idea, and I think the reason is already explained.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23854.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdd55ki","c_root_id_B":"hdbn0no","created_at_utc_A":1631991609,"created_at_utc_B":1631967038,"score_A":12,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","human_ref_B":"Some fields have hashtags that make it easier to find relevant content, but you\u2019d probably have to google to find yours. History is #twitterstorians","labels":1,"seconds_difference":24571.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdcbg2y","c_root_id_B":"hdd55ki","created_at_utc_A":1631979301,"created_at_utc_B":1631991609,"score_A":5,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Just be warned the twitter is a political shitshow and negative public interactions are something that employers will look at and care about regardless of your political affiliation. Personally some of the stuff I've seen PhD's tweet has made me question whether or not a doctorate actually makes you dumber","human_ref_B":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12308.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdboqsr","c_root_id_B":"hdd55ki","created_at_utc_A":1631968091,"created_at_utc_B":1631991609,"score_A":3,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Besides, I think working with academy bots is a good idea. For example if you use arXiv then you can find many good bots keep posting new papers on arXiv. Something like that.","human_ref_B":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23518.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdcnfrd","c_root_id_B":"hdd55ki","created_at_utc_A":1631984346,"created_at_utc_B":1631991609,"score_A":3,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"There are hash tags on Twitter that makes it easy to find broad academia professionals. One of them is #academictwitter. There are others and some more specific but the hash tag method seems to be a sure fire way to find the broad\/general academia circles on Twitter.","human_ref_B":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7263.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdd55ki","c_root_id_B":"hdd1qdh","created_at_utc_A":1631991609,"created_at_utc_B":1631990196,"score_A":12,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"IMO, the first rule of academic twitter is... avoid academic twitter.","human_ref_B":"Very good advice for getting started, and this describes exactly how I use twitter. I think it's a great tool for networking and for getting info. I recommend it to everyone in my group.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1413.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdbo6o3","c_root_id_B":"hdbn0no","created_at_utc_A":1631967755,"created_at_utc_B":1631967038,"score_A":9,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Here's my advice may serve as details of OP's which may improve user experience. TL;DR: keep away from toxicity! Always switch to \"latest tweets\" (the timeline is generated by what or who you follow) instead of \"top tweets\" (the timeline is generated by twitter's mysterious algorithm). If the twitter account is for purely academic purposes seeing a full timeline of tweets by academic bots (for example, arXiv bots with topics you are interested in, though you may never click the link) is 100 times better than seeing ten tweets of a clueless debate. I think one thing need to keep in mind is, using twitter does not make one an activist or politician or a politician, it's who we are that determine our twitter profile. I think many people not knowing this is why twitter's reputation is keep being ruined. One cannot be immune to politics but making it one's everyday life is not a good idea in general. **If I become edgy as f and want to argue with whoever doesn't agree with me, or keep posting political compass memes, I think I need to take a long or permanent break from twitter.** On who to follow, I think I don't tend to follow those with whatever flag emojis in their username or bio, if I don't know the person already; or those with a lot of standpoints in their bio, as if they were some professional politician. Whatever flag or opinion they put in their username or bio is not of my concern, but yeah, I don't think it is a good idea, and I think the reason is already explained.","human_ref_B":"Some fields have hashtags that make it easier to find relevant content, but you\u2019d probably have to google to find yours. History is #twitterstorians","labels":1,"seconds_difference":717.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"pqhqkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"PSA: Academic Twitter In another thread I mentioned academic Twitter and someone asked me to explain it. The response ran long so I thought it would be worth posting: A huge number of professors and grad students use Twitter as public-facing academic profile rather than a more casual social media account. They talk about their research, opportunities, their progress through graduate programs, and keep in contact with labs and collaborators all over the world. Their bios usually focus on their professional life rather than their personal life (typically their program, career stage, and their research interest). Getting involved isn't too hard. First step is to make a (new) Twitter account of course, lol, with minimal personal stuff of anything you wouldn't want colleagues and advisors to see. Keep all that separate. And of course the second bug step is finding who to follow. When I started looking, I was able to get a good start by brute-forcing my way through the presenter list from a recent conference. For each presenter that was remotely close to my research interest, I'd throw their name into Twitter search and see if they have an account. Sometimes it's an individual account, sometimes there's an account for the lab as a whole. And of course you could do the same by using Google scholar topic searches and checking out the author's from recent publications. Once you get over like 30 or so follows, Twitter's algorithm gets pretty good at showing you other people worth following. The bios for these accounts will make the choice to follow or not to follow super easy. I stopped when I got around 200 follows. About 80 followed me back! Then just spend a little bit each day or a couple times a week checking out your feed like a quick little work chore. Retweet job opportunities, congratulate other people's progress, ask research and career questions where you can squeeze them in, etc. It makes networking a lot more streamlined. Hope that helps!","c_root_id_A":"hdboqsr","c_root_id_B":"hdcbg2y","created_at_utc_A":1631968091,"created_at_utc_B":1631979301,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Besides, I think working with academy bots is a good idea. For example if you use arXiv then you can find many good bots keep posting new papers on arXiv. Something like that.","human_ref_B":"Just be warned the twitter is a political shitshow and negative public interactions are something that employers will look at and care about regardless of your political affiliation. Personally some of the stuff I've seen PhD's tweet has made me question whether or not a doctorate actually makes you dumber","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11210.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"b8an5s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Loved the PhD, hate the postdoc. How to quit? I love research. I've loved the people, the atmosphere, and the independence. I worked like mad all PhD and loved it - I finished with (by my quick and dirty calculation) a publication record in the top 2% of graduating PhDs from my department. I only say this as a reflection of my outlook on the prospects of my academic future - it all looked so bright upon starting a postdoc. However, I failed to realize why I loved research before taking a position - the people, the independence, and a series of stellar supervisors - and joined a lab that had a \"tough\" reputation. I thought I could handle it. I thought my independence was stronger than the will of a tyrannical PI - I can not handle it. The work environment is horrible. People don't talk to each other, I am the only one who says good morning, the PI has a temper issue, I feel more like a lab tech doing the PIs research than my own scientist, 80 hour work weeks are expected, and the entire lab is fast and loose with statistical techniques and general scientific ethics. I am not going to last in this lab, at least not happily. I would quit outright, and then look for jobs, but have a chronic condition for which I need health insurance. I fear bringing up the idea of quitting before actually finding a job because I think it will errate the PI and lead to an even worse work environment, and possibly lead to my early termination. There is currently a very enticing job right down the road. I want to apply now, and only quit with an offer in hand, but I don't want to burn bridges, even if I hate those bridges. What would you do in my situation?","c_root_id_A":"ejxohuz","c_root_id_B":"ejxcr3p","created_at_utc_A":1554194524,"created_at_utc_B":1554177742,"score_A":15,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"You mentioned you are about halfway through a one-year postdoc, right? Isn\u2019t this exactly when you\u2019d be expected to be looking for your next job? I know postdocs can last longer, but if you\u2019re on a one-year contract, nobody should fault you for applying elsewhere. And if you get a job offer you\u2019re interested in, you should take it. What is your PI going to do, complain that a postdoc applied for other jobs? Your position is meant to be short-term. I\u2019ve been in toxic labs, so I know that the above outlook is rosy, but I would definitely try to frame the situation like that, or work through it in a similar way. If you go this route, consider working out a way to give your PI the least fodder for whatever temper tantrum is coming (but still protect yourself). Even if you anger your PI and absolutely burn that bridge to the ground, if someone asks you for an explanation down the line, you can always say that the right job came up just a bit too early in your postdoc than you would have liked, but you felt like you couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity. I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re going through this. It\u2019s amazing how different the experience can be from lab to lab. They\u2019re surprisingly isolated places, and we really haven\u2019t figured out a good way to put safeguards in place to protect people from poorly-run labs. Take care, and good luck!","human_ref_B":"Edit: This is US specific info. Take a break and re-evaluate your options. Below are a few things you can explore. 1. FMLA allows you to take a medical leave if you are unable to work because of a serious health condition https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/general\/topic\/benefits-leave\/fmla 2. Insurance under FMLA: you must continue to make your share of premiums: https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/whd\/regs\/compliance\/whdfs28a.pdf 3. Check if you have short-term disability - pays about 66% of your income for about 5 weeks. Check all the above with your company\/univ's HR. 4. In the meantime, apply for academic jobs and industry jobs. What's your field? 5. Did you have other offers before you started here? Why don't you check with them if the position is still open? 6. In your resume you can ignore this position and just say that you took a break for medical reasons. 7. I like to think this way: Maintaining bridges that you won't depend on is not worth maintaining. I know that some of the research areas can be very niche and a tight knit community.. perhaps you can branch-out?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16782.0,"score_ratio":1.3636363636} {"post_id":"b8an5s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Loved the PhD, hate the postdoc. How to quit? I love research. I've loved the people, the atmosphere, and the independence. I worked like mad all PhD and loved it - I finished with (by my quick and dirty calculation) a publication record in the top 2% of graduating PhDs from my department. I only say this as a reflection of my outlook on the prospects of my academic future - it all looked so bright upon starting a postdoc. However, I failed to realize why I loved research before taking a position - the people, the independence, and a series of stellar supervisors - and joined a lab that had a \"tough\" reputation. I thought I could handle it. I thought my independence was stronger than the will of a tyrannical PI - I can not handle it. The work environment is horrible. People don't talk to each other, I am the only one who says good morning, the PI has a temper issue, I feel more like a lab tech doing the PIs research than my own scientist, 80 hour work weeks are expected, and the entire lab is fast and loose with statistical techniques and general scientific ethics. I am not going to last in this lab, at least not happily. I would quit outright, and then look for jobs, but have a chronic condition for which I need health insurance. I fear bringing up the idea of quitting before actually finding a job because I think it will errate the PI and lead to an even worse work environment, and possibly lead to my early termination. There is currently a very enticing job right down the road. I want to apply now, and only quit with an offer in hand, but I don't want to burn bridges, even if I hate those bridges. What would you do in my situation?","c_root_id_A":"ejxohuz","c_root_id_B":"ejxbl7m","created_at_utc_A":1554194524,"created_at_utc_B":1554176581,"score_A":15,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"You mentioned you are about halfway through a one-year postdoc, right? Isn\u2019t this exactly when you\u2019d be expected to be looking for your next job? I know postdocs can last longer, but if you\u2019re on a one-year contract, nobody should fault you for applying elsewhere. And if you get a job offer you\u2019re interested in, you should take it. What is your PI going to do, complain that a postdoc applied for other jobs? Your position is meant to be short-term. I\u2019ve been in toxic labs, so I know that the above outlook is rosy, but I would definitely try to frame the situation like that, or work through it in a similar way. If you go this route, consider working out a way to give your PI the least fodder for whatever temper tantrum is coming (but still protect yourself). Even if you anger your PI and absolutely burn that bridge to the ground, if someone asks you for an explanation down the line, you can always say that the right job came up just a bit too early in your postdoc than you would have liked, but you felt like you couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity. I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re going through this. It\u2019s amazing how different the experience can be from lab to lab. They\u2019re surprisingly isolated places, and we really haven\u2019t figured out a good way to put safeguards in place to protect people from poorly-run labs. Take care, and good luck!","human_ref_B":"If the workplace abuses were as severe in my workplace as in yours (and yes it is a workplace just as any other is), I would start talking to unions and quietly approaching a trusted colleague or two about this. That\u2019s no way to live, and if you have to stick with the job it\u2019s worth looking into how to make it better. It\u2019s not unprecedented among grad students. Based on what you\u2019re saying, they\u2019re taking advantage of you, however they may justify it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17943.0,"score_ratio":2.1428571429} {"post_id":"b8an5s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Loved the PhD, hate the postdoc. How to quit? I love research. I've loved the people, the atmosphere, and the independence. I worked like mad all PhD and loved it - I finished with (by my quick and dirty calculation) a publication record in the top 2% of graduating PhDs from my department. I only say this as a reflection of my outlook on the prospects of my academic future - it all looked so bright upon starting a postdoc. However, I failed to realize why I loved research before taking a position - the people, the independence, and a series of stellar supervisors - and joined a lab that had a \"tough\" reputation. I thought I could handle it. I thought my independence was stronger than the will of a tyrannical PI - I can not handle it. The work environment is horrible. People don't talk to each other, I am the only one who says good morning, the PI has a temper issue, I feel more like a lab tech doing the PIs research than my own scientist, 80 hour work weeks are expected, and the entire lab is fast and loose with statistical techniques and general scientific ethics. I am not going to last in this lab, at least not happily. I would quit outright, and then look for jobs, but have a chronic condition for which I need health insurance. I fear bringing up the idea of quitting before actually finding a job because I think it will errate the PI and lead to an even worse work environment, and possibly lead to my early termination. There is currently a very enticing job right down the road. I want to apply now, and only quit with an offer in hand, but I don't want to burn bridges, even if I hate those bridges. What would you do in my situation?","c_root_id_A":"ejxohuz","c_root_id_B":"ejx7ii5","created_at_utc_A":1554194524,"created_at_utc_B":1554172906,"score_A":15,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"You mentioned you are about halfway through a one-year postdoc, right? Isn\u2019t this exactly when you\u2019d be expected to be looking for your next job? I know postdocs can last longer, but if you\u2019re on a one-year contract, nobody should fault you for applying elsewhere. And if you get a job offer you\u2019re interested in, you should take it. What is your PI going to do, complain that a postdoc applied for other jobs? Your position is meant to be short-term. I\u2019ve been in toxic labs, so I know that the above outlook is rosy, but I would definitely try to frame the situation like that, or work through it in a similar way. If you go this route, consider working out a way to give your PI the least fodder for whatever temper tantrum is coming (but still protect yourself). Even if you anger your PI and absolutely burn that bridge to the ground, if someone asks you for an explanation down the line, you can always say that the right job came up just a bit too early in your postdoc than you would have liked, but you felt like you couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity. I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re going through this. It\u2019s amazing how different the experience can be from lab to lab. They\u2019re surprisingly isolated places, and we really haven\u2019t figured out a good way to put safeguards in place to protect people from poorly-run labs. Take care, and good luck!","human_ref_B":"Don't stress out about looking for jobs while working and leaving once you get an offer. Just do it. You can check your contract, but my guess is that you have to give a couple of weeks notice and the PI can fire you without notice... that's typical. Leaving early without an offer is no better than leaving with an offer. Leaving after a one-year contract isn't that special, either... the best you'll get it a nice letter of recommendation from a PI, which isn't as important as your publication record, so it's not THAT important. The only way to burn a bridge is to over-explain and complain as you leave. Instead, when you get an offer, tell them you have an opportunity that you can't pass up at this time and sorry, but you have to put in your two weeks. Apply to many jobs, try and get interviews to practice interviewing. Hopefully you get lucky with the position that sounds enticing, but it's never guaranteed. Just start applying for anything that interests you.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21618.0,"score_ratio":3.75} {"post_id":"b8an5s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Loved the PhD, hate the postdoc. How to quit? I love research. I've loved the people, the atmosphere, and the independence. I worked like mad all PhD and loved it - I finished with (by my quick and dirty calculation) a publication record in the top 2% of graduating PhDs from my department. I only say this as a reflection of my outlook on the prospects of my academic future - it all looked so bright upon starting a postdoc. However, I failed to realize why I loved research before taking a position - the people, the independence, and a series of stellar supervisors - and joined a lab that had a \"tough\" reputation. I thought I could handle it. I thought my independence was stronger than the will of a tyrannical PI - I can not handle it. The work environment is horrible. People don't talk to each other, I am the only one who says good morning, the PI has a temper issue, I feel more like a lab tech doing the PIs research than my own scientist, 80 hour work weeks are expected, and the entire lab is fast and loose with statistical techniques and general scientific ethics. I am not going to last in this lab, at least not happily. I would quit outright, and then look for jobs, but have a chronic condition for which I need health insurance. I fear bringing up the idea of quitting before actually finding a job because I think it will errate the PI and lead to an even worse work environment, and possibly lead to my early termination. There is currently a very enticing job right down the road. I want to apply now, and only quit with an offer in hand, but I don't want to burn bridges, even if I hate those bridges. What would you do in my situation?","c_root_id_A":"ejxcr3p","c_root_id_B":"ejxbl7m","created_at_utc_A":1554177742,"created_at_utc_B":1554176581,"score_A":11,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Edit: This is US specific info. Take a break and re-evaluate your options. Below are a few things you can explore. 1. FMLA allows you to take a medical leave if you are unable to work because of a serious health condition https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/general\/topic\/benefits-leave\/fmla 2. Insurance under FMLA: you must continue to make your share of premiums: https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/whd\/regs\/compliance\/whdfs28a.pdf 3. Check if you have short-term disability - pays about 66% of your income for about 5 weeks. Check all the above with your company\/univ's HR. 4. In the meantime, apply for academic jobs and industry jobs. What's your field? 5. Did you have other offers before you started here? Why don't you check with them if the position is still open? 6. In your resume you can ignore this position and just say that you took a break for medical reasons. 7. I like to think this way: Maintaining bridges that you won't depend on is not worth maintaining. I know that some of the research areas can be very niche and a tight knit community.. perhaps you can branch-out?","human_ref_B":"If the workplace abuses were as severe in my workplace as in yours (and yes it is a workplace just as any other is), I would start talking to unions and quietly approaching a trusted colleague or two about this. That\u2019s no way to live, and if you have to stick with the job it\u2019s worth looking into how to make it better. It\u2019s not unprecedented among grad students. Based on what you\u2019re saying, they\u2019re taking advantage of you, however they may justify it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1161.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"b8an5s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Loved the PhD, hate the postdoc. How to quit? I love research. I've loved the people, the atmosphere, and the independence. I worked like mad all PhD and loved it - I finished with (by my quick and dirty calculation) a publication record in the top 2% of graduating PhDs from my department. I only say this as a reflection of my outlook on the prospects of my academic future - it all looked so bright upon starting a postdoc. However, I failed to realize why I loved research before taking a position - the people, the independence, and a series of stellar supervisors - and joined a lab that had a \"tough\" reputation. I thought I could handle it. I thought my independence was stronger than the will of a tyrannical PI - I can not handle it. The work environment is horrible. People don't talk to each other, I am the only one who says good morning, the PI has a temper issue, I feel more like a lab tech doing the PIs research than my own scientist, 80 hour work weeks are expected, and the entire lab is fast and loose with statistical techniques and general scientific ethics. I am not going to last in this lab, at least not happily. I would quit outright, and then look for jobs, but have a chronic condition for which I need health insurance. I fear bringing up the idea of quitting before actually finding a job because I think it will errate the PI and lead to an even worse work environment, and possibly lead to my early termination. There is currently a very enticing job right down the road. I want to apply now, and only quit with an offer in hand, but I don't want to burn bridges, even if I hate those bridges. What would you do in my situation?","c_root_id_A":"ejx7ii5","c_root_id_B":"ejxcr3p","created_at_utc_A":1554172906,"created_at_utc_B":1554177742,"score_A":4,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Don't stress out about looking for jobs while working and leaving once you get an offer. Just do it. You can check your contract, but my guess is that you have to give a couple of weeks notice and the PI can fire you without notice... that's typical. Leaving early without an offer is no better than leaving with an offer. Leaving after a one-year contract isn't that special, either... the best you'll get it a nice letter of recommendation from a PI, which isn't as important as your publication record, so it's not THAT important. The only way to burn a bridge is to over-explain and complain as you leave. Instead, when you get an offer, tell them you have an opportunity that you can't pass up at this time and sorry, but you have to put in your two weeks. Apply to many jobs, try and get interviews to practice interviewing. Hopefully you get lucky with the position that sounds enticing, but it's never guaranteed. Just start applying for anything that interests you.","human_ref_B":"Edit: This is US specific info. Take a break and re-evaluate your options. Below are a few things you can explore. 1. FMLA allows you to take a medical leave if you are unable to work because of a serious health condition https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/general\/topic\/benefits-leave\/fmla 2. Insurance under FMLA: you must continue to make your share of premiums: https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/whd\/regs\/compliance\/whdfs28a.pdf 3. Check if you have short-term disability - pays about 66% of your income for about 5 weeks. Check all the above with your company\/univ's HR. 4. In the meantime, apply for academic jobs and industry jobs. What's your field? 5. Did you have other offers before you started here? Why don't you check with them if the position is still open? 6. In your resume you can ignore this position and just say that you took a break for medical reasons. 7. I like to think this way: Maintaining bridges that you won't depend on is not worth maintaining. I know that some of the research areas can be very niche and a tight knit community.. perhaps you can branch-out?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4836.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"b8an5s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Loved the PhD, hate the postdoc. How to quit? I love research. I've loved the people, the atmosphere, and the independence. I worked like mad all PhD and loved it - I finished with (by my quick and dirty calculation) a publication record in the top 2% of graduating PhDs from my department. I only say this as a reflection of my outlook on the prospects of my academic future - it all looked so bright upon starting a postdoc. However, I failed to realize why I loved research before taking a position - the people, the independence, and a series of stellar supervisors - and joined a lab that had a \"tough\" reputation. I thought I could handle it. I thought my independence was stronger than the will of a tyrannical PI - I can not handle it. The work environment is horrible. People don't talk to each other, I am the only one who says good morning, the PI has a temper issue, I feel more like a lab tech doing the PIs research than my own scientist, 80 hour work weeks are expected, and the entire lab is fast and loose with statistical techniques and general scientific ethics. I am not going to last in this lab, at least not happily. I would quit outright, and then look for jobs, but have a chronic condition for which I need health insurance. I fear bringing up the idea of quitting before actually finding a job because I think it will errate the PI and lead to an even worse work environment, and possibly lead to my early termination. There is currently a very enticing job right down the road. I want to apply now, and only quit with an offer in hand, but I don't want to burn bridges, even if I hate those bridges. What would you do in my situation?","c_root_id_A":"ejxbl7m","c_root_id_B":"ejx7ii5","created_at_utc_A":1554176581,"created_at_utc_B":1554172906,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"If the workplace abuses were as severe in my workplace as in yours (and yes it is a workplace just as any other is), I would start talking to unions and quietly approaching a trusted colleague or two about this. That\u2019s no way to live, and if you have to stick with the job it\u2019s worth looking into how to make it better. It\u2019s not unprecedented among grad students. Based on what you\u2019re saying, they\u2019re taking advantage of you, however they may justify it.","human_ref_B":"Don't stress out about looking for jobs while working and leaving once you get an offer. Just do it. You can check your contract, but my guess is that you have to give a couple of weeks notice and the PI can fire you without notice... that's typical. Leaving early without an offer is no better than leaving with an offer. Leaving after a one-year contract isn't that special, either... the best you'll get it a nice letter of recommendation from a PI, which isn't as important as your publication record, so it's not THAT important. The only way to burn a bridge is to over-explain and complain as you leave. Instead, when you get an offer, tell them you have an opportunity that you can't pass up at this time and sorry, but you have to put in your two weeks. Apply to many jobs, try and get interviews to practice interviewing. Hopefully you get lucky with the position that sounds enticing, but it's never guaranteed. Just start applying for anything that interests you.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3675.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"b8an5s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"Loved the PhD, hate the postdoc. How to quit? I love research. I've loved the people, the atmosphere, and the independence. I worked like mad all PhD and loved it - I finished with (by my quick and dirty calculation) a publication record in the top 2% of graduating PhDs from my department. I only say this as a reflection of my outlook on the prospects of my academic future - it all looked so bright upon starting a postdoc. However, I failed to realize why I loved research before taking a position - the people, the independence, and a series of stellar supervisors - and joined a lab that had a \"tough\" reputation. I thought I could handle it. I thought my independence was stronger than the will of a tyrannical PI - I can not handle it. The work environment is horrible. People don't talk to each other, I am the only one who says good morning, the PI has a temper issue, I feel more like a lab tech doing the PIs research than my own scientist, 80 hour work weeks are expected, and the entire lab is fast and loose with statistical techniques and general scientific ethics. I am not going to last in this lab, at least not happily. I would quit outright, and then look for jobs, but have a chronic condition for which I need health insurance. I fear bringing up the idea of quitting before actually finding a job because I think it will errate the PI and lead to an even worse work environment, and possibly lead to my early termination. There is currently a very enticing job right down the road. I want to apply now, and only quit with an offer in hand, but I don't want to burn bridges, even if I hate those bridges. What would you do in my situation?","c_root_id_A":"ejx7ii5","c_root_id_B":"ejxuw8l","created_at_utc_A":1554172906,"created_at_utc_B":1554204832,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Don't stress out about looking for jobs while working and leaving once you get an offer. Just do it. You can check your contract, but my guess is that you have to give a couple of weeks notice and the PI can fire you without notice... that's typical. Leaving early without an offer is no better than leaving with an offer. Leaving after a one-year contract isn't that special, either... the best you'll get it a nice letter of recommendation from a PI, which isn't as important as your publication record, so it's not THAT important. The only way to burn a bridge is to over-explain and complain as you leave. Instead, when you get an offer, tell them you have an opportunity that you can't pass up at this time and sorry, but you have to put in your two weeks. Apply to many jobs, try and get interviews to practice interviewing. Hopefully you get lucky with the position that sounds enticing, but it's never guaranteed. Just start applying for anything that interests you.","human_ref_B":"What I did: apply for posts and then leave when you get one. You don't need to put current PI as a reference: folk understand it's sensitive.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":31926.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw07ag0","c_root_id_B":"fw0ar6j","created_at_utc_A":1593126009,"created_at_utc_B":1593127912,"score_A":88,"score_B":184,"human_ref_A":"In person, shifted to start two weeks earlier and fall break cancelled so we can send students home at Thanksgiving. Except finals week is *after* that, and will be done remotely. Classes will start earlier and run later and might be on Saturdays too. Maybe there's some sort of hyflex or rotating in-class\/online or labs come in but lectures stay online or dot dot dot who the hell knows. TBH it's all a lot of wishful thinking and I'll bet 200 internet dollars that if we actually do come back in person, everyone's gonna get sent home before September ends.","human_ref_B":"My uni is planning to be completely in-person. Good thing I\u2019m in New Zealand.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1903.0,"score_ratio":2.0909090909} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fvzz2uz","c_root_id_B":"fw0ar6j","created_at_utc_A":1593121712,"created_at_utc_B":1593127912,"score_A":13,"score_B":184,"human_ref_A":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","human_ref_B":"My uni is planning to be completely in-person. Good thing I\u2019m in New Zealand.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6200.0,"score_ratio":14.1538461538} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0ar6j","c_root_id_B":"fw063s9","created_at_utc_A":1593127912,"created_at_utc_B":1593125369,"score_A":184,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"My uni is planning to be completely in-person. Good thing I\u2019m in New Zealand.","human_ref_B":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2543.0,"score_ratio":18.4} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw07ag0","c_root_id_B":"fvzz2uz","created_at_utc_A":1593126009,"created_at_utc_B":1593121712,"score_A":88,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"In person, shifted to start two weeks earlier and fall break cancelled so we can send students home at Thanksgiving. Except finals week is *after* that, and will be done remotely. Classes will start earlier and run later and might be on Saturdays too. Maybe there's some sort of hyflex or rotating in-class\/online or labs come in but lectures stay online or dot dot dot who the hell knows. TBH it's all a lot of wishful thinking and I'll bet 200 internet dollars that if we actually do come back in person, everyone's gonna get sent home before September ends.","human_ref_B":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4297.0,"score_ratio":6.7692307692} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw07ag0","c_root_id_B":"fw063s9","created_at_utc_A":1593126009,"created_at_utc_B":1593125369,"score_A":88,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"In person, shifted to start two weeks earlier and fall break cancelled so we can send students home at Thanksgiving. Except finals week is *after* that, and will be done remotely. Classes will start earlier and run later and might be on Saturdays too. Maybe there's some sort of hyflex or rotating in-class\/online or labs come in but lectures stay online or dot dot dot who the hell knows. TBH it's all a lot of wishful thinking and I'll bet 200 internet dollars that if we actually do come back in person, everyone's gonna get sent home before September ends.","human_ref_B":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":640.0,"score_ratio":8.8} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0cn0p","c_root_id_B":"fvzz2uz","created_at_utc_A":1593128984,"created_at_utc_B":1593121712,"score_A":71,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"We're having \"blended learning\"; lectures online, labs and smaller tutorials in smaller groups and socially distanced settings. They're also proposing having students in the same courses placed in the same accommodation to create their own bubbles. Great if they all get on, a nightmare if they don't and they have no respite from each other at home or in lectures. I honestly think things will fall apart as soon as people start having to traverse our building in large numbers. The corridors are barely 1.5 metres wide, the floorplan wasn't designed for one way systems, and there are going to be unavoidable crossing areas. And I can't imagine the situation is better in other departments. Plus this is a physics building, and provision of women's toilets is patchy; it'll be like a game of snakes and ladders trying to get to them. Also I think it is beyond optimistic to think that students will stay in their bubbles.","human_ref_B":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7272.0,"score_ratio":5.4615384615} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw063s9","c_root_id_B":"fw0cn0p","created_at_utc_A":1593125369,"created_at_utc_B":1593128984,"score_A":10,"score_B":71,"human_ref_A":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","human_ref_B":"We're having \"blended learning\"; lectures online, labs and smaller tutorials in smaller groups and socially distanced settings. They're also proposing having students in the same courses placed in the same accommodation to create their own bubbles. Great if they all get on, a nightmare if they don't and they have no respite from each other at home or in lectures. I honestly think things will fall apart as soon as people start having to traverse our building in large numbers. The corridors are barely 1.5 metres wide, the floorplan wasn't designed for one way systems, and there are going to be unavoidable crossing areas. And I can't imagine the situation is better in other departments. Plus this is a physics building, and provision of women's toilets is patchy; it'll be like a game of snakes and ladders trying to get to them. Also I think it is beyond optimistic to think that students will stay in their bubbles.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3615.0,"score_ratio":7.1} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0cn0p","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593128984,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":71,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"We're having \"blended learning\"; lectures online, labs and smaller tutorials in smaller groups and socially distanced settings. They're also proposing having students in the same courses placed in the same accommodation to create their own bubbles. Great if they all get on, a nightmare if they don't and they have no respite from each other at home or in lectures. I honestly think things will fall apart as soon as people start having to traverse our building in large numbers. The corridors are barely 1.5 metres wide, the floorplan wasn't designed for one way systems, and there are going to be unavoidable crossing areas. And I can't imagine the situation is better in other departments. Plus this is a physics building, and provision of women's toilets is patchy; it'll be like a game of snakes and ladders trying to get to them. Also I think it is beyond optimistic to think that students will stay in their bubbles.","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":94.0,"score_ratio":11.8333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hz57","c_root_id_B":"fw0fygx","created_at_utc_A":1593132108,"created_at_utc_B":1593130912,"score_A":50,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"In my lab on campus (in Japan) we wear masks during the entire work time. We have (ozone) room purifiers inside our rooms, and open the windows a few times per day (the heat and humidity doesn't allow us to keep them open). We disinfect regulary touched places in the rooms a few times per day and we wash our hands properly and often. As far as I know, lectures for the students this year are entirely online, all off-curricular activities are cancelled. Meetings are allowed but with masks and a limited amount of people and with enough distance. Cafeterias are open but with limited choice, trays are prepared for us so we don't grab into the cutlery containers etc., and 50% of the seats are strategically not usable to keep distance. I think, after all, Japan is handling all of this better than initially thought!","human_ref_B":"My school is planning on in-person classes. The president sent a message recently essentially saying that social distancing isn't practical and that we shouldn't tell students to wear masks. I predict a massive number of cases a few weeks into the semester & the administration effectively says \"oh well, nothing we can do about it.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1196.0,"score_ratio":1.0638297872} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hev7","c_root_id_B":"fw0hz57","created_at_utc_A":1593131770,"created_at_utc_B":1593132108,"score_A":35,"score_B":50,"human_ref_A":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","human_ref_B":"In my lab on campus (in Japan) we wear masks during the entire work time. We have (ozone) room purifiers inside our rooms, and open the windows a few times per day (the heat and humidity doesn't allow us to keep them open). We disinfect regulary touched places in the rooms a few times per day and we wash our hands properly and often. As far as I know, lectures for the students this year are entirely online, all off-curricular activities are cancelled. Meetings are allowed but with masks and a limited amount of people and with enough distance. Cafeterias are open but with limited choice, trays are prepared for us so we don't grab into the cutlery containers etc., and 50% of the seats are strategically not usable to keep distance. I think, after all, Japan is handling all of this better than initially thought!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":338.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0dkia","c_root_id_B":"fw0hz57","created_at_utc_A":1593129516,"created_at_utc_B":1593132108,"score_A":20,"score_B":50,"human_ref_A":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","human_ref_B":"In my lab on campus (in Japan) we wear masks during the entire work time. We have (ozone) room purifiers inside our rooms, and open the windows a few times per day (the heat and humidity doesn't allow us to keep them open). We disinfect regulary touched places in the rooms a few times per day and we wash our hands properly and often. As far as I know, lectures for the students this year are entirely online, all off-curricular activities are cancelled. Meetings are allowed but with masks and a limited amount of people and with enough distance. Cafeterias are open but with limited choice, trays are prepared for us so we don't grab into the cutlery containers etc., and 50% of the seats are strategically not usable to keep distance. I think, after all, Japan is handling all of this better than initially thought!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2592.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fvzz2uz","c_root_id_B":"fw0hz57","created_at_utc_A":1593121712,"created_at_utc_B":1593132108,"score_A":13,"score_B":50,"human_ref_A":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","human_ref_B":"In my lab on campus (in Japan) we wear masks during the entire work time. We have (ozone) room purifiers inside our rooms, and open the windows a few times per day (the heat and humidity doesn't allow us to keep them open). We disinfect regulary touched places in the rooms a few times per day and we wash our hands properly and often. As far as I know, lectures for the students this year are entirely online, all off-curricular activities are cancelled. Meetings are allowed but with masks and a limited amount of people and with enough distance. Cafeterias are open but with limited choice, trays are prepared for us so we don't grab into the cutlery containers etc., and 50% of the seats are strategically not usable to keep distance. I think, after all, Japan is handling all of this better than initially thought!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10396.0,"score_ratio":3.8461538462} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hz57","c_root_id_B":"fw063s9","created_at_utc_A":1593132108,"created_at_utc_B":1593125369,"score_A":50,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"In my lab on campus (in Japan) we wear masks during the entire work time. We have (ozone) room purifiers inside our rooms, and open the windows a few times per day (the heat and humidity doesn't allow us to keep them open). We disinfect regulary touched places in the rooms a few times per day and we wash our hands properly and often. As far as I know, lectures for the students this year are entirely online, all off-curricular activities are cancelled. Meetings are allowed but with masks and a limited amount of people and with enough distance. Cafeterias are open but with limited choice, trays are prepared for us so we don't grab into the cutlery containers etc., and 50% of the seats are strategically not usable to keep distance. I think, after all, Japan is handling all of this better than initially thought!","human_ref_B":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6739.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hz57","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593132108,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":50,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"In my lab on campus (in Japan) we wear masks during the entire work time. We have (ozone) room purifiers inside our rooms, and open the windows a few times per day (the heat and humidity doesn't allow us to keep them open). We disinfect regulary touched places in the rooms a few times per day and we wash our hands properly and often. As far as I know, lectures for the students this year are entirely online, all off-curricular activities are cancelled. Meetings are allowed but with masks and a limited amount of people and with enough distance. Cafeterias are open but with limited choice, trays are prepared for us so we don't grab into the cutlery containers etc., and 50% of the seats are strategically not usable to keep distance. I think, after all, Japan is handling all of this better than initially thought!","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3218.0,"score_ratio":8.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hz57","c_root_id_B":"fw0g43q","created_at_utc_A":1593132108,"created_at_utc_B":1593131005,"score_A":50,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"In my lab on campus (in Japan) we wear masks during the entire work time. We have (ozone) room purifiers inside our rooms, and open the windows a few times per day (the heat and humidity doesn't allow us to keep them open). We disinfect regulary touched places in the rooms a few times per day and we wash our hands properly and often. As far as I know, lectures for the students this year are entirely online, all off-curricular activities are cancelled. Meetings are allowed but with masks and a limited amount of people and with enough distance. Cafeterias are open but with limited choice, trays are prepared for us so we don't grab into the cutlery containers etc., and 50% of the seats are strategically not usable to keep distance. I think, after all, Japan is handling all of this better than initially thought!","human_ref_B":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1103.0,"score_ratio":8.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0fygx","c_root_id_B":"fw0dkia","created_at_utc_A":1593130912,"created_at_utc_B":1593129516,"score_A":47,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"My school is planning on in-person classes. The president sent a message recently essentially saying that social distancing isn't practical and that we shouldn't tell students to wear masks. I predict a massive number of cases a few weeks into the semester & the administration effectively says \"oh well, nothing we can do about it.\"","human_ref_B":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1396.0,"score_ratio":2.35} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0fygx","c_root_id_B":"fvzz2uz","created_at_utc_A":1593130912,"created_at_utc_B":1593121712,"score_A":47,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"My school is planning on in-person classes. The president sent a message recently essentially saying that social distancing isn't practical and that we shouldn't tell students to wear masks. I predict a massive number of cases a few weeks into the semester & the administration effectively says \"oh well, nothing we can do about it.\"","human_ref_B":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9200.0,"score_ratio":3.6153846154} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0fygx","c_root_id_B":"fw063s9","created_at_utc_A":1593130912,"created_at_utc_B":1593125369,"score_A":47,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"My school is planning on in-person classes. The president sent a message recently essentially saying that social distancing isn't practical and that we shouldn't tell students to wear masks. I predict a massive number of cases a few weeks into the semester & the administration effectively says \"oh well, nothing we can do about it.\"","human_ref_B":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5543.0,"score_ratio":4.7} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0ch2b","c_root_id_B":"fw0fygx","created_at_utc_A":1593128890,"created_at_utc_B":1593130912,"score_A":6,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","human_ref_B":"My school is planning on in-person classes. The president sent a message recently essentially saying that social distancing isn't practical and that we shouldn't tell students to wear masks. I predict a massive number of cases a few weeks into the semester & the administration effectively says \"oh well, nothing we can do about it.\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2022.0,"score_ratio":7.8333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hev7","c_root_id_B":"fw0nx71","created_at_utc_A":1593131770,"created_at_utc_B":1593135684,"score_A":35,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","human_ref_B":"Plan? What plan?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3914.0,"score_ratio":1.3428571429} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0nx71","c_root_id_B":"fw0dkia","created_at_utc_A":1593135684,"created_at_utc_B":1593129516,"score_A":47,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Plan? What plan?","human_ref_B":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6168.0,"score_ratio":2.35} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fvzz2uz","c_root_id_B":"fw0nx71","created_at_utc_A":1593121712,"created_at_utc_B":1593135684,"score_A":13,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","human_ref_B":"Plan? What plan?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13972.0,"score_ratio":3.6153846154} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0nx71","c_root_id_B":"fw063s9","created_at_utc_A":1593135684,"created_at_utc_B":1593125369,"score_A":47,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Plan? What plan?","human_ref_B":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10315.0,"score_ratio":4.7} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0ch2b","c_root_id_B":"fw0nx71","created_at_utc_A":1593128890,"created_at_utc_B":1593135684,"score_A":6,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","human_ref_B":"Plan? What plan?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6794.0,"score_ratio":7.8333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0j1d4","c_root_id_B":"fw0nx71","created_at_utc_A":1593132737,"created_at_utc_B":1593135684,"score_A":6,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"My university (CO, USA) is going to continue with remote learning for the majority of classes. Any classes that require labs or shops will be in person with reduced class capacity. This doesn't affect me, I was enrolled in online classes before they made the announcement. The only issue I have is with testing. I would much rather go in and take my tests in the exam center that are proctored in person than use the program that requires me to pay $25 per exam (I think it's ProctorU).","human_ref_B":"Plan? What plan?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2947.0,"score_ratio":7.8333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0g43q","c_root_id_B":"fw0nx71","created_at_utc_A":1593131005,"created_at_utc_B":1593135684,"score_A":6,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","human_ref_B":"Plan? What plan?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4679.0,"score_ratio":7.8333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0nx71","c_root_id_B":"fw0kt9w","created_at_utc_A":1593135684,"created_at_utc_B":1593133797,"score_A":47,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Plan? What plan?","human_ref_B":"I am still not sure what our campus has decided to do because they keep changing their plan. The only think I am sure is happening is that all classes after Thanksgiving (US) will be remote. I think the University is still currently planning the in person but postponed graduation ceremony for this coming August 15th! edit: I'm serious, but I also feel a \/s should be included here. They really are planning this graduation ceremony, but they really shooouuuuldn't .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1887.0,"score_ratio":15.6666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0rc45","c_root_id_B":"fw0hev7","created_at_utc_A":1593137746,"created_at_utc_B":1593131770,"score_A":36,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","human_ref_B":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5976.0,"score_ratio":1.0285714286} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0dkia","c_root_id_B":"fw0rc45","created_at_utc_A":1593129516,"created_at_utc_B":1593137746,"score_A":20,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","human_ref_B":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8230.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0qe04","c_root_id_B":"fw0rc45","created_at_utc_A":1593137167,"created_at_utc_B":1593137746,"score_A":15,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","human_ref_B":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","labels":0,"seconds_difference":579.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fvzz2uz","c_root_id_B":"fw0rc45","created_at_utc_A":1593121712,"created_at_utc_B":1593137746,"score_A":13,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","human_ref_B":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16034.0,"score_ratio":2.7692307692} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0rc45","c_root_id_B":"fw063s9","created_at_utc_A":1593137746,"created_at_utc_B":1593125369,"score_A":36,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","human_ref_B":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12377.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0rc45","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593137746,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":36,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8856.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0j1d4","c_root_id_B":"fw0rc45","created_at_utc_A":1593132737,"created_at_utc_B":1593137746,"score_A":6,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"My university (CO, USA) is going to continue with remote learning for the majority of classes. Any classes that require labs or shops will be in person with reduced class capacity. This doesn't affect me, I was enrolled in online classes before they made the announcement. The only issue I have is with testing. I would much rather go in and take my tests in the exam center that are proctored in person than use the program that requires me to pay $25 per exam (I think it's ProctorU).","human_ref_B":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5009.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0g43q","c_root_id_B":"fw0rc45","created_at_utc_A":1593131005,"created_at_utc_B":1593137746,"score_A":6,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","human_ref_B":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6741.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0rc45","c_root_id_B":"fw0kt9w","created_at_utc_A":1593137746,"created_at_utc_B":1593133797,"score_A":36,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":". . . . What do you guys think of that plan? Sounds great, right??","human_ref_B":"I am still not sure what our campus has decided to do because they keep changing their plan. The only think I am sure is happening is that all classes after Thanksgiving (US) will be remote. I think the University is still currently planning the in person but postponed graduation ceremony for this coming August 15th! edit: I'm serious, but I also feel a \/s should be included here. They really are planning this graduation ceremony, but they really shooouuuuldn't .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3949.0,"score_ratio":12.0} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0dkia","c_root_id_B":"fw0hev7","created_at_utc_A":1593129516,"created_at_utc_B":1593131770,"score_A":20,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","human_ref_B":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2254.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hev7","c_root_id_B":"fvzz2uz","created_at_utc_A":1593131770,"created_at_utc_B":1593121712,"score_A":35,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","human_ref_B":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10058.0,"score_ratio":2.6923076923} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw063s9","c_root_id_B":"fw0hev7","created_at_utc_A":1593125369,"created_at_utc_B":1593131770,"score_A":10,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","human_ref_B":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6401.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hev7","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593131770,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":35,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2880.0,"score_ratio":5.8333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0hev7","c_root_id_B":"fw0g43q","created_at_utc_A":1593131770,"created_at_utc_B":1593131005,"score_A":35,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I do not work on campus so i have not been paying much attention. But there was a decent piece by a law professor in the Chronicle of Higher Education that by forcing individuals back they may be in conflict with OSHA standards and ADA accommodations. It's worth a read, in my opinion.","human_ref_B":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":765.0,"score_ratio":5.8333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fvzz2uz","c_root_id_B":"fw0dkia","created_at_utc_A":1593121712,"created_at_utc_B":1593129516,"score_A":13,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","human_ref_B":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7804.0,"score_ratio":1.5384615385} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw063s9","c_root_id_B":"fw0dkia","created_at_utc_A":1593125369,"created_at_utc_B":1593129516,"score_A":10,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","human_ref_B":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4147.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0dkia","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593129516,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":20,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Majority of classes are online, except labs and a few select classes which will meet once a week at maximum. Then, after thanksgiving break, all classes will be online. I think this is a good compromise, because it acknowledges and works around the fact that we *will* see a rise in cases over the course of the semester. Can\u2019t say I\u2019m not jealous of NZ, but at least my uni is own of the more sensible ones.","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":626.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0qe04","c_root_id_B":"fw10dz8","created_at_utc_A":1593137167,"created_at_utc_B":1593143413,"score_A":15,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","human_ref_B":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6246.0,"score_ratio":1.0666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0qe04","c_root_id_B":"fvzz2uz","created_at_utc_A":1593137167,"created_at_utc_B":1593121712,"score_A":15,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","human_ref_B":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15455.0,"score_ratio":1.1538461538} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0qe04","c_root_id_B":"fw063s9","created_at_utc_A":1593137167,"created_at_utc_B":1593125369,"score_A":15,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","human_ref_B":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11798.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0qe04","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593137167,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":15,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8277.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0qe04","c_root_id_B":"fw0j1d4","created_at_utc_A":1593137167,"created_at_utc_B":1593132737,"score_A":15,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","human_ref_B":"My university (CO, USA) is going to continue with remote learning for the majority of classes. Any classes that require labs or shops will be in person with reduced class capacity. This doesn't affect me, I was enrolled in online classes before they made the announcement. The only issue I have is with testing. I would much rather go in and take my tests in the exam center that are proctored in person than use the program that requires me to pay $25 per exam (I think it's ProctorU).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4430.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0g43q","c_root_id_B":"fw0qe04","created_at_utc_A":1593131005,"created_at_utc_B":1593137167,"score_A":6,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","human_ref_B":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6162.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0qe04","c_root_id_B":"fw0kt9w","created_at_utc_A":1593137167,"created_at_utc_B":1593133797,"score_A":15,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Honestly, it is pretty depressing to see the business side of things running the show (at least in my uni), you got a lot of wishful thinking and people suggesting hybrid courses with no real instruction on what a 50% in-person and 50% online class really looks like. Not exactly comfortable giving the university pre-recorded versions of lectures or anything like that. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked to see a lot of adjuncts and grad students get fucked in all of this.","human_ref_B":"I am still not sure what our campus has decided to do because they keep changing their plan. The only think I am sure is happening is that all classes after Thanksgiving (US) will be remote. I think the University is still currently planning the in person but postponed graduation ceremony for this coming August 15th! edit: I'm serious, but I also feel a \/s should be included here. They really are planning this graduation ceremony, but they really shooouuuuldn't .","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3370.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0tetz","c_root_id_B":"fw10dz8","created_at_utc_A":1593139016,"created_at_utc_B":1593143413,"score_A":14,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"I am in Georgia, US. My university, with over 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is planning to resume in-person classes mid-August. They\u2019re not requiring face masks or testing. They are requiring graduate teaching assistants and faculty to be present to teach on campus. Dining halls, dorms and campus buses will operate as in a pre-COVID world. I think it\u2019s a terrible move, especially since COVID cases in Georgia are climbing. I hope that they change their minds and switch to online instruction.","human_ref_B":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4397.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fvzz2uz","c_root_id_B":"fw10dz8","created_at_utc_A":1593121712,"created_at_utc_B":1593143413,"score_A":13,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","human_ref_B":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21701.0,"score_ratio":1.2307692308} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw063s9","c_root_id_B":"fw10dz8","created_at_utc_A":1593125369,"created_at_utc_B":1593143413,"score_A":10,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","human_ref_B":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18044.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw10dz8","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593143413,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":16,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14523.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw10dz8","c_root_id_B":"fw0j1d4","created_at_utc_A":1593143413,"created_at_utc_B":1593132737,"score_A":16,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","human_ref_B":"My university (CO, USA) is going to continue with remote learning for the majority of classes. Any classes that require labs or shops will be in person with reduced class capacity. This doesn't affect me, I was enrolled in online classes before they made the announcement. The only issue I have is with testing. I would much rather go in and take my tests in the exam center that are proctored in person than use the program that requires me to pay $25 per exam (I think it's ProctorU).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10676.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw10dz8","c_root_id_B":"fw0g43q","created_at_utc_A":1593143413,"created_at_utc_B":1593131005,"score_A":16,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","human_ref_B":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12408.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0kt9w","c_root_id_B":"fw10dz8","created_at_utc_A":1593133797,"created_at_utc_B":1593143413,"score_A":3,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"I am still not sure what our campus has decided to do because they keep changing their plan. The only think I am sure is happening is that all classes after Thanksgiving (US) will be remote. I think the University is still currently planning the in person but postponed graduation ceremony for this coming August 15th! edit: I'm serious, but I also feel a \/s should be included here. They really are planning this graduation ceremony, but they really shooouuuuldn't .","human_ref_B":"Y\u2019all are hearing from your schools? (All of the Ivies are coordinating their response and part of that coordination is apparently radio silence.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9616.0,"score_ratio":5.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fvzz2uz","c_root_id_B":"fw0tetz","created_at_utc_A":1593121712,"created_at_utc_B":1593139016,"score_A":13,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Well our policy for fall is \"On-Campus when needed, Distance whenever possible\". I am really worried about some exams, especially those that really can't be done distance. I suggested training personnel to accommodate such exams, but so far, distance examinations prompted a huge increase in cheating so that is something that has to be dealt with :\/ (it also puts more stress on teachers...)","human_ref_B":"I am in Georgia, US. My university, with over 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is planning to resume in-person classes mid-August. They\u2019re not requiring face masks or testing. They are requiring graduate teaching assistants and faculty to be present to teach on campus. Dining halls, dorms and campus buses will operate as in a pre-COVID world. I think it\u2019s a terrible move, especially since COVID cases in Georgia are climbing. I hope that they change their minds and switch to online instruction.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17304.0,"score_ratio":1.0769230769} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw063s9","c_root_id_B":"fw0tetz","created_at_utc_A":1593125369,"created_at_utc_B":1593139016,"score_A":10,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"my school is planning to do part online , part in class , part hybrid . classes like labs will be on campus .. majority will be online .","human_ref_B":"I am in Georgia, US. My university, with over 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is planning to resume in-person classes mid-August. They\u2019re not requiring face masks or testing. They are requiring graduate teaching assistants and faculty to be present to teach on campus. Dining halls, dorms and campus buses will operate as in a pre-COVID world. I think it\u2019s a terrible move, especially since COVID cases in Georgia are climbing. I hope that they change their minds and switch to online instruction.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13647.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0ch2b","c_root_id_B":"fw0tetz","created_at_utc_A":1593128890,"created_at_utc_B":1593139016,"score_A":6,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","human_ref_B":"I am in Georgia, US. My university, with over 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is planning to resume in-person classes mid-August. They\u2019re not requiring face masks or testing. They are requiring graduate teaching assistants and faculty to be present to teach on campus. Dining halls, dorms and campus buses will operate as in a pre-COVID world. I think it\u2019s a terrible move, especially since COVID cases in Georgia are climbing. I hope that they change their minds and switch to online instruction.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10126.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0j1d4","c_root_id_B":"fw0tetz","created_at_utc_A":1593132737,"created_at_utc_B":1593139016,"score_A":6,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"My university (CO, USA) is going to continue with remote learning for the majority of classes. Any classes that require labs or shops will be in person with reduced class capacity. This doesn't affect me, I was enrolled in online classes before they made the announcement. The only issue I have is with testing. I would much rather go in and take my tests in the exam center that are proctored in person than use the program that requires me to pay $25 per exam (I think it's ProctorU).","human_ref_B":"I am in Georgia, US. My university, with over 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is planning to resume in-person classes mid-August. They\u2019re not requiring face masks or testing. They are requiring graduate teaching assistants and faculty to be present to teach on campus. Dining halls, dorms and campus buses will operate as in a pre-COVID world. I think it\u2019s a terrible move, especially since COVID cases in Georgia are climbing. I hope that they change their minds and switch to online instruction.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6279.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0tetz","c_root_id_B":"fw0g43q","created_at_utc_A":1593139016,"created_at_utc_B":1593131005,"score_A":14,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I am in Georgia, US. My university, with over 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is planning to resume in-person classes mid-August. They\u2019re not requiring face masks or testing. They are requiring graduate teaching assistants and faculty to be present to teach on campus. Dining halls, dorms and campus buses will operate as in a pre-COVID world. I think it\u2019s a terrible move, especially since COVID cases in Georgia are climbing. I hope that they change their minds and switch to online instruction.","human_ref_B":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8011.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0kt9w","c_root_id_B":"fw0tetz","created_at_utc_A":1593133797,"created_at_utc_B":1593139016,"score_A":3,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I am still not sure what our campus has decided to do because they keep changing their plan. The only think I am sure is happening is that all classes after Thanksgiving (US) will be remote. I think the University is still currently planning the in person but postponed graduation ceremony for this coming August 15th! edit: I'm serious, but I also feel a \/s should be included here. They really are planning this graduation ceremony, but they really shooouuuuldn't .","human_ref_B":"I am in Georgia, US. My university, with over 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is planning to resume in-person classes mid-August. They\u2019re not requiring face masks or testing. They are requiring graduate teaching assistants and faculty to be present to teach on campus. Dining halls, dorms and campus buses will operate as in a pre-COVID world. I think it\u2019s a terrible move, especially since COVID cases in Georgia are climbing. I hope that they change their minds and switch to online instruction.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5219.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw1eq6t","c_root_id_B":"fw0ch2b","created_at_utc_A":1593154226,"created_at_utc_B":1593128890,"score_A":8,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Nice try, mister associate dean for pandemic strategy Everybody hide your homework, OP is trying to cheat","human_ref_B":"Nothing announced for my school yet. I believe they will likely hold off on announcing official plans until the absolute late minute. So far, the only instruction\/direction is to plan for 'hybrid' courses which will be held online primarily, but it will be up to each individual instructor to decide how often students meet in-person. This hybrid course is subject to change and is, as of now, not university policy - so everything is still up in the air for us.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":25336.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0j1d4","c_root_id_B":"fw1eq6t","created_at_utc_A":1593132737,"created_at_utc_B":1593154226,"score_A":6,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"My university (CO, USA) is going to continue with remote learning for the majority of classes. Any classes that require labs or shops will be in person with reduced class capacity. This doesn't affect me, I was enrolled in online classes before they made the announcement. The only issue I have is with testing. I would much rather go in and take my tests in the exam center that are proctored in person than use the program that requires me to pay $25 per exam (I think it's ProctorU).","human_ref_B":"Nice try, mister associate dean for pandemic strategy Everybody hide your homework, OP is trying to cheat","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21489.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw1eq6t","c_root_id_B":"fw0g43q","created_at_utc_A":1593154226,"created_at_utc_B":1593131005,"score_A":8,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Nice try, mister associate dean for pandemic strategy Everybody hide your homework, OP is trying to cheat","human_ref_B":"I know our department's plan but we arent allowed to release the info to other faculty or students until it comes from the top. Waiting on a decision is going to make for less time to set up. My dept will be 100% online. Each department gets to make the choice.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23221.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0kt9w","c_root_id_B":"fw1eq6t","created_at_utc_A":1593133797,"created_at_utc_B":1593154226,"score_A":3,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I am still not sure what our campus has decided to do because they keep changing their plan. The only think I am sure is happening is that all classes after Thanksgiving (US) will be remote. I think the University is still currently planning the in person but postponed graduation ceremony for this coming August 15th! edit: I'm serious, but I also feel a \/s should be included here. They really are planning this graduation ceremony, but they really shooouuuuldn't .","human_ref_B":"Nice try, mister associate dean for pandemic strategy Everybody hide your homework, OP is trying to cheat","labels":0,"seconds_difference":20429.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw2132w","c_root_id_B":"fw1zzfq","created_at_utc_A":1593174549,"created_at_utc_B":1593173753,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The university sent out a document with seven options including two forms of HyFlex. I\u2019m an instructional designer for my specific school. I also teach elsewhere. I had very little input into this final document. Before the document, I warned my faculty that they should really think about doing hybrid (where you do activities with a small group in person but record lectures) or online. Online asynchronous is the safest option and can be done really well with the underlying work. Online synchronous (like Zoom) can have challenges with engagement and with students\u2019 work lives and family lives still in flux, can be a more challenging option. HyFlex is harder than both those options but my faculty who want it don\u2019t feel comfortable online and feel that they need an in-person component. These are also my older faculty who are high risk. I\u2019m worried about them. My faculty (and I can\u2019t blame them) are exhausted from Spring and just want the path of least resistance for Fall. I\u2019m struggling with how to best support all 100+ of my faculty being one person.","human_ref_B":"* Very few of these plans explicitly acknowledge the very real possibility of having a repeat of March sometime this fall. Lots of wishful thinking. * Testing everyone on campus weekly is gonna be a logistical nightmare, and it won't prevent all outbreaks. * Remote learning isn't worth regular tuition. Best choice for many undergrad students would be to take a gap\/break year. Many suckers will throw away their money, regardless. * Bringing the students back on campus is a foolhardy cash grab.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":796.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"hfumcg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"let's talk about our campuses' coronavirus plans for the fall Good people of the AskAcademia subreddit: What is your school's plan for the fall? How do you feel about it? What is the smartest thing you have seen suggested and what are some things that you think will fail?","c_root_id_A":"fw0kt9w","c_root_id_B":"fw2132w","created_at_utc_A":1593133797,"created_at_utc_B":1593174549,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I am still not sure what our campus has decided to do because they keep changing their plan. The only think I am sure is happening is that all classes after Thanksgiving (US) will be remote. I think the University is still currently planning the in person but postponed graduation ceremony for this coming August 15th! edit: I'm serious, but I also feel a \/s should be included here. They really are planning this graduation ceremony, but they really shooouuuuldn't .","human_ref_B":"The university sent out a document with seven options including two forms of HyFlex. I\u2019m an instructional designer for my specific school. I also teach elsewhere. I had very little input into this final document. Before the document, I warned my faculty that they should really think about doing hybrid (where you do activities with a small group in person but record lectures) or online. Online asynchronous is the safest option and can be done really well with the underlying work. Online synchronous (like Zoom) can have challenges with engagement and with students\u2019 work lives and family lives still in flux, can be a more challenging option. HyFlex is harder than both those options but my faculty who want it don\u2019t feel comfortable online and feel that they need an in-person component. These are also my older faculty who are high risk. I\u2019m worried about them. My faculty (and I can\u2019t blame them) are exhausted from Spring and just want the path of least resistance for Fall. I\u2019m struggling with how to best support all 100+ of my faculty being one person.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":40752.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy8ow4","c_root_id_B":"fxxrr5t","created_at_utc_A":1594662772,"created_at_utc_B":1594654526,"score_A":96,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"Australia has relatively low teaching and pays well for post-docs. I know some people who emigrated there and love it. Personally, there are some aspects of the culture I don't like, but ymmv. Like most non-US countries, bureaucracy is higher but things work well. Canada is hard for non-residents to gain access to, but probably the most comfortable if you're coming from the US. It has the advantage that it's close to the US without being the US, so sometimes you can get US grants and anyway you are part of the North American network, which helps. The UK pays horribly, but almost any place that is not the US pays worse than the US. Still, the UK is the worst on that front. They pay in prestige. Bureaucracy is said to be pretty bad. Europe: varies by country, and maybe by field. The academic system is generally very different, though a few places are trying to do things the American way. Hiring seems to be more network-based, so as an outsider you may have difficulty getting in unless you know someone or can make a plausible case as to why you're particularly interested. Schools don't want to waste time on people unlikely to take up their offer. Pay in Europe in my field seems to be between the UK and Canada. Benefits are good, though. It's simply a different system that emphasizes different things. New Zealand: New Zealand is to Australia what Canada is to the US. (Exaggerating.) Smaller, no universities that compete at the very, very top end but people don't go to very top ones anyway and they do have solid ones. A bit more liberal. Prettiest country by a mile. Hong Kong, Singapore: you said Canada and Europe, but you can speak English here, too, and they are very international ciities. Again, I don't know about your field, but these cities can pay very well in general - better than the US. It could be hard to live under the more restrictive governments, though. There's an active expat community in both places. The easiest cultures to adjust to, I would guess, would be Canada, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand in some order. In normal times, New Zealand, Australia or the UK would be easier to get into. Under the pandemic, everything is hard everywhere. A thing I would highlight is that it's probably best to start your career in North America even if you don't want to stay. Getting to meet people at seminars and conferences is crucial for early stage researchers, and you would be a bit isolated in the UK\/Europe (and certainly in any of the other places I mentioned), though certainly they have their own academic network. Depending on your interests, you may find that people focus on different topics or methods in North America vs. Europe. It's subtly different.","human_ref_B":"It\u2019s unclear whether you and your wife are considering postdocs or believe you\u2019re competitive for tenure-track jobs right away. In general assuming you will have so many offers that you\u2019ll have a choice where to move is pretty ambitious. Where does her advisor have collaborators? If she is competitive for an nsf postdoc than your problem is basically solved for a few years, live wherever you like. The timing of this really sounds like \u201cI\u2019m moving to Canada after the election\u201d and then you\u2019re always so shocked that immigrating is an arduous process. Be warned also that the academic spouses I know typically did not qualify for work permits during their partners\u2019 postdocs unless they found an employer on their own who would sort out their visa and work permit issues. Given the current circumstances I think that will be very difficult. Also, the job market for junior postdocs might not be flattened by the pandemic, but the tenure-track market and the market for senior postdocs is going to be just apocalyptic. People with much fuller CVs are going to be on the market that otherwise wouldn\u2019t be.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8246.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxdi28","c_root_id_B":"fxy8ow4","created_at_utc_A":1594646567,"created_at_utc_B":1594662772,"score_A":23,"score_B":96,"human_ref_A":"You might want to check out this thread, too: https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/academia\/comments\/hq3hzg\/academic_job_market_nonnorth_america\/","human_ref_B":"Australia has relatively low teaching and pays well for post-docs. I know some people who emigrated there and love it. Personally, there are some aspects of the culture I don't like, but ymmv. Like most non-US countries, bureaucracy is higher but things work well. Canada is hard for non-residents to gain access to, but probably the most comfortable if you're coming from the US. It has the advantage that it's close to the US without being the US, so sometimes you can get US grants and anyway you are part of the North American network, which helps. The UK pays horribly, but almost any place that is not the US pays worse than the US. Still, the UK is the worst on that front. They pay in prestige. Bureaucracy is said to be pretty bad. Europe: varies by country, and maybe by field. The academic system is generally very different, though a few places are trying to do things the American way. Hiring seems to be more network-based, so as an outsider you may have difficulty getting in unless you know someone or can make a plausible case as to why you're particularly interested. Schools don't want to waste time on people unlikely to take up their offer. Pay in Europe in my field seems to be between the UK and Canada. Benefits are good, though. It's simply a different system that emphasizes different things. New Zealand: New Zealand is to Australia what Canada is to the US. (Exaggerating.) Smaller, no universities that compete at the very, very top end but people don't go to very top ones anyway and they do have solid ones. A bit more liberal. Prettiest country by a mile. Hong Kong, Singapore: you said Canada and Europe, but you can speak English here, too, and they are very international ciities. Again, I don't know about your field, but these cities can pay very well in general - better than the US. It could be hard to live under the more restrictive governments, though. There's an active expat community in both places. The easiest cultures to adjust to, I would guess, would be Canada, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand in some order. In normal times, New Zealand, Australia or the UK would be easier to get into. Under the pandemic, everything is hard everywhere. A thing I would highlight is that it's probably best to start your career in North America even if you don't want to stay. Getting to meet people at seminars and conferences is crucial for early stage researchers, and you would be a bit isolated in the UK\/Europe (and certainly in any of the other places I mentioned), though certainly they have their own academic network. Depending on your interests, you may find that people focus on different topics or methods in North America vs. Europe. It's subtly different.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16205.0,"score_ratio":4.1739130435} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy8ow4","c_root_id_B":"fxy5dyw","created_at_utc_A":1594662772,"created_at_utc_B":1594661196,"score_A":96,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Australia has relatively low teaching and pays well for post-docs. I know some people who emigrated there and love it. Personally, there are some aspects of the culture I don't like, but ymmv. Like most non-US countries, bureaucracy is higher but things work well. Canada is hard for non-residents to gain access to, but probably the most comfortable if you're coming from the US. It has the advantage that it's close to the US without being the US, so sometimes you can get US grants and anyway you are part of the North American network, which helps. The UK pays horribly, but almost any place that is not the US pays worse than the US. Still, the UK is the worst on that front. They pay in prestige. Bureaucracy is said to be pretty bad. Europe: varies by country, and maybe by field. The academic system is generally very different, though a few places are trying to do things the American way. Hiring seems to be more network-based, so as an outsider you may have difficulty getting in unless you know someone or can make a plausible case as to why you're particularly interested. Schools don't want to waste time on people unlikely to take up their offer. Pay in Europe in my field seems to be between the UK and Canada. Benefits are good, though. It's simply a different system that emphasizes different things. New Zealand: New Zealand is to Australia what Canada is to the US. (Exaggerating.) Smaller, no universities that compete at the very, very top end but people don't go to very top ones anyway and they do have solid ones. A bit more liberal. Prettiest country by a mile. Hong Kong, Singapore: you said Canada and Europe, but you can speak English here, too, and they are very international ciities. Again, I don't know about your field, but these cities can pay very well in general - better than the US. It could be hard to live under the more restrictive governments, though. There's an active expat community in both places. The easiest cultures to adjust to, I would guess, would be Canada, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand in some order. In normal times, New Zealand, Australia or the UK would be easier to get into. Under the pandemic, everything is hard everywhere. A thing I would highlight is that it's probably best to start your career in North America even if you don't want to stay. Getting to meet people at seminars and conferences is crucial for early stage researchers, and you would be a bit isolated in the UK\/Europe (and certainly in any of the other places I mentioned), though certainly they have their own academic network. Depending on your interests, you may find that people focus on different topics or methods in North America vs. Europe. It's subtly different.","human_ref_B":"Just FYI, most ads for permanent academic jobs in Canada say \"Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.\" It varies from place to place how much of a barrier this is, but you have to be a competitive candidate to trump those who legally get preference (this is in addition to being sufficiently competitive to get an interview in the first place). The PR process in Canada is expensive and arduous. If you can get a postdoc and live in Canada for a year or two first, it's easier.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1576.0,"score_ratio":5.6470588235} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy8ow4","c_root_id_B":"fxy82j4","created_at_utc_A":1594662772,"created_at_utc_B":1594662475,"score_A":96,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Australia has relatively low teaching and pays well for post-docs. I know some people who emigrated there and love it. Personally, there are some aspects of the culture I don't like, but ymmv. Like most non-US countries, bureaucracy is higher but things work well. Canada is hard for non-residents to gain access to, but probably the most comfortable if you're coming from the US. It has the advantage that it's close to the US without being the US, so sometimes you can get US grants and anyway you are part of the North American network, which helps. The UK pays horribly, but almost any place that is not the US pays worse than the US. Still, the UK is the worst on that front. They pay in prestige. Bureaucracy is said to be pretty bad. Europe: varies by country, and maybe by field. The academic system is generally very different, though a few places are trying to do things the American way. Hiring seems to be more network-based, so as an outsider you may have difficulty getting in unless you know someone or can make a plausible case as to why you're particularly interested. Schools don't want to waste time on people unlikely to take up their offer. Pay in Europe in my field seems to be between the UK and Canada. Benefits are good, though. It's simply a different system that emphasizes different things. New Zealand: New Zealand is to Australia what Canada is to the US. (Exaggerating.) Smaller, no universities that compete at the very, very top end but people don't go to very top ones anyway and they do have solid ones. A bit more liberal. Prettiest country by a mile. Hong Kong, Singapore: you said Canada and Europe, but you can speak English here, too, and they are very international ciities. Again, I don't know about your field, but these cities can pay very well in general - better than the US. It could be hard to live under the more restrictive governments, though. There's an active expat community in both places. The easiest cultures to adjust to, I would guess, would be Canada, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand in some order. In normal times, New Zealand, Australia or the UK would be easier to get into. Under the pandemic, everything is hard everywhere. A thing I would highlight is that it's probably best to start your career in North America even if you don't want to stay. Getting to meet people at seminars and conferences is crucial for early stage researchers, and you would be a bit isolated in the UK\/Europe (and certainly in any of the other places I mentioned), though certainly they have their own academic network. Depending on your interests, you may find that people focus on different topics or methods in North America vs. Europe. It's subtly different.","human_ref_B":"Which issues? If the issues are a determining factor for leaving, then you should go somewhere where those issues are either resolved or not present? If looking for an issue-less bubble... I'm not sure you'll find one, but you can probably find a place that has better policing, policies towards animal rights, higher environmental standards, etc., but maybe not all in one place and maybe not compared to particular states or cities in the U.S.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":297.0,"score_ratio":9.6} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy8ow4","c_root_id_B":"fxxncos","created_at_utc_A":1594662772,"created_at_utc_B":1594652237,"score_A":96,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Australia has relatively low teaching and pays well for post-docs. I know some people who emigrated there and love it. Personally, there are some aspects of the culture I don't like, but ymmv. Like most non-US countries, bureaucracy is higher but things work well. Canada is hard for non-residents to gain access to, but probably the most comfortable if you're coming from the US. It has the advantage that it's close to the US without being the US, so sometimes you can get US grants and anyway you are part of the North American network, which helps. The UK pays horribly, but almost any place that is not the US pays worse than the US. Still, the UK is the worst on that front. They pay in prestige. Bureaucracy is said to be pretty bad. Europe: varies by country, and maybe by field. The academic system is generally very different, though a few places are trying to do things the American way. Hiring seems to be more network-based, so as an outsider you may have difficulty getting in unless you know someone or can make a plausible case as to why you're particularly interested. Schools don't want to waste time on people unlikely to take up their offer. Pay in Europe in my field seems to be between the UK and Canada. Benefits are good, though. It's simply a different system that emphasizes different things. New Zealand: New Zealand is to Australia what Canada is to the US. (Exaggerating.) Smaller, no universities that compete at the very, very top end but people don't go to very top ones anyway and they do have solid ones. A bit more liberal. Prettiest country by a mile. Hong Kong, Singapore: you said Canada and Europe, but you can speak English here, too, and they are very international ciities. Again, I don't know about your field, but these cities can pay very well in general - better than the US. It could be hard to live under the more restrictive governments, though. There's an active expat community in both places. The easiest cultures to adjust to, I would guess, would be Canada, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand in some order. In normal times, New Zealand, Australia or the UK would be easier to get into. Under the pandemic, everything is hard everywhere. A thing I would highlight is that it's probably best to start your career in North America even if you don't want to stay. Getting to meet people at seminars and conferences is crucial for early stage researchers, and you would be a bit isolated in the UK\/Europe (and certainly in any of the other places I mentioned), though certainly they have their own academic network. Depending on your interests, you may find that people focus on different topics or methods in North America vs. Europe. It's subtly different.","human_ref_B":"Most of Western and Northern Europe should be pretty easy to move to even without knowing the language at first. Scandinavia is definitely a good option. Everyone speaks English, so you won\u2019t have any problems with that, and most of the universities offer a lot of courses in English, so even with a teaching position it\u2019s possible to start working straight away and learn the language at a somewhat chill pace. That probably holds for other European countries, too. Not sure what the situation is like other places, but in Norway there\u2019s a lot of temporary appointments at the moment, but probably still easier to get tenure than in the US. It\u2019s probably not worse here than anywhere else. I do hear a lot of \u201cthe staff turnover\u2019s so high now, it\u2019s all temporary appointments, no one stays more than a year or two, don\u2019t go into academia, you\u2019ll never get a permanent position, it didn\u2019t used to be like this, sigh\u201d from the middle aged professors, but I think that\u2019s the case everywhere.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10535.0,"score_ratio":12.0} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy8ow4","c_root_id_B":"fxxxnq5","created_at_utc_A":1594662772,"created_at_utc_B":1594657485,"score_A":96,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Australia has relatively low teaching and pays well for post-docs. I know some people who emigrated there and love it. Personally, there are some aspects of the culture I don't like, but ymmv. Like most non-US countries, bureaucracy is higher but things work well. Canada is hard for non-residents to gain access to, but probably the most comfortable if you're coming from the US. It has the advantage that it's close to the US without being the US, so sometimes you can get US grants and anyway you are part of the North American network, which helps. The UK pays horribly, but almost any place that is not the US pays worse than the US. Still, the UK is the worst on that front. They pay in prestige. Bureaucracy is said to be pretty bad. Europe: varies by country, and maybe by field. The academic system is generally very different, though a few places are trying to do things the American way. Hiring seems to be more network-based, so as an outsider you may have difficulty getting in unless you know someone or can make a plausible case as to why you're particularly interested. Schools don't want to waste time on people unlikely to take up their offer. Pay in Europe in my field seems to be between the UK and Canada. Benefits are good, though. It's simply a different system that emphasizes different things. New Zealand: New Zealand is to Australia what Canada is to the US. (Exaggerating.) Smaller, no universities that compete at the very, very top end but people don't go to very top ones anyway and they do have solid ones. A bit more liberal. Prettiest country by a mile. Hong Kong, Singapore: you said Canada and Europe, but you can speak English here, too, and they are very international ciities. Again, I don't know about your field, but these cities can pay very well in general - better than the US. It could be hard to live under the more restrictive governments, though. There's an active expat community in both places. The easiest cultures to adjust to, I would guess, would be Canada, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand in some order. In normal times, New Zealand, Australia or the UK would be easier to get into. Under the pandemic, everything is hard everywhere. A thing I would highlight is that it's probably best to start your career in North America even if you don't want to stay. Getting to meet people at seminars and conferences is crucial for early stage researchers, and you would be a bit isolated in the UK\/Europe (and certainly in any of the other places I mentioned), though certainly they have their own academic network. Depending on your interests, you may find that people focus on different topics or methods in North America vs. Europe. It's subtly different.","human_ref_B":"r\/iwantout","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5287.0,"score_ratio":48.0} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxrr5t","c_root_id_B":"fxxdi28","created_at_utc_A":1594654526,"created_at_utc_B":1594646567,"score_A":40,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s unclear whether you and your wife are considering postdocs or believe you\u2019re competitive for tenure-track jobs right away. In general assuming you will have so many offers that you\u2019ll have a choice where to move is pretty ambitious. Where does her advisor have collaborators? If she is competitive for an nsf postdoc than your problem is basically solved for a few years, live wherever you like. The timing of this really sounds like \u201cI\u2019m moving to Canada after the election\u201d and then you\u2019re always so shocked that immigrating is an arduous process. Be warned also that the academic spouses I know typically did not qualify for work permits during their partners\u2019 postdocs unless they found an employer on their own who would sort out their visa and work permit issues. Given the current circumstances I think that will be very difficult. Also, the job market for junior postdocs might not be flattened by the pandemic, but the tenure-track market and the market for senior postdocs is going to be just apocalyptic. People with much fuller CVs are going to be on the market that otherwise wouldn\u2019t be.","human_ref_B":"You might want to check out this thread, too: https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/academia\/comments\/hq3hzg\/academic_job_market_nonnorth_america\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7959.0,"score_ratio":1.7391304348} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxrr5t","c_root_id_B":"fxxncos","created_at_utc_A":1594654526,"created_at_utc_B":1594652237,"score_A":40,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s unclear whether you and your wife are considering postdocs or believe you\u2019re competitive for tenure-track jobs right away. In general assuming you will have so many offers that you\u2019ll have a choice where to move is pretty ambitious. Where does her advisor have collaborators? If she is competitive for an nsf postdoc than your problem is basically solved for a few years, live wherever you like. The timing of this really sounds like \u201cI\u2019m moving to Canada after the election\u201d and then you\u2019re always so shocked that immigrating is an arduous process. Be warned also that the academic spouses I know typically did not qualify for work permits during their partners\u2019 postdocs unless they found an employer on their own who would sort out their visa and work permit issues. Given the current circumstances I think that will be very difficult. Also, the job market for junior postdocs might not be flattened by the pandemic, but the tenure-track market and the market for senior postdocs is going to be just apocalyptic. People with much fuller CVs are going to be on the market that otherwise wouldn\u2019t be.","human_ref_B":"Most of Western and Northern Europe should be pretty easy to move to even without knowing the language at first. Scandinavia is definitely a good option. Everyone speaks English, so you won\u2019t have any problems with that, and most of the universities offer a lot of courses in English, so even with a teaching position it\u2019s possible to start working straight away and learn the language at a somewhat chill pace. That probably holds for other European countries, too. Not sure what the situation is like other places, but in Norway there\u2019s a lot of temporary appointments at the moment, but probably still easier to get tenure than in the US. It\u2019s probably not worse here than anywhere else. I do hear a lot of \u201cthe staff turnover\u2019s so high now, it\u2019s all temporary appointments, no one stays more than a year or two, don\u2019t go into academia, you\u2019ll never get a permanent position, it didn\u2019t used to be like this, sigh\u201d from the middle aged professors, but I think that\u2019s the case everywhere.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2289.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy5dyw","c_root_id_B":"fxxncos","created_at_utc_A":1594661196,"created_at_utc_B":1594652237,"score_A":17,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Just FYI, most ads for permanent academic jobs in Canada say \"Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.\" It varies from place to place how much of a barrier this is, but you have to be a competitive candidate to trump those who legally get preference (this is in addition to being sufficiently competitive to get an interview in the first place). The PR process in Canada is expensive and arduous. If you can get a postdoc and live in Canada for a year or two first, it's easier.","human_ref_B":"Most of Western and Northern Europe should be pretty easy to move to even without knowing the language at first. Scandinavia is definitely a good option. Everyone speaks English, so you won\u2019t have any problems with that, and most of the universities offer a lot of courses in English, so even with a teaching position it\u2019s possible to start working straight away and learn the language at a somewhat chill pace. That probably holds for other European countries, too. Not sure what the situation is like other places, but in Norway there\u2019s a lot of temporary appointments at the moment, but probably still easier to get tenure than in the US. It\u2019s probably not worse here than anywhere else. I do hear a lot of \u201cthe staff turnover\u2019s so high now, it\u2019s all temporary appointments, no one stays more than a year or two, don\u2019t go into academia, you\u2019ll never get a permanent position, it didn\u2019t used to be like this, sigh\u201d from the middle aged professors, but I think that\u2019s the case everywhere.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8959.0,"score_ratio":2.125} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy5dyw","c_root_id_B":"fxxxnq5","created_at_utc_A":1594661196,"created_at_utc_B":1594657485,"score_A":17,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Just FYI, most ads for permanent academic jobs in Canada say \"Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.\" It varies from place to place how much of a barrier this is, but you have to be a competitive candidate to trump those who legally get preference (this is in addition to being sufficiently competitive to get an interview in the first place). The PR process in Canada is expensive and arduous. If you can get a postdoc and live in Canada for a year or two first, it's easier.","human_ref_B":"r\/iwantout","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3711.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxncos","c_root_id_B":"fxy82j4","created_at_utc_A":1594652237,"created_at_utc_B":1594662475,"score_A":8,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Most of Western and Northern Europe should be pretty easy to move to even without knowing the language at first. Scandinavia is definitely a good option. Everyone speaks English, so you won\u2019t have any problems with that, and most of the universities offer a lot of courses in English, so even with a teaching position it\u2019s possible to start working straight away and learn the language at a somewhat chill pace. That probably holds for other European countries, too. Not sure what the situation is like other places, but in Norway there\u2019s a lot of temporary appointments at the moment, but probably still easier to get tenure than in the US. It\u2019s probably not worse here than anywhere else. I do hear a lot of \u201cthe staff turnover\u2019s so high now, it\u2019s all temporary appointments, no one stays more than a year or two, don\u2019t go into academia, you\u2019ll never get a permanent position, it didn\u2019t used to be like this, sigh\u201d from the middle aged professors, but I think that\u2019s the case everywhere.","human_ref_B":"Which issues? If the issues are a determining factor for leaving, then you should go somewhere where those issues are either resolved or not present? If looking for an issue-less bubble... I'm not sure you'll find one, but you can probably find a place that has better policing, policies towards animal rights, higher environmental standards, etc., but maybe not all in one place and maybe not compared to particular states or cities in the U.S.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10238.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxxnq5","c_root_id_B":"fxy82j4","created_at_utc_A":1594657485,"created_at_utc_B":1594662475,"score_A":2,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"r\/iwantout","human_ref_B":"Which issues? If the issues are a determining factor for leaving, then you should go somewhere where those issues are either resolved or not present? If looking for an issue-less bubble... I'm not sure you'll find one, but you can probably find a place that has better policing, policies towards animal rights, higher environmental standards, etc., but maybe not all in one place and maybe not compared to particular states or cities in the U.S.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4990.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxy9ore","c_root_id_B":"fxy9048","created_at_utc_A":1594663244,"created_at_utc_B":1594662919,"score_A":8,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"> We\u2019re tired of all the issues if these are related to academia then Europe might not be all that much better, also we've got our fair share of political issues too - US expat but made the move after high school, dual national so no help with immigration","human_ref_B":"I have worked as a Postdoc in Canada and in faculty positions In both the U.K. and In Ireland. If you have any questions, I\u2019d be happy to answer here or in a DM.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":325.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxxnq5","c_root_id_B":"fxy9ore","created_at_utc_A":1594657485,"created_at_utc_B":1594663244,"score_A":2,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"r\/iwantout","human_ref_B":"> We\u2019re tired of all the issues if these are related to academia then Europe might not be all that much better, also we've got our fair share of political issues too - US expat but made the move after high school, dual national so no help with immigration","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5759.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxxnq5","c_root_id_B":"fxy9048","created_at_utc_A":1594657485,"created_at_utc_B":1594662919,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"r\/iwantout","human_ref_B":"I have worked as a Postdoc in Canada and in faculty positions In both the U.K. and In Ireland. If you have any questions, I\u2019d be happy to answer here or in a DM.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5434.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxxxnq5","c_root_id_B":"fxz0320","created_at_utc_A":1594657485,"created_at_utc_B":1594675813,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"r\/iwantout","human_ref_B":"Anybody have suggestions for academic jobs outside the US that *focus* on teaching? Some helpful comments here if you're doing research, but I haven't seen any recommendations for primarily teaching kinds positions like you find frequently in US colleges and universities (outside R1). Do those kinds of positions exist?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18328.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"hqf0k6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Countries outside of US to get into academia My wife and I are strongly considering leaving the US once she\u2019s finished with her PhD. We\u2019re tired of all the issues and it seems like it should be moving in the right direction but it will probably be small changes. We\u2019ve been discussing other places to move and are mostly interested in Canada and Europe. Anyone have experience or knowledge as US academic expats here? Can you recommend a place to go? Obviously if it\u2019s easier to assimilate into the culture and find work that would be preferable. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"fxz0320","c_root_id_B":"fxyfoah","created_at_utc_A":1594675813,"created_at_utc_B":1594666079,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Anybody have suggestions for academic jobs outside the US that *focus* on teaching? Some helpful comments here if you're doing research, but I haven't seen any recommendations for primarily teaching kinds positions like you find frequently in US colleges and universities (outside R1). Do those kinds of positions exist?","human_ref_B":"Where you can go (and where is best to go) will partially depend on field and which issues you\u2019re looking to escape.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9734.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foq04t9","c_root_id_B":"fopymo7","created_at_utc_A":1587978138,"created_at_utc_B":1587976596,"score_A":95,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"no harm in asking! tell him what you said here, that you enjoyed the research and the opportunity and that you'd like to continue working with him. and of course, pitch any new ideas you may have. glad you had such a nice experience with him!","human_ref_B":"If you have any new idea you can work on your own. If you still want to work with him you can always share the idea with him. If he is a nice person why would he think that way. After all you would also be contributing to that research.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1542.0,"score_ratio":8.6363636364} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqbbqt","c_root_id_B":"foq6sk3","created_at_utc_A":1587989140,"created_at_utc_B":1587985041,"score_A":61,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":">he's some type of machine who is just here to do research Well, actually.... that more or less describes a research focused academic. I think that your professor would be very pleased to work with you again (assuming that you were pleasant to work with the first time around). Usually it is not a chore for the professor. And it also provides professional benefits for them, and is part of their job. You should definitely tell your professor how you feel and that you'd like to start a new project together. Even better if you can pitch some ideas.","human_ref_B":"I'd just tell him how much you loved it and that if he'd ever need someone again to assist him with research, he knows how to find you","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4099.0,"score_ratio":2.5416666667} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"fopymo7","c_root_id_B":"foqbbqt","created_at_utc_A":1587976596,"created_at_utc_B":1587989140,"score_A":11,"score_B":61,"human_ref_A":"If you have any new idea you can work on your own. If you still want to work with him you can always share the idea with him. If he is a nice person why would he think that way. After all you would also be contributing to that research.","human_ref_B":">he's some type of machine who is just here to do research Well, actually.... that more or less describes a research focused academic. I think that your professor would be very pleased to work with you again (assuming that you were pleasant to work with the first time around). Usually it is not a chore for the professor. And it also provides professional benefits for them, and is part of their job. You should definitely tell your professor how you feel and that you'd like to start a new project together. Even better if you can pitch some ideas.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12544.0,"score_ratio":5.5454545455} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqbbqt","c_root_id_B":"foq4sxk","created_at_utc_A":1587989140,"created_at_utc_B":1587983014,"score_A":61,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":">he's some type of machine who is just here to do research Well, actually.... that more or less describes a research focused academic. I think that your professor would be very pleased to work with you again (assuming that you were pleasant to work with the first time around). Usually it is not a chore for the professor. And it also provides professional benefits for them, and is part of their job. You should definitely tell your professor how you feel and that you'd like to start a new project together. Even better if you can pitch some ideas.","human_ref_B":"I quote the answers before me. I think your professor would be pleased if you still want to work with him and have new interesting ideas for research. But try to be the more positive and assertive you can when you tell him all your ideas with the aim of having a good comunication. He shouldn't think that you're prig or irrealistic. Choose wisely your words and you'll be great. If he won't work again with you, you can always start the project on your own with a new team =)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6126.0,"score_ratio":12.2} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"fopymo7","c_root_id_B":"foq6sk3","created_at_utc_A":1587976596,"created_at_utc_B":1587985041,"score_A":11,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"If you have any new idea you can work on your own. If you still want to work with him you can always share the idea with him. If he is a nice person why would he think that way. After all you would also be contributing to that research.","human_ref_B":"I'd just tell him how much you loved it and that if he'd ever need someone again to assist him with research, he knows how to find you","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8445.0,"score_ratio":2.1818181818} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foq4sxk","c_root_id_B":"foq6sk3","created_at_utc_A":1587983014,"created_at_utc_B":1587985041,"score_A":5,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"I quote the answers before me. I think your professor would be pleased if you still want to work with him and have new interesting ideas for research. But try to be the more positive and assertive you can when you tell him all your ideas with the aim of having a good comunication. He shouldn't think that you're prig or irrealistic. Choose wisely your words and you'll be great. If he won't work again with you, you can always start the project on your own with a new team =)","human_ref_B":"I'd just tell him how much you loved it and that if he'd ever need someone again to assist him with research, he knows how to find you","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2027.0,"score_ratio":4.8} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqg1k1","c_root_id_B":"foqiq5t","created_at_utc_A":1587992702,"created_at_utc_B":1587994483,"score_A":12,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"If you published a paper together, he\u2019d probably be ecstatic to keep working with you! I\u2019m just a grad student, but I\u2019m always stoked when quality undergrads come back for another semester\/year.","human_ref_B":"This is a soap box that I will die on, Academia is a pyramid scheme.\\* Professors will never not want to talk about their work to you and will do what they can to get undergrads into the pyramid. That's not as sinister as it sounds, because it's their job to teach, spark interest, and foster curiosity in their students (ie. traits needed to be an academic). Take some initiative and ask him about what else can be done in the field (with him or even independently), even start asking about Graduate school and whether that may be a route for you to go. \\*Note: I'm 100% in that pyramid, with my Master's finishing this week, and starting a PhD in the fall. I say it with a lot of love-hate","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1781.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqiq5t","c_root_id_B":"fopymo7","created_at_utc_A":1587994483,"created_at_utc_B":1587976596,"score_A":18,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"This is a soap box that I will die on, Academia is a pyramid scheme.\\* Professors will never not want to talk about their work to you and will do what they can to get undergrads into the pyramid. That's not as sinister as it sounds, because it's their job to teach, spark interest, and foster curiosity in their students (ie. traits needed to be an academic). Take some initiative and ask him about what else can be done in the field (with him or even independently), even start asking about Graduate school and whether that may be a route for you to go. \\*Note: I'm 100% in that pyramid, with my Master's finishing this week, and starting a PhD in the fall. I say it with a lot of love-hate","human_ref_B":"If you have any new idea you can work on your own. If you still want to work with him you can always share the idea with him. If he is a nice person why would he think that way. After all you would also be contributing to that research.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17887.0,"score_ratio":1.6363636364} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqiq5t","c_root_id_B":"foq4sxk","created_at_utc_A":1587994483,"created_at_utc_B":1587983014,"score_A":18,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"This is a soap box that I will die on, Academia is a pyramid scheme.\\* Professors will never not want to talk about their work to you and will do what they can to get undergrads into the pyramid. That's not as sinister as it sounds, because it's their job to teach, spark interest, and foster curiosity in their students (ie. traits needed to be an academic). Take some initiative and ask him about what else can be done in the field (with him or even independently), even start asking about Graduate school and whether that may be a route for you to go. \\*Note: I'm 100% in that pyramid, with my Master's finishing this week, and starting a PhD in the fall. I say it with a lot of love-hate","human_ref_B":"I quote the answers before me. I think your professor would be pleased if you still want to work with him and have new interesting ideas for research. But try to be the more positive and assertive you can when you tell him all your ideas with the aim of having a good comunication. He shouldn't think that you're prig or irrealistic. Choose wisely your words and you'll be great. If he won't work again with you, you can always start the project on your own with a new team =)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11469.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqiq5t","c_root_id_B":"foqdomm","created_at_utc_A":1587994483,"created_at_utc_B":1587991017,"score_A":18,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"This is a soap box that I will die on, Academia is a pyramid scheme.\\* Professors will never not want to talk about their work to you and will do what they can to get undergrads into the pyramid. That's not as sinister as it sounds, because it's their job to teach, spark interest, and foster curiosity in their students (ie. traits needed to be an academic). Take some initiative and ask him about what else can be done in the field (with him or even independently), even start asking about Graduate school and whether that may be a route for you to go. \\*Note: I'm 100% in that pyramid, with my Master's finishing this week, and starting a PhD in the fall. I say it with a lot of love-hate","human_ref_B":"Were you good to work with? As in, did you do what he told you, fairly quickly? If so, he would probably be THRILLED to work with you again. People\/assistants who respond fast are worth their weight in gold in academia.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3466.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqiq5t","c_root_id_B":"foqhcnu","created_at_utc_A":1587994483,"created_at_utc_B":1587993584,"score_A":18,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"This is a soap box that I will die on, Academia is a pyramid scheme.\\* Professors will never not want to talk about their work to you and will do what they can to get undergrads into the pyramid. That's not as sinister as it sounds, because it's their job to teach, spark interest, and foster curiosity in their students (ie. traits needed to be an academic). Take some initiative and ask him about what else can be done in the field (with him or even independently), even start asking about Graduate school and whether that may be a route for you to go. \\*Note: I'm 100% in that pyramid, with my Master's finishing this week, and starting a PhD in the fall. I say it with a lot of love-hate","human_ref_B":"It would absolutely *not* be rude to ask him for another research opportunity. I love when undergrads want to do multiple projects or stay on for longer periods of time because by the time they're starting their second project, they're more efficient, more productive and more independent. He may or may not currently have the funding or the bandwidth to take on another student, but I guarantee he will in no way be insulted that you're expressing interest. Having a student tell you that they had a good experience working with you and would like to continue is always flattering.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":899.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqg1k1","c_root_id_B":"fopymo7","created_at_utc_A":1587992702,"created_at_utc_B":1587976596,"score_A":12,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"If you published a paper together, he\u2019d probably be ecstatic to keep working with you! I\u2019m just a grad student, but I\u2019m always stoked when quality undergrads come back for another semester\/year.","human_ref_B":"If you have any new idea you can work on your own. If you still want to work with him you can always share the idea with him. If he is a nice person why would he think that way. After all you would also be contributing to that research.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16106.0,"score_ratio":1.0909090909} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foq4sxk","c_root_id_B":"foqg1k1","created_at_utc_A":1587983014,"created_at_utc_B":1587992702,"score_A":5,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I quote the answers before me. I think your professor would be pleased if you still want to work with him and have new interesting ideas for research. But try to be the more positive and assertive you can when you tell him all your ideas with the aim of having a good comunication. He shouldn't think that you're prig or irrealistic. Choose wisely your words and you'll be great. If he won't work again with you, you can always start the project on your own with a new team =)","human_ref_B":"If you published a paper together, he\u2019d probably be ecstatic to keep working with you! I\u2019m just a grad student, but I\u2019m always stoked when quality undergrads come back for another semester\/year.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9688.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqg1k1","c_root_id_B":"foqdomm","created_at_utc_A":1587992702,"created_at_utc_B":1587991017,"score_A":12,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"If you published a paper together, he\u2019d probably be ecstatic to keep working with you! I\u2019m just a grad student, but I\u2019m always stoked when quality undergrads come back for another semester\/year.","human_ref_B":"Were you good to work with? As in, did you do what he told you, fairly quickly? If so, he would probably be THRILLED to work with you again. People\/assistants who respond fast are worth their weight in gold in academia.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1685.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"g8wf1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Inappropriate to ask professor for another research opportunity? Let me just start by saying I'm an undergraduate physics major. I have a physics professor who I have a really good relationship with. I showed so much interest in his class that a few months ago he actually offered me the opportunity to do research with him on a certain topic that I was particularly taken with. We finished our research the other week and typed it up for publication. Now that it's over, I'm feeling kind of sad. I appreciate the opportunity so much and absolutely loved working with him (it was a dream come true since I look up to him so much as a physicist). I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask him if he would be willing to do more research with me in the future (in the coming months or next year)? I don't want him to think that I'm trying to use him or that I think he's some type of machine who is just here to do research with me. I just loved working with him so much. I understand he didn't even have to give me this opportunity and I just want to make it clear that I don't feel entitled. When I say I appreciate his gesture I mean it with all my being. This is why I'm wondering if it wouldn't be right to ask him that. Or is there a way to bring it up to him without sounding like I'm using him or that I am unappreciative of the amazing thing he already did for me?","c_root_id_A":"foqdomm","c_root_id_B":"foq4sxk","created_at_utc_A":1587991017,"created_at_utc_B":1587983014,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Were you good to work with? As in, did you do what he told you, fairly quickly? If so, he would probably be THRILLED to work with you again. People\/assistants who respond fast are worth their weight in gold in academia.","human_ref_B":"I quote the answers before me. I think your professor would be pleased if you still want to work with him and have new interesting ideas for research. But try to be the more positive and assertive you can when you tell him all your ideas with the aim of having a good comunication. He shouldn't think that you're prig or irrealistic. Choose wisely your words and you'll be great. If he won't work again with you, you can always start the project on your own with a new team =)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8003.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ep7lq","c_root_id_B":"h8epn1u","created_at_utc_A":1628602267,"created_at_utc_B":1628602479,"score_A":44,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"Being successful in academia is all about accepting criticism of your work. Peer review is the very foundation of what we do, whether the feedback is from co-authors of a paper or anonymous reviewers for a journal or grant reviewers they can sometimes be incredibly harsh. But the important thing to remember is that these are criticisms of the work, and not of you, and in the case of co-authors they all just want to improve the work and make it better. Everyone gets negative feedback though, it's not a reflection of your intelligence or even your abilities. Usually people will try to be as harsh as possible early on to ensure that the work has been thoroughly critically reviewed, which makes for a better paper.","human_ref_B":"One of the pieces of advice I received early on was to do a first read of feedback where you let your emotions have their day. Read and be upset\/anxious\/angry\/whatever. Then, put it down and walk away for a day or two. Give yourself the space to have whatever feelings you have about the feedback. Then, after the initial flood of emotional response has died down, go back and read for the actual stuff you can do something about. This has helped me with comments from colleagues and collaborators, but also from reviewers and editors, too. Collaborator-wise, I also get a lot of value in reviewing and revising their work, too. Then, I can use my CBT skills to reframe my negative thoughts about myself with the recognition that everyone has things to work on and improve, and I don't think they're idiots or whatever because I have suggestions for their work, so they likely don't for me, either. If you haven't checked out therapy, it may be worth a shot. Or a workbook for dealing with anxiety. A quick 4-5 sessions with a solution-focused brief therapist or somone who does CBT\/DBT would likely work well for you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":212.0,"score_ratio":2.4090909091} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ekpbz","c_root_id_B":"h8epn1u","created_at_utc_A":1628599903,"created_at_utc_B":1628602479,"score_A":24,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"My honest opinion is that mental health problems should be dealt first with a professional ie. psychologist or psychiatrist. Have you tried that?","human_ref_B":"One of the pieces of advice I received early on was to do a first read of feedback where you let your emotions have their day. Read and be upset\/anxious\/angry\/whatever. Then, put it down and walk away for a day or two. Give yourself the space to have whatever feelings you have about the feedback. Then, after the initial flood of emotional response has died down, go back and read for the actual stuff you can do something about. This has helped me with comments from colleagues and collaborators, but also from reviewers and editors, too. Collaborator-wise, I also get a lot of value in reviewing and revising their work, too. Then, I can use my CBT skills to reframe my negative thoughts about myself with the recognition that everyone has things to work on and improve, and I don't think they're idiots or whatever because I have suggestions for their work, so they likely don't for me, either. If you haven't checked out therapy, it may be worth a shot. Or a workbook for dealing with anxiety. A quick 4-5 sessions with a solution-focused brief therapist or somone who does CBT\/DBT would likely work well for you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2576.0,"score_ratio":4.4166666667} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8emkat","c_root_id_B":"h8epn1u","created_at_utc_A":1628600913,"created_at_utc_B":1628602479,"score_A":14,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"Anxiety seems normal, and better to go through this now than with reviewers who have to make a formal recommendation. Practice helps, and I mean years of it, to really appreciate that the feedback is not about you but strictly what is written in the draft. As you develop as a writer, you will also get better at spotting the \"easy stuff\" yourself. It helps to separate yourself from your work, enough so that you can look at it as if you are one of your collaborators. I still go through drafts thinking \"what would my PhD supervisor say?\". Personally, I don't associate mistakes in a student's writing with a lack of potential of who they could be, but I appreciate that may not be how it comes across from the eyes of the person getting the feedback. It's helpful to talk about the feedback with your collaborators if you can. This can emphasize that everyone is on the same page to produce the best work possible, and can resolve any uncertainties to ensure that any issues can be resolved on the first attempt without having the embarrassment of being highlighted repeatedly.","human_ref_B":"One of the pieces of advice I received early on was to do a first read of feedback where you let your emotions have their day. Read and be upset\/anxious\/angry\/whatever. Then, put it down and walk away for a day or two. Give yourself the space to have whatever feelings you have about the feedback. Then, after the initial flood of emotional response has died down, go back and read for the actual stuff you can do something about. This has helped me with comments from colleagues and collaborators, but also from reviewers and editors, too. Collaborator-wise, I also get a lot of value in reviewing and revising their work, too. Then, I can use my CBT skills to reframe my negative thoughts about myself with the recognition that everyone has things to work on and improve, and I don't think they're idiots or whatever because I have suggestions for their work, so they likely don't for me, either. If you haven't checked out therapy, it may be worth a shot. Or a workbook for dealing with anxiety. A quick 4-5 sessions with a solution-focused brief therapist or somone who does CBT\/DBT would likely work well for you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1566.0,"score_ratio":7.5714285714} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8epj0i","c_root_id_B":"h8epn1u","created_at_utc_A":1628602424,"created_at_utc_B":1628602479,"score_A":2,"score_B":106,"human_ref_A":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","human_ref_B":"One of the pieces of advice I received early on was to do a first read of feedback where you let your emotions have their day. Read and be upset\/anxious\/angry\/whatever. Then, put it down and walk away for a day or two. Give yourself the space to have whatever feelings you have about the feedback. Then, after the initial flood of emotional response has died down, go back and read for the actual stuff you can do something about. This has helped me with comments from colleagues and collaborators, but also from reviewers and editors, too. Collaborator-wise, I also get a lot of value in reviewing and revising their work, too. Then, I can use my CBT skills to reframe my negative thoughts about myself with the recognition that everyone has things to work on and improve, and I don't think they're idiots or whatever because I have suggestions for their work, so they likely don't for me, either. If you haven't checked out therapy, it may be worth a shot. Or a workbook for dealing with anxiety. A quick 4-5 sessions with a solution-focused brief therapist or somone who does CBT\/DBT would likely work well for you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":55.0,"score_ratio":53.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8eps4d","c_root_id_B":"h8ep7lq","created_at_utc_A":1628602546,"created_at_utc_B":1628602267,"score_A":57,"score_B":44,"human_ref_A":"Being an academic is really a weird job. We submit ourselves to critique daily as a matter of doing business. When we teach, we get evaluated anonymously by students (who may or may not have done what they were supposed to). When we write, we get evaluated anonymously by anonymous people who have spent 0.01 % of the time on the text compared to what you made on it. When we get feedback on presentations or papers, we get it from people who may or may not have read the text. It's really a job for masochists.","human_ref_B":"Being successful in academia is all about accepting criticism of your work. Peer review is the very foundation of what we do, whether the feedback is from co-authors of a paper or anonymous reviewers for a journal or grant reviewers they can sometimes be incredibly harsh. But the important thing to remember is that these are criticisms of the work, and not of you, and in the case of co-authors they all just want to improve the work and make it better. Everyone gets negative feedback though, it's not a reflection of your intelligence or even your abilities. Usually people will try to be as harsh as possible early on to ensure that the work has been thoroughly critically reviewed, which makes for a better paper.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":279.0,"score_ratio":1.2954545455} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ekpbz","c_root_id_B":"h8eps4d","created_at_utc_A":1628599903,"created_at_utc_B":1628602546,"score_A":24,"score_B":57,"human_ref_A":"My honest opinion is that mental health problems should be dealt first with a professional ie. psychologist or psychiatrist. Have you tried that?","human_ref_B":"Being an academic is really a weird job. We submit ourselves to critique daily as a matter of doing business. When we teach, we get evaluated anonymously by students (who may or may not have done what they were supposed to). When we write, we get evaluated anonymously by anonymous people who have spent 0.01 % of the time on the text compared to what you made on it. When we get feedback on presentations or papers, we get it from people who may or may not have read the text. It's really a job for masochists.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2643.0,"score_ratio":2.375} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8emkat","c_root_id_B":"h8eps4d","created_at_utc_A":1628600913,"created_at_utc_B":1628602546,"score_A":14,"score_B":57,"human_ref_A":"Anxiety seems normal, and better to go through this now than with reviewers who have to make a formal recommendation. Practice helps, and I mean years of it, to really appreciate that the feedback is not about you but strictly what is written in the draft. As you develop as a writer, you will also get better at spotting the \"easy stuff\" yourself. It helps to separate yourself from your work, enough so that you can look at it as if you are one of your collaborators. I still go through drafts thinking \"what would my PhD supervisor say?\". Personally, I don't associate mistakes in a student's writing with a lack of potential of who they could be, but I appreciate that may not be how it comes across from the eyes of the person getting the feedback. It's helpful to talk about the feedback with your collaborators if you can. This can emphasize that everyone is on the same page to produce the best work possible, and can resolve any uncertainties to ensure that any issues can be resolved on the first attempt without having the embarrassment of being highlighted repeatedly.","human_ref_B":"Being an academic is really a weird job. We submit ourselves to critique daily as a matter of doing business. When we teach, we get evaluated anonymously by students (who may or may not have done what they were supposed to). When we write, we get evaluated anonymously by anonymous people who have spent 0.01 % of the time on the text compared to what you made on it. When we get feedback on presentations or papers, we get it from people who may or may not have read the text. It's really a job for masochists.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1633.0,"score_ratio":4.0714285714} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8eps4d","c_root_id_B":"h8epj0i","created_at_utc_A":1628602546,"created_at_utc_B":1628602424,"score_A":57,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Being an academic is really a weird job. We submit ourselves to critique daily as a matter of doing business. When we teach, we get evaluated anonymously by students (who may or may not have done what they were supposed to). When we write, we get evaluated anonymously by anonymous people who have spent 0.01 % of the time on the text compared to what you made on it. When we get feedback on presentations or papers, we get it from people who may or may not have read the text. It's really a job for masochists.","human_ref_B":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":122.0,"score_ratio":28.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ep7lq","c_root_id_B":"h8ekpbz","created_at_utc_A":1628602267,"created_at_utc_B":1628599903,"score_A":44,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Being successful in academia is all about accepting criticism of your work. Peer review is the very foundation of what we do, whether the feedback is from co-authors of a paper or anonymous reviewers for a journal or grant reviewers they can sometimes be incredibly harsh. But the important thing to remember is that these are criticisms of the work, and not of you, and in the case of co-authors they all just want to improve the work and make it better. Everyone gets negative feedback though, it's not a reflection of your intelligence or even your abilities. Usually people will try to be as harsh as possible early on to ensure that the work has been thoroughly critically reviewed, which makes for a better paper.","human_ref_B":"My honest opinion is that mental health problems should be dealt first with a professional ie. psychologist or psychiatrist. Have you tried that?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2364.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8emkat","c_root_id_B":"h8ep7lq","created_at_utc_A":1628600913,"created_at_utc_B":1628602267,"score_A":14,"score_B":44,"human_ref_A":"Anxiety seems normal, and better to go through this now than with reviewers who have to make a formal recommendation. Practice helps, and I mean years of it, to really appreciate that the feedback is not about you but strictly what is written in the draft. As you develop as a writer, you will also get better at spotting the \"easy stuff\" yourself. It helps to separate yourself from your work, enough so that you can look at it as if you are one of your collaborators. I still go through drafts thinking \"what would my PhD supervisor say?\". Personally, I don't associate mistakes in a student's writing with a lack of potential of who they could be, but I appreciate that may not be how it comes across from the eyes of the person getting the feedback. It's helpful to talk about the feedback with your collaborators if you can. This can emphasize that everyone is on the same page to produce the best work possible, and can resolve any uncertainties to ensure that any issues can be resolved on the first attempt without having the embarrassment of being highlighted repeatedly.","human_ref_B":"Being successful in academia is all about accepting criticism of your work. Peer review is the very foundation of what we do, whether the feedback is from co-authors of a paper or anonymous reviewers for a journal or grant reviewers they can sometimes be incredibly harsh. But the important thing to remember is that these are criticisms of the work, and not of you, and in the case of co-authors they all just want to improve the work and make it better. Everyone gets negative feedback though, it's not a reflection of your intelligence or even your abilities. Usually people will try to be as harsh as possible early on to ensure that the work has been thoroughly critically reviewed, which makes for a better paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1354.0,"score_ratio":3.1428571429} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8emkat","c_root_id_B":"h8esyf4","created_at_utc_A":1628600913,"created_at_utc_B":1628604061,"score_A":14,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Anxiety seems normal, and better to go through this now than with reviewers who have to make a formal recommendation. Practice helps, and I mean years of it, to really appreciate that the feedback is not about you but strictly what is written in the draft. As you develop as a writer, you will also get better at spotting the \"easy stuff\" yourself. It helps to separate yourself from your work, enough so that you can look at it as if you are one of your collaborators. I still go through drafts thinking \"what would my PhD supervisor say?\". Personally, I don't associate mistakes in a student's writing with a lack of potential of who they could be, but I appreciate that may not be how it comes across from the eyes of the person getting the feedback. It's helpful to talk about the feedback with your collaborators if you can. This can emphasize that everyone is on the same page to produce the best work possible, and can resolve any uncertainties to ensure that any issues can be resolved on the first attempt without having the embarrassment of being highlighted repeatedly.","human_ref_B":"One of the good advice I've received is to look at reviews as a gift. Learn to frame it from that mindset. Peer-reviews or even feedback from collaborators are key towards publishing good and credible work. Even great scholars receive desk rejections. Also, publication is a huge maze. Do not take the comments on your work as a personal attack to you. I find it very useful to not respond to feedback on the first day of me receiving it. I usually read it for a day or two and then leave it for about a week or so before I pick the work back up. It really helps me to view the feedback in a more objective way.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3148.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8eqoga","c_root_id_B":"h8esyf4","created_at_utc_A":1628602985,"created_at_utc_B":1628604061,"score_A":4,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I don't have any advice OP, I just want to say I totally feel you. I'm in the same position - I've only worked with lovely collaborators and I've been very lucky with reviewers, but manuscript feedback (and even worse, reviews) still gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I'm an idiot. I think it's because manuscripts represent such a huge personal investment, any criticism automatically feels very personal.","human_ref_B":"One of the good advice I've received is to look at reviews as a gift. Learn to frame it from that mindset. Peer-reviews or even feedback from collaborators are key towards publishing good and credible work. Even great scholars receive desk rejections. Also, publication is a huge maze. Do not take the comments on your work as a personal attack to you. I find it very useful to not respond to feedback on the first day of me receiving it. I usually read it for a day or two and then leave it for about a week or so before I pick the work back up. It really helps me to view the feedback in a more objective way.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1076.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8esyf4","c_root_id_B":"h8epj0i","created_at_utc_A":1628604061,"created_at_utc_B":1628602424,"score_A":20,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"One of the good advice I've received is to look at reviews as a gift. Learn to frame it from that mindset. Peer-reviews or even feedback from collaborators are key towards publishing good and credible work. Even great scholars receive desk rejections. Also, publication is a huge maze. Do not take the comments on your work as a personal attack to you. I find it very useful to not respond to feedback on the first day of me receiving it. I usually read it for a day or two and then leave it for about a week or so before I pick the work back up. It really helps me to view the feedback in a more objective way.","human_ref_B":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1637.0,"score_ratio":10.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8famsf","c_root_id_B":"h8eqoga","created_at_utc_A":1628611743,"created_at_utc_B":1628602985,"score_A":11,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I assume you are a more junior member in the team, please disregard everything below if not. I usually edit \\*a lot\\* in each draft I receive -- that is just a part of the process, but it is also a necessary part of the process for the junior members but also to produce a high-quality paper that has a chance to succeed in a high impact journal. I know that this can be quite painful for junior researchers (especially PhDs, but also post docs). I therefore tell them \\*before they send me anything\\* that (1) they will get the paper back with lots of changes and that is just how it is because they don't know yet how to best frame things in terms of scientific writing, and (2) that they should therefore not spend too much time on the first draft they send. I tell them the first draft should be rough. It is there to have a basis to get started from, and its purpose is to be re-written and shaped by everyone involved. The first draft should therefore be quick -- it should not be good. The massive number of corrections I make are never an indication of thinking the other person is an idiot -- otherwise everyone would be an idiot. I never had a case that I have received a manuscript that required only few changes from junior team members, unless they worked with me for ages and have fully internalized how the manuscript should look. And that is how it should be -- as a junior member, you don't know all that is required yet, and you don't know all the tricks of the trade of how to get the paper message across well. And this is hard to teach in any other way other than just receiving corrections over and over. The biggest problems I had were with junior members who did not accept that this is part of the process. They would spend ages fretting over the first draft, start writing the same paragraphs over and over again, over thinking each and every aspect of it, because they want to receive it back with little changes. This hurts more than it helps: it really slows down the process and they still receive lots of changes -- because they are not there yet that they have the best feeling for how a good paper will look. Such drafts are also really cumbersome and overwritten. In a nutshell: do not worry about edits you receive. This is the job of the senior authors and their way of giving input (and their contribution to deserve the authorship). Your job is only to produce a workable draft that can serve as a springboard for an excellent paper. it is not expected that the draft is excellent yet, and to expect it to be means undermining the whole process.","human_ref_B":"I don't have any advice OP, I just want to say I totally feel you. I'm in the same position - I've only worked with lovely collaborators and I've been very lucky with reviewers, but manuscript feedback (and even worse, reviews) still gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I'm an idiot. I think it's because manuscripts represent such a huge personal investment, any criticism automatically feels very personal.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8758.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8famsf","c_root_id_B":"h8f4h5g","created_at_utc_A":1628611743,"created_at_utc_B":1628609142,"score_A":11,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I assume you are a more junior member in the team, please disregard everything below if not. I usually edit \\*a lot\\* in each draft I receive -- that is just a part of the process, but it is also a necessary part of the process for the junior members but also to produce a high-quality paper that has a chance to succeed in a high impact journal. I know that this can be quite painful for junior researchers (especially PhDs, but also post docs). I therefore tell them \\*before they send me anything\\* that (1) they will get the paper back with lots of changes and that is just how it is because they don't know yet how to best frame things in terms of scientific writing, and (2) that they should therefore not spend too much time on the first draft they send. I tell them the first draft should be rough. It is there to have a basis to get started from, and its purpose is to be re-written and shaped by everyone involved. The first draft should therefore be quick -- it should not be good. The massive number of corrections I make are never an indication of thinking the other person is an idiot -- otherwise everyone would be an idiot. I never had a case that I have received a manuscript that required only few changes from junior team members, unless they worked with me for ages and have fully internalized how the manuscript should look. And that is how it should be -- as a junior member, you don't know all that is required yet, and you don't know all the tricks of the trade of how to get the paper message across well. And this is hard to teach in any other way other than just receiving corrections over and over. The biggest problems I had were with junior members who did not accept that this is part of the process. They would spend ages fretting over the first draft, start writing the same paragraphs over and over again, over thinking each and every aspect of it, because they want to receive it back with little changes. This hurts more than it helps: it really slows down the process and they still receive lots of changes -- because they are not there yet that they have the best feeling for how a good paper will look. Such drafts are also really cumbersome and overwritten. In a nutshell: do not worry about edits you receive. This is the job of the senior authors and their way of giving input (and their contribution to deserve the authorship). Your job is only to produce a workable draft that can serve as a springboard for an excellent paper. it is not expected that the draft is excellent yet, and to expect it to be means undermining the whole process.","human_ref_B":"I feel exactly the same. My SV couldn't be any nicer when commenting on my draft. Yet the anxiety always kicks in whenever I receive his feedback. Its so exhaustive. I feel you","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2601.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8famsf","c_root_id_B":"h8f9uqt","created_at_utc_A":1628611743,"created_at_utc_B":1628611413,"score_A":11,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I assume you are a more junior member in the team, please disregard everything below if not. I usually edit \\*a lot\\* in each draft I receive -- that is just a part of the process, but it is also a necessary part of the process for the junior members but also to produce a high-quality paper that has a chance to succeed in a high impact journal. I know that this can be quite painful for junior researchers (especially PhDs, but also post docs). I therefore tell them \\*before they send me anything\\* that (1) they will get the paper back with lots of changes and that is just how it is because they don't know yet how to best frame things in terms of scientific writing, and (2) that they should therefore not spend too much time on the first draft they send. I tell them the first draft should be rough. It is there to have a basis to get started from, and its purpose is to be re-written and shaped by everyone involved. The first draft should therefore be quick -- it should not be good. The massive number of corrections I make are never an indication of thinking the other person is an idiot -- otherwise everyone would be an idiot. I never had a case that I have received a manuscript that required only few changes from junior team members, unless they worked with me for ages and have fully internalized how the manuscript should look. And that is how it should be -- as a junior member, you don't know all that is required yet, and you don't know all the tricks of the trade of how to get the paper message across well. And this is hard to teach in any other way other than just receiving corrections over and over. The biggest problems I had were with junior members who did not accept that this is part of the process. They would spend ages fretting over the first draft, start writing the same paragraphs over and over again, over thinking each and every aspect of it, because they want to receive it back with little changes. This hurts more than it helps: it really slows down the process and they still receive lots of changes -- because they are not there yet that they have the best feeling for how a good paper will look. Such drafts are also really cumbersome and overwritten. In a nutshell: do not worry about edits you receive. This is the job of the senior authors and their way of giving input (and their contribution to deserve the authorship). Your job is only to produce a workable draft that can serve as a springboard for an excellent paper. it is not expected that the draft is excellent yet, and to expect it to be means undermining the whole process.","human_ref_B":"> Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated Wait until you got rejections! I think things get a bit more bearable for me when I consider that criticism is meant to be the norm, and we just have to learn to get over it. I'm not dismissing you at all, I literally just finished from an hour of meeting with my supervisors talking about the rejection of my latest paper. Just wanna thank you for sharing this, it actually makes me feel better to be reminded that we are part of an abnormal field where criticism is simply too abundant. I don't have any tips, just well wishes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":330.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8famsf","c_root_id_B":"h8epj0i","created_at_utc_A":1628611743,"created_at_utc_B":1628602424,"score_A":11,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I assume you are a more junior member in the team, please disregard everything below if not. I usually edit \\*a lot\\* in each draft I receive -- that is just a part of the process, but it is also a necessary part of the process for the junior members but also to produce a high-quality paper that has a chance to succeed in a high impact journal. I know that this can be quite painful for junior researchers (especially PhDs, but also post docs). I therefore tell them \\*before they send me anything\\* that (1) they will get the paper back with lots of changes and that is just how it is because they don't know yet how to best frame things in terms of scientific writing, and (2) that they should therefore not spend too much time on the first draft they send. I tell them the first draft should be rough. It is there to have a basis to get started from, and its purpose is to be re-written and shaped by everyone involved. The first draft should therefore be quick -- it should not be good. The massive number of corrections I make are never an indication of thinking the other person is an idiot -- otherwise everyone would be an idiot. I never had a case that I have received a manuscript that required only few changes from junior team members, unless they worked with me for ages and have fully internalized how the manuscript should look. And that is how it should be -- as a junior member, you don't know all that is required yet, and you don't know all the tricks of the trade of how to get the paper message across well. And this is hard to teach in any other way other than just receiving corrections over and over. The biggest problems I had were with junior members who did not accept that this is part of the process. They would spend ages fretting over the first draft, start writing the same paragraphs over and over again, over thinking each and every aspect of it, because they want to receive it back with little changes. This hurts more than it helps: it really slows down the process and they still receive lots of changes -- because they are not there yet that they have the best feeling for how a good paper will look. Such drafts are also really cumbersome and overwritten. In a nutshell: do not worry about edits you receive. This is the job of the senior authors and their way of giving input (and their contribution to deserve the authorship). Your job is only to produce a workable draft that can serve as a springboard for an excellent paper. it is not expected that the draft is excellent yet, and to expect it to be means undermining the whole process.","human_ref_B":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9319.0,"score_ratio":5.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8famsf","c_root_id_B":"h8etlmz","created_at_utc_A":1628611743,"created_at_utc_B":1628604357,"score_A":11,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I assume you are a more junior member in the team, please disregard everything below if not. I usually edit \\*a lot\\* in each draft I receive -- that is just a part of the process, but it is also a necessary part of the process for the junior members but also to produce a high-quality paper that has a chance to succeed in a high impact journal. I know that this can be quite painful for junior researchers (especially PhDs, but also post docs). I therefore tell them \\*before they send me anything\\* that (1) they will get the paper back with lots of changes and that is just how it is because they don't know yet how to best frame things in terms of scientific writing, and (2) that they should therefore not spend too much time on the first draft they send. I tell them the first draft should be rough. It is there to have a basis to get started from, and its purpose is to be re-written and shaped by everyone involved. The first draft should therefore be quick -- it should not be good. The massive number of corrections I make are never an indication of thinking the other person is an idiot -- otherwise everyone would be an idiot. I never had a case that I have received a manuscript that required only few changes from junior team members, unless they worked with me for ages and have fully internalized how the manuscript should look. And that is how it should be -- as a junior member, you don't know all that is required yet, and you don't know all the tricks of the trade of how to get the paper message across well. And this is hard to teach in any other way other than just receiving corrections over and over. The biggest problems I had were with junior members who did not accept that this is part of the process. They would spend ages fretting over the first draft, start writing the same paragraphs over and over again, over thinking each and every aspect of it, because they want to receive it back with little changes. This hurts more than it helps: it really slows down the process and they still receive lots of changes -- because they are not there yet that they have the best feeling for how a good paper will look. Such drafts are also really cumbersome and overwritten. In a nutshell: do not worry about edits you receive. This is the job of the senior authors and their way of giving input (and their contribution to deserve the authorship). Your job is only to produce a workable draft that can serve as a springboard for an excellent paper. it is not expected that the draft is excellent yet, and to expect it to be means undermining the whole process.","human_ref_B":"Usually collaborators also want this paper to become better so that the publication will be smooth. Think about they are \u201chelping\u201d as a \u201cpre-peer review\u201d. This will fix questions that might be asked during the actual review. I agree there could be people who talks (even in a comment box) in a impolite (or at least blunt) way. I tried to block the emotions and focus on the scientific points. Actually several years later I became more and more experienced in commenting on other people\u2019s draft, I found that my comment on papers and my evaluation on the author are not really related to each other. When I comment I only think about how to write science (or to say I only have time to think about science, not to think about if this author is smart or not). So you don\u2019t need to worry about people feel you are stupid :p","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7386.0,"score_ratio":5.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8eqoga","c_root_id_B":"h8fhqm6","created_at_utc_A":1628602985,"created_at_utc_B":1628614696,"score_A":4,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I don't have any advice OP, I just want to say I totally feel you. I'm in the same position - I've only worked with lovely collaborators and I've been very lucky with reviewers, but manuscript feedback (and even worse, reviews) still gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I'm an idiot. I think it's because manuscripts represent such a huge personal investment, any criticism automatically feels very personal.","human_ref_B":">\tsee whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I\u2019m an idiot. Two ways of thinking help me: 1.\tIf I were an idiot, my collaborators wouldn\u2019t waste their time offering edits. Idiots don\u2019t take advice. 2.\tThank the gods I was smart enough to collaborate with people who can catch when I write dumbfuck things before it goes out for review!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11711.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8f4h5g","c_root_id_B":"h8fhqm6","created_at_utc_A":1628609142,"created_at_utc_B":1628614696,"score_A":4,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I feel exactly the same. My SV couldn't be any nicer when commenting on my draft. Yet the anxiety always kicks in whenever I receive his feedback. Its so exhaustive. I feel you","human_ref_B":">\tsee whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I\u2019m an idiot. Two ways of thinking help me: 1.\tIf I were an idiot, my collaborators wouldn\u2019t waste their time offering edits. Idiots don\u2019t take advice. 2.\tThank the gods I was smart enough to collaborate with people who can catch when I write dumbfuck things before it goes out for review!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5554.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8fhqm6","c_root_id_B":"h8f9uqt","created_at_utc_A":1628614696,"created_at_utc_B":1628611413,"score_A":10,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":">\tsee whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I\u2019m an idiot. Two ways of thinking help me: 1.\tIf I were an idiot, my collaborators wouldn\u2019t waste their time offering edits. Idiots don\u2019t take advice. 2.\tThank the gods I was smart enough to collaborate with people who can catch when I write dumbfuck things before it goes out for review!","human_ref_B":"> Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated Wait until you got rejections! I think things get a bit more bearable for me when I consider that criticism is meant to be the norm, and we just have to learn to get over it. I'm not dismissing you at all, I literally just finished from an hour of meeting with my supervisors talking about the rejection of my latest paper. Just wanna thank you for sharing this, it actually makes me feel better to be reminded that we are part of an abnormal field where criticism is simply too abundant. I don't have any tips, just well wishes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3283.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8epj0i","c_root_id_B":"h8fhqm6","created_at_utc_A":1628602424,"created_at_utc_B":1628614696,"score_A":2,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","human_ref_B":">\tsee whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I\u2019m an idiot. Two ways of thinking help me: 1.\tIf I were an idiot, my collaborators wouldn\u2019t waste their time offering edits. Idiots don\u2019t take advice. 2.\tThank the gods I was smart enough to collaborate with people who can catch when I write dumbfuck things before it goes out for review!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12272.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8etlmz","c_root_id_B":"h8fhqm6","created_at_utc_A":1628604357,"created_at_utc_B":1628614696,"score_A":2,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Usually collaborators also want this paper to become better so that the publication will be smooth. Think about they are \u201chelping\u201d as a \u201cpre-peer review\u201d. This will fix questions that might be asked during the actual review. I agree there could be people who talks (even in a comment box) in a impolite (or at least blunt) way. I tried to block the emotions and focus on the scientific points. Actually several years later I became more and more experienced in commenting on other people\u2019s draft, I found that my comment on papers and my evaluation on the author are not really related to each other. When I comment I only think about how to write science (or to say I only have time to think about science, not to think about if this author is smart or not). So you don\u2019t need to worry about people feel you are stupid :p","human_ref_B":">\tsee whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I\u2019m an idiot. Two ways of thinking help me: 1.\tIf I were an idiot, my collaborators wouldn\u2019t waste their time offering edits. Idiots don\u2019t take advice. 2.\tThank the gods I was smart enough to collaborate with people who can catch when I write dumbfuck things before it goes out for review!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10339.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ftk19","c_root_id_B":"h8eqoga","created_at_utc_A":1628619643,"created_at_utc_B":1628602985,"score_A":8,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"It's a good thing. I would be more worried if they say \"it's all good\".","human_ref_B":"I don't have any advice OP, I just want to say I totally feel you. I'm in the same position - I've only worked with lovely collaborators and I've been very lucky with reviewers, but manuscript feedback (and even worse, reviews) still gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I'm an idiot. I think it's because manuscripts represent such a huge personal investment, any criticism automatically feels very personal.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16658.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ftk19","c_root_id_B":"h8f4h5g","created_at_utc_A":1628619643,"created_at_utc_B":1628609142,"score_A":8,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"It's a good thing. I would be more worried if they say \"it's all good\".","human_ref_B":"I feel exactly the same. My SV couldn't be any nicer when commenting on my draft. Yet the anxiety always kicks in whenever I receive his feedback. Its so exhaustive. I feel you","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10501.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8f9uqt","c_root_id_B":"h8ftk19","created_at_utc_A":1628611413,"created_at_utc_B":1628619643,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"> Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated Wait until you got rejections! I think things get a bit more bearable for me when I consider that criticism is meant to be the norm, and we just have to learn to get over it. I'm not dismissing you at all, I literally just finished from an hour of meeting with my supervisors talking about the rejection of my latest paper. Just wanna thank you for sharing this, it actually makes me feel better to be reminded that we are part of an abnormal field where criticism is simply too abundant. I don't have any tips, just well wishes.","human_ref_B":"It's a good thing. I would be more worried if they say \"it's all good\".","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8230.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ftk19","c_root_id_B":"h8epj0i","created_at_utc_A":1628619643,"created_at_utc_B":1628602424,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It's a good thing. I would be more worried if they say \"it's all good\".","human_ref_B":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17219.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8ftk19","c_root_id_B":"h8etlmz","created_at_utc_A":1628619643,"created_at_utc_B":1628604357,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It's a good thing. I would be more worried if they say \"it's all good\".","human_ref_B":"Usually collaborators also want this paper to become better so that the publication will be smooth. Think about they are \u201chelping\u201d as a \u201cpre-peer review\u201d. This will fix questions that might be asked during the actual review. I agree there could be people who talks (even in a comment box) in a impolite (or at least blunt) way. I tried to block the emotions and focus on the scientific points. Actually several years later I became more and more experienced in commenting on other people\u2019s draft, I found that my comment on papers and my evaluation on the author are not really related to each other. When I comment I only think about how to write science (or to say I only have time to think about science, not to think about if this author is smart or not). So you don\u2019t need to worry about people feel you are stupid :p","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15286.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8f9uqt","c_root_id_B":"h8eqoga","created_at_utc_A":1628611413,"created_at_utc_B":1628602985,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"> Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated Wait until you got rejections! I think things get a bit more bearable for me when I consider that criticism is meant to be the norm, and we just have to learn to get over it. I'm not dismissing you at all, I literally just finished from an hour of meeting with my supervisors talking about the rejection of my latest paper. Just wanna thank you for sharing this, it actually makes me feel better to be reminded that we are part of an abnormal field where criticism is simply too abundant. I don't have any tips, just well wishes.","human_ref_B":"I don't have any advice OP, I just want to say I totally feel you. I'm in the same position - I've only worked with lovely collaborators and I've been very lucky with reviewers, but manuscript feedback (and even worse, reviews) still gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I'm an idiot. I think it's because manuscripts represent such a huge personal investment, any criticism automatically feels very personal.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8428.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8epj0i","c_root_id_B":"h8eqoga","created_at_utc_A":1628602424,"created_at_utc_B":1628602985,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","human_ref_B":"I don't have any advice OP, I just want to say I totally feel you. I'm in the same position - I've only worked with lovely collaborators and I've been very lucky with reviewers, but manuscript feedback (and even worse, reviews) still gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I'm an idiot. I think it's because manuscripts represent such a huge personal investment, any criticism automatically feels very personal.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":561.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8f9uqt","c_root_id_B":"h8f4h5g","created_at_utc_A":1628611413,"created_at_utc_B":1628609142,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"> Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated Wait until you got rejections! I think things get a bit more bearable for me when I consider that criticism is meant to be the norm, and we just have to learn to get over it. I'm not dismissing you at all, I literally just finished from an hour of meeting with my supervisors talking about the rejection of my latest paper. Just wanna thank you for sharing this, it actually makes me feel better to be reminded that we are part of an abnormal field where criticism is simply too abundant. I don't have any tips, just well wishes.","human_ref_B":"I feel exactly the same. My SV couldn't be any nicer when commenting on my draft. Yet the anxiety always kicks in whenever I receive his feedback. Its so exhaustive. I feel you","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2271.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8f4h5g","c_root_id_B":"h8epj0i","created_at_utc_A":1628609142,"created_at_utc_B":1628602424,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I feel exactly the same. My SV couldn't be any nicer when commenting on my draft. Yet the anxiety always kicks in whenever I receive his feedback. Its so exhaustive. I feel you","human_ref_B":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6718.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8etlmz","c_root_id_B":"h8f4h5g","created_at_utc_A":1628604357,"created_at_utc_B":1628609142,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Usually collaborators also want this paper to become better so that the publication will be smooth. Think about they are \u201chelping\u201d as a \u201cpre-peer review\u201d. This will fix questions that might be asked during the actual review. I agree there could be people who talks (even in a comment box) in a impolite (or at least blunt) way. I tried to block the emotions and focus on the scientific points. Actually several years later I became more and more experienced in commenting on other people\u2019s draft, I found that my comment on papers and my evaluation on the author are not really related to each other. When I comment I only think about how to write science (or to say I only have time to think about science, not to think about if this author is smart or not). So you don\u2019t need to worry about people feel you are stupid :p","human_ref_B":"I feel exactly the same. My SV couldn't be any nicer when commenting on my draft. Yet the anxiety always kicks in whenever I receive his feedback. Its so exhaustive. I feel you","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4785.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8f9uqt","c_root_id_B":"h8epj0i","created_at_utc_A":1628611413,"created_at_utc_B":1628602424,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"> Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated Wait until you got rejections! I think things get a bit more bearable for me when I consider that criticism is meant to be the norm, and we just have to learn to get over it. I'm not dismissing you at all, I literally just finished from an hour of meeting with my supervisors talking about the rejection of my latest paper. Just wanna thank you for sharing this, it actually makes me feel better to be reminded that we are part of an abnormal field where criticism is simply too abundant. I don't have any tips, just well wishes.","human_ref_B":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8989.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8etlmz","c_root_id_B":"h8f9uqt","created_at_utc_A":1628604357,"created_at_utc_B":1628611413,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Usually collaborators also want this paper to become better so that the publication will be smooth. Think about they are \u201chelping\u201d as a \u201cpre-peer review\u201d. This will fix questions that might be asked during the actual review. I agree there could be people who talks (even in a comment box) in a impolite (or at least blunt) way. I tried to block the emotions and focus on the scientific points. Actually several years later I became more and more experienced in commenting on other people\u2019s draft, I found that my comment on papers and my evaluation on the author are not really related to each other. When I comment I only think about how to write science (or to say I only have time to think about science, not to think about if this author is smart or not). So you don\u2019t need to worry about people feel you are stupid :p","human_ref_B":"> Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated Wait until you got rejections! I think things get a bit more bearable for me when I consider that criticism is meant to be the norm, and we just have to learn to get over it. I'm not dismissing you at all, I literally just finished from an hour of meeting with my supervisors talking about the rejection of my latest paper. Just wanna thank you for sharing this, it actually makes me feel better to be reminded that we are part of an abnormal field where criticism is simply too abundant. I don't have any tips, just well wishes.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7056.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8fyphc","c_root_id_B":"h8epj0i","created_at_utc_A":1628621807,"created_at_utc_B":1628602424,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think the other comments are great. Adding to this from the perspective of someone who does edit papers a lot, I find that sometimes I do get carried away with my comments. And then I edit my edits. So I think from the perspective of the people who comment on drafts: this is also a skill to hone. Same as reviewing papers. But in your case I agree that you should try to find out what the deeper issues at work are; a certain level of anxiety is definitely normal, because you are putting yourself on the line with your writing, and receiving criticism - as constructive and friendly as it may be - is never really that easy. And yes, we're supposed to separate people and work, but, this is stuff you wrote, and having it critically examined is just something one has to learn to deal with. It gets better over time :)","human_ref_B":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19383.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8etlmz","c_root_id_B":"h8fyphc","created_at_utc_A":1628604357,"created_at_utc_B":1628621807,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Usually collaborators also want this paper to become better so that the publication will be smooth. Think about they are \u201chelping\u201d as a \u201cpre-peer review\u201d. This will fix questions that might be asked during the actual review. I agree there could be people who talks (even in a comment box) in a impolite (or at least blunt) way. I tried to block the emotions and focus on the scientific points. Actually several years later I became more and more experienced in commenting on other people\u2019s draft, I found that my comment on papers and my evaluation on the author are not really related to each other. When I comment I only think about how to write science (or to say I only have time to think about science, not to think about if this author is smart or not). So you don\u2019t need to worry about people feel you are stupid :p","human_ref_B":"I think the other comments are great. Adding to this from the perspective of someone who does edit papers a lot, I find that sometimes I do get carried away with my comments. And then I edit my edits. So I think from the perspective of the people who comment on drafts: this is also a skill to hone. Same as reviewing papers. But in your case I agree that you should try to find out what the deeper issues at work are; a certain level of anxiety is definitely normal, because you are putting yourself on the line with your writing, and receiving criticism - as constructive and friendly as it may be - is never really that easy. And yes, we're supposed to separate people and work, but, this is stuff you wrote, and having it critically examined is just something one has to learn to deal with. It gets better over time :)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17450.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8epj0i","c_root_id_B":"h8gkylg","created_at_utc_A":1628602424,"created_at_utc_B":1628631374,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I have the same experience often. There is always pit in my stomach when my collaborators find bugs in my simulation code, or when I find one and have to tell them about it because it changes our results. I think the advice to discuss this with a psychologist is good.","human_ref_B":"My PhD advisor leaves at least 100 comments to any of my works. He also corrections my English and the way I express myself since it is not my first language and I am still getting used to using it. My other collaborators leave less comments but all of them are aimd to make my work, our work better. These days I am also often asked to leaves my comments on other people's papers so I have been on the other side of the barricade too. Actually if I don't leave a comment, I feel useless... My anxiety in the beginning turn into understand that it's not about me, it's about the science, it needs to be about the science. This is how may perspective evolved, maybe it can be helpful \ud83d\ude0a","labels":0,"seconds_difference":28950.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8etlmz","c_root_id_B":"h8gkylg","created_at_utc_A":1628604357,"created_at_utc_B":1628631374,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Usually collaborators also want this paper to become better so that the publication will be smooth. Think about they are \u201chelping\u201d as a \u201cpre-peer review\u201d. This will fix questions that might be asked during the actual review. I agree there could be people who talks (even in a comment box) in a impolite (or at least blunt) way. I tried to block the emotions and focus on the scientific points. Actually several years later I became more and more experienced in commenting on other people\u2019s draft, I found that my comment on papers and my evaluation on the author are not really related to each other. When I comment I only think about how to write science (or to say I only have time to think about science, not to think about if this author is smart or not). So you don\u2019t need to worry about people feel you are stupid :p","human_ref_B":"My PhD advisor leaves at least 100 comments to any of my works. He also corrections my English and the way I express myself since it is not my first language and I am still getting used to using it. My other collaborators leave less comments but all of them are aimd to make my work, our work better. These days I am also often asked to leaves my comments on other people's papers so I have been on the other side of the barricade too. Actually if I don't leave a comment, I feel useless... My anxiety in the beginning turn into understand that it's not about me, it's about the science, it needs to be about the science. This is how may perspective evolved, maybe it can be helpful \ud83d\ude0a","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27017.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"p1oij8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Dealing with feedback on paper drafts Every time I get comments on a paper draft from collaborators, I feel nauseated. The comments have never been harsh, yet I always feel like they'll see whatever issues the paper has as evidence that I'm an idiot. As a result, it takes me longer to edit papers, because I get so anxious when reading their comments. Any ideas on how to deal with this anxiety? (This is not about my collaborators, who have all been kind and supportive.)","c_root_id_A":"h8gkylg","c_root_id_B":"h8g0e6s","created_at_utc_A":1628631374,"created_at_utc_B":1628622520,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"My PhD advisor leaves at least 100 comments to any of my works. He also corrections my English and the way I express myself since it is not my first language and I am still getting used to using it. My other collaborators leave less comments but all of them are aimd to make my work, our work better. These days I am also often asked to leaves my comments on other people's papers so I have been on the other side of the barricade too. Actually if I don't leave a comment, I feel useless... My anxiety in the beginning turn into understand that it's not about me, it's about the science, it needs to be about the science. This is how may perspective evolved, maybe it can be helpful \ud83d\ude0a","human_ref_B":"Here\u2019s how I would prefer to get feedback in descending order of preference: 1.\tCollaborator 2.\tReviewer 3.\tEveryone else including\u2026 future hiring committees, grant agencies, etc. Take your medicine \u2014 it\u2019s good for you!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8854.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zhf4c","c_root_id_B":"f3zjnnn","created_at_utc_A":1571269114,"created_at_utc_B":1571270566,"score_A":37,"score_B":257,"human_ref_A":"I'm confused as to why it may come up. Do you mean if someone recognizes you? Or do you mean that you are unsure of how to account for your time off?","human_ref_B":"We would never look for this info, so there is no way we would know unless you brought it up. If we found out after you were admitted, I think it would just be a collective shoulder shrug. No one would particularly care, so long as you\u2019re doing your work. So I think\u2014 just don\u2019t mention it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1452.0,"score_ratio":6.9459459459} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3ztetx","c_root_id_B":"f3zhf4c","created_at_utc_A":1571276567,"created_at_utc_B":1571269114,"score_A":118,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s not going to come up. I have a dear friend who is a tenured prof that stripped her way through grad school. No one ever mentioned it.","human_ref_B":"I'm confused as to why it may come up. Do you mean if someone recognizes you? Or do you mean that you are unsure of how to account for your time off?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7453.0,"score_ratio":3.1891891892} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3ztetx","c_root_id_B":"f3zr7e9","created_at_utc_A":1571276567,"created_at_utc_B":1571275092,"score_A":118,"score_B":33,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s not going to come up. I have a dear friend who is a tenured prof that stripped her way through grad school. No one ever mentioned it.","human_ref_B":"It\u2019s nobody else\u2019s business how you paid for school, it is *extremely* unlikely that it will come up, and most faculty I know wouldn\u2019t care anyway. I wouldn\u2019t give it another thought.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1475.0,"score_ratio":3.5757575758} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zqb4i","c_root_id_B":"f3ztetx","created_at_utc_A":1571274501,"created_at_utc_B":1571276567,"score_A":19,"score_B":118,"human_ref_A":"Say nothing.","human_ref_B":"It\u2019s not going to come up. I have a dear friend who is a tenured prof that stripped her way through grad school. No one ever mentioned it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2066.0,"score_ratio":6.2105263158} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3ztetx","c_root_id_B":"f3zt3m6","created_at_utc_A":1571276567,"created_at_utc_B":1571276359,"score_A":118,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s not going to come up. I have a dear friend who is a tenured prof that stripped her way through grad school. No one ever mentioned it.","human_ref_B":"If it's any reassurance vis. others' answers, employers generally don't want to ask questions about years taken off during undergrad. There are lots of reasons people do that, and some of them are the kind that, to ask, risks a suit. (Nothing stops them from assuming whatever they want though.) What they'll care about is whether you completed the degree and have good recommendations. Oh but also: if your recommender knows of your sex work, be sure to tell them not to mention anything that would prompt a follow-up question. No mentioning the year off. No well-meaning statements like \"They did an incredible job balancing academic and work life.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":208.0,"score_ratio":19.6666666667} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zr7e9","c_root_id_B":"f3zqb4i","created_at_utc_A":1571275092,"created_at_utc_B":1571274501,"score_A":33,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s nobody else\u2019s business how you paid for school, it is *extremely* unlikely that it will come up, and most faculty I know wouldn\u2019t care anyway. I wouldn\u2019t give it another thought.","human_ref_B":"Say nothing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":591.0,"score_ratio":1.7368421053} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zzksk","c_root_id_B":"f3zqb4i","created_at_utc_A":1571280739,"created_at_utc_B":1571274501,"score_A":20,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"No one will ask, and from my experience, no one will care -- unless you're applying to Oral Roberts or a similar institution. If someone does ask about the time off, just be honest and say you were working to save up\/pay off your tuition. You don't need to go into the details. Frankly, a gap year after graduation won't raise any suspicion.","human_ref_B":"Say nothing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6238.0,"score_ratio":1.0526315789} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zzksk","c_root_id_B":"f3zt3m6","created_at_utc_A":1571280739,"created_at_utc_B":1571276359,"score_A":20,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"No one will ask, and from my experience, no one will care -- unless you're applying to Oral Roberts or a similar institution. If someone does ask about the time off, just be honest and say you were working to save up\/pay off your tuition. You don't need to go into the details. Frankly, a gap year after graduation won't raise any suspicion.","human_ref_B":"If it's any reassurance vis. others' answers, employers generally don't want to ask questions about years taken off during undergrad. There are lots of reasons people do that, and some of them are the kind that, to ask, risks a suit. (Nothing stops them from assuming whatever they want though.) What they'll care about is whether you completed the degree and have good recommendations. Oh but also: if your recommender knows of your sex work, be sure to tell them not to mention anything that would prompt a follow-up question. No mentioning the year off. No well-meaning statements like \"They did an incredible job balancing academic and work life.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4380.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zzf7x","c_root_id_B":"f3zzksk","created_at_utc_A":1571280626,"created_at_utc_B":1571280739,"score_A":6,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Are you ashamed of it? Is it illegal where you did it? If both of these are a \"no\" than own it if it comes up, which it won't. Nobody wants to do the acrobatics that are involved in dealing with this issue without stepping into sexual harassment territory. Having said that... teaching might be an issue- if you TA or teach, a student may recognize you if your videos are out there somewhere. For that you might want to prepare a stern \"it's non of your business\" reply.","human_ref_B":"No one will ask, and from my experience, no one will care -- unless you're applying to Oral Roberts or a similar institution. If someone does ask about the time off, just be honest and say you were working to save up\/pay off your tuition. You don't need to go into the details. Frankly, a gap year after graduation won't raise any suspicion.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":113.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zt3m6","c_root_id_B":"f409kwe","created_at_utc_A":1571276359,"created_at_utc_B":1571290003,"score_A":6,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"If it's any reassurance vis. others' answers, employers generally don't want to ask questions about years taken off during undergrad. There are lots of reasons people do that, and some of them are the kind that, to ask, risks a suit. (Nothing stops them from assuming whatever they want though.) What they'll care about is whether you completed the degree and have good recommendations. Oh but also: if your recommender knows of your sex work, be sure to tell them not to mention anything that would prompt a follow-up question. No mentioning the year off. No well-meaning statements like \"They did an incredible job balancing academic and work life.\"","human_ref_B":"The amount of \u201cit\u2019s none of our business\u201d in this thread is so amazing to read. Good job reddit academics!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13644.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f3zzf7x","c_root_id_B":"f409kwe","created_at_utc_A":1571280626,"created_at_utc_B":1571290003,"score_A":6,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Are you ashamed of it? Is it illegal where you did it? If both of these are a \"no\" than own it if it comes up, which it won't. Nobody wants to do the acrobatics that are involved in dealing with this issue without stepping into sexual harassment territory. Having said that... teaching might be an issue- if you TA or teach, a student may recognize you if your videos are out there somewhere. For that you might want to prepare a stern \"it's non of your business\" reply.","human_ref_B":"The amount of \u201cit\u2019s none of our business\u201d in this thread is so amazing to read. Good job reddit academics!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9377.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f409kwe","c_root_id_B":"f401i2m","created_at_utc_A":1571290003,"created_at_utc_B":1571282202,"score_A":12,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"The amount of \u201cit\u2019s none of our business\u201d in this thread is so amazing to read. Good job reddit academics!","human_ref_B":"Check out Carol Rambo. She was a stripper turned professor I believe, she may have somethings out that can help.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7801.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f40306n","c_root_id_B":"f409kwe","created_at_utc_A":1571283476,"created_at_utc_B":1571290003,"score_A":4,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"The way I see it, academia doesn't really care about it UNLESS, it is a determined kompromat attack intended to destroy one's career. Even then, it is less because other peer academics objected such work; it's the wider public.","human_ref_B":"The amount of \u201cit\u2019s none of our business\u201d in this thread is so amazing to read. Good job reddit academics!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6527.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f409kwe","c_root_id_B":"f4058l4","created_at_utc_A":1571290003,"created_at_utc_B":1571285483,"score_A":12,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The amount of \u201cit\u2019s none of our business\u201d in this thread is so amazing to read. Good job reddit academics!","human_ref_B":"It depends on how conservative the departments are you want to be in. Not conservative in the sense of politics necessarily but basically whether there is acceptance of feminism or not. I would not out yourself in applications or otherwise until you are confident the department can handle it. Sex work is still very controversial, don\u2019t let that get in your way.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4520.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f401i2m","c_root_id_B":"f4186je","created_at_utc_A":1571282202,"created_at_utc_B":1571315898,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Check out Carol Rambo. She was a stripper turned professor I believe, she may have somethings out that can help.","human_ref_B":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":33696.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f40306n","c_root_id_B":"f4186je","created_at_utc_A":1571283476,"created_at_utc_B":1571315898,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"The way I see it, academia doesn't really care about it UNLESS, it is a determined kompromat attack intended to destroy one's career. Even then, it is less because other peer academics objected such work; it's the wider public.","human_ref_B":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":32422.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f4186je","c_root_id_B":"f4058l4","created_at_utc_A":1571315898,"created_at_utc_B":1571285483,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","human_ref_B":"It depends on how conservative the departments are you want to be in. Not conservative in the sense of politics necessarily but basically whether there is acceptance of feminism or not. I would not out yourself in applications or otherwise until you are confident the department can handle it. Sex work is still very controversial, don\u2019t let that get in your way.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":30415.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f40v84s","c_root_id_B":"f4186je","created_at_utc_A":1571308766,"created_at_utc_B":1571315898,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I used to perform in the the adult film industry. This was after college. When i went back to get my MPH. I talked openly about it as the experience informed my perspective on sexual health needs and sex workers rights. As long as you make similar connections, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something you need to go out of your way to avoid talking about. I went to Columbia. I was told by the department coordinator \u201cColumbia is a sex positive institution and sex work is legitimate work\u201d. They don\u2019t go looking for this information, so don\u2019t be worried if you don\u2019t want to disclose. I think in my PS I spoke about it in a single sentence. I\u2019m applying for my PhD now and I also included it in my statement. Bear in mind, I work in sexual health, so it hasn\u2019t ever been an issue for me. Different fields may be different.","human_ref_B":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7132.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f40aajy","c_root_id_B":"f4186je","created_at_utc_A":1571290822,"created_at_utc_B":1571315898,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"dont bring this up. the past is past, Unless it is obligatory for the position you are applying for to disclose any information regarding this, or they demand all applicants to have a specific background that makes you to disclose such information. Basically don't provide any information that is not needed or is irrelevant to the job \/work you are going for. don't allow anyone to make you disclose unrelated\/uncalled for information.","human_ref_B":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25076.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f40ayus","c_root_id_B":"f4186je","created_at_utc_A":1571291624,"created_at_utc_B":1571315898,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I can't imagine it would come up or matter. When I was in grad school one my friends (in English lit) was an exotic dancer on weekends...she was likely the only one of her cohort who didn't go into debt for her Ph.D.. One of my own classmates had a lucrative side hussle as an author of bondage-themed porn novels (long enough ago these were physical books). As a veteran of far too many search committees I can't imagine circumstances in which anything like this would ever come up in an academic job search-- we *are* required to do background checks now before an offer is made, but they are entirely pro forma and intended only to reveal outstanding felony warrants and people on sex offender registries. We would never bother (or be interested in) looking into employment history that isn't noted on the c.v., nor usually anything prior to the first academic position. Why would a grad school care-- or even know? They aren't in the business of peering into people's personal lives either. Leave it out of your applications and if your referees know about it ask them not to start your letters by referring to your \"prior occupation\" if necessary.","human_ref_B":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":24274.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f40bnlv","c_root_id_B":"f4186je","created_at_utc_A":1571292481,"created_at_utc_B":1571315898,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Won't come up-- unless you decide to make this a part of your work, ie, the sociology of sex work. Might might an interesting autoethnography for a thesis.","human_ref_B":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23417.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f413ul3","c_root_id_B":"f4186je","created_at_utc_A":1571314009,"created_at_utc_B":1571315898,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"i know people who paid their uni debts by finding work as escorts. Some were even proud and very open about it. I dont think anyone cared. A couple of them are assitant professors, one works in big pharma and the other is a patent attorney. I dont think they are being \"haunted\" by their past. Luckily we live in a modern society (especially in academia) where people understand or atleast dont let their personal views influence how they value merit.","human_ref_B":"Jesus how fucked up is it that you had to resort to sex work to pay off your student debts, even while working in the field. Does this not bother anyone else here as much as it bothers me?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1889.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"dixi3u","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to handle sex worker background? Hi everyone. I was wondering how to address an issue that may come up during either my admission process or beyond. During my undergraduate years, I was paying for college by working as a cam model, and another job. I then took a year off to focus on the sex work to pay off my undergraduate school debt while working in my field. I am worried that the sex work may come up during my admission to grad programs or while I teach in academia. I essentially did it to pay for school and knowing how judgemental people are, I chose to obviously omit it. How would you handle this?","c_root_id_A":"f40bnlv","c_root_id_B":"f40v84s","created_at_utc_A":1571292481,"created_at_utc_B":1571308766,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Won't come up-- unless you decide to make this a part of your work, ie, the sociology of sex work. Might might an interesting autoethnography for a thesis.","human_ref_B":"I used to perform in the the adult film industry. This was after college. When i went back to get my MPH. I talked openly about it as the experience informed my perspective on sexual health needs and sex workers rights. As long as you make similar connections, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something you need to go out of your way to avoid talking about. I went to Columbia. I was told by the department coordinator \u201cColumbia is a sex positive institution and sex work is legitimate work\u201d. They don\u2019t go looking for this information, so don\u2019t be worried if you don\u2019t want to disclose. I think in my PS I spoke about it in a single sentence. I\u2019m applying for my PhD now and I also included it in my statement. Bear in mind, I work in sexual health, so it hasn\u2019t ever been an issue for me. Different fields may be different.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16285.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xalkwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Is it ok to politely ask the PI if they already have someone lined-up for a PhD position I plan to apply for? I am looking for a PhD position. On one hand, I am sending my own project to professors, but I also try to apply for positions in projects. There are not that many in my field, and It's even harder to find something within my specific area of expertise. I found an offer that I am really interested in. I do meet all the basic requirements, but then there are a few things that would be a plus, and I do not have most of them. So I am doubting here a bit since the application has to include a 5 to 8 page proposal. This implies a ton of work, since it's not that close to what I did in my master's. Even though I think I could be a good fit for this project and I would love to work there, I am guessing it's pretty likely that the PI or other professors working there have master students familiar with this exact topic, interested in the position. I am aware that applying will not guarantee anything, but I would rather not lose my time if they already have candidates in mind. Since I have several questions about the project, would it be ok to also ask: \"Since X and X are a big advantage, I was asking myself if you are aware of candidates who meet these criteria interested in this position?\" I am just trying to find a balance between auto-excluding myself and not spending time on applications that have zero chance of success and most likely could not be recycled for a different open-call.","c_root_id_A":"inv4tie","c_root_id_B":"inwkiaf","created_at_utc_A":1662823030,"created_at_utc_B":1662843957,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"You really can't ask questions about the rest of the candidate pool. Even if you do, you can't trust the answers - they may very well not want or not be allowed to truthfully answer the question, or a better candidate could submit five minutes after your conversation. But you can reach out to the PI to ask your questions! Just be prepared that you may hear that they really can't talk to you about the position outside the standard process, and you just need to apply and ask more at the time of your interview if selected to interview. I think that's less likely for this kind of position but it is a rule at some places and you may bump up against it.","human_ref_B":"Reach out to chat about the project before coming up with a proposal. If the PI seems interested in you, they\u2019re responsive -they don\u2019t have another candidate lined up. If they don\u2019t get back to you or don\u2019t pay attention to you, they might have other candidates\/other focuses. Attach your CV. Come up with a few questions you have about the project especially if they relate to the proposal writing process. I\u2019ve done the hey, before writing a proposal I wanted more specifics on x y and z and those conversations have never gone badly.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":20927.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"xalkwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Is it ok to politely ask the PI if they already have someone lined-up for a PhD position I plan to apply for? I am looking for a PhD position. On one hand, I am sending my own project to professors, but I also try to apply for positions in projects. There are not that many in my field, and It's even harder to find something within my specific area of expertise. I found an offer that I am really interested in. I do meet all the basic requirements, but then there are a few things that would be a plus, and I do not have most of them. So I am doubting here a bit since the application has to include a 5 to 8 page proposal. This implies a ton of work, since it's not that close to what I did in my master's. Even though I think I could be a good fit for this project and I would love to work there, I am guessing it's pretty likely that the PI or other professors working there have master students familiar with this exact topic, interested in the position. I am aware that applying will not guarantee anything, but I would rather not lose my time if they already have candidates in mind. Since I have several questions about the project, would it be ok to also ask: \"Since X and X are a big advantage, I was asking myself if you are aware of candidates who meet these criteria interested in this position?\" I am just trying to find a balance between auto-excluding myself and not spending time on applications that have zero chance of success and most likely could not be recycled for a different open-call.","c_root_id_A":"inwkiaf","c_root_id_B":"invjzmc","created_at_utc_A":1662843957,"created_at_utc_B":1662829201,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Reach out to chat about the project before coming up with a proposal. If the PI seems interested in you, they\u2019re responsive -they don\u2019t have another candidate lined up. If they don\u2019t get back to you or don\u2019t pay attention to you, they might have other candidates\/other focuses. Attach your CV. Come up with a few questions you have about the project especially if they relate to the proposal writing process. I\u2019ve done the hey, before writing a proposal I wanted more specifics on x y and z and those conversations have never gone badly.","human_ref_B":"I do recommend reaching out to learn more specifics and ask questions about the project, but I wouldn't ask about other candidates. Putting your words\/ideas on a page for a proposal is a good exercise regardless of getting the position. And if you like academia, get use to putting in a ton of work for things with very little chances of success (10% funding chances with most grants).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14756.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"huifdqz","c_root_id_B":"huil217","created_at_utc_A":1643327527,"created_at_utc_B":1643329903,"score_A":13,"score_B":55,"human_ref_A":"Yo - 10 years? Do post-docs in europe get paid more than in the US?","human_ref_B":"I have no advice other than to look for government research jobs, but it's always been a bit of a mystery to me why there aren't more staff scientist \/ research associate jobs. Not everyone with a PhD needs to run their own lab with an army of graduate students.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2376.0,"score_ratio":4.2307692308} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"huifdqz","c_root_id_B":"huistrw","created_at_utc_A":1643327527,"created_at_utc_B":1643333170,"score_A":13,"score_B":29,"human_ref_A":"Yo - 10 years? Do post-docs in europe get paid more than in the US?","human_ref_B":"I am in the U.S., so I will be describing general types of positions and not actual institutions that I know exist there. **Research Scientist at a University Research Center**: I don't know about Europe, but in the U.S., it's fairly common for labs to have research scientists who are not faculty. These scientist are hired by a research lab or center - often one funded by grants - to perform research as part of a team. They don't teach classes, so you wouldn't have to worry about preparing lectures. Most of them *do* have to write grants as these positions are usually primarily grant-funded; even if you start out on someone else's grant, you're usually expected to start writing your own and funding at least part of your salary. I did my postdoc at one of these centers, and for an academic who only wants to do research this is a great gig. I think a lot of scientists are scared about funding their salaries 100%, but even in my short time there I learned to not really be scared of that if you were reasonably productive; I also observed how these scientists just folded the grant writing into their jobs. They also had a full-time grant-writer whose job was to write all the bits no one else wanted to write. **Government\/Military Laboratories:** In the U.S., at least, the federal government directly employs laboratory scientists in the life, natural, and physical scientists to do basic research supporting their goals. In the U.S., I'd be thinking of agencies like the USDA (agriculture\/food science), SAMHSA (mental health and drug use), NSF (all kinds of basic science), the NIH (health sciences-related, very broadly defined), NASA (space), NOAA (oceanography and atmospheric science, broadly defined)...I could go on. The military also has various labs in the U.S. across the country. The research may have a slightly more applied bent, as they are typically looking for research that will support military endeavors, but even that's pretty broad. I'm betting that many European countries have similar institutions. **International & Intergovernmental Organizations:** In my field, these would be organizations like the United Nations, the World Health Organization (which is a special agency of the former), the European Union, etc. There may be international organizations that concern the life sciences (health, agriculture, environmental and conservation organizations like the WWF, etc.) that hire scientists to conduct research. **Nonprofit and Non-Government Organizations:** In my field, there were things like the Guttmacher Institute, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; these nonprofits hire scientists to conduct research and publish papers (although often those papers are white papers, not just journal articles). There may be similar ones in Europe for people in your field as well, focused on some of the same areas above. **Private Companies.** There are all kinds of private companies that might hire a life sciences researcher - grocery chains, agricultural companies, food & beverage companies, cosmetics companies, and others.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5643.0,"score_ratio":2.2307692308} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hujid7t","c_root_id_B":"hujid7s","created_at_utc_A":1643344579,"created_at_utc_B":1643344579,"score_A":12,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Biotech and pharma industry would be thrilled to have someone with your experience. You would start at a senior \/ staff \/ principal scientist role. In Boston where I work that\u2019s between $120k - $160k or more starting. 40 hour weeks with some flexibility to go higher when needed is the norm for most places in US if it\u2019s a larger company. Idk about Europe but I assume it\u2019s similar. It sounds to me like you haven\u2019t spoken to too many people outside of academia and you should start reaching out to folks you know and recruiters to get the ball rolling. LinkedIn in your best friend!","human_ref_B":"Any reason industry isn't on your radar. Especially in early stage biotechs, you'll move up the ranks, become a group leader designing experiments and mentoring others in much less time than your postdoc was. And at that level, you get to focus on the science, with access to cutting edge equipment, while the C-suite folk worry about funding. If for whatever reason you don't like it or the company is struggling, given a few years of industry experience, you'll have an easy time finding a scientific role at the next hot biotech.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":0.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hujid7t","c_root_id_B":"huizyuk","created_at_utc_A":1643344579,"created_at_utc_B":1643336227,"score_A":12,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Biotech and pharma industry would be thrilled to have someone with your experience. You would start at a senior \/ staff \/ principal scientist role. In Boston where I work that\u2019s between $120k - $160k or more starting. 40 hour weeks with some flexibility to go higher when needed is the norm for most places in US if it\u2019s a larger company. Idk about Europe but I assume it\u2019s similar. It sounds to me like you haven\u2019t spoken to too many people outside of academia and you should start reaching out to folks you know and recruiters to get the ball rolling. LinkedIn in your best friend!","human_ref_B":"Industry or government research positions seem the best match for you, from what you described. You may also find a researcher position in a university that is not a faculty position.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8352.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hujid7t","c_root_id_B":"hujdrsb","created_at_utc_A":1643344579,"created_at_utc_B":1643342347,"score_A":12,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Biotech and pharma industry would be thrilled to have someone with your experience. You would start at a senior \/ staff \/ principal scientist role. In Boston where I work that\u2019s between $120k - $160k or more starting. 40 hour weeks with some flexibility to go higher when needed is the norm for most places in US if it\u2019s a larger company. Idk about Europe but I assume it\u2019s similar. It sounds to me like you haven\u2019t spoken to too many people outside of academia and you should start reaching out to folks you know and recruiters to get the ball rolling. LinkedIn in your best friend!","human_ref_B":"You have described me so I\u2019m posting so that I can find this thread again. I don\u2019t have an answer. I\u2019m also well qualified but took a long time (the kicker is I got out the gate early - phd by 26 but this has been a hindrance). I\u2019d love one of these staff sciences\/facility positions but they seem as rare as faculty positions and advertised even less.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2232.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hujid7t","c_root_id_B":"hujdemh","created_at_utc_A":1643344579,"created_at_utc_B":1643342176,"score_A":12,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Biotech and pharma industry would be thrilled to have someone with your experience. You would start at a senior \/ staff \/ principal scientist role. In Boston where I work that\u2019s between $120k - $160k or more starting. 40 hour weeks with some flexibility to go higher when needed is the norm for most places in US if it\u2019s a larger company. Idk about Europe but I assume it\u2019s similar. It sounds to me like you haven\u2019t spoken to too many people outside of academia and you should start reaching out to folks you know and recruiters to get the ball rolling. LinkedIn in your best friend!","human_ref_B":"I work in government research. The pay isn\u2019t fantastic but I have great benefits, plenty of time , and a great flexible schedule. Check out usajobs!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2403.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"huizyuk","c_root_id_B":"hujid7s","created_at_utc_A":1643336227,"created_at_utc_B":1643344579,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Industry or government research positions seem the best match for you, from what you described. You may also find a researcher position in a university that is not a faculty position.","human_ref_B":"Any reason industry isn't on your radar. Especially in early stage biotechs, you'll move up the ranks, become a group leader designing experiments and mentoring others in much less time than your postdoc was. And at that level, you get to focus on the science, with access to cutting edge equipment, while the C-suite folk worry about funding. If for whatever reason you don't like it or the company is struggling, given a few years of industry experience, you'll have an easy time finding a scientific role at the next hot biotech.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8352.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hujid7s","c_root_id_B":"hujdemh","created_at_utc_A":1643344579,"created_at_utc_B":1643342176,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Any reason industry isn't on your radar. Especially in early stage biotechs, you'll move up the ranks, become a group leader designing experiments and mentoring others in much less time than your postdoc was. And at that level, you get to focus on the science, with access to cutting edge equipment, while the C-suite folk worry about funding. If for whatever reason you don't like it or the company is struggling, given a few years of industry experience, you'll have an easy time finding a scientific role at the next hot biotech.","human_ref_B":"I work in government research. The pay isn\u2019t fantastic but I have great benefits, plenty of time , and a great flexible schedule. Check out usajobs!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2403.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hujdrsb","c_root_id_B":"huizyuk","created_at_utc_A":1643342347,"created_at_utc_B":1643336227,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"You have described me so I\u2019m posting so that I can find this thread again. I don\u2019t have an answer. I\u2019m also well qualified but took a long time (the kicker is I got out the gate early - phd by 26 but this has been a hindrance). I\u2019d love one of these staff sciences\/facility positions but they seem as rare as faculty positions and advertised even less.","human_ref_B":"Industry or government research positions seem the best match for you, from what you described. You may also find a researcher position in a university that is not a faculty position.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6120.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hujdemh","c_root_id_B":"hujdrsb","created_at_utc_A":1643342176,"created_at_utc_B":1643342347,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I work in government research. The pay isn\u2019t fantastic but I have great benefits, plenty of time , and a great flexible schedule. Check out usajobs!","human_ref_B":"You have described me so I\u2019m posting so that I can find this thread again. I don\u2019t have an answer. I\u2019m also well qualified but took a long time (the kicker is I got out the gate early - phd by 26 but this has been a hindrance). I\u2019d love one of these staff sciences\/facility positions but they seem as rare as faculty positions and advertised even less.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":171.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"huknao7","c_root_id_B":"hujdemh","created_at_utc_A":1643372065,"created_at_utc_B":1643342176,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"That 10 year rule sounds a lot like Germany. I mean the biotech industry is the logical next step. However, the longer you work there with your qualifications the less time you will spend at the bench. Also training is not too much of a deal because most people ( at least where I work) get hired as qualified personal apart from trainees. Your wish to be at the forefront of science might need some adjustment as industry research is goal oriented and less based on basic research. I find it easiest to think what are your qualifications outside the context of your work topic. What techniques you like the most. With that see what. Positions are offered. Talk to people in the industry and ask what they do there is so much to do outside of academia I was pretty overwhelmed. Edit: Actually my job is that. I am research associate and work in assay development . Meaning a customer has a target of interest and let\u2019s say a novel drug and they want to test it. So I design and implement the assays to do that. So I do all of the above minus hard core training of students.","human_ref_B":"I work in government research. The pay isn\u2019t fantastic but I have great benefits, plenty of time , and a great flexible schedule. Check out usajobs!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29889.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"sec3l4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Long time postdoc, time to leave academia, but for what? I'm a long-time (10 years) postdoc in life sciences. I love my job as a scientist. I worked in two prestigious, scientifically stimulating labs with lots of research money. I had multiple projects, got involved in several publications, I supervised many masters and PhD students. I enjoyed my time as a postdoc to the fullest. I kept a good work-life balance, I didn't push myself to work extremely hard and I managed to spare a lot of time for my hobbies and other interests. I live in a beautiful big city in Europe. Financially safe, earned well enough. All good. But soon I have to end my career in academic science, because my institute is not able to offer me a postdoc contract anymore (due to certain laws in the country I live). I did apply for a couple of faculty positions, however I'm not very ambitious about running a whole lab and honestly I am not a top candidate (yes, I have good qualifications, but also I took a very long time to get there, not eligible for most of the starting grants). I am not interested in a career where writing grants, preparing lectures and other bureaucratic tasks make up the large part of the work. I'm not interested in applying to dozens of faculty positions to land on -maybe- a few interviews, with a very slim chance of getting a job, where I need to keep proving myself on a yearly basis. I see some of the really smart colleagues struggling with the stress of being a junior faculty and keep fighting for research money. I don't desire that for myself. It's time for me to slowly make my way out. However I haven't opened my eyes to what is outside. I want to keep my lifestyle. I want to be at the forefront of science. I want to be close to the bench. I want to design experiments, read scientific literature, discuss projects and results. Still learn and apply new techniques. Train people. Pretty much keep doing what an average postdoc does. Work max 45-50 hours per week. Where do I find such a position outside of academia (within the borders of Europe)? What is an industry job that would be closest to what I describe above?","c_root_id_A":"hukb6kv","c_root_id_B":"huknao7","created_at_utc_A":1643363292,"created_at_utc_B":1643372065,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I had a couple of postdocs in Germany and just switched to a startup. I can highly recommend that path for many reasons. For inspiration: https:\/\/www.bionity.com\/de\/startups\/","human_ref_B":"That 10 year rule sounds a lot like Germany. I mean the biotech industry is the logical next step. However, the longer you work there with your qualifications the less time you will spend at the bench. Also training is not too much of a deal because most people ( at least where I work) get hired as qualified personal apart from trainees. Your wish to be at the forefront of science might need some adjustment as industry research is goal oriented and less based on basic research. I find it easiest to think what are your qualifications outside the context of your work topic. What techniques you like the most. With that see what. Positions are offered. Talk to people in the industry and ask what they do there is so much to do outside of academia I was pretty overwhelmed. Edit: Actually my job is that. I am research associate and work in assay development . Meaning a customer has a target of interest and let\u2019s say a novel drug and they want to test it. So I design and implement the assays to do that. So I do all of the above minus hard core training of students.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8773.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9bdgk","c_root_id_B":"hs954xh","created_at_utc_A":1641934807,"created_at_utc_B":1641932533,"score_A":14,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I went straight from undergrad to a Ph.D., straight from a Ph.D. to a postdoc, and straight from a postdoc to a TT position at an R1. I would NOT recommend this path. By the time I got to the \"end goal\" (tenure) that I was working so hard for, I felt burnt out and I had lost my sense of self entirely. I desperately needed a break. Once you're on the \"faculty path\" it's hard to break from it. The time between undergrad and grad school is the most logical and easiest place to take a pause. Get some life skills, learn how to be an independent adult and balance responsibilities, save up some money, etc. I have found that students who take time off also tend to be more productive and engaged as grad students because they have other experiences to draw upon.","human_ref_B":"I did a PhD straight out of undergrad. On one hand, I am glad to finish sooner and start making good money. On the flip side, had I taken a year or two off, I think I could have built some solid skills and likely gotten into a better program. I think both options are solid. If you aren\u2019t sure, then take a year off!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2274.0,"score_ratio":1.0769230769} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9iyau","c_root_id_B":"hs9lk06","created_at_utc_A":1641937561,"created_at_utc_B":1641938529,"score_A":7,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Two years off after high school. One year off after BA. Two years off after MA. I absolutely needed those breaks. I started each program refreshed and eager to learn. ​ (The two years off after high school was because I was a crappy student that didn't plan on actually going to college.)","human_ref_B":"Did four years between masters and PhD worked as an RA in a lab internationally, frankly I think most people should do it. Most PhD students I\u2019ve met except for a few really motivated ones could do with a gap after their masters","labels":0,"seconds_difference":968.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9d4w4","c_root_id_B":"hs9lk06","created_at_utc_A":1641935442,"created_at_utc_B":1641938529,"score_A":3,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"(In US) I took 10 years off between BA and MS. 1.5 between MS and PhD. For us, it was perfect. I gained so many skills and prioritized our family in the way we desired to do.","human_ref_B":"Did four years between masters and PhD worked as an RA in a lab internationally, frankly I think most people should do it. Most PhD students I\u2019ve met except for a few really motivated ones could do with a gap after their masters","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3087.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9pu3x","c_root_id_B":"hs9iyau","created_at_utc_A":1641940163,"created_at_utc_B":1641937561,"score_A":8,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I took 4 years off and worked, and I am so glad I did. First, because what I wanted to do a PhD in at 22 was drastically different to what I wanted to do a PhD in at 26; and second, because I got hired quickly and at a high level immediately after I finished the PhD. On the first note, I was really glad that I took a few years to *really* figure out what I wanted to dedicate many years of my life researching, and finding a good supervisor who would help me research that passion. On the second note, I left academia when I finished the PhD and joined a team of analysts where, to simplify, there are \"levels\" from, say, 1-6. Three colleagues are a year or two younger than me and joined the team last year, immediately post-PhD, at level 4; I negotiated to join at level 5. The hiring manager did try to push level 4, using these people as an example, because I had \"just\" finished my PhD, like they had. But I was able to point to the 4 years of other research and work I had done previously and show how they gave me more experience and transferable skills, while the other colleagues had gone straight from undergrad into their PhD. I have a good few friends who went straight from undergrad to PhD and they honestly just had no concept of the working world, and struggled to adjust post-PhD. And I also know a few people who dropped out of their PhD, or who have a post-PhD job that has NOTHING to do with their PhD, because they hated their subject by the end of it. Really important to be passionate about what you want to research.","human_ref_B":"Two years off after high school. One year off after BA. Two years off after MA. I absolutely needed those breaks. I started each program refreshed and eager to learn. ​ (The two years off after high school was because I was a crappy student that didn't plan on actually going to college.)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2602.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9masq","c_root_id_B":"hs9pu3x","created_at_utc_A":1641938808,"created_at_utc_B":1641940163,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Def did not regret doing it straight away. Didn\u2019t have time to lose the \u201cstudent\u201d mindset and was still naive enough to do it lol if I had waited I probably would have changed my mind and not gotten it.. I was very very broke the whole time tho","human_ref_B":"I took 4 years off and worked, and I am so glad I did. First, because what I wanted to do a PhD in at 22 was drastically different to what I wanted to do a PhD in at 26; and second, because I got hired quickly and at a high level immediately after I finished the PhD. On the first note, I was really glad that I took a few years to *really* figure out what I wanted to dedicate many years of my life researching, and finding a good supervisor who would help me research that passion. On the second note, I left academia when I finished the PhD and joined a team of analysts where, to simplify, there are \"levels\" from, say, 1-6. Three colleagues are a year or two younger than me and joined the team last year, immediately post-PhD, at level 4; I negotiated to join at level 5. The hiring manager did try to push level 4, using these people as an example, because I had \"just\" finished my PhD, like they had. But I was able to point to the 4 years of other research and work I had done previously and show how they gave me more experience and transferable skills, while the other colleagues had gone straight from undergrad into their PhD. I have a good few friends who went straight from undergrad to PhD and they honestly just had no concept of the working world, and struggled to adjust post-PhD. And I also know a few people who dropped out of their PhD, or who have a post-PhD job that has NOTHING to do with their PhD, because they hated their subject by the end of it. Really important to be passionate about what you want to research.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1355.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9pu3x","c_root_id_B":"hs9d4w4","created_at_utc_A":1641940163,"created_at_utc_B":1641935442,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I took 4 years off and worked, and I am so glad I did. First, because what I wanted to do a PhD in at 22 was drastically different to what I wanted to do a PhD in at 26; and second, because I got hired quickly and at a high level immediately after I finished the PhD. On the first note, I was really glad that I took a few years to *really* figure out what I wanted to dedicate many years of my life researching, and finding a good supervisor who would help me research that passion. On the second note, I left academia when I finished the PhD and joined a team of analysts where, to simplify, there are \"levels\" from, say, 1-6. Three colleagues are a year or two younger than me and joined the team last year, immediately post-PhD, at level 4; I negotiated to join at level 5. The hiring manager did try to push level 4, using these people as an example, because I had \"just\" finished my PhD, like they had. But I was able to point to the 4 years of other research and work I had done previously and show how they gave me more experience and transferable skills, while the other colleagues had gone straight from undergrad into their PhD. I have a good few friends who went straight from undergrad to PhD and they honestly just had no concept of the working world, and struggled to adjust post-PhD. And I also know a few people who dropped out of their PhD, or who have a post-PhD job that has NOTHING to do with their PhD, because they hated their subject by the end of it. Really important to be passionate about what you want to research.","human_ref_B":"(In US) I took 10 years off between BA and MS. 1.5 between MS and PhD. For us, it was perfect. I gained so many skills and prioritized our family in the way we desired to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4721.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9n45u","c_root_id_B":"hs9pu3x","created_at_utc_A":1641939122,"created_at_utc_B":1641940163,"score_A":3,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I only took off a month between undergrad and grad school, and 3 weeks between my PhD and postdoc. I'm nearing the end of my first postdoc and I'm super burnt out at the level of struggling to even pull together job applications while I'm desperate.","human_ref_B":"I took 4 years off and worked, and I am so glad I did. First, because what I wanted to do a PhD in at 22 was drastically different to what I wanted to do a PhD in at 26; and second, because I got hired quickly and at a high level immediately after I finished the PhD. On the first note, I was really glad that I took a few years to *really* figure out what I wanted to dedicate many years of my life researching, and finding a good supervisor who would help me research that passion. On the second note, I left academia when I finished the PhD and joined a team of analysts where, to simplify, there are \"levels\" from, say, 1-6. Three colleagues are a year or two younger than me and joined the team last year, immediately post-PhD, at level 4; I negotiated to join at level 5. The hiring manager did try to push level 4, using these people as an example, because I had \"just\" finished my PhD, like they had. But I was able to point to the 4 years of other research and work I had done previously and show how they gave me more experience and transferable skills, while the other colleagues had gone straight from undergrad into their PhD. I have a good few friends who went straight from undergrad to PhD and they honestly just had no concept of the working world, and struggled to adjust post-PhD. And I also know a few people who dropped out of their PhD, or who have a post-PhD job that has NOTHING to do with their PhD, because they hated their subject by the end of it. Really important to be passionate about what you want to research.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1041.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9pu3x","c_root_id_B":"hs9orsi","created_at_utc_A":1641940163,"created_at_utc_B":1641939752,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I took 4 years off and worked, and I am so glad I did. First, because what I wanted to do a PhD in at 22 was drastically different to what I wanted to do a PhD in at 26; and second, because I got hired quickly and at a high level immediately after I finished the PhD. On the first note, I was really glad that I took a few years to *really* figure out what I wanted to dedicate many years of my life researching, and finding a good supervisor who would help me research that passion. On the second note, I left academia when I finished the PhD and joined a team of analysts where, to simplify, there are \"levels\" from, say, 1-6. Three colleagues are a year or two younger than me and joined the team last year, immediately post-PhD, at level 4; I negotiated to join at level 5. The hiring manager did try to push level 4, using these people as an example, because I had \"just\" finished my PhD, like they had. But I was able to point to the 4 years of other research and work I had done previously and show how they gave me more experience and transferable skills, while the other colleagues had gone straight from undergrad into their PhD. I have a good few friends who went straight from undergrad to PhD and they honestly just had no concept of the working world, and struggled to adjust post-PhD. And I also know a few people who dropped out of their PhD, or who have a post-PhD job that has NOTHING to do with their PhD, because they hated their subject by the end of it. Really important to be passionate about what you want to research.","human_ref_B":"Yep. 2.5 years between MS and PhD to apply the MS work in university Extension. Was above and beyond my younger peers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":411.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9d4w4","c_root_id_B":"hs9iyau","created_at_utc_A":1641935442,"created_at_utc_B":1641937561,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"(In US) I took 10 years off between BA and MS. 1.5 between MS and PhD. For us, it was perfect. I gained so many skills and prioritized our family in the way we desired to do.","human_ref_B":"Two years off after high school. One year off after BA. Two years off after MA. I absolutely needed those breaks. I started each program refreshed and eager to learn. ​ (The two years off after high school was because I was a crappy student that didn't plan on actually going to college.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2119.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9masq","c_root_id_B":"hs9s52t","created_at_utc_A":1641938808,"created_at_utc_B":1641941046,"score_A":5,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Def did not regret doing it straight away. Didn\u2019t have time to lose the \u201cstudent\u201d mindset and was still naive enough to do it lol if I had waited I probably would have changed my mind and not gotten it.. I was very very broke the whole time tho","human_ref_B":"I worked for about 8 years between my undergraduate and PhD. Did my Masters part time while I was working and started the PhD immediately after Masters so the content was still fresh for me. I don\u2019t regret taking the time to work at all. In those years of working I also bought my house and got married all of which gave me financial and emotional stability as I pursue my PhD which I think alleviates a lot of the external sources of stress. I also don\u2019t intend to stay in academia after this, I plan to return to teaching in a school, so starting the PhD later in life is not an issue for me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2238.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9s52t","c_root_id_B":"hs9qmpb","created_at_utc_A":1641941046,"created_at_utc_B":1641940465,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I worked for about 8 years between my undergraduate and PhD. Did my Masters part time while I was working and started the PhD immediately after Masters so the content was still fresh for me. I don\u2019t regret taking the time to work at all. In those years of working I also bought my house and got married all of which gave me financial and emotional stability as I pursue my PhD which I think alleviates a lot of the external sources of stress. I also don\u2019t intend to stay in academia after this, I plan to return to teaching in a school, so starting the PhD later in life is not an issue for me.","human_ref_B":"I think it depends on whether you really know what you want. If you're really into your PhD topic and know you want to pursue researching that, then I would say there's no sense waiting. But if you aren't sure or still want to figure some things out, there's nothing wrong with pushing it back a year. For my part, I wanted to start mine right away but then corona happened. I ended up working for a non-profit for a few months, then finding a PhD position. For what it's worth, having some \"real-world\" work experience did teach me a few things that I would have missed out on otherwise, and I'm happy I had that experience. Best of all it helped me see that if I ever did want to leave academia, I would have a future elsewhere. I think that has helped me do better in academia than I otherwise would have, because I'm not afraid to assert myself and stick to my values.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":581.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9d4w4","c_root_id_B":"hs9s52t","created_at_utc_A":1641935442,"created_at_utc_B":1641941046,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"(In US) I took 10 years off between BA and MS. 1.5 between MS and PhD. For us, it was perfect. I gained so many skills and prioritized our family in the way we desired to do.","human_ref_B":"I worked for about 8 years between my undergraduate and PhD. Did my Masters part time while I was working and started the PhD immediately after Masters so the content was still fresh for me. I don\u2019t regret taking the time to work at all. In those years of working I also bought my house and got married all of which gave me financial and emotional stability as I pursue my PhD which I think alleviates a lot of the external sources of stress. I also don\u2019t intend to stay in academia after this, I plan to return to teaching in a school, so starting the PhD later in life is not an issue for me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5604.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9s52t","c_root_id_B":"hs9n45u","created_at_utc_A":1641941046,"created_at_utc_B":1641939122,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I worked for about 8 years between my undergraduate and PhD. Did my Masters part time while I was working and started the PhD immediately after Masters so the content was still fresh for me. I don\u2019t regret taking the time to work at all. In those years of working I also bought my house and got married all of which gave me financial and emotional stability as I pursue my PhD which I think alleviates a lot of the external sources of stress. I also don\u2019t intend to stay in academia after this, I plan to return to teaching in a school, so starting the PhD later in life is not an issue for me.","human_ref_B":"I only took off a month between undergrad and grad school, and 3 weeks between my PhD and postdoc. I'm nearing the end of my first postdoc and I'm super burnt out at the level of struggling to even pull together job applications while I'm desperate.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1924.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9s52t","c_root_id_B":"hs9orsi","created_at_utc_A":1641941046,"created_at_utc_B":1641939752,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I worked for about 8 years between my undergraduate and PhD. Did my Masters part time while I was working and started the PhD immediately after Masters so the content was still fresh for me. I don\u2019t regret taking the time to work at all. In those years of working I also bought my house and got married all of which gave me financial and emotional stability as I pursue my PhD which I think alleviates a lot of the external sources of stress. I also don\u2019t intend to stay in academia after this, I plan to return to teaching in a school, so starting the PhD later in life is not an issue for me.","human_ref_B":"Yep. 2.5 years between MS and PhD to apply the MS work in university Extension. Was above and beyond my younger peers.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1294.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9s52t","c_root_id_B":"hs9qx7m","created_at_utc_A":1641941046,"created_at_utc_B":1641940576,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I worked for about 8 years between my undergraduate and PhD. Did my Masters part time while I was working and started the PhD immediately after Masters so the content was still fresh for me. I don\u2019t regret taking the time to work at all. In those years of working I also bought my house and got married all of which gave me financial and emotional stability as I pursue my PhD which I think alleviates a lot of the external sources of stress. I also don\u2019t intend to stay in academia after this, I plan to return to teaching in a school, so starting the PhD later in life is not an issue for me.","human_ref_B":"I went straight to a PhD from undergraduate (chemistry). On the one hand I regret it because I didn't take enough time to decide if staying in the same major was the best option for me career- or interest-wise. Having a gap year would've allowed me to be better informed on different career options, or whether the PhD was even needed. On the other hand I don't regret it because the material was still fresh in my mind, I wasn't trying to juggle a family or full-time job with school, my job requires one (and I enjoy the work), and I'm done with that shit lol.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":470.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9masq","c_root_id_B":"hs9d4w4","created_at_utc_A":1641938808,"created_at_utc_B":1641935442,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Def did not regret doing it straight away. Didn\u2019t have time to lose the \u201cstudent\u201d mindset and was still naive enough to do it lol if I had waited I probably would have changed my mind and not gotten it.. I was very very broke the whole time tho","human_ref_B":"(In US) I took 10 years off between BA and MS. 1.5 between MS and PhD. For us, it was perfect. I gained so many skills and prioritized our family in the way we desired to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3366.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9d4w4","c_root_id_B":"hs9qmpb","created_at_utc_A":1641935442,"created_at_utc_B":1641940465,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"(In US) I took 10 years off between BA and MS. 1.5 between MS and PhD. For us, it was perfect. I gained so many skills and prioritized our family in the way we desired to do.","human_ref_B":"I think it depends on whether you really know what you want. If you're really into your PhD topic and know you want to pursue researching that, then I would say there's no sense waiting. But if you aren't sure or still want to figure some things out, there's nothing wrong with pushing it back a year. For my part, I wanted to start mine right away but then corona happened. I ended up working for a non-profit for a few months, then finding a PhD position. For what it's worth, having some \"real-world\" work experience did teach me a few things that I would have missed out on otherwise, and I'm happy I had that experience. Best of all it helped me see that if I ever did want to leave academia, I would have a future elsewhere. I think that has helped me do better in academia than I otherwise would have, because I'm not afraid to assert myself and stick to my values.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5023.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9n45u","c_root_id_B":"hs9qmpb","created_at_utc_A":1641939122,"created_at_utc_B":1641940465,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I only took off a month between undergrad and grad school, and 3 weeks between my PhD and postdoc. I'm nearing the end of my first postdoc and I'm super burnt out at the level of struggling to even pull together job applications while I'm desperate.","human_ref_B":"I think it depends on whether you really know what you want. If you're really into your PhD topic and know you want to pursue researching that, then I would say there's no sense waiting. But if you aren't sure or still want to figure some things out, there's nothing wrong with pushing it back a year. For my part, I wanted to start mine right away but then corona happened. I ended up working for a non-profit for a few months, then finding a PhD position. For what it's worth, having some \"real-world\" work experience did teach me a few things that I would have missed out on otherwise, and I'm happy I had that experience. Best of all it helped me see that if I ever did want to leave academia, I would have a future elsewhere. I think that has helped me do better in academia than I otherwise would have, because I'm not afraid to assert myself and stick to my values.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1343.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9orsi","c_root_id_B":"hs9qmpb","created_at_utc_A":1641939752,"created_at_utc_B":1641940465,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Yep. 2.5 years between MS and PhD to apply the MS work in university Extension. Was above and beyond my younger peers.","human_ref_B":"I think it depends on whether you really know what you want. If you're really into your PhD topic and know you want to pursue researching that, then I would say there's no sense waiting. But if you aren't sure or still want to figure some things out, there's nothing wrong with pushing it back a year. For my part, I wanted to start mine right away but then corona happened. I ended up working for a non-profit for a few months, then finding a PhD position. For what it's worth, having some \"real-world\" work experience did teach me a few things that I would have missed out on otherwise, and I'm happy I had that experience. Best of all it helped me see that if I ever did want to leave academia, I would have a future elsewhere. I think that has helped me do better in academia than I otherwise would have, because I'm not afraid to assert myself and stick to my values.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":713.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9d4w4","c_root_id_B":"hsatyn3","created_at_utc_A":1641935442,"created_at_utc_B":1641957059,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"(In US) I took 10 years off between BA and MS. 1.5 between MS and PhD. For us, it was perfect. I gained so many skills and prioritized our family in the way we desired to do.","human_ref_B":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21617.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsatyn3","c_root_id_B":"hs9n45u","created_at_utc_A":1641957059,"created_at_utc_B":1641939122,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","human_ref_B":"I only took off a month between undergrad and grad school, and 3 weeks between my PhD and postdoc. I'm nearing the end of my first postdoc and I'm super burnt out at the level of struggling to even pull together job applications while I'm desperate.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17937.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9orsi","c_root_id_B":"hsatyn3","created_at_utc_A":1641939752,"created_at_utc_B":1641957059,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Yep. 2.5 years between MS and PhD to apply the MS work in university Extension. Was above and beyond my younger peers.","human_ref_B":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17307.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hs9qx7m","c_root_id_B":"hsatyn3","created_at_utc_A":1641940576,"created_at_utc_B":1641957059,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I went straight to a PhD from undergraduate (chemistry). On the one hand I regret it because I didn't take enough time to decide if staying in the same major was the best option for me career- or interest-wise. Having a gap year would've allowed me to be better informed on different career options, or whether the PhD was even needed. On the other hand I don't regret it because the material was still fresh in my mind, I wasn't trying to juggle a family or full-time job with school, my job requires one (and I enjoy the work), and I'm done with that shit lol.","human_ref_B":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16483.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsatyn3","c_root_id_B":"hs9zi28","created_at_utc_A":1641957059,"created_at_utc_B":1641944005,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","human_ref_B":"I worked for 5 years after my undergraduate degree before returning for my graduate degrees. I had an incredible time working those years and came to my graduate studies more mature and focused.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13054.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsa0uvk","c_root_id_B":"hsatyn3","created_at_utc_A":1641944575,"created_at_utc_B":1641957059,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"After finishing my bachelor degree I immediately got into my MS, and the same from MS to PhD. From these experiences, I would advise you to take a break, if possible, before you start your PhD. My first year into the PhD I regretted not chilling a bit, it's just I didn't know how intense PhD can be at times. Hope this helps.","human_ref_B":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12484.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsaeivm","c_root_id_B":"hsatyn3","created_at_utc_A":1641950413,"created_at_utc_B":1641957059,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Take the year! I'm a PhD on the job market with no work experience outside of higher ed, and it's really hard trying to get out of higher ed without relevant experience.","human_ref_B":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6646.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsatyn3","c_root_id_B":"hsagfsy","created_at_utc_A":1641957059,"created_at_utc_B":1641951239,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","human_ref_B":"I went straight from undergrad to PhD (US based), and I kind of regret it - not because I needed a break (although that might have helped), but because I came to the realization during my PhD that I don't want to be in academia forever but I actually have no idea how to go about looking for \/ marketing myself in a non-academic setting for \"career\" jobs (i.e. the only jobs I've held in undergrad \/ grad school were 'side gig' type things just to make some extra money). I'm hoping to graduate next year, in 2023 sometime, and I'm *fucking terrified* of trying to navigate the non-academic job market. I think having that experience between undergrad and PhD would make that seem a lot less daunting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5820.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsatyn3","c_root_id_B":"hsamkuq","created_at_utc_A":1641957059,"created_at_utc_B":1641953898,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","human_ref_B":"I went straight from undergrad (graduated April 2021) to PhD (started in Sept), and I see the benefits in both options. Taking some time off to work\/travel and have a break is certainly worth it. If, like my case, you are passionate about the work, then I'd say go for it! Personally, I'm passionate about the work in my lab and do not regret taking a gap year :)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3161.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsatyn3","c_root_id_B":"hsaofc5","created_at_utc_A":1641957059,"created_at_utc_B":1641954684,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Would not recommend! Take that break! I went straight into the phd and I think if I had taken more time I would have likely not started it at all, and now I am preparing to leave my program halfway through. This is not to say that you shouldn\u2019t do a PhD, obviously, but just that it is worth taking time to think about whether it is what you want\u2014 especially if you are in the humanities.","human_ref_B":"I took several years off between my Bachelors and Masters, and then again between my Masters and PhD. Part of the reason, especially after my Bachelor\u2019s, was that I wasn\u2019t 100% sure of what direction I wanted to take. What DID happen in those years was that I really figured out who I was *outside* of my career. I took a flexible job and spent a lot of time travelling, getting better at hobbies, etc, and this translated into me having a fantastic work-life balance later during grad school. It also made me realize that I really enjoyed science (despite the garbage pay and poor future prospects lol) and wanted to go back. I *slightly* regret the break between my Masters and PhD because I felt like I lost some of my focus\/drive in my thirties. But I was also far more self-assured than my slightly younger colleagues and so I was much better at managing expectations from our TERRIBLE supervisor.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2375.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsagfsy","c_root_id_B":"hsb8qzo","created_at_utc_A":1641951239,"created_at_utc_B":1641964160,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I went straight from undergrad to PhD (US based), and I kind of regret it - not because I needed a break (although that might have helped), but because I came to the realization during my PhD that I don't want to be in academia forever but I actually have no idea how to go about looking for \/ marketing myself in a non-academic setting for \"career\" jobs (i.e. the only jobs I've held in undergrad \/ grad school were 'side gig' type things just to make some extra money). I'm hoping to graduate next year, in 2023 sometime, and I'm *fucking terrified* of trying to navigate the non-academic job market. I think having that experience between undergrad and PhD would make that seem a lot less daunting.","human_ref_B":"When you are apply for a Ph.D project, check out is it on current work in industries so that after you complete you Ph.D you are not stranded and still it is a hot topic, surely work in industry or some research project for a year or 2 so that the process of skill work during Ph.D is not new and you know what is done. God bless.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12921.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsamkuq","c_root_id_B":"hsb8qzo","created_at_utc_A":1641953898,"created_at_utc_B":1641964160,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I went straight from undergrad (graduated April 2021) to PhD (started in Sept), and I see the benefits in both options. Taking some time off to work\/travel and have a break is certainly worth it. If, like my case, you are passionate about the work, then I'd say go for it! Personally, I'm passionate about the work in my lab and do not regret taking a gap year :)","human_ref_B":"When you are apply for a Ph.D project, check out is it on current work in industries so that after you complete you Ph.D you are not stranded and still it is a hot topic, surely work in industry or some research project for a year or 2 so that the process of skill work during Ph.D is not new and you know what is done. God bless.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10262.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsb8qzo","c_root_id_B":"hsaofc5","created_at_utc_A":1641964160,"created_at_utc_B":1641954684,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"When you are apply for a Ph.D project, check out is it on current work in industries so that after you complete you Ph.D you are not stranded and still it is a hot topic, surely work in industry or some research project for a year or 2 so that the process of skill work during Ph.D is not new and you know what is done. God bless.","human_ref_B":"I took several years off between my Bachelors and Masters, and then again between my Masters and PhD. Part of the reason, especially after my Bachelor\u2019s, was that I wasn\u2019t 100% sure of what direction I wanted to take. What DID happen in those years was that I really figured out who I was *outside* of my career. I took a flexible job and spent a lot of time travelling, getting better at hobbies, etc, and this translated into me having a fantastic work-life balance later during grad school. It also made me realize that I really enjoyed science (despite the garbage pay and poor future prospects lol) and wanted to go back. I *slightly* regret the break between my Masters and PhD because I felt like I lost some of my focus\/drive in my thirties. But I was also far more self-assured than my slightly younger colleagues and so I was much better at managing expectations from our TERRIBLE supervisor.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9476.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsc1sei","c_root_id_B":"hsagfsy","created_at_utc_A":1641985145,"created_at_utc_B":1641951239,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I planned on a gap year but it turned out to be 6 months because a potential project arose in Feb of my gap year (after I was admitted to the program) so I up and moved and started my research. Interestingly enough, I finished my MA research before my classes started in the fall of that year! It was a bit odd proposing something that was already done but it went well.","human_ref_B":"I went straight from undergrad to PhD (US based), and I kind of regret it - not because I needed a break (although that might have helped), but because I came to the realization during my PhD that I don't want to be in academia forever but I actually have no idea how to go about looking for \/ marketing myself in a non-academic setting for \"career\" jobs (i.e. the only jobs I've held in undergrad \/ grad school were 'side gig' type things just to make some extra money). I'm hoping to graduate next year, in 2023 sometime, and I'm *fucking terrified* of trying to navigate the non-academic job market. I think having that experience between undergrad and PhD would make that seem a lot less daunting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":33906.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsc1sei","c_root_id_B":"hsamkuq","created_at_utc_A":1641985145,"created_at_utc_B":1641953898,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I planned on a gap year but it turned out to be 6 months because a potential project arose in Feb of my gap year (after I was admitted to the program) so I up and moved and started my research. Interestingly enough, I finished my MA research before my classes started in the fall of that year! It was a bit odd proposing something that was already done but it went well.","human_ref_B":"I went straight from undergrad (graduated April 2021) to PhD (started in Sept), and I see the benefits in both options. Taking some time off to work\/travel and have a break is certainly worth it. If, like my case, you are passionate about the work, then I'd say go for it! Personally, I'm passionate about the work in my lab and do not regret taking a gap year :)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":31247.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsaofc5","c_root_id_B":"hsc1sei","created_at_utc_A":1641954684,"created_at_utc_B":1641985145,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I took several years off between my Bachelors and Masters, and then again between my Masters and PhD. Part of the reason, especially after my Bachelor\u2019s, was that I wasn\u2019t 100% sure of what direction I wanted to take. What DID happen in those years was that I really figured out who I was *outside* of my career. I took a flexible job and spent a lot of time travelling, getting better at hobbies, etc, and this translated into me having a fantastic work-life balance later during grad school. It also made me realize that I really enjoyed science (despite the garbage pay and poor future prospects lol) and wanted to go back. I *slightly* regret the break between my Masters and PhD because I felt like I lost some of my focus\/drive in my thirties. But I was also far more self-assured than my slightly younger colleagues and so I was much better at managing expectations from our TERRIBLE supervisor.","human_ref_B":"I planned on a gap year but it turned out to be 6 months because a potential project arose in Feb of my gap year (after I was admitted to the program) so I up and moved and started my research. Interestingly enough, I finished my MA research before my classes started in the fall of that year! It was a bit odd proposing something that was already done but it went well.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":30461.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsbe2s7","c_root_id_B":"hsc1sei","created_at_utc_A":1641967251,"created_at_utc_B":1641985145,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Did all the following back to back: undergrad, medical school (MD), grad school (PhD), postdoc, and now planning to start a tenure track position in the next year. I took a one year break in the middle of medical school for a family emergency. I personally don't recommend breaks (atleast for myself), but some people need them. For the most part, as long as you sleep enough, eat well, exercise, enjoy the small things in life on a day to day basis (for me it's a nice cup of coffee at my local coffee shop), utilize your vacation time \"efficiently\" every year..... hopefully you should be fine.","human_ref_B":"I planned on a gap year but it turned out to be 6 months because a potential project arose in Feb of my gap year (after I was admitted to the program) so I up and moved and started my research. Interestingly enough, I finished my MA research before my classes started in the fall of that year! It was a bit odd proposing something that was already done but it went well.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17894.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsc1sei","c_root_id_B":"hsbrl97","created_at_utc_A":1641985145,"created_at_utc_B":1641976870,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I planned on a gap year but it turned out to be 6 months because a potential project arose in Feb of my gap year (after I was admitted to the program) so I up and moved and started my research. Interestingly enough, I finished my MA research before my classes started in the fall of that year! It was a bit odd proposing something that was already done but it went well.","human_ref_B":"I did my PhD straight after my degree, more or less straight at least. While I think it was a rational decision to \"stay relevant in the system\", I often wonder if one year or so off wouldn't have been a bad idea either. To me, that would have meant traveling and relaxing, I already worked two jobs (one at a university, one in the industry) so for me it would have been about getting a break. Since I couldn't afford that and also didn't want to ask my parents for money, I didn't. I'm sure I missed out, but you'll never know, right? So, bottom line is: If you can afford it, avoid burning out anyway (since you mentioned working in your post), I'd say go for it. Get some experiences and enjoy life a bit.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8275.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsce5q9","c_root_id_B":"hsagfsy","created_at_utc_A":1641993207,"created_at_utc_B":1641951239,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m in this exact position - commenting to follow- apologies, if there\u2019s another way to follow this post, I don\u2019t know how.","human_ref_B":"I went straight from undergrad to PhD (US based), and I kind of regret it - not because I needed a break (although that might have helped), but because I came to the realization during my PhD that I don't want to be in academia forever but I actually have no idea how to go about looking for \/ marketing myself in a non-academic setting for \"career\" jobs (i.e. the only jobs I've held in undergrad \/ grad school were 'side gig' type things just to make some extra money). I'm hoping to graduate next year, in 2023 sometime, and I'm *fucking terrified* of trying to navigate the non-academic job market. I think having that experience between undergrad and PhD would make that seem a lot less daunting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":41968.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsce5q9","c_root_id_B":"hsamkuq","created_at_utc_A":1641993207,"created_at_utc_B":1641953898,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m in this exact position - commenting to follow- apologies, if there\u2019s another way to follow this post, I don\u2019t know how.","human_ref_B":"I went straight from undergrad (graduated April 2021) to PhD (started in Sept), and I see the benefits in both options. Taking some time off to work\/travel and have a break is certainly worth it. If, like my case, you are passionate about the work, then I'd say go for it! Personally, I'm passionate about the work in my lab and do not regret taking a gap year :)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":39309.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsaofc5","c_root_id_B":"hsce5q9","created_at_utc_A":1641954684,"created_at_utc_B":1641993207,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I took several years off between my Bachelors and Masters, and then again between my Masters and PhD. Part of the reason, especially after my Bachelor\u2019s, was that I wasn\u2019t 100% sure of what direction I wanted to take. What DID happen in those years was that I really figured out who I was *outside* of my career. I took a flexible job and spent a lot of time travelling, getting better at hobbies, etc, and this translated into me having a fantastic work-life balance later during grad school. It also made me realize that I really enjoyed science (despite the garbage pay and poor future prospects lol) and wanted to go back. I *slightly* regret the break between my Masters and PhD because I felt like I lost some of my focus\/drive in my thirties. But I was also far more self-assured than my slightly younger colleagues and so I was much better at managing expectations from our TERRIBLE supervisor.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m in this exact position - commenting to follow- apologies, if there\u2019s another way to follow this post, I don\u2019t know how.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":38523.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsbe2s7","c_root_id_B":"hsce5q9","created_at_utc_A":1641967251,"created_at_utc_B":1641993207,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Did all the following back to back: undergrad, medical school (MD), grad school (PhD), postdoc, and now planning to start a tenure track position in the next year. I took a one year break in the middle of medical school for a family emergency. I personally don't recommend breaks (atleast for myself), but some people need them. For the most part, as long as you sleep enough, eat well, exercise, enjoy the small things in life on a day to day basis (for me it's a nice cup of coffee at my local coffee shop), utilize your vacation time \"efficiently\" every year..... hopefully you should be fine.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m in this exact position - commenting to follow- apologies, if there\u2019s another way to follow this post, I don\u2019t know how.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25956.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"s1l1qh","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"People who did a PhD straight after a degree, do you regret it? Also people who waited a bit before pursuing a PhD, would you recommend it? Hi! like many people I am currently applying for a few PhD projects (UK based) however I am in two minds whether or not to take a \"gap year\" (working on internships, travel and try to get a job related to my field) and reapply later in the year to start a program in October 2023. I am definitely set on doing a PhD at some point, im just not sure when as I don't want to risk burning out. I Just wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughts on this? how long after your degree did you wait to do a PhD and would you recommend what you did? I've currently only applied to 1 PhD which is a project almost exactly what I want to do, and I am hoping on applying for 2-3 more in the next month. then if I see anymore pop up which I like a lot I will probably apply to them as well. Any advice\/answers is very well received! thank you \ud83d\ude42","c_root_id_A":"hsbrl97","c_root_id_B":"hsce5q9","created_at_utc_A":1641976870,"created_at_utc_B":1641993207,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I did my PhD straight after my degree, more or less straight at least. While I think it was a rational decision to \"stay relevant in the system\", I often wonder if one year or so off wouldn't have been a bad idea either. To me, that would have meant traveling and relaxing, I already worked two jobs (one at a university, one in the industry) so for me it would have been about getting a break. Since I couldn't afford that and also didn't want to ask my parents for money, I didn't. I'm sure I missed out, but you'll never know, right? So, bottom line is: If you can afford it, avoid burning out anyway (since you mentioned working in your post), I'd say go for it. Get some experiences and enjoy life a bit.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m in this exact position - commenting to follow- apologies, if there\u2019s another way to follow this post, I don\u2019t know how.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16337.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"6fogal","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"How difficult is it for U.S. trained PhDs (particularly in fields such as political science, history, etc.) to find positions as professors in Europe? How difficult is it for U.S. trained PhDs (particularly in fields such as political science, history, etc.) to find positions as professors in Europe?","c_root_id_A":"dikkqsh","c_root_id_B":"dijvkmo","created_at_utc_A":1496827041,"created_at_utc_B":1496786412,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Unless the university you attend is a stand-out in your field, or one of the best universities in the world, you should expect that its ranking and its reputation won't really matter. While Harvard and Yale are recognised as extremely good, top schools with stellar reputations, pretty much everything underneath the top 10 or so gets fairly muddled. What I mean is, unless your school is extremely strong in your field, be prepared that not everyone will be impressed by, or even familiar with, your institution. Brand recognition is important, it doesn't matter how well how school is ranked if the hiring committee as never heard of it, and I know many European academics with little concept of US institutions or their rankings. As an example, from this thread, \/u\/unitepangaea mentioned they attended UT Austin, and I have learned from the comments this is a R1 school, but, as a non-American, I've never heard of it. Another thing to consider is that the attitude towards PhDs, and the expectation of what a PhD candidate will accomplish are very different between the US and the EU. I know professors on both sides, and I know professors who are completely neutral. I know American professors who believe EU PhDs are too research-focused and that they don't turn out well-rounded doctorates because the teaching requirements are so much less. I also know EU professors who believe that American PhDs aren't focused enough, that candidates have too many requirements between teaching and research and that this negatively affects the quality of research they put out. I have heard hesitation expressed on both sides about hiring someone from across the pond because they're concerned about the training received during their degree, and their ability to function in the other system. That's not to say that it's impossible, but depending on the opinions of the people involved in hiring, it could be extremely difficult. If you really want to teach in Europe, it would be a good idea to do a European post-doc, to demonstrate your ability to work within an EU institution and secure EU funding.","human_ref_B":"I also wanted to mention, that, while not strictly necessary and varying by the field you are looking for, many professors in Europe have habilitations. Without one it might be even harder to find an open position.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":40629.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"6fogal","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"How difficult is it for U.S. trained PhDs (particularly in fields such as political science, history, etc.) to find positions as professors in Europe? How difficult is it for U.S. trained PhDs (particularly in fields such as political science, history, etc.) to find positions as professors in Europe?","c_root_id_A":"dikj62o","c_root_id_B":"dikkqsh","created_at_utc_A":1496822719,"created_at_utc_B":1496827041,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"In the Nordics, I'd say other things equal, a US degree gives you a small edge. But the other things would include things like language (even English-language programs have some service in the local language) and ability to show commitment to a longish-term at least.","human_ref_B":"Unless the university you attend is a stand-out in your field, or one of the best universities in the world, you should expect that its ranking and its reputation won't really matter. While Harvard and Yale are recognised as extremely good, top schools with stellar reputations, pretty much everything underneath the top 10 or so gets fairly muddled. What I mean is, unless your school is extremely strong in your field, be prepared that not everyone will be impressed by, or even familiar with, your institution. Brand recognition is important, it doesn't matter how well how school is ranked if the hiring committee as never heard of it, and I know many European academics with little concept of US institutions or their rankings. As an example, from this thread, \/u\/unitepangaea mentioned they attended UT Austin, and I have learned from the comments this is a R1 school, but, as a non-American, I've never heard of it. Another thing to consider is that the attitude towards PhDs, and the expectation of what a PhD candidate will accomplish are very different between the US and the EU. I know professors on both sides, and I know professors who are completely neutral. I know American professors who believe EU PhDs are too research-focused and that they don't turn out well-rounded doctorates because the teaching requirements are so much less. I also know EU professors who believe that American PhDs aren't focused enough, that candidates have too many requirements between teaching and research and that this negatively affects the quality of research they put out. I have heard hesitation expressed on both sides about hiring someone from across the pond because they're concerned about the training received during their degree, and their ability to function in the other system. That's not to say that it's impossible, but depending on the opinions of the people involved in hiring, it could be extremely difficult. If you really want to teach in Europe, it would be a good idea to do a European post-doc, to demonstrate your ability to work within an EU institution and secure EU funding.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4322.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblgbfd","c_root_id_B":"eblnrp1","created_at_utc_A":1544569990,"created_at_utc_B":1544576224,"score_A":77,"score_B":83,"human_ref_A":"I'm absolutely horrified by his incredibly unprofessional, inappropriate behavior. Please go to your department chair and discuss this with them, including all the details you shared here about him blocking the door and telling you that maybe you can't handle college and should drop out. Also make sure you let the chair know that you don't feel comfortable going to get advising now. Your professor's behavior was completely unacceptable and you should never have been treated like that, regardless of your academic attendance and performance.","human_ref_B":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6234.0,"score_ratio":1.0779220779} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblbws6","c_root_id_B":"eblgbfd","created_at_utc_A":1544566445,"created_at_utc_B":1544569990,"score_A":49,"score_B":77,"human_ref_A":"Depending on how physical he got in blocking your way out of the office, that incident alone warrants an investigation.","human_ref_B":"I'm absolutely horrified by his incredibly unprofessional, inappropriate behavior. Please go to your department chair and discuss this with them, including all the details you shared here about him blocking the door and telling you that maybe you can't handle college and should drop out. Also make sure you let the chair know that you don't feel comfortable going to get advising now. Your professor's behavior was completely unacceptable and you should never have been treated like that, regardless of your academic attendance and performance.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3545.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblgbfd","c_root_id_B":"eblc1pu","created_at_utc_A":1544569990,"created_at_utc_B":1544566551,"score_A":77,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"I'm absolutely horrified by his incredibly unprofessional, inappropriate behavior. Please go to your department chair and discuss this with them, including all the details you shared here about him blocking the door and telling you that maybe you can't handle college and should drop out. Also make sure you let the chair know that you don't feel comfortable going to get advising now. Your professor's behavior was completely unacceptable and you should never have been treated like that, regardless of your academic attendance and performance.","human_ref_B":"Although his behavior is obviously unprofessional, you have a lot of culpability here. You thought it was a good idea to treat your advisor's class as your lowest priority? You don't need to call for his resignation, but speaking to a dean or an ombudsman can still be valuable as you figure out the way forward.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3439.0,"score_ratio":2.2647058824} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebldwx5","c_root_id_B":"eblgbfd","created_at_utc_A":1544568019,"created_at_utc_B":1544569990,"score_A":17,"score_B":77,"human_ref_A":"I think the insinuations that you're unintelligent and incapable of completing college because you weren't doing well in his course and *blocking you from leaving the room,* as well as aggressive and generally unprofessional behaviour are all bad omens, especially if you have to continue interacting with him in the future. It's not an appropriate way to behave! I've had personal difficulties and differences with professors before or done very poorly in courses with profs I know well - in each of those cases one of us (usually the professor) reached out to check in, talk about what was going wrong, and see what we could do to smooth things over. His behaviour is like... patently inappropriate. You also seem like you were pretty comfortable standing up for yourself and asserting your opinions here, but I could see a situation like this being much more intense or difficult for a younger or shyer student. I'd chat with the head of the department or the dean about this for sure. You don't have to come for his head, but for the future I think it's worth having on paper that something not-great happened here.","human_ref_B":"I'm absolutely horrified by his incredibly unprofessional, inappropriate behavior. Please go to your department chair and discuss this with them, including all the details you shared here about him blocking the door and telling you that maybe you can't handle college and should drop out. Also make sure you let the chair know that you don't feel comfortable going to get advising now. Your professor's behavior was completely unacceptable and you should never have been treated like that, regardless of your academic attendance and performance.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1971.0,"score_ratio":4.5294117647} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblnrp1","c_root_id_B":"ebll5dk","created_at_utc_A":1544576224,"created_at_utc_B":1544574002,"score_A":83,"score_B":63,"human_ref_A":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","human_ref_B":"Professor should have held his cool. Never looks good when the older\/more powerful person in the relationship explodes. That said, OP really didn\u2019t start things off on a good note skipping most of the advisor\u2019s classes - did they actually think they wouldn\u2019t notice and that there wouldn\u2019t be repurcussions? Or that advisor wouldn\u2019t take it personally? If OP wants to continue with this advisor (and I think that bridge is probably burned based on the one-sided narrative here) I think the only way is to have a neutral third party mediate at this point.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2222.0,"score_ratio":1.3174603175} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblnrp1","c_root_id_B":"eblbws6","created_at_utc_A":1544576224,"created_at_utc_B":1544566445,"score_A":83,"score_B":49,"human_ref_A":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","human_ref_B":"Depending on how physical he got in blocking your way out of the office, that incident alone warrants an investigation.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9779.0,"score_ratio":1.693877551} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblnrp1","c_root_id_B":"eblc1pu","created_at_utc_A":1544576224,"created_at_utc_B":1544566551,"score_A":83,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","human_ref_B":"Although his behavior is obviously unprofessional, you have a lot of culpability here. You thought it was a good idea to treat your advisor's class as your lowest priority? You don't need to call for his resignation, but speaking to a dean or an ombudsman can still be valuable as you figure out the way forward.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9673.0,"score_ratio":2.4411764706} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblnrp1","c_root_id_B":"eblkhcg","created_at_utc_A":1544576224,"created_at_utc_B":1544573426,"score_A":83,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","human_ref_B":"In the interest of trying to smooth things over, I'd take the D he was offering but still take it again in summer school. Then just have as little to do with him as possible until you graduate. It's not like you are doing a Ph.D and need to work closely with him for the next 3 years--just avoid him whenever possible and work on graduating.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2798.0,"score_ratio":2.59375} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblnrp1","c_root_id_B":"eblhu28","created_at_utc_A":1544576224,"created_at_utc_B":1544571277,"score_A":83,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","human_ref_B":"I thought I'd read your post and side with the prof, but based on what you've said and your apparent approach, I think they're likely in the wrong. I would be particularly concerned about keeping this person as your advisor, though.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4947.0,"score_ratio":3.9523809524} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblnrp1","c_root_id_B":"ebldwx5","created_at_utc_A":1544576224,"created_at_utc_B":1544568019,"score_A":83,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","human_ref_B":"I think the insinuations that you're unintelligent and incapable of completing college because you weren't doing well in his course and *blocking you from leaving the room,* as well as aggressive and generally unprofessional behaviour are all bad omens, especially if you have to continue interacting with him in the future. It's not an appropriate way to behave! I've had personal difficulties and differences with professors before or done very poorly in courses with profs I know well - in each of those cases one of us (usually the professor) reached out to check in, talk about what was going wrong, and see what we could do to smooth things over. His behaviour is like... patently inappropriate. You also seem like you were pretty comfortable standing up for yourself and asserting your opinions here, but I could see a situation like this being much more intense or difficult for a younger or shyer student. I'd chat with the head of the department or the dean about this for sure. You don't have to come for his head, but for the future I think it's worth having on paper that something not-great happened here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8205.0,"score_ratio":4.8823529412} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblmce2","c_root_id_B":"eblnrp1","created_at_utc_A":1544575068,"created_at_utc_B":1544576224,"score_A":12,"score_B":83,"human_ref_A":"Disregarding his cursing, because that seems like something that is just a matter of personal difference, the fact that he physically blocked you from leaving his office is a Big Deal. If he yelled at you, told you you should drop out, Big Deal. Go have a chat with your department chair. This probably won't cost him his job, especially if he's tenured and it's a first complaint. Even if it did, though, that's not on you- it's on him, for behaving in a way that made a student unsafe. And if it was so easy for him to lose his temper, you might not actually be the first. Also, if I had a student who was performing otherwise well (turning in all of the assignments, understanding the work, getting good grades), I wouldn't be failing them for attendance. It'd warrant a conversation, sure, but if you get the material and the class isn't a tiny seminar? Not worth a fail. Go a little easier on yourself. Take a look at the syllabus- maybe attendance\/participation doesn't impact your grade as much as you think it does. Good luck. I hope your department chair is helpful and kind, and that your new advisor (assuming you get one) is a better fit.","human_ref_B":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1156.0,"score_ratio":6.9166666667} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblnrp1","c_root_id_B":"ebliymw","created_at_utc_A":1544576224,"created_at_utc_B":1544572204,"score_A":83,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"He berated students for not reading. Normal. Read passages to go over. Normal. Yelling and leaving. Bizarre and unprofessional. Didn't want to chat with you in halls because you regularly skipped his class. Normal. Offer to fudge numbers. Probably both unethical and possibly a violation of a policy. Berated you. Unprofessional. Possible violation of a respectful workplace policy.","human_ref_B":"Completely unprofessional and unethical behavior on the professor's part. It was a good thought, but I don't think you should have sent an email to apologize - especially as you were prepared to accept a failing grade. I especially wouldn't have apologized a second time in person - but this is in no way related to the behavior of the Professor, which is completely unacceptable. You should definitely change Advisors - I'm not sure what the appropriate channels are in your institution but not turning up to classes and not having good grades will not help your case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4020.0,"score_ratio":27.6666666667} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebll5dk","c_root_id_B":"eblbws6","created_at_utc_A":1544574002,"created_at_utc_B":1544566445,"score_A":63,"score_B":49,"human_ref_A":"Professor should have held his cool. Never looks good when the older\/more powerful person in the relationship explodes. That said, OP really didn\u2019t start things off on a good note skipping most of the advisor\u2019s classes - did they actually think they wouldn\u2019t notice and that there wouldn\u2019t be repurcussions? Or that advisor wouldn\u2019t take it personally? If OP wants to continue with this advisor (and I think that bridge is probably burned based on the one-sided narrative here) I think the only way is to have a neutral third party mediate at this point.","human_ref_B":"Depending on how physical he got in blocking your way out of the office, that incident alone warrants an investigation.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7557.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebll5dk","c_root_id_B":"eblc1pu","created_at_utc_A":1544574002,"created_at_utc_B":1544566551,"score_A":63,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"Professor should have held his cool. Never looks good when the older\/more powerful person in the relationship explodes. That said, OP really didn\u2019t start things off on a good note skipping most of the advisor\u2019s classes - did they actually think they wouldn\u2019t notice and that there wouldn\u2019t be repurcussions? Or that advisor wouldn\u2019t take it personally? If OP wants to continue with this advisor (and I think that bridge is probably burned based on the one-sided narrative here) I think the only way is to have a neutral third party mediate at this point.","human_ref_B":"Although his behavior is obviously unprofessional, you have a lot of culpability here. You thought it was a good idea to treat your advisor's class as your lowest priority? You don't need to call for his resignation, but speaking to a dean or an ombudsman can still be valuable as you figure out the way forward.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7451.0,"score_ratio":1.8529411765} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebll5dk","c_root_id_B":"eblkhcg","created_at_utc_A":1544574002,"created_at_utc_B":1544573426,"score_A":63,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"Professor should have held his cool. Never looks good when the older\/more powerful person in the relationship explodes. That said, OP really didn\u2019t start things off on a good note skipping most of the advisor\u2019s classes - did they actually think they wouldn\u2019t notice and that there wouldn\u2019t be repurcussions? Or that advisor wouldn\u2019t take it personally? If OP wants to continue with this advisor (and I think that bridge is probably burned based on the one-sided narrative here) I think the only way is to have a neutral third party mediate at this point.","human_ref_B":"In the interest of trying to smooth things over, I'd take the D he was offering but still take it again in summer school. Then just have as little to do with him as possible until you graduate. It's not like you are doing a Ph.D and need to work closely with him for the next 3 years--just avoid him whenever possible and work on graduating.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":576.0,"score_ratio":1.96875} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblhu28","c_root_id_B":"ebll5dk","created_at_utc_A":1544571277,"created_at_utc_B":1544574002,"score_A":21,"score_B":63,"human_ref_A":"I thought I'd read your post and side with the prof, but based on what you've said and your apparent approach, I think they're likely in the wrong. I would be particularly concerned about keeping this person as your advisor, though.","human_ref_B":"Professor should have held his cool. Never looks good when the older\/more powerful person in the relationship explodes. That said, OP really didn\u2019t start things off on a good note skipping most of the advisor\u2019s classes - did they actually think they wouldn\u2019t notice and that there wouldn\u2019t be repurcussions? Or that advisor wouldn\u2019t take it personally? If OP wants to continue with this advisor (and I think that bridge is probably burned based on the one-sided narrative here) I think the only way is to have a neutral third party mediate at this point.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2725.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebldwx5","c_root_id_B":"ebll5dk","created_at_utc_A":1544568019,"created_at_utc_B":1544574002,"score_A":17,"score_B":63,"human_ref_A":"I think the insinuations that you're unintelligent and incapable of completing college because you weren't doing well in his course and *blocking you from leaving the room,* as well as aggressive and generally unprofessional behaviour are all bad omens, especially if you have to continue interacting with him in the future. It's not an appropriate way to behave! I've had personal difficulties and differences with professors before or done very poorly in courses with profs I know well - in each of those cases one of us (usually the professor) reached out to check in, talk about what was going wrong, and see what we could do to smooth things over. His behaviour is like... patently inappropriate. You also seem like you were pretty comfortable standing up for yourself and asserting your opinions here, but I could see a situation like this being much more intense or difficult for a younger or shyer student. I'd chat with the head of the department or the dean about this for sure. You don't have to come for his head, but for the future I think it's worth having on paper that something not-great happened here.","human_ref_B":"Professor should have held his cool. Never looks good when the older\/more powerful person in the relationship explodes. That said, OP really didn\u2019t start things off on a good note skipping most of the advisor\u2019s classes - did they actually think they wouldn\u2019t notice and that there wouldn\u2019t be repurcussions? Or that advisor wouldn\u2019t take it personally? If OP wants to continue with this advisor (and I think that bridge is probably burned based on the one-sided narrative here) I think the only way is to have a neutral third party mediate at this point.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5983.0,"score_ratio":3.7058823529} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebll5dk","c_root_id_B":"ebliymw","created_at_utc_A":1544574002,"created_at_utc_B":1544572204,"score_A":63,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Professor should have held his cool. Never looks good when the older\/more powerful person in the relationship explodes. That said, OP really didn\u2019t start things off on a good note skipping most of the advisor\u2019s classes - did they actually think they wouldn\u2019t notice and that there wouldn\u2019t be repurcussions? Or that advisor wouldn\u2019t take it personally? If OP wants to continue with this advisor (and I think that bridge is probably burned based on the one-sided narrative here) I think the only way is to have a neutral third party mediate at this point.","human_ref_B":"Completely unprofessional and unethical behavior on the professor's part. It was a good thought, but I don't think you should have sent an email to apologize - especially as you were prepared to accept a failing grade. I especially wouldn't have apologized a second time in person - but this is in no way related to the behavior of the Professor, which is completely unacceptable. You should definitely change Advisors - I'm not sure what the appropriate channels are in your institution but not turning up to classes and not having good grades will not help your case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1798.0,"score_ratio":21.0} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblhu28","c_root_id_B":"eblkhcg","created_at_utc_A":1544571277,"created_at_utc_B":1544573426,"score_A":21,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"I thought I'd read your post and side with the prof, but based on what you've said and your apparent approach, I think they're likely in the wrong. I would be particularly concerned about keeping this person as your advisor, though.","human_ref_B":"In the interest of trying to smooth things over, I'd take the D he was offering but still take it again in summer school. Then just have as little to do with him as possible until you graduate. It's not like you are doing a Ph.D and need to work closely with him for the next 3 years--just avoid him whenever possible and work on graduating.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2149.0,"score_ratio":1.5238095238} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblkhcg","c_root_id_B":"ebldwx5","created_at_utc_A":1544573426,"created_at_utc_B":1544568019,"score_A":32,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"In the interest of trying to smooth things over, I'd take the D he was offering but still take it again in summer school. Then just have as little to do with him as possible until you graduate. It's not like you are doing a Ph.D and need to work closely with him for the next 3 years--just avoid him whenever possible and work on graduating.","human_ref_B":"I think the insinuations that you're unintelligent and incapable of completing college because you weren't doing well in his course and *blocking you from leaving the room,* as well as aggressive and generally unprofessional behaviour are all bad omens, especially if you have to continue interacting with him in the future. It's not an appropriate way to behave! I've had personal difficulties and differences with professors before or done very poorly in courses with profs I know well - in each of those cases one of us (usually the professor) reached out to check in, talk about what was going wrong, and see what we could do to smooth things over. His behaviour is like... patently inappropriate. You also seem like you were pretty comfortable standing up for yourself and asserting your opinions here, but I could see a situation like this being much more intense or difficult for a younger or shyer student. I'd chat with the head of the department or the dean about this for sure. You don't have to come for his head, but for the future I think it's worth having on paper that something not-great happened here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5407.0,"score_ratio":1.8823529412} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebliymw","c_root_id_B":"eblkhcg","created_at_utc_A":1544572204,"created_at_utc_B":1544573426,"score_A":3,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"Completely unprofessional and unethical behavior on the professor's part. It was a good thought, but I don't think you should have sent an email to apologize - especially as you were prepared to accept a failing grade. I especially wouldn't have apologized a second time in person - but this is in no way related to the behavior of the Professor, which is completely unacceptable. You should definitely change Advisors - I'm not sure what the appropriate channels are in your institution but not turning up to classes and not having good grades will not help your case.","human_ref_B":"In the interest of trying to smooth things over, I'd take the D he was offering but still take it again in summer school. Then just have as little to do with him as possible until you graduate. It's not like you are doing a Ph.D and need to work closely with him for the next 3 years--just avoid him whenever possible and work on graduating.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1222.0,"score_ratio":10.6666666667} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblhu28","c_root_id_B":"ebldwx5","created_at_utc_A":1544571277,"created_at_utc_B":1544568019,"score_A":21,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"I thought I'd read your post and side with the prof, but based on what you've said and your apparent approach, I think they're likely in the wrong. I would be particularly concerned about keeping this person as your advisor, though.","human_ref_B":"I think the insinuations that you're unintelligent and incapable of completing college because you weren't doing well in his course and *blocking you from leaving the room,* as well as aggressive and generally unprofessional behaviour are all bad omens, especially if you have to continue interacting with him in the future. It's not an appropriate way to behave! I've had personal difficulties and differences with professors before or done very poorly in courses with profs I know well - in each of those cases one of us (usually the professor) reached out to check in, talk about what was going wrong, and see what we could do to smooth things over. His behaviour is like... patently inappropriate. You also seem like you were pretty comfortable standing up for yourself and asserting your opinions here, but I could see a situation like this being much more intense or difficult for a younger or shyer student. I'd chat with the head of the department or the dean about this for sure. You don't have to come for his head, but for the future I think it's worth having on paper that something not-great happened here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3258.0,"score_ratio":1.2352941176} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"eblmce2","c_root_id_B":"ebliymw","created_at_utc_A":1544575068,"created_at_utc_B":1544572204,"score_A":12,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Disregarding his cursing, because that seems like something that is just a matter of personal difference, the fact that he physically blocked you from leaving his office is a Big Deal. If he yelled at you, told you you should drop out, Big Deal. Go have a chat with your department chair. This probably won't cost him his job, especially if he's tenured and it's a first complaint. Even if it did, though, that's not on you- it's on him, for behaving in a way that made a student unsafe. And if it was so easy for him to lose his temper, you might not actually be the first. Also, if I had a student who was performing otherwise well (turning in all of the assignments, understanding the work, getting good grades), I wouldn't be failing them for attendance. It'd warrant a conversation, sure, but if you get the material and the class isn't a tiny seminar? Not worth a fail. Go a little easier on yourself. Take a look at the syllabus- maybe attendance\/participation doesn't impact your grade as much as you think it does. Good luck. I hope your department chair is helpful and kind, and that your new advisor (assuming you get one) is a better fit.","human_ref_B":"Completely unprofessional and unethical behavior on the professor's part. It was a good thought, but I don't think you should have sent an email to apologize - especially as you were prepared to accept a failing grade. I especially wouldn't have apologized a second time in person - but this is in no way related to the behavior of the Professor, which is completely unacceptable. You should definitely change Advisors - I'm not sure what the appropriate channels are in your institution but not turning up to classes and not having good grades will not help your case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2864.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebm71lq","c_root_id_B":"eblqe89","created_at_utc_A":1544596088,"created_at_utc_B":1544578601,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"OP, are you telling me this professor offered to pass you, for a class you self-admittedly already understood, and you rejected his offer? I agree with his comment of self-flagellation, and I understand his being annoyed with you (albeit he should not act that way to a student).","human_ref_B":"Your bad feelings are reasonable and his behavior was unacceptable. I agree with the other advice to seek help from your department chair. I don't see a reasonable solution that does not involve you being offered an alternative advisor, even if that is not standard for your department. I would let go some of the petty stuff about teaching his class that really does come down to personal preference. I swear with my students in class and find it to be acceptable in a university class, among adults. Complaining that people didn't read things... makes sense to me, even if you don't like hearing the complaints. Wishing he wouldn't read things out loud is a preference, not a way that you were wronged. Not saying hi to you in the halls is a trivial complaint. This comment: >He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. is the way that you were wronged, from my perspective. That describes unacceptable behavior and statements. I would write down the exact words that he said, immediately, while they are fresh.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17487.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebliymw","c_root_id_B":"ebm71lq","created_at_utc_A":1544572204,"created_at_utc_B":1544596088,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Completely unprofessional and unethical behavior on the professor's part. It was a good thought, but I don't think you should have sent an email to apologize - especially as you were prepared to accept a failing grade. I especially wouldn't have apologized a second time in person - but this is in no way related to the behavior of the Professor, which is completely unacceptable. You should definitely change Advisors - I'm not sure what the appropriate channels are in your institution but not turning up to classes and not having good grades will not help your case.","human_ref_B":"OP, are you telling me this professor offered to pass you, for a class you self-admittedly already understood, and you rejected his offer? I agree with his comment of self-flagellation, and I understand his being annoyed with you (albeit he should not act that way to a student).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23884.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"a5bgqz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"I got into a really nasty argument with my professor, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Advice? (Warning: Long; TLDR included) I'll do my best to keep this brief. I feel like this situation needs a lot of background to understand, however, I will include a TLDR at the bottom. I'm a junior studying Philosophy, and I just switched to the program. I loved everything about this semester, except that I have had a professor that I absolutely could not stand. On the surface, he is a nice, personable person; he's easy to talk to, and he is obviously passionate about the subjects he knows about because he could literally go on for hours if you let him. However, when I got to his class, a 1000 level Elementary Logic class, his personality seemed to change completely. For my program, Elementary Logic is a needed class, but not necessarily a prerequisite for any other classes. There were other majors in our class, in fact, I believe I was the only Philosophy student. From day one he berated the students multiple times for not reading the book, despite his teaching strategy being pulling up the book and reading the passages to the class. (Of course students aren't going to read the book if you're just going to read it to them anyway...) I got the impression that he didn't really know the material either, despite claiming he'd taught this class for fifteen years. I'm fairly studious, I did read the book and understood the material fairly quickly. To be honest, I found it easier to teach myself the material versus paying attention in class because this professor had a tendency to drift off topic for most of the class. I chose to sit back and let others lead discussions because I felt like I didn't need it as much as the other students. He, however, took this as me not caring and would get on to me several times for not \"paying attention,\" even though it was clear through my grades and participation that I clearly understood the material. He had a tendency to use the word \"fucking\" a lot. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny, but it just seemed rude and unprofessional. My final straw was when the students were struggling to understand a concept that we had just learned, he shouted to the class \"come on, this isn't fucking rocket science, you should all know this!!\" I just got up and left at that point. I couldn't take it anymore. I had told myself that I could learn the material on my own because that was essentially what I had been doing up to this point. However, I had some personal problems in the middle of the semester that really affected my attendance and performance in my classes as a whole, and this class just sort of came last in my list of priorities. In hindsight, I should have just withdrawn from the class, but I wasn't really thinking at this point and I continued to live in the fantasy that I could do it. I would run into this professor a couple times over the course of the semester. He would always ignore me until I spoke up and said hello, and he would get on to me for not being in his class, which is a fair reaction. I got the sense that he was personally hurt by my choice to not show up, which again, is fair, but I'm sure I'm not the only student in the world who's just never shown up to class. Come to the end of the semester, I've sort of accepted the fact that I was going to fail, but I was aware that the class was offered in the summer online and I figured I would take the class again to get rid of the failing grade. I sent an email to this professor to apologize for my poor performance, told him I understood the consequences of my actions, admitted to being a little cocky when it came to learning the material, and thanked him for his attempts to get me to get me to pass, and informed him of my plans to retake the course at a later date. I never heard back. On the last day of classes, a friend needed to stop by his office, so I took that opportunity to apologize in person. He, of course, goes through berating me again. I allowed him to because again, I should be held accountable for my actions. I told him that I understood that I deserved a failing grade and I would just retake the class at a later date. He accused me of \"self-flagellation\" and that I was trying to play the pity card, which was not my intention. He then shut the door and pulled out my grades and said that he was willing to fudge the numbers to get me to pass with a D. I told him that I didn't feel comfortable accepting that offer because I didn't show up to 75% of the classes. I truly believed that I deserved a failing grade, and I was okay with that. He kept throwing numbers at me, saying that if he did this, tweaked that, dropped two grades he could get me to pass, and I just kept reiterating that I appreciate his efforts but I wasn't willing to accept it. He wouldn't let me leave, either. I tried to excuse myself and he snapped \"I'm not done talking to you yet!\" I got frustrated and snapped back \"At this point I feel like you're doing this more for you than for me\" to which he admitted that maybe he was. I figured that was the end of the discussion, but he still wouldn't let me leave, going as far as to block my way to get out of his office. This is when it got personal. He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. I stopped arguing at this point and just let him talk, and finally found my way out of his office. I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to other students about this professor and they all say that he's great, so nice, that he always helped them when they weren't doing well in his class, probably by tweaking grades. I'm maybe a bit too serious about education, especially a basic 1000 level class, but it's against my moral code to accept something I feel don't deserve. There's nothing wrong with helping your students along when they struggle, but I felt like he did it a little too much. I seem to be the only student who had a problem with him, however. I am not going to ask my other professors about it because I don't want to put them in that position. Again, as a person, he's nice dude. It was just in a professional environment that I felt uncomfortable around him. I forgot to mention that this professor happens to be my advisor, the only advisor for the philosophy department. After this altercation, I'm really uncomfortable having to see him again, let alone be at his mercy when it comes to handling my academic career. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I was just going to let his behavior slide for the most part, but after that argument, I feel like I need to inform someone. I've thought about going to the dean to talk about it, but I'm not sure that my feelings of being uncomfortable are grounds for possibly costing this guy his job. I'm not looking to erase the F from my transcript, I again am willing to accept it, I just feel like someone should be aware that this happened. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. TLDR: My professor, who also happens to be my only advisor, took it personally that I didn't come to his class anymore. I refused to go because I found his behavior rude and immature. When I tried to make amends he berated me, called me a bad student, and said that I was better off dropping out despite him knowing that I was excelling in all my other classes. I feel as if I should inform someone of his behavior but I'm not sure if this is the best course of action.","c_root_id_A":"ebliymw","c_root_id_B":"eblqe89","created_at_utc_A":1544572204,"created_at_utc_B":1544578601,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Completely unprofessional and unethical behavior on the professor's part. It was a good thought, but I don't think you should have sent an email to apologize - especially as you were prepared to accept a failing grade. I especially wouldn't have apologized a second time in person - but this is in no way related to the behavior of the Professor, which is completely unacceptable. You should definitely change Advisors - I'm not sure what the appropriate channels are in your institution but not turning up to classes and not having good grades will not help your case.","human_ref_B":"Your bad feelings are reasonable and his behavior was unacceptable. I agree with the other advice to seek help from your department chair. I don't see a reasonable solution that does not involve you being offered an alternative advisor, even if that is not standard for your department. I would let go some of the petty stuff about teaching his class that really does come down to personal preference. I swear with my students in class and find it to be acceptable in a university class, among adults. Complaining that people didn't read things... makes sense to me, even if you don't like hearing the complaints. Wishing he wouldn't read things out loud is a preference, not a way that you were wronged. Not saying hi to you in the halls is a trivial complaint. This comment: >He said that if I couldn't handle this class, I might as well not be able to handle college and that I might as well drop out (despite the fact that my grades in my other five classes were all As.) He called me a bad student, stupid for what I was doing, etc etc etc. is the way that you were wronged, from my perspective. That describes unacceptable behavior and statements. I would write down the exact words that he said, immediately, while they are fresh.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6397.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"d0nk36","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"What to do about a professor skipping out on office hours and ignoring my emails? I have a problem. I have gone to my history professor's office during her posted office hours on three separate occasions in the past few weeks and she has not been there once. I had some important questions about lecture, so I just decided to email her instead since she wasn't in her office. It's been five days now and she hasn't responded. I don't understand how she can do this. One of the days I tried her office hours was a day she SPECIFICALLY TOLD ME she would be in her office (I thought that should have been obvious since it's her office hours then but apparently not). What should I do? Should I confront her? How do I do so respectfully? Is this a reportable offense (i.e. letting the dean of the department know that she hasn't been available to help me and ignores my emails)? I'm just so annoyed and exasperated by this situation. TL;DR: My professor never shows up to her posted office hours and ignores my emails asking for help on material we covered. What should I do about this?","c_root_id_A":"ezazufi","c_root_id_B":"ezb7b71","created_at_utc_A":1567810543,"created_at_utc_B":1567814562,"score_A":16,"score_B":35,"human_ref_A":"Email or talk to the chair of the department before going to the dean.","human_ref_B":"I would resend an email to her before going to the chair or dean. In my department office hours does not necessarily mean they\u2019ll be in the office the whole time. They often are but will leave to help students work through things in the computer labs or elsewhere in the building. It\u2019s possible you just got unlucky and they were elsewhere with another student. Also, professors get A LOT of emails. You should always follow up on an email politely if it\u2019s been a few days (I\u2019m bad about favoriting emails I need to reply to later then forgetting I haven\u2019t done it). Don\u2019t just email once and assume they\u2019re ignoring you on purpose. If you send another email to her and maybe to talk to her in person about it after class, or schedule a meeting and she doesn\u2019t show up \u2018that\u2019s\u2019 bad and definitely go to the chair or dean about her negligence (but do it politely).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4019.0,"score_ratio":2.1875} {"post_id":"uzl6bn","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"PhD Candidate in my lab has ADHD, and is bad at self-organization. Supervisor is a loner, and fairly hands-off. Supervisor and I work well together, as I'm like him. Fellow student doesn't. Woke up to massive drama. PhD candidate expects me to side with him. I am sympathetic but still. How do I navigate this situation without being cold to my fellow student, yet not sabotage my own relationship with our boss? I have made all efforts I could as is to minimize politics in our lab (since my own medication and even research topic is highly political), and now it all seems to be shattering. Basically issue seems to be that the PhD candidate feels the supervisor hasn't been directing his work enough, which led to him having issues with deadlines. This I get completely, I struggle with it too due to being ND. But the way he's talking\/approaching the issue is way wrong.","c_root_id_A":"iab34pd","c_root_id_B":"iab02r8","created_at_utc_A":1653742109,"created_at_utc_B":1653740213,"score_A":54,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"It's a bit difficult to comment without more detail (which understandably you might not want to give). If a formal complaint has been made and you've been asked to be a witness to something, then I think you can simply be honest. Stick to the facts - if someone asks you if you saw X, say yes or not. No need to give your opinion on people's motivations or anything you can't observe directly. If it hasn't reached that point yet, and you're concerned that the student's handling of the situation will be detrimental to them, then I think you can say that delicately. If the university has an enabling\/disabilities team, then I would push them in that direction if they aren't already making use of them. They will have a firmer idea of what level of support is appropriate\/what a reasonable allowance is. >Basically issue seems to be that the PhD candidate feels the supervisor hasn't been directing his work enough, which led to him having issues with deadlines. Tbf, this isn't an unheard of complaint among PhD students in general. Expectations about guidance don't always align.","human_ref_B":"Fellow ND academic here and as we're aware it's our responsibility to deal with our own personal quirks and do what we can to mitigate their effects on others. Additionally though, it's totally normal to discuss with colleagues or supervisors about what requirements you need and how you would best work with the team. And they should be accepting of that. So I would say your colleague is at fault here for not setting up a work environment where they could succeed. It is not you or your PI's problem that they didn't do the work. But on the matter of you dealing with this situation as it is now then I'm not sure I can help. If it's not on track to blow up and they can continue on their studies then maybe try suggesting what you do to make it work for you as possible solutions they could adopt? If you feel up to that task. A PhD by nature is a personal affair. On the other hand a supervisor can make or break a PhD if they don't mesh well","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1896.0,"score_ratio":5.4} {"post_id":"uzl6bn","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"PhD Candidate in my lab has ADHD, and is bad at self-organization. Supervisor is a loner, and fairly hands-off. Supervisor and I work well together, as I'm like him. Fellow student doesn't. Woke up to massive drama. PhD candidate expects me to side with him. I am sympathetic but still. How do I navigate this situation without being cold to my fellow student, yet not sabotage my own relationship with our boss? I have made all efforts I could as is to minimize politics in our lab (since my own medication and even research topic is highly political), and now it all seems to be shattering. Basically issue seems to be that the PhD candidate feels the supervisor hasn't been directing his work enough, which led to him having issues with deadlines. This I get completely, I struggle with it too due to being ND. But the way he's talking\/approaching the issue is way wrong.","c_root_id_A":"iab02r8","c_root_id_B":"iac36mm","created_at_utc_A":1653740213,"created_at_utc_B":1653759879,"score_A":10,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Fellow ND academic here and as we're aware it's our responsibility to deal with our own personal quirks and do what we can to mitigate their effects on others. Additionally though, it's totally normal to discuss with colleagues or supervisors about what requirements you need and how you would best work with the team. And they should be accepting of that. So I would say your colleague is at fault here for not setting up a work environment where they could succeed. It is not you or your PI's problem that they didn't do the work. But on the matter of you dealing with this situation as it is now then I'm not sure I can help. If it's not on track to blow up and they can continue on their studies then maybe try suggesting what you do to make it work for you as possible solutions they could adopt? If you feel up to that task. A PhD by nature is a personal affair. On the other hand a supervisor can make or break a PhD if they don't mesh well","human_ref_B":"This is going to sound awful but you need to step back and largely stay out of this. It's a difficult lesson for many of us to learn, but just because you see a problem doesn't mean you should fix it. There's very little you can do to fix the situation and if this gets escalated to a formal complaint you could end up getting dragged into the whole thing and even find yourself on the wrong side of a disciplinary proceeding. Furthermore, by getting involved and taking sides you're giving the whole thing a legitimacy it doesn't have and you risk other people getting involved and dividing the whole lab. The best thing you can do is refuse to get involved with either side, tell them both you think they need to resolve the matter, tactfully remind each of them of the need to be professional if they aren't being, and signpost them to HR or whoever deals with disputes between individuals in your organisation if it escalates beyond the current spat.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19666.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"uzl6bn","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"PhD Candidate in my lab has ADHD, and is bad at self-organization. Supervisor is a loner, and fairly hands-off. Supervisor and I work well together, as I'm like him. Fellow student doesn't. Woke up to massive drama. PhD candidate expects me to side with him. I am sympathetic but still. How do I navigate this situation without being cold to my fellow student, yet not sabotage my own relationship with our boss? I have made all efforts I could as is to minimize politics in our lab (since my own medication and even research topic is highly political), and now it all seems to be shattering. Basically issue seems to be that the PhD candidate feels the supervisor hasn't been directing his work enough, which led to him having issues with deadlines. This I get completely, I struggle with it too due to being ND. But the way he's talking\/approaching the issue is way wrong.","c_root_id_A":"iab717i","c_root_id_B":"iac36mm","created_at_utc_A":1653744348,"created_at_utc_B":1653759879,"score_A":8,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Sounds like a nightmare. I will say that generally, PhD students are responsible for their own research. So it\u2019s unfortunate when an advisor is extremely hands-off and their students lose direction- but it is on the students to find a path that is conducive to their own success. I strongly advise against bringing in a third party to attempt to mediate this. This is not an undergraduate course in which an instructor has failed to provide equitable access to education. This is a doctoral-level research environment where the PhD student has not fulfilled their responsibility.","human_ref_B":"This is going to sound awful but you need to step back and largely stay out of this. It's a difficult lesson for many of us to learn, but just because you see a problem doesn't mean you should fix it. There's very little you can do to fix the situation and if this gets escalated to a formal complaint you could end up getting dragged into the whole thing and even find yourself on the wrong side of a disciplinary proceeding. Furthermore, by getting involved and taking sides you're giving the whole thing a legitimacy it doesn't have and you risk other people getting involved and dividing the whole lab. The best thing you can do is refuse to get involved with either side, tell them both you think they need to resolve the matter, tactfully remind each of them of the need to be professional if they aren't being, and signpost them to HR or whoever deals with disputes between individuals in your organisation if it escalates beyond the current spat.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15531.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"uzl6bn","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"PhD Candidate in my lab has ADHD, and is bad at self-organization. Supervisor is a loner, and fairly hands-off. Supervisor and I work well together, as I'm like him. Fellow student doesn't. Woke up to massive drama. PhD candidate expects me to side with him. I am sympathetic but still. How do I navigate this situation without being cold to my fellow student, yet not sabotage my own relationship with our boss? I have made all efforts I could as is to minimize politics in our lab (since my own medication and even research topic is highly political), and now it all seems to be shattering. Basically issue seems to be that the PhD candidate feels the supervisor hasn't been directing his work enough, which led to him having issues with deadlines. This I get completely, I struggle with it too due to being ND. But the way he's talking\/approaching the issue is way wrong.","c_root_id_A":"iac12yk","c_root_id_B":"iac36mm","created_at_utc_A":1653758876,"created_at_utc_B":1653759879,"score_A":8,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s not your responsibility to babysit or side with anyone. Focus on your interests and work and it\u2019ll all fall in line for you.","human_ref_B":"This is going to sound awful but you need to step back and largely stay out of this. It's a difficult lesson for many of us to learn, but just because you see a problem doesn't mean you should fix it. There's very little you can do to fix the situation and if this gets escalated to a formal complaint you could end up getting dragged into the whole thing and even find yourself on the wrong side of a disciplinary proceeding. Furthermore, by getting involved and taking sides you're giving the whole thing a legitimacy it doesn't have and you risk other people getting involved and dividing the whole lab. The best thing you can do is refuse to get involved with either side, tell them both you think they need to resolve the matter, tactfully remind each of them of the need to be professional if they aren't being, and signpost them to HR or whoever deals with disputes between individuals in your organisation if it escalates beyond the current spat.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1003.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"uzl6bn","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"PhD Candidate in my lab has ADHD, and is bad at self-organization. Supervisor is a loner, and fairly hands-off. Supervisor and I work well together, as I'm like him. Fellow student doesn't. Woke up to massive drama. PhD candidate expects me to side with him. I am sympathetic but still. How do I navigate this situation without being cold to my fellow student, yet not sabotage my own relationship with our boss? I have made all efforts I could as is to minimize politics in our lab (since my own medication and even research topic is highly political), and now it all seems to be shattering. Basically issue seems to be that the PhD candidate feels the supervisor hasn't been directing his work enough, which led to him having issues with deadlines. This I get completely, I struggle with it too due to being ND. But the way he's talking\/approaching the issue is way wrong.","c_root_id_A":"iabs7mo","c_root_id_B":"iac36mm","created_at_utc_A":1653754731,"created_at_utc_B":1653759879,"score_A":7,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"ADHD student here, ideally this person would have been in contact with disability services with your university, but university disability services are notoriously compliance based, i.e. the process of getting in touch with them can be inaccessible, and supervisors do tend to ignore everything they say unless there's an ADA lawsuit on the line. Given said candidate can't even organize their own work, the university probably thinks of them as not a lawsuit risk, and might not actually be making an effort to accommodate them at all, planning a PhD is orders of magnitude easier than planning a lawsuit. The question you want to ask yourself is how much anti-ableist labor you want to do this semester. If the answer is none, avoid them. If the answer is, I'd do anything to help my peer get his PhD, since you work well with this advisor, you can leverage that relationship to create an anti-ableist workplace that can actually accommodate his ADHD. If I had to guess, is the ADHD student also a first generation PhD student? The candidate needs the supervisor to bluntly communicate his expectations, you know those expectations implicitly, maybe you understand his social cues better, maybe you connect better with your peers and so your peers have told you their expectations for their PhDs and so you copy them, you are in AskAcademia so maybe you'be asked on Reddit how your PhD should go. Maybe you are second generation, and your parents walked you through how to go. Hands off just means either communicating non-verbally, or passing the buck of figuring out what is supposed to be done off. His disability, from what he appears to have communicated, prevents him from either understanding that non-verbal communication, or from doing that self planning. You either have the skills to understand that non-verbal communication, or either the skills of self planning, or the privilege of having seen a PhD planned before. So what I would do if I had the bandwidth is I would schedule a meeting with the ADHD Candidate, and share whatever tools or knowledge you use to plan your PhD with them, and help them set up automated assistant tools to act as the robo supervisor for their PhD, things like recurring calendar events reminding the candidate of important tasks like regularly applying to grants, reading the literature of their field, gathering data for their research, submitting to academic journals, helping with other academic's research to built rapport so that you have help when you need it, mentoring masters and undergraduate students, etc. Those things are obvious to you, because [insert way you got that information that wasn't your supervisor]. (And honestly, dunno how accurate that list is at your institution, PhD experiences may vary, make your own list)","human_ref_B":"This is going to sound awful but you need to step back and largely stay out of this. It's a difficult lesson for many of us to learn, but just because you see a problem doesn't mean you should fix it. There's very little you can do to fix the situation and if this gets escalated to a formal complaint you could end up getting dragged into the whole thing and even find yourself on the wrong side of a disciplinary proceeding. Furthermore, by getting involved and taking sides you're giving the whole thing a legitimacy it doesn't have and you risk other people getting involved and dividing the whole lab. The best thing you can do is refuse to get involved with either side, tell them both you think they need to resolve the matter, tactfully remind each of them of the need to be professional if they aren't being, and signpost them to HR or whoever deals with disputes between individuals in your organisation if it escalates beyond the current spat.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5148.0,"score_ratio":2.8571428571} {"post_id":"uzl6bn","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"PhD Candidate in my lab has ADHD, and is bad at self-organization. Supervisor is a loner, and fairly hands-off. Supervisor and I work well together, as I'm like him. Fellow student doesn't. Woke up to massive drama. PhD candidate expects me to side with him. I am sympathetic but still. How do I navigate this situation without being cold to my fellow student, yet not sabotage my own relationship with our boss? I have made all efforts I could as is to minimize politics in our lab (since my own medication and even research topic is highly political), and now it all seems to be shattering. Basically issue seems to be that the PhD candidate feels the supervisor hasn't been directing his work enough, which led to him having issues with deadlines. This I get completely, I struggle with it too due to being ND. But the way he's talking\/approaching the issue is way wrong.","c_root_id_A":"iabs7mo","c_root_id_B":"iac12yk","created_at_utc_A":1653754731,"created_at_utc_B":1653758876,"score_A":7,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"ADHD student here, ideally this person would have been in contact with disability services with your university, but university disability services are notoriously compliance based, i.e. the process of getting in touch with them can be inaccessible, and supervisors do tend to ignore everything they say unless there's an ADA lawsuit on the line. Given said candidate can't even organize their own work, the university probably thinks of them as not a lawsuit risk, and might not actually be making an effort to accommodate them at all, planning a PhD is orders of magnitude easier than planning a lawsuit. The question you want to ask yourself is how much anti-ableist labor you want to do this semester. If the answer is none, avoid them. If the answer is, I'd do anything to help my peer get his PhD, since you work well with this advisor, you can leverage that relationship to create an anti-ableist workplace that can actually accommodate his ADHD. If I had to guess, is the ADHD student also a first generation PhD student? The candidate needs the supervisor to bluntly communicate his expectations, you know those expectations implicitly, maybe you understand his social cues better, maybe you connect better with your peers and so your peers have told you their expectations for their PhDs and so you copy them, you are in AskAcademia so maybe you'be asked on Reddit how your PhD should go. Maybe you are second generation, and your parents walked you through how to go. Hands off just means either communicating non-verbally, or passing the buck of figuring out what is supposed to be done off. His disability, from what he appears to have communicated, prevents him from either understanding that non-verbal communication, or from doing that self planning. You either have the skills to understand that non-verbal communication, or either the skills of self planning, or the privilege of having seen a PhD planned before. So what I would do if I had the bandwidth is I would schedule a meeting with the ADHD Candidate, and share whatever tools or knowledge you use to plan your PhD with them, and help them set up automated assistant tools to act as the robo supervisor for their PhD, things like recurring calendar events reminding the candidate of important tasks like regularly applying to grants, reading the literature of their field, gathering data for their research, submitting to academic journals, helping with other academic's research to built rapport so that you have help when you need it, mentoring masters and undergraduate students, etc. Those things are obvious to you, because [insert way you got that information that wasn't your supervisor]. (And honestly, dunno how accurate that list is at your institution, PhD experiences may vary, make your own list)","human_ref_B":"It\u2019s not your responsibility to babysit or side with anyone. Focus on your interests and work and it\u2019ll all fall in line for you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4145.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"rot1ac","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Need a letter of recommendation for PhD program application from advisor I ghosted TLDR; Basically the title. I graduated in May 2020 with honors for my undergraduate thesis. My advisor was quite helpful during the process and wanted to build my thesis into a fully-fledged paper for publication. He got in touch with me in May 2021 (a year after I\u2019d graduated) and put me in touch with one of his colleagues who\u2019d worked on a similar topic. The agreement was his colleague and I would work on the empirical side, building on my thesis and he would work on the modeling side. The final paper would be authored by all 3 of us. Anyway, his colleague stopped replying to my emails a couple of months down the line. I\u2019d also started a new job around the time and really didn\u2019t want to work on this project (dumb, I know, since a publication would\u2019ve looked really good for what I\u2019m aiming for now). I never got back in touch with my advisor about the progress. I lost access to my university email around the time, so I\u2019m not sure if he ever tried reaching out to me. I realize I messed up by not updating him and not reaching out at all (about my work or life in general) in the last 5 months. I\u2019m applying to PhD programs for next Fall and I need a letter of recommendation from him about 8 months from now. I\u2019m not sure how I should reach out to him. Should I explain the whole fiasco about his colleague not replying to me\/losing access to my university email? Should I not consider him at all for a LOR? I had a good relationship with him but I\u2019m scared I may have ruined it through this unprofessional lack of communication. Any advice is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hq0rugz","c_root_id_B":"hq0ntrd","created_at_utc_A":1640523680,"created_at_utc_B":1640520490,"score_A":123,"score_B":38,"human_ref_A":"He got in touch May 2021, so 6 months ago? That's the blink of an eye in academic terms. Email him, explain that the other dude stopped replying to you and you lost your email address, and ask if he's still interested in picking up with the paper. Be up front that it'll be useful for grad school and you're keen to see it through. Then actually work on it, and ask about the letter of recommendation in 3-4 months. If it was me, I'd be thrilled if you got back in touch. Covid has screwed up everyone's timelines, I think he'll be happy to hear from you.","human_ref_B":"Send them an email. This type of stuff happens all the time. The worst they can say is no. Who knows, y\u2019all might be able to try to work on the paper again if you want.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3190.0,"score_ratio":3.2368421053} {"post_id":"rot1ac","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Need a letter of recommendation for PhD program application from advisor I ghosted TLDR; Basically the title. I graduated in May 2020 with honors for my undergraduate thesis. My advisor was quite helpful during the process and wanted to build my thesis into a fully-fledged paper for publication. He got in touch with me in May 2021 (a year after I\u2019d graduated) and put me in touch with one of his colleagues who\u2019d worked on a similar topic. The agreement was his colleague and I would work on the empirical side, building on my thesis and he would work on the modeling side. The final paper would be authored by all 3 of us. Anyway, his colleague stopped replying to my emails a couple of months down the line. I\u2019d also started a new job around the time and really didn\u2019t want to work on this project (dumb, I know, since a publication would\u2019ve looked really good for what I\u2019m aiming for now). I never got back in touch with my advisor about the progress. I lost access to my university email around the time, so I\u2019m not sure if he ever tried reaching out to me. I realize I messed up by not updating him and not reaching out at all (about my work or life in general) in the last 5 months. I\u2019m applying to PhD programs for next Fall and I need a letter of recommendation from him about 8 months from now. I\u2019m not sure how I should reach out to him. Should I explain the whole fiasco about his colleague not replying to me\/losing access to my university email? Should I not consider him at all for a LOR? I had a good relationship with him but I\u2019m scared I may have ruined it through this unprofessional lack of communication. Any advice is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hq0rugz","c_root_id_B":"hq0k48a","created_at_utc_A":1640523680,"created_at_utc_B":1640517177,"score_A":123,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"He got in touch May 2021, so 6 months ago? That's the blink of an eye in academic terms. Email him, explain that the other dude stopped replying to you and you lost your email address, and ask if he's still interested in picking up with the paper. Be up front that it'll be useful for grad school and you're keen to see it through. Then actually work on it, and ask about the letter of recommendation in 3-4 months. If it was me, I'd be thrilled if you got back in touch. Covid has screwed up everyone's timelines, I think he'll be happy to hear from you.","human_ref_B":"You should try emailing and communicating with him. Tell him what happened and amd why you fell out of touch. He might say no, in which case, you have your answer. I would definitely say no in his shoes, but I am not sure how good your relationship was. Also, do not wait for more than 1 month for a reply. If he does not reply in that time, move on.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6503.0,"score_ratio":6.8333333333} {"post_id":"rot1ac","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Need a letter of recommendation for PhD program application from advisor I ghosted TLDR; Basically the title. I graduated in May 2020 with honors for my undergraduate thesis. My advisor was quite helpful during the process and wanted to build my thesis into a fully-fledged paper for publication. He got in touch with me in May 2021 (a year after I\u2019d graduated) and put me in touch with one of his colleagues who\u2019d worked on a similar topic. The agreement was his colleague and I would work on the empirical side, building on my thesis and he would work on the modeling side. The final paper would be authored by all 3 of us. Anyway, his colleague stopped replying to my emails a couple of months down the line. I\u2019d also started a new job around the time and really didn\u2019t want to work on this project (dumb, I know, since a publication would\u2019ve looked really good for what I\u2019m aiming for now). I never got back in touch with my advisor about the progress. I lost access to my university email around the time, so I\u2019m not sure if he ever tried reaching out to me. I realize I messed up by not updating him and not reaching out at all (about my work or life in general) in the last 5 months. I\u2019m applying to PhD programs for next Fall and I need a letter of recommendation from him about 8 months from now. I\u2019m not sure how I should reach out to him. Should I explain the whole fiasco about his colleague not replying to me\/losing access to my university email? Should I not consider him at all for a LOR? I had a good relationship with him but I\u2019m scared I may have ruined it through this unprofessional lack of communication. Any advice is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hq0ntrd","c_root_id_B":"hq0wkci","created_at_utc_A":1640520490,"created_at_utc_B":1640526871,"score_A":38,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"Send them an email. This type of stuff happens all the time. The worst they can say is no. Who knows, y\u2019all might be able to try to work on the paper again if you want.","human_ref_B":"May 2021 -> \"a couple of months down the line\" means your last effort toward this was at most 4-5 months ago. That's not very long to a professor. You should be fine, just be honest and communicate.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6381.0,"score_ratio":1.0263157895} {"post_id":"rot1ac","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Need a letter of recommendation for PhD program application from advisor I ghosted TLDR; Basically the title. I graduated in May 2020 with honors for my undergraduate thesis. My advisor was quite helpful during the process and wanted to build my thesis into a fully-fledged paper for publication. He got in touch with me in May 2021 (a year after I\u2019d graduated) and put me in touch with one of his colleagues who\u2019d worked on a similar topic. The agreement was his colleague and I would work on the empirical side, building on my thesis and he would work on the modeling side. The final paper would be authored by all 3 of us. Anyway, his colleague stopped replying to my emails a couple of months down the line. I\u2019d also started a new job around the time and really didn\u2019t want to work on this project (dumb, I know, since a publication would\u2019ve looked really good for what I\u2019m aiming for now). I never got back in touch with my advisor about the progress. I lost access to my university email around the time, so I\u2019m not sure if he ever tried reaching out to me. I realize I messed up by not updating him and not reaching out at all (about my work or life in general) in the last 5 months. I\u2019m applying to PhD programs for next Fall and I need a letter of recommendation from him about 8 months from now. I\u2019m not sure how I should reach out to him. Should I explain the whole fiasco about his colleague not replying to me\/losing access to my university email? Should I not consider him at all for a LOR? I had a good relationship with him but I\u2019m scared I may have ruined it through this unprofessional lack of communication. Any advice is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hq0ntrd","c_root_id_B":"hq0k48a","created_at_utc_A":1640520490,"created_at_utc_B":1640517177,"score_A":38,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Send them an email. This type of stuff happens all the time. The worst they can say is no. Who knows, y\u2019all might be able to try to work on the paper again if you want.","human_ref_B":"You should try emailing and communicating with him. Tell him what happened and amd why you fell out of touch. He might say no, in which case, you have your answer. I would definitely say no in his shoes, but I am not sure how good your relationship was. Also, do not wait for more than 1 month for a reply. If he does not reply in that time, move on.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3313.0,"score_ratio":2.1111111111} {"post_id":"rot1ac","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Need a letter of recommendation for PhD program application from advisor I ghosted TLDR; Basically the title. I graduated in May 2020 with honors for my undergraduate thesis. My advisor was quite helpful during the process and wanted to build my thesis into a fully-fledged paper for publication. He got in touch with me in May 2021 (a year after I\u2019d graduated) and put me in touch with one of his colleagues who\u2019d worked on a similar topic. The agreement was his colleague and I would work on the empirical side, building on my thesis and he would work on the modeling side. The final paper would be authored by all 3 of us. Anyway, his colleague stopped replying to my emails a couple of months down the line. I\u2019d also started a new job around the time and really didn\u2019t want to work on this project (dumb, I know, since a publication would\u2019ve looked really good for what I\u2019m aiming for now). I never got back in touch with my advisor about the progress. I lost access to my university email around the time, so I\u2019m not sure if he ever tried reaching out to me. I realize I messed up by not updating him and not reaching out at all (about my work or life in general) in the last 5 months. I\u2019m applying to PhD programs for next Fall and I need a letter of recommendation from him about 8 months from now. I\u2019m not sure how I should reach out to him. Should I explain the whole fiasco about his colleague not replying to me\/losing access to my university email? Should I not consider him at all for a LOR? I had a good relationship with him but I\u2019m scared I may have ruined it through this unprofessional lack of communication. Any advice is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hq0k48a","c_root_id_B":"hq0wkci","created_at_utc_A":1640517177,"created_at_utc_B":1640526871,"score_A":18,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"You should try emailing and communicating with him. Tell him what happened and amd why you fell out of touch. He might say no, in which case, you have your answer. I would definitely say no in his shoes, but I am not sure how good your relationship was. Also, do not wait for more than 1 month for a reply. If he does not reply in that time, move on.","human_ref_B":"May 2021 -> \"a couple of months down the line\" means your last effort toward this was at most 4-5 months ago. That's not very long to a professor. You should be fine, just be honest and communicate.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9694.0,"score_ratio":2.1666666667} {"post_id":"fus0qe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"PhD Thesis celebrations while social distancing? What have people been doing to celebrate successful thesis defenses on zoom? In real life, we have a party, usually I meet a student\u2019s family, etc. I have really tried to make this day special for my students in the past. I am not sure how to make sure my student graduating now feels the same way. Mostly what I can come up with is something alternative, like maybe finding an artist to make something that we gift or 3D print something (we are engineers). I would love creative suggestions though!","c_root_id_A":"fmf5lov","c_root_id_B":"fmf60i2","created_at_utc_A":1586020400,"created_at_utc_B":1586020635,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I'm having a ton of people watch on Zoom who wouldn't have been able to make it in real life and having cake with my wife afterward.","human_ref_B":"My PhD advisor gave all of his PhD grads a framed academic tree upon their successful defense. You could still do that and schedule delivery on the day (or day after so they don\u2019t get if before). The lab I work in now has a tradition of giving a person something they broke when they leave (new job or retire).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":235.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"fus0qe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"PhD Thesis celebrations while social distancing? What have people been doing to celebrate successful thesis defenses on zoom? In real life, we have a party, usually I meet a student\u2019s family, etc. I have really tried to make this day special for my students in the past. I am not sure how to make sure my student graduating now feels the same way. Mostly what I can come up with is something alternative, like maybe finding an artist to make something that we gift or 3D print something (we are engineers). I would love creative suggestions though!","c_root_id_A":"fmez8dm","c_root_id_B":"fmf60i2","created_at_utc_A":1586016705,"created_at_utc_B":1586020635,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Customize them a plaque acknowledging their dedication","human_ref_B":"My PhD advisor gave all of his PhD grads a framed academic tree upon their successful defense. You could still do that and schedule delivery on the day (or day after so they don\u2019t get if before). The lab I work in now has a tradition of giving a person something they broke when they leave (new job or retire).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3930.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"fus0qe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"PhD Thesis celebrations while social distancing? What have people been doing to celebrate successful thesis defenses on zoom? In real life, we have a party, usually I meet a student\u2019s family, etc. I have really tried to make this day special for my students in the past. I am not sure how to make sure my student graduating now feels the same way. Mostly what I can come up with is something alternative, like maybe finding an artist to make something that we gift or 3D print something (we are engineers). I would love creative suggestions though!","c_root_id_A":"fmfh79g","c_root_id_B":"fmf5lov","created_at_utc_A":1586027172,"created_at_utc_B":1586020400,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I just drank an entire bottle of champagne","human_ref_B":"I'm having a ton of people watch on Zoom who wouldn't have been able to make it in real life and having cake with my wife afterward.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6772.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"fus0qe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"PhD Thesis celebrations while social distancing? What have people been doing to celebrate successful thesis defenses on zoom? In real life, we have a party, usually I meet a student\u2019s family, etc. I have really tried to make this day special for my students in the past. I am not sure how to make sure my student graduating now feels the same way. Mostly what I can come up with is something alternative, like maybe finding an artist to make something that we gift or 3D print something (we are engineers). I would love creative suggestions though!","c_root_id_A":"fmez8dm","c_root_id_B":"fmfh79g","created_at_utc_A":1586016705,"created_at_utc_B":1586027172,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Customize them a plaque acknowledging their dedication","human_ref_B":"I just drank an entire bottle of champagne","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10467.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imxtyu9","c_root_id_B":"imy9knr","created_at_utc_A":1662220492,"created_at_utc_B":1662226786,"score_A":23,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"You could do this, and they\u2019ll probably just delete the email after just seeing the subject line and not give it another thought. No real harm other than annoying them, but very very very unlikely to be productive. Basically, if you\u2019re not their trainee they\u2019re not going to write an article with you. Better idea: Some journals have special article types that are reviews written by students. Look for one of those opportunities and go for that.","human_ref_B":"That is VERY country\/culture dependent... In certain countries you would not even dare think about this. In other they would welcome you. And everything in between...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6294.0,"score_ratio":1.0434782609} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imy9knr","c_root_id_B":"imxvqze","created_at_utc_A":1662226786,"created_at_utc_B":1662221204,"score_A":24,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"That is VERY country\/culture dependent... In certain countries you would not even dare think about this. In other they would welcome you. And everything in between...","human_ref_B":"The only way I\u2019d see this going positive is if you bring it up to them with an already fleshed out draft. Still probably unlikely but even if they shoot you down and you still have a case for your review to fill a gap in the literature and I\u2019d reach out to a professor in your department or your advisor. If it\u2019s really low hanging fruit someone will publish it for sure.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5582.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imy9knr","c_root_id_B":"imxwrfy","created_at_utc_A":1662226786,"created_at_utc_B":1662221614,"score_A":24,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"That is VERY country\/culture dependent... In certain countries you would not even dare think about this. In other they would welcome you. And everything in between...","human_ref_B":"I think you might be able to pull it off. You're trying to do something good for the field, which helps a lot! The other key is, if I understand correctly, you're willing to do most of the work. I'd write to one of the senior people you know, and explain why you think a review article would help other people, and that you have most of the material. Maybe attach a high-level outline. Say that you'd love to have their advice on framing it, ideas for other topics etc., and tentatively mention the idea of co-authorship. You never know...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5172.0,"score_ratio":12.0} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imybzdv","c_root_id_B":"imym94u","created_at_utc_A":1662227781,"created_at_utc_B":1662232054,"score_A":4,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"This is only going to work if you have a well written draft and then reach out to them for very specific advice. If they help, you then move the ask a bit further after sending the paragrpahs they advised on and offer to include them as a co author. Then you ask if they are willing to read over the whole manuscript. Bit by bit you have a chance at getting them involved. Particularly if it is a review about their niche. This isn't going to be easy. Best to hope your advisor gets an invited review and you do that with them.","human_ref_B":"You would think by all these responses you would be committing a crime asking or suggesting a collaboration. \u201cThey\u2019d probably just say no or delete your email and hate you or have you arrested\u201d. My god! There\u2019s no harm in asking. You seem like a thoughtful person and will do it appropriately. And I hope it goes well\u2026 good luck!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4273.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imym94u","c_root_id_B":"imxvqze","created_at_utc_A":1662232054,"created_at_utc_B":1662221204,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"You would think by all these responses you would be committing a crime asking or suggesting a collaboration. \u201cThey\u2019d probably just say no or delete your email and hate you or have you arrested\u201d. My god! There\u2019s no harm in asking. You seem like a thoughtful person and will do it appropriately. And I hope it goes well\u2026 good luck!","human_ref_B":"The only way I\u2019d see this going positive is if you bring it up to them with an already fleshed out draft. Still probably unlikely but even if they shoot you down and you still have a case for your review to fill a gap in the literature and I\u2019d reach out to a professor in your department or your advisor. If it\u2019s really low hanging fruit someone will publish it for sure.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10850.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imym94u","c_root_id_B":"imxwrfy","created_at_utc_A":1662232054,"created_at_utc_B":1662221614,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"You would think by all these responses you would be committing a crime asking or suggesting a collaboration. \u201cThey\u2019d probably just say no or delete your email and hate you or have you arrested\u201d. My god! There\u2019s no harm in asking. You seem like a thoughtful person and will do it appropriately. And I hope it goes well\u2026 good luck!","human_ref_B":"I think you might be able to pull it off. You're trying to do something good for the field, which helps a lot! The other key is, if I understand correctly, you're willing to do most of the work. I'd write to one of the senior people you know, and explain why you think a review article would help other people, and that you have most of the material. Maybe attach a high-level outline. Say that you'd love to have their advice on framing it, ideas for other topics etc., and tentatively mention the idea of co-authorship. You never know...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10440.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imybzdv","c_root_id_B":"imxvqze","created_at_utc_A":1662227781,"created_at_utc_B":1662221204,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"This is only going to work if you have a well written draft and then reach out to them for very specific advice. If they help, you then move the ask a bit further after sending the paragrpahs they advised on and offer to include them as a co author. Then you ask if they are willing to read over the whole manuscript. Bit by bit you have a chance at getting them involved. Particularly if it is a review about their niche. This isn't going to be easy. Best to hope your advisor gets an invited review and you do that with them.","human_ref_B":"The only way I\u2019d see this going positive is if you bring it up to them with an already fleshed out draft. Still probably unlikely but even if they shoot you down and you still have a case for your review to fill a gap in the literature and I\u2019d reach out to a professor in your department or your advisor. If it\u2019s really low hanging fruit someone will publish it for sure.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6577.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imxwrfy","c_root_id_B":"imybzdv","created_at_utc_A":1662221614,"created_at_utc_B":1662227781,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I think you might be able to pull it off. You're trying to do something good for the field, which helps a lot! The other key is, if I understand correctly, you're willing to do most of the work. I'd write to one of the senior people you know, and explain why you think a review article would help other people, and that you have most of the material. Maybe attach a high-level outline. Say that you'd love to have their advice on framing it, ideas for other topics etc., and tentatively mention the idea of co-authorship. You never know...","human_ref_B":"This is only going to work if you have a well written draft and then reach out to them for very specific advice. If they help, you then move the ask a bit further after sending the paragrpahs they advised on and offer to include them as a co author. Then you ask if they are willing to read over the whole manuscript. Bit by bit you have a chance at getting them involved. Particularly if it is a review about their niche. This isn't going to be easy. Best to hope your advisor gets an invited review and you do that with them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6167.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imxwrfy","c_root_id_B":"imyz0pf","created_at_utc_A":1662221614,"created_at_utc_B":1662237352,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think you might be able to pull it off. You're trying to do something good for the field, which helps a lot! The other key is, if I understand correctly, you're willing to do most of the work. I'd write to one of the senior people you know, and explain why you think a review article would help other people, and that you have most of the material. Maybe attach a high-level outline. Say that you'd love to have their advice on framing it, ideas for other topics etc., and tentatively mention the idea of co-authorship. You never know...","human_ref_B":"It might not be the best advice, but just a note based on your post title to remember that in some professions this would be described as \"ambitious\" and \"enterprising\"--though I'd suggest doing a set of personal notes\/prospective inquiries rather than a mass collective email and see how they take to it of you're feeling bold and want to boost the chance of it getting entertained.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15738.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"imxwrfy","c_root_id_B":"imz1hs8","created_at_utc_A":1662221614,"created_at_utc_B":1662238396,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think you might be able to pull it off. You're trying to do something good for the field, which helps a lot! The other key is, if I understand correctly, you're willing to do most of the work. I'd write to one of the senior people you know, and explain why you think a review article would help other people, and that you have most of the material. Maybe attach a high-level outline. Say that you'd love to have their advice on framing it, ideas for other topics etc., and tentatively mention the idea of co-authorship. You never know...","human_ref_B":"In the UK and US, this is perfectly acceptable. However, do not expect others to contribute substantially to the writing effort. If you have a *good* (this is important) draft of the review at hand, you can send it to others asking for their comments and making it clear that they would be co-authors, and integrate those into the final version.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16782.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"x4xa5z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Is it too big-headed for a PhD student to propose to casually acquainted reputable scientists of his field, to write a review article together? Hi guys, After a bit over three years, I am finally about to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Meanwhile, I feel like having a pretty good overview of the literature and ongoing research in my field. Already, at the start of my PhD, I was desperately missing a topical literature review of my research area. Since I just wrote my thesis, I got all the material I need to write that manuscript to fill that gap. However, despite having gained some visibility in the scientific community, I am not sure if I am \"senior\" or established enough to submit such a review to a serious journal without getting rejected. Now here is the deal. Over the years, I have made a couple of casual\/speaking acquaintances with very reputable researchers in my field some being emeritus professors already. I haven't been in touch with any of them for about a year. Also, I never had any type of scientific collaboration with them. However, they certainly know who I am and what stuff I am doing as we had a couple of chats about our research here and there. Do you think it is appropriate to just send these guys a collective mail in which I propose to write such a review article together or does that appear a little too big-headed for an early-stage researcher? How would you approach that if you were in my position? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that :). Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"in0nz44","c_root_id_B":"imxwrfy","created_at_utc_A":1662266797,"created_at_utc_B":1662221614,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Late response, but does your advisor know these people? If so, maybe talk to your advisor about it and get a feel for how collaborative these folks are. I\u2019m not a PhD student, but I am in academia and recently invited some professors I\u2019ve never worked directly with to be coauthors on a paper. 2\/3 of of them agreed. I think what helped was that they all have worked with my PI before. I just made sure to include him in the emails I sent each of them (after he agreed that it was okay to contact them). Edit: I will add that I agree with the person who said you might want to draft the paper first. That\u2019s what I did.","human_ref_B":"I think you might be able to pull it off. You're trying to do something good for the field, which helps a lot! The other key is, if I understand correctly, you're willing to do most of the work. I'd write to one of the senior people you know, and explain why you think a review article would help other people, and that you have most of the material. Maybe attach a high-level outline. Say that you'd love to have their advice on framing it, ideas for other topics etc., and tentatively mention the idea of co-authorship. You never know...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":45183.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kx2d39","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Does anyone know any scientific papers that have their own writing style that doesn't sound robotic? So recently I picked up some books to get me started early on what to expect from writing a paper for my Master's degree next year. I had already read some papers on chemistry (my field) and some others as a hobby. However, I was surprised to find in the history chapter of the book that before the present standards, scientists used to use their own style of writing that while too complex than the present to the point scientific writing, was enjoyable even for the non-scientific community and easier to get into academic reading. So I found myself curious if you came across anything similar. Most I could find were in the literary papers.","c_root_id_A":"gj8a2my","c_root_id_B":"gj8dw6n","created_at_utc_A":1610634339,"created_at_utc_B":1610636303,"score_A":5,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Michael Russell wtites about the origin of life. He has an interesting way of putting things. Likes to talk about soup.","human_ref_B":"Not science related, but cultural history. Saidiya Hartman writes in a style that is very unique to her, in contrast to other historians.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1964.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"naczk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.86,"history":"Does anyone out there in AskAcademia really think we have too few STEM graduates? There aren't jobs out there for the current STEM graduates (BS, MS, PhD), so why do I keep hearing that there aren't enough undergraduates interested in STEM, or that America is falling behind? What do you think?","c_root_id_A":"c38c5e5","c_root_id_B":"c37m889","created_at_utc_A":1323972270,"created_at_utc_B":1323764218,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I think the focus on generating more STEM graduates is misguided. (sorry, this post came down with elephantiasis somewhere along the line) First the ~~TL;DR~~ abstract - I think the point we need to drive home is that the STEM mindset and way of approaching problems is a valuable and useful tool for *anyone* in *any* field. To achieve that end, we should take lessons from the humanities, which have already successfully done so (at least, to an extent greater than STEM has). How many people enjoy learning about history and applying its lessons? How many people graduate from college with a history major? How many of those actually do history as a career? The number drops precipitously on each question. They don't become historians and no one expects them to. It's rightly regarded as a universally useful set of knowledge. So why is it that if someone is interested in biology, they are expected to become a research scientist? Or that if they like building things they should become an engineer? Knowing how to think in a STEM mindset is just as universally useful as a knowledge of history. These are useful things to know and understand. We need to get away from the idea that just because you like STEM means you have to go get a career in it. It is useful to have a population educated in STEM whether or not they actually ever go into science as a career. The problem stems from how they are taught at the introductory level. Biology is taught as rote memorization of facts. Physics is taught as whiz-bang look at what I just blew up. Math is taught as a tool to balance your checkbook. Engineering is presented as some unattainable realm of the highly intelligent, and isn't even taught to the *hoi polloi*. But biology and physics are about the scientific method and knowing what we *are*. Math is about the fundamental language of the universe. Engineering is about how to rationally approach and solve complex problems. When I took it, history was taught as a context, a way to learn from past failures and achievements. It was always brought out to show how things became what they are, and as full of warnings of how to avoid problems of the past. Literature was taught as a way to enter the mind of another culture, separated from you by time or space and better understand them and what they do. Art was taught as a way to express that which cannot be said, or could never be said quite as well. We need to teach it differently. We need to show people that it's not just a collection of facts, it's a method for getting those facts, for understanding why they are what they are, and for using them to make something new.","human_ref_B":"Well, it depends on what sense you mean it. America is substantially underinvested in R&D infrastructure relative to what rising powers are putting into it; so in that sense, we need more of every part of that, including the researchers themselves. From a job market perspective, there are substantially more advanced degree holders in STEM fields than there are jobs that require that credential. What has more or less happened is that America has decided to fund R&D with fewer and fewer dollars overall by exploiting the educational pipeline to produce low-paid workers which effectively provide a subsidy to research. It's a screwy way of doing it; it's a bit like supply-side economics in that it can work, but only to a point--once you have 5, 10, 100 more applicants than job openings you can only really drive down the wages of the applicants so much, and you ultimately aren't doing anything to influence the demand side--i.e. overall money that's going into research and providing new equipment\/facililties\/etc. But that's the state of the sector. Note that none of this applies to R&D in the information technology sector, but R&D there is insanely cheap compared to other fields thanks to plummeting costs of computing power.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":208052.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"naczk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.86,"history":"Does anyone out there in AskAcademia really think we have too few STEM graduates? There aren't jobs out there for the current STEM graduates (BS, MS, PhD), so why do I keep hearing that there aren't enough undergraduates interested in STEM, or that America is falling behind? What do you think?","c_root_id_A":"c38c5e5","c_root_id_B":"c37p8vu","created_at_utc_A":1323972270,"created_at_utc_B":1323797409,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think the focus on generating more STEM graduates is misguided. (sorry, this post came down with elephantiasis somewhere along the line) First the ~~TL;DR~~ abstract - I think the point we need to drive home is that the STEM mindset and way of approaching problems is a valuable and useful tool for *anyone* in *any* field. To achieve that end, we should take lessons from the humanities, which have already successfully done so (at least, to an extent greater than STEM has). How many people enjoy learning about history and applying its lessons? How many people graduate from college with a history major? How many of those actually do history as a career? The number drops precipitously on each question. They don't become historians and no one expects them to. It's rightly regarded as a universally useful set of knowledge. So why is it that if someone is interested in biology, they are expected to become a research scientist? Or that if they like building things they should become an engineer? Knowing how to think in a STEM mindset is just as universally useful as a knowledge of history. These are useful things to know and understand. We need to get away from the idea that just because you like STEM means you have to go get a career in it. It is useful to have a population educated in STEM whether or not they actually ever go into science as a career. The problem stems from how they are taught at the introductory level. Biology is taught as rote memorization of facts. Physics is taught as whiz-bang look at what I just blew up. Math is taught as a tool to balance your checkbook. Engineering is presented as some unattainable realm of the highly intelligent, and isn't even taught to the *hoi polloi*. But biology and physics are about the scientific method and knowing what we *are*. Math is about the fundamental language of the universe. Engineering is about how to rationally approach and solve complex problems. When I took it, history was taught as a context, a way to learn from past failures and achievements. It was always brought out to show how things became what they are, and as full of warnings of how to avoid problems of the past. Literature was taught as a way to enter the mind of another culture, separated from you by time or space and better understand them and what they do. Art was taught as a way to express that which cannot be said, or could never be said quite as well. We need to teach it differently. We need to show people that it's not just a collection of facts, it's a method for getting those facts, for understanding why they are what they are, and for using them to make something new.","human_ref_B":"Like RogueEagle mentioned, it depends on the field. Biology and Chemistry don't have a shortage of students. I'm willing to bet that one big reason for this is that many of those getting degrees (especially for BS and MS) are looking to go to medical school. So I would not be surprised if graduates in these fields were having trouble finding jobs. I think one of the issues is that in recent years with bio\/chem, is that bio-tech has been a huge growth industry, but as YoohooCthulhu pointed out, not so much anymore. So you are still getting a lot of students who think this industry means jobs (or a good back-up if med school doesn't work), when it really doesn't. In the \"harder\" sciences (I'm thinking of things like physics, astronomy, geosciences), graduates are finding that they actually aren't having problems finding jobs. I read an article recently that I can't find that at the moment, which shows that the in the top 10 majors with the highest employment, you have Astronomy\/Astrophysics, Geology\/Petroleum sciences, and some types of engineering. I also think that these fields tend to suffer from too few undergraduates because they are the types of fields (especially physics\/engineering) that draw fewer students to begin with. This is because of many things (e.g. social stigma, under-preparation in high schools), but that is a huge issue in and of itself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":174861.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"oqrh0t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Professors & Faculty Members: When reviewing applications for graduate students, how do you evaluate a candidate's potential for research? What qualities in an applicant demonstrate strong potential as a successful researcher? Hey there. As a prospective grad student wishing to pursue a STEM field (Computer Science), I read Phillip Guo's excellent article on grad applications. My key understanding is that for M.S. and Ph.D. applicants *the biggest factor in a successful application is a candidate's research experience*. Likewise as a corollary, should the applicant lack actual experience the second-best thing would be their *research potential*. Hence my question is: when you review an application, *what are some of the signs that you look for in order to evaluate a candidate's potential? What are the qualities in an applicant which demonstrate a strong potential as a future researcher?* I'm interested in these answers because I am an undergraduate myself who is applying for a M.S. in Computer Science, but I come from a Humanities (Philosophy\/Classics) background without any prior experience in STEM research. As an academically-talented student with an aptitude for the Humanities, I want to know how I can best present myself as a serious candidate, with excellent potential for graduate-level research and scientific inquiry. Thank you very much!","c_root_id_A":"h6dduef","c_root_id_B":"h6dhcc5","created_at_utc_A":1627139063,"created_at_utc_B":1627140769,"score_A":4,"score_B":33,"human_ref_A":"Maybe show some self-driven tasks. Like some certs in CS on your applications CV. If you don't already have CS courses on your transcript, get them there but the online certs are icing showing independence and self starting.","human_ref_B":"You should be able to get into a MS without too much of a research experience etc. That advice is mostly for PhDs. Lots of MS CS programs nowadays welcome students from non-CS backgrounds though you may have to take some bridging courses. Bear in mind though that if you are interested in a PhD down the line, most good schools will not seriously consider your application without some research experience so perhaps that maybe a priority while you are doing your MS.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1706.0,"score_ratio":8.25} {"post_id":"oqrh0t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Professors & Faculty Members: When reviewing applications for graduate students, how do you evaluate a candidate's potential for research? What qualities in an applicant demonstrate strong potential as a successful researcher? Hey there. As a prospective grad student wishing to pursue a STEM field (Computer Science), I read Phillip Guo's excellent article on grad applications. My key understanding is that for M.S. and Ph.D. applicants *the biggest factor in a successful application is a candidate's research experience*. Likewise as a corollary, should the applicant lack actual experience the second-best thing would be their *research potential*. Hence my question is: when you review an application, *what are some of the signs that you look for in order to evaluate a candidate's potential? What are the qualities in an applicant which demonstrate a strong potential as a future researcher?* I'm interested in these answers because I am an undergraduate myself who is applying for a M.S. in Computer Science, but I come from a Humanities (Philosophy\/Classics) background without any prior experience in STEM research. As an academically-talented student with an aptitude for the Humanities, I want to know how I can best present myself as a serious candidate, with excellent potential for graduate-level research and scientific inquiry. Thank you very much!","c_root_id_A":"h6dibt8","c_root_id_B":"h6dduef","created_at_utc_A":1627141238,"created_at_utc_B":1627139063,"score_A":10,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"A subject like CS is one that translates well to having an online portfolio, e.g., of work that you have produced as part of your undergrad CS program, or just on your own out of personal interest. You could summarize the portfolio and link to it from your CV. This is assuming that you can publicly share code that you have worked on, e.g. on GitHub. More generally, showing that you have spent time in a serious research environment even without producing research can be a very good indicator of motivation and potential, e.g., as a summer research student in a lab or some other support role. Depending on where you apply, you often need to include a personal statement as part of an application. This is a place to highlight your relevant experience and interest in the target program, and possibly propose a research problem to work on. Making a convincing proposal on a novel idea takes a lot of preparation and reflects a serious interest in the topic, even you don't have relevant outputs.","human_ref_B":"Maybe show some self-driven tasks. Like some certs in CS on your applications CV. If you don't already have CS courses on your transcript, get them there but the online certs are icing showing independence and self starting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2175.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"oqrh0t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Professors & Faculty Members: When reviewing applications for graduate students, how do you evaluate a candidate's potential for research? What qualities in an applicant demonstrate strong potential as a successful researcher? Hey there. As a prospective grad student wishing to pursue a STEM field (Computer Science), I read Phillip Guo's excellent article on grad applications. My key understanding is that for M.S. and Ph.D. applicants *the biggest factor in a successful application is a candidate's research experience*. Likewise as a corollary, should the applicant lack actual experience the second-best thing would be their *research potential*. Hence my question is: when you review an application, *what are some of the signs that you look for in order to evaluate a candidate's potential? What are the qualities in an applicant which demonstrate a strong potential as a future researcher?* I'm interested in these answers because I am an undergraduate myself who is applying for a M.S. in Computer Science, but I come from a Humanities (Philosophy\/Classics) background without any prior experience in STEM research. As an academically-talented student with an aptitude for the Humanities, I want to know how I can best present myself as a serious candidate, with excellent potential for graduate-level research and scientific inquiry. Thank you very much!","c_root_id_A":"h6eoaxj","c_root_id_B":"h6dduef","created_at_utc_A":1627162059,"created_at_utc_B":1627139063,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Interest. Enthusiasm, Dedication.","human_ref_B":"Maybe show some self-driven tasks. Like some certs in CS on your applications CV. If you don't already have CS courses on your transcript, get them there but the online certs are icing showing independence and self starting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22996.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"oqrh0t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Professors & Faculty Members: When reviewing applications for graduate students, how do you evaluate a candidate's potential for research? What qualities in an applicant demonstrate strong potential as a successful researcher? Hey there. As a prospective grad student wishing to pursue a STEM field (Computer Science), I read Phillip Guo's excellent article on grad applications. My key understanding is that for M.S. and Ph.D. applicants *the biggest factor in a successful application is a candidate's research experience*. Likewise as a corollary, should the applicant lack actual experience the second-best thing would be their *research potential*. Hence my question is: when you review an application, *what are some of the signs that you look for in order to evaluate a candidate's potential? What are the qualities in an applicant which demonstrate a strong potential as a future researcher?* I'm interested in these answers because I am an undergraduate myself who is applying for a M.S. in Computer Science, but I come from a Humanities (Philosophy\/Classics) background without any prior experience in STEM research. As an academically-talented student with an aptitude for the Humanities, I want to know how I can best present myself as a serious candidate, with excellent potential for graduate-level research and scientific inquiry. Thank you very much!","c_root_id_A":"h6dr5ee","c_root_id_B":"h6dduef","created_at_utc_A":1627145484,"created_at_utc_B":1627139063,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"(1) they actually read my website and the instructions I gave for how to inquire about positions. (2) they actually read my papers and have thought about the ideas. I'm not talking about an obviously templated email that used the title of one of my papers, I'm talking about direct engagement with the ideas, and some thoughts on how they might go beyond them. (3) I'm willing to forego the preceding item if they show that they've spent a lot of time working in and\/or thinking about the ideas in my subfield, and know what kind of work I do. Again, this is more than just parroting what's in article titles and on my website.","human_ref_B":"Maybe show some self-driven tasks. Like some certs in CS on your applications CV. If you don't already have CS courses on your transcript, get them there but the online certs are icing showing independence and self starting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6421.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"oqrh0t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Professors & Faculty Members: When reviewing applications for graduate students, how do you evaluate a candidate's potential for research? What qualities in an applicant demonstrate strong potential as a successful researcher? Hey there. As a prospective grad student wishing to pursue a STEM field (Computer Science), I read Phillip Guo's excellent article on grad applications. My key understanding is that for M.S. and Ph.D. applicants *the biggest factor in a successful application is a candidate's research experience*. Likewise as a corollary, should the applicant lack actual experience the second-best thing would be their *research potential*. Hence my question is: when you review an application, *what are some of the signs that you look for in order to evaluate a candidate's potential? What are the qualities in an applicant which demonstrate a strong potential as a future researcher?* I'm interested in these answers because I am an undergraduate myself who is applying for a M.S. in Computer Science, but I come from a Humanities (Philosophy\/Classics) background without any prior experience in STEM research. As an academically-talented student with an aptitude for the Humanities, I want to know how I can best present myself as a serious candidate, with excellent potential for graduate-level research and scientific inquiry. Thank you very much!","c_root_id_A":"h6dnm8l","c_root_id_B":"h6eoaxj","created_at_utc_A":1627143786,"created_at_utc_B":1627162059,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I feel that the other answers provide some insights but fall a bit short in addressing the question on how you would show research potential. Demonstrating potential is of course much more subjective than demonstrating experience, which may be quantified in terms of publications etc. I guess that's largely the reason why it's hard to get into programs without experience: there's (perceived) higher risk that the potential does not materialize, and different faculty members on a committee, may disagree what constitutes great potential. Anyway, I guess you could demonstrate potential relatively easily in your statements by describing the problems you are interested in, characterizing their importance to society or whatever, how you intend to solve them (e.g., using tools from computer science, human factors, ...), and how you would measure and determine success. You will find that this is essentially what papers (and even grant proposals in a way) do, so demonstrating your skills in the above way can show potential for succeeding in research that requires the above literally all the time. Another aspect is self-sufficient problem solving that may be demonstrated in many ways, as well as curiosity and self-Motivation. Hard to say what could work in an specific case but the important thing to note is that it's not enough to just call yourself a word, like \"I'm a passionate and hard working problem solver\", because everybody can write that. The important thing is the ability to back it up with things that you did in a specific way, and that ideally, can be verified. Good luck with your applications!","human_ref_B":"Interest. Enthusiasm, Dedication.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18273.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"oqrh0t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Professors & Faculty Members: When reviewing applications for graduate students, how do you evaluate a candidate's potential for research? What qualities in an applicant demonstrate strong potential as a successful researcher? Hey there. As a prospective grad student wishing to pursue a STEM field (Computer Science), I read Phillip Guo's excellent article on grad applications. My key understanding is that for M.S. and Ph.D. applicants *the biggest factor in a successful application is a candidate's research experience*. Likewise as a corollary, should the applicant lack actual experience the second-best thing would be their *research potential*. Hence my question is: when you review an application, *what are some of the signs that you look for in order to evaluate a candidate's potential? What are the qualities in an applicant which demonstrate a strong potential as a future researcher?* I'm interested in these answers because I am an undergraduate myself who is applying for a M.S. in Computer Science, but I come from a Humanities (Philosophy\/Classics) background without any prior experience in STEM research. As an academically-talented student with an aptitude for the Humanities, I want to know how I can best present myself as a serious candidate, with excellent potential for graduate-level research and scientific inquiry. Thank you very much!","c_root_id_A":"h6dnm8l","c_root_id_B":"h6dr5ee","created_at_utc_A":1627143786,"created_at_utc_B":1627145484,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I feel that the other answers provide some insights but fall a bit short in addressing the question on how you would show research potential. Demonstrating potential is of course much more subjective than demonstrating experience, which may be quantified in terms of publications etc. I guess that's largely the reason why it's hard to get into programs without experience: there's (perceived) higher risk that the potential does not materialize, and different faculty members on a committee, may disagree what constitutes great potential. Anyway, I guess you could demonstrate potential relatively easily in your statements by describing the problems you are interested in, characterizing their importance to society or whatever, how you intend to solve them (e.g., using tools from computer science, human factors, ...), and how you would measure and determine success. You will find that this is essentially what papers (and even grant proposals in a way) do, so demonstrating your skills in the above way can show potential for succeeding in research that requires the above literally all the time. Another aspect is self-sufficient problem solving that may be demonstrated in many ways, as well as curiosity and self-Motivation. Hard to say what could work in an specific case but the important thing to note is that it's not enough to just call yourself a word, like \"I'm a passionate and hard working problem solver\", because everybody can write that. The important thing is the ability to back it up with things that you did in a specific way, and that ideally, can be verified. Good luck with your applications!","human_ref_B":"(1) they actually read my website and the instructions I gave for how to inquire about positions. (2) they actually read my papers and have thought about the ideas. I'm not talking about an obviously templated email that used the title of one of my papers, I'm talking about direct engagement with the ideas, and some thoughts on how they might go beyond them. (3) I'm willing to forego the preceding item if they show that they've spent a lot of time working in and\/or thinking about the ideas in my subfield, and know what kind of work I do. Again, this is more than just parroting what's in article titles and on my website.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1698.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"oqrh0t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"Professors & Faculty Members: When reviewing applications for graduate students, how do you evaluate a candidate's potential for research? What qualities in an applicant demonstrate strong potential as a successful researcher? Hey there. As a prospective grad student wishing to pursue a STEM field (Computer Science), I read Phillip Guo's excellent article on grad applications. My key understanding is that for M.S. and Ph.D. applicants *the biggest factor in a successful application is a candidate's research experience*. Likewise as a corollary, should the applicant lack actual experience the second-best thing would be their *research potential*. Hence my question is: when you review an application, *what are some of the signs that you look for in order to evaluate a candidate's potential? What are the qualities in an applicant which demonstrate a strong potential as a future researcher?* I'm interested in these answers because I am an undergraduate myself who is applying for a M.S. in Computer Science, but I come from a Humanities (Philosophy\/Classics) background without any prior experience in STEM research. As an academically-talented student with an aptitude for the Humanities, I want to know how I can best present myself as a serious candidate, with excellent potential for graduate-level research and scientific inquiry. Thank you very much!","c_root_id_A":"h6eoaxj","c_root_id_B":"h6eaa26","created_at_utc_A":1627162059,"created_at_utc_B":1627154892,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Interest. Enthusiasm, Dedication.","human_ref_B":"Reading these answers makes me wonder how the hell I got accepted to three PhD programs at pretty good schools in physics. I had ZERO research experience. My personal statement was vague and undirected. I had no idea what areas I wanted to study. My GPA was middling and my GRE scores were... fine... I guess. I got funding offers from all three schools. I really to this day dont know if I'd get accepted with the same application in this day and age. I do wonder what the hell the committee's were thinking. One theory for the school I attended was that they wanted mostly superstar international students but had a quota for native English speakers to TA the 'not for major's classes and if they washed out, fine, at least they courses got taught. But that doesnt explain the other offers I got, including an Ivy League school that didnt have almost any international students.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7167.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7qrd9","c_root_id_B":"hp7p0j8","created_at_utc_A":1639948482,"created_at_utc_B":1639947768,"score_A":110,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm so sorry this happening. One thing I'm not clear about from your post is how explicit and direct you are being about your pronouns. For example with the conference example did you write \"my pronouns are they\/them\" or did you write the bio with \"they and them\"? If it's the latter it's possible the chair didn't pick up the nuance. I obviously don't know your school and how inclusive it is but if you feel able I think it's fine to quietly have a word with lecturers after class. You don't have to make it a confrontation; a simple \"I'm not sure if you're aware but I use they\/them pronouns, could you use them in class?\" is sufficient. I want to be clear I'm absolutely not suggesting it's your fault this is happening. Adapting to pronouns is a new thing for many people and some fields are more receptive to it than others. You will come across bigotry sadly but I think you'll also find a lot of people who simply aren't aware. They will take on board what you want but you will need to be clear and direct about it because they won't realise on their own.","human_ref_B":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":714.0,"score_ratio":36.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp93zh3","c_root_id_B":"hp7tzjj","created_at_utc_A":1639971207,"created_at_utc_B":1639949838,"score_A":48,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","human_ref_B":"I think you should just keep it cool, and correct right away. \"I go by them, not him.\" As for the conference, that is very annoying and rude, but it also may be that the moderator thought they were correcting poorly written copy. It is jarring for academics that the plural does not match singular verbs. For that instance I would make sure the moderator knows explicitly beforehand that you use them. Without additional information, I would not read malice into this at all. I would also not allow it to make you feel like an outsider. I am sure that in most cases it's just people not being in the practice of using they\/them pronouns. Good luck.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21369.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp93zh3","c_root_id_B":"hp7xri9","created_at_utc_A":1639971207,"created_at_utc_B":1639951432,"score_A":48,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","human_ref_B":"Along with the other people commenting here suggesting you do correct in the moment when it happens with a firm \"Not he\/she, they please.\" I do think is a lot of labor for you and will definitely get tiring, but it sounds like you're not doing that at the moment because you feel that it would be some sort of calling people out. It's NOT calling people out. It's the exact same thing as if someone thought you were in office 104 instead of 105. You'd let them know that they got your office number wrong, ensure they know the right one, and move on, right? I'd also suggest you literally take most of what you've said here and talk with your graduate student advisor (GSA) - usually these are Professors in your department who are assigned to help students through their first year while they're still learning who they want to work with. Sometimes the GSA is an admin in the department who knows all the administrative ropes. Either way these people are ones who often can help make the rest of the department faculty adjust to names\/different directions\/etc. that grad students are taking. Even if this person has misgendered you, go to them and explain to them what you've just explained to us - that lots of people are misgendering you, that you don't think its out of malice but you would like it to stop, and that you felt\/feel uncomfortable addressing it as it happens\/ed because you are not the kind of person who is interested in calling people out. Ask that GSA what their advice is. This is a helpful act on two levels - 1) you'll be having the conversation with someone who is a communication center for the rest of the department, so they can then bring it up behind closed doors with other faculty and get them all on the same page, 2) by treating it as an advice session rather than a session where you're asking them to stop misgendering you, they won't feel blame or called out, and so there's less of an issue of defensiveness, and you still make your point.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19775.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7s084","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639949004,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":27,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like you're doing everything politely possible already. I would recommend a polite, quiet correction though. I had a student who, I was notified through student services, wanted to go by they\/them. When I first met them, I got a female impression (it's a hard wire we all have to break) and accidentally said, \"she\". They heard and quietly said, \"They, please,\" and that was all it took. There was no mix-ups by me the rest of the semester. For the majority, a correction once or twice is enough and we won't take any offense. For the others? Well, they're not worth trying to curry favour with.","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22203.0,"score_ratio":1.7777777778} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp93zh3","c_root_id_B":"hp81e4p","created_at_utc_A":1639971207,"created_at_utc_B":1639952998,"score_A":48,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","human_ref_B":"Fellow nonbinary individual who doesn't care to 'call out' or 'nag people' and such about my pronouns. I see there is a lot of good advice already, but I thought I would add a little something too. I recently started my first job since graduating (under grad) and something I did to help people with my pronouns was put my pronouns on me. I wear a lab coat at work, so I just taped 'they\/them' across the back. People noticed and started using the correct pronouns\/asked about it. Of course, I have a few coworkers who were disgruntled by this but they had the good sense to not say something to my face. I just do not interact with them unless I have to. You may want to get a button\/pin with 'they\/them' or 'my pronouns are they\/them' to wear as well. That will help remind people. I would advice doing this along with the other suggestions people have given. Best of luck in your academic pursuits!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18209.0,"score_ratio":2.0869565217} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uhz6","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639966539,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":18,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4668.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7y9am","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639951646,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":10,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"I'm not LGBT+ myself but I know some of my professors stance on the matter. I would guess, just statistically, in a university English department there probably aren't a lot of strongly conservative individuals who would refuse to address you by your preferred pronouns on religious or political principle. It's most likely that you are just working against long years of habit using he\/she style pronouns. I absolutely agree that calling people out aggressively in public settings probably won't be as helpful as reaching out individually in private. That should get at least some professors on board. I'm willing to bet that at least half made the substitution without thinking about and would have no problem addressing you as they\/them.","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19561.0,"score_ratio":4.8} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp93zh3","c_root_id_B":"hp84z6g","created_at_utc_A":1639971207,"created_at_utc_B":1639954567,"score_A":48,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","human_ref_B":"I think saying \u2018oh, it\u2019s they please\u2019 is perfect for most situations. I\u2019ve been very conscientious about this with my students and I still make mistakes. It\u2019s new to everyone and a gentle reminder is very appropriate for these very human mistakes. Obviously if someone is being a jerk about it, that\u2019s a different approach. Another thing to keep in mind is that there\u2019s plenty of people on the autism spectrum and pronouns are an area they can have difficulties with. I know it\u2019s very different, but I have to remind people to call me by my full name and not any nicknames. I understand it\u2019s hard for people to not say what\u2019s intuitive for them and it feels automatic. It takes a few times and then they get it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16640.0,"score_ratio":6.8571428571} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp93zh3","c_root_id_B":"hp8c2tj","created_at_utc_A":1639971207,"created_at_utc_B":1639957717,"score_A":48,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m so sorry. I work with non-binary contemporary writers as a lit scholar. My chair doesn\u2019t get their pronouns right and it infuriates me and it isn\u2019t even ME. I can\u2019t even imagine how infuriating and exhausting it it is for you. Here\u2019s my advice. (I\u2019m a very direct person). Correct them, quietly every time. If you\u2019re introduced as \u201cHe\/Him\u201d say \u201cHi. I\u2019m [yourname] They\/theirs.\u201d It will feel awkward, but roll right into your net sentence. Don\u2019t miss a beat and it\u2019ll stick. Practice it. Don\u2019t let your position scare you out of your truth. You just have to train yourself to KNOW it and OWN it. They\u2019re falling back on old scripts. You can shift it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13490.0,"score_ratio":9.6} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":3,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23439.0,"score_ratio":16.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7yjou","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639951772,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":4,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19435.0,"score_ratio":12.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8k1m3","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639961427,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":4,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m sorry this is happening. I can understand making this mistake, though. I\u2019m old and I just forget, it\u2019s really a new way of thinking for me. That said, I would appreciate being reminded politely, either in public or in person. It would help me remember for you and for other non-binary folk in the future. I certainly don\u2019t mean to cause hurt, I just need practice. Good luck to you in your work!","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9780.0,"score_ratio":12.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uems","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639966494,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":5,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4713.0,"score_ratio":9.6} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp93zh3","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639971207,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":48,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20543.0,"score_ratio":16.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7syxp","c_root_id_B":"hp93zh3","created_at_utc_A":1639949409,"created_at_utc_B":1639971207,"score_A":2,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","human_ref_B":"You're best off correcting it on the spot. Saying nothing and shielding yourself with only those that \"get it\" isn't actively helping. It's likely that the majority of these occurrences are less due to maliciousness and more due to ignorance, such as when a speaker totally butchers a name. None of the power dynamics you're perceiving matter here. When a name is mispronounced, it's best to remind and correct the speaker, regardless of status, right? Same goes for pronouns. Positive feedback. Reinforce it. They'll likely appreciate the correction. If someone is deliberately misgendering you, then that's harassment and another story altogether.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21798.0,"score_ratio":24.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7s084","c_root_id_B":"hp7tzjj","created_at_utc_A":1639949004,"created_at_utc_B":1639949838,"score_A":27,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like you're doing everything politely possible already. I would recommend a polite, quiet correction though. I had a student who, I was notified through student services, wanted to go by they\/them. When I first met them, I got a female impression (it's a hard wire we all have to break) and accidentally said, \"she\". They heard and quietly said, \"They, please,\" and that was all it took. There was no mix-ups by me the rest of the semester. For the majority, a correction once or twice is enough and we won't take any offense. For the others? Well, they're not worth trying to curry favour with.","human_ref_B":"I think you should just keep it cool, and correct right away. \"I go by them, not him.\" As for the conference, that is very annoying and rude, but it also may be that the moderator thought they were correcting poorly written copy. It is jarring for academics that the plural does not match singular verbs. For that instance I would make sure the moderator knows explicitly beforehand that you use them. Without additional information, I would not read malice into this at all. I would also not allow it to make you feel like an outsider. I am sure that in most cases it's just people not being in the practice of using they\/them pronouns. Good luck.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":834.0,"score_ratio":1.5555555556} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7tzjj","c_root_id_B":"hp7p0j8","created_at_utc_A":1639949838,"created_at_utc_B":1639947768,"score_A":42,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think you should just keep it cool, and correct right away. \"I go by them, not him.\" As for the conference, that is very annoying and rude, but it also may be that the moderator thought they were correcting poorly written copy. It is jarring for academics that the plural does not match singular verbs. For that instance I would make sure the moderator knows explicitly beforehand that you use them. Without additional information, I would not read malice into this at all. I would also not allow it to make you feel like an outsider. I am sure that in most cases it's just people not being in the practice of using they\/them pronouns. Good luck.","human_ref_B":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2070.0,"score_ratio":14.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7tzjj","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639949838,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":42,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think you should just keep it cool, and correct right away. \"I go by them, not him.\" As for the conference, that is very annoying and rude, but it also may be that the moderator thought they were correcting poorly written copy. It is jarring for academics that the plural does not match singular verbs. For that instance I would make sure the moderator knows explicitly beforehand that you use them. Without additional information, I would not read malice into this at all. I would also not allow it to make you feel like an outsider. I am sure that in most cases it's just people not being in the practice of using they\/them pronouns. Good luck.","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":429.0,"score_ratio":21.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7s084","c_root_id_B":"hp7xri9","created_at_utc_A":1639949004,"created_at_utc_B":1639951432,"score_A":27,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like you're doing everything politely possible already. I would recommend a polite, quiet correction though. I had a student who, I was notified through student services, wanted to go by they\/them. When I first met them, I got a female impression (it's a hard wire we all have to break) and accidentally said, \"she\". They heard and quietly said, \"They, please,\" and that was all it took. There was no mix-ups by me the rest of the semester. For the majority, a correction once or twice is enough and we won't take any offense. For the others? Well, they're not worth trying to curry favour with.","human_ref_B":"Along with the other people commenting here suggesting you do correct in the moment when it happens with a firm \"Not he\/she, they please.\" I do think is a lot of labor for you and will definitely get tiring, but it sounds like you're not doing that at the moment because you feel that it would be some sort of calling people out. It's NOT calling people out. It's the exact same thing as if someone thought you were in office 104 instead of 105. You'd let them know that they got your office number wrong, ensure they know the right one, and move on, right? I'd also suggest you literally take most of what you've said here and talk with your graduate student advisor (GSA) - usually these are Professors in your department who are assigned to help students through their first year while they're still learning who they want to work with. Sometimes the GSA is an admin in the department who knows all the administrative ropes. Either way these people are ones who often can help make the rest of the department faculty adjust to names\/different directions\/etc. that grad students are taking. Even if this person has misgendered you, go to them and explain to them what you've just explained to us - that lots of people are misgendering you, that you don't think its out of malice but you would like it to stop, and that you felt\/feel uncomfortable addressing it as it happens\/ed because you are not the kind of person who is interested in calling people out. Ask that GSA what their advice is. This is a helpful act on two levels - 1) you'll be having the conversation with someone who is a communication center for the rest of the department, so they can then bring it up behind closed doors with other faculty and get them all on the same page, 2) by treating it as an advice session rather than a session where you're asking them to stop misgendering you, they won't feel blame or called out, and so there's less of an issue of defensiveness, and you still make your point.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2428.0,"score_ratio":1.1851851852} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp7xri9","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639951432,"score_A":3,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":"Along with the other people commenting here suggesting you do correct in the moment when it happens with a firm \"Not he\/she, they please.\" I do think is a lot of labor for you and will definitely get tiring, but it sounds like you're not doing that at the moment because you feel that it would be some sort of calling people out. It's NOT calling people out. It's the exact same thing as if someone thought you were in office 104 instead of 105. You'd let them know that they got your office number wrong, ensure they know the right one, and move on, right? I'd also suggest you literally take most of what you've said here and talk with your graduate student advisor (GSA) - usually these are Professors in your department who are assigned to help students through their first year while they're still learning who they want to work with. Sometimes the GSA is an admin in the department who knows all the administrative ropes. Either way these people are ones who often can help make the rest of the department faculty adjust to names\/different directions\/etc. that grad students are taking. Even if this person has misgendered you, go to them and explain to them what you've just explained to us - that lots of people are misgendering you, that you don't think its out of malice but you would like it to stop, and that you felt\/feel uncomfortable addressing it as it happens\/ed because you are not the kind of person who is interested in calling people out. Ask that GSA what their advice is. This is a helpful act on two levels - 1) you'll be having the conversation with someone who is a communication center for the rest of the department, so they can then bring it up behind closed doors with other faculty and get them all on the same page, 2) by treating it as an advice session rather than a session where you're asking them to stop misgendering you, they won't feel blame or called out, and so there's less of an issue of defensiveness, and you still make your point.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3664.0,"score_ratio":10.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7xri9","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639951432,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":32,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Along with the other people commenting here suggesting you do correct in the moment when it happens with a firm \"Not he\/she, they please.\" I do think is a lot of labor for you and will definitely get tiring, but it sounds like you're not doing that at the moment because you feel that it would be some sort of calling people out. It's NOT calling people out. It's the exact same thing as if someone thought you were in office 104 instead of 105. You'd let them know that they got your office number wrong, ensure they know the right one, and move on, right? I'd also suggest you literally take most of what you've said here and talk with your graduate student advisor (GSA) - usually these are Professors in your department who are assigned to help students through their first year while they're still learning who they want to work with. Sometimes the GSA is an admin in the department who knows all the administrative ropes. Either way these people are ones who often can help make the rest of the department faculty adjust to names\/different directions\/etc. that grad students are taking. Even if this person has misgendered you, go to them and explain to them what you've just explained to us - that lots of people are misgendering you, that you don't think its out of malice but you would like it to stop, and that you felt\/feel uncomfortable addressing it as it happens\/ed because you are not the kind of person who is interested in calling people out. Ask that GSA what their advice is. This is a helpful act on two levels - 1) you'll be having the conversation with someone who is a communication center for the rest of the department, so they can then bring it up behind closed doors with other faculty and get them all on the same page, 2) by treating it as an advice session rather than a session where you're asking them to stop misgendering you, they won't feel blame or called out, and so there's less of an issue of defensiveness, and you still make your point.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":768.0,"score_ratio":10.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7xri9","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639951432,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":32,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Along with the other people commenting here suggesting you do correct in the moment when it happens with a firm \"Not he\/she, they please.\" I do think is a lot of labor for you and will definitely get tiring, but it sounds like you're not doing that at the moment because you feel that it would be some sort of calling people out. It's NOT calling people out. It's the exact same thing as if someone thought you were in office 104 instead of 105. You'd let them know that they got your office number wrong, ensure they know the right one, and move on, right? I'd also suggest you literally take most of what you've said here and talk with your graduate student advisor (GSA) - usually these are Professors in your department who are assigned to help students through their first year while they're still learning who they want to work with. Sometimes the GSA is an admin in the department who knows all the administrative ropes. Either way these people are ones who often can help make the rest of the department faculty adjust to names\/different directions\/etc. that grad students are taking. Even if this person has misgendered you, go to them and explain to them what you've just explained to us - that lots of people are misgendering you, that you don't think its out of malice but you would like it to stop, and that you felt\/feel uncomfortable addressing it as it happens\/ed because you are not the kind of person who is interested in calling people out. Ask that GSA what their advice is. This is a helpful act on two levels - 1) you'll be having the conversation with someone who is a communication center for the rest of the department, so they can then bring it up behind closed doors with other faculty and get them all on the same page, 2) by treating it as an advice session rather than a session where you're asking them to stop misgendering you, they won't feel blame or called out, and so there's less of an issue of defensiveness, and you still make your point.","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2023.0,"score_ratio":16.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7s084","c_root_id_B":"hp7p0j8","created_at_utc_A":1639949004,"created_at_utc_B":1639947768,"score_A":27,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like you're doing everything politely possible already. I would recommend a polite, quiet correction though. I had a student who, I was notified through student services, wanted to go by they\/them. When I first met them, I got a female impression (it's a hard wire we all have to break) and accidentally said, \"she\". They heard and quietly said, \"They, please,\" and that was all it took. There was no mix-ups by me the rest of the semester. For the majority, a correction once or twice is enough and we won't take any offense. For the others? Well, they're not worth trying to curry favour with.","human_ref_B":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1236.0,"score_ratio":9.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp81e4p","c_root_id_B":"hp7y9am","created_at_utc_A":1639952998,"created_at_utc_B":1639951646,"score_A":23,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Fellow nonbinary individual who doesn't care to 'call out' or 'nag people' and such about my pronouns. I see there is a lot of good advice already, but I thought I would add a little something too. I recently started my first job since graduating (under grad) and something I did to help people with my pronouns was put my pronouns on me. I wear a lab coat at work, so I just taped 'they\/them' across the back. People noticed and started using the correct pronouns\/asked about it. Of course, I have a few coworkers who were disgruntled by this but they had the good sense to not say something to my face. I just do not interact with them unless I have to. You may want to get a button\/pin with 'they\/them' or 'my pronouns are they\/them' to wear as well. That will help remind people. I would advice doing this along with the other suggestions people have given. Best of luck in your academic pursuits!","human_ref_B":"I'm not LGBT+ myself but I know some of my professors stance on the matter. I would guess, just statistically, in a university English department there probably aren't a lot of strongly conservative individuals who would refuse to address you by your preferred pronouns on religious or political principle. It's most likely that you are just working against long years of habit using he\/she style pronouns. I absolutely agree that calling people out aggressively in public settings probably won't be as helpful as reaching out individually in private. That should get at least some professors on board. I'm willing to bet that at least half made the substitution without thinking about and would have no problem addressing you as they\/them.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1352.0,"score_ratio":2.3} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp81e4p","c_root_id_B":"hp7p0j8","created_at_utc_A":1639952998,"created_at_utc_B":1639947768,"score_A":23,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Fellow nonbinary individual who doesn't care to 'call out' or 'nag people' and such about my pronouns. I see there is a lot of good advice already, but I thought I would add a little something too. I recently started my first job since graduating (under grad) and something I did to help people with my pronouns was put my pronouns on me. I wear a lab coat at work, so I just taped 'they\/them' across the back. People noticed and started using the correct pronouns\/asked about it. Of course, I have a few coworkers who were disgruntled by this but they had the good sense to not say something to my face. I just do not interact with them unless I have to. You may want to get a button\/pin with 'they\/them' or 'my pronouns are they\/them' to wear as well. That will help remind people. I would advice doing this along with the other suggestions people have given. Best of luck in your academic pursuits!","human_ref_B":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5230.0,"score_ratio":7.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp81e4p","c_root_id_B":"hp7yjou","created_at_utc_A":1639952998,"created_at_utc_B":1639951772,"score_A":23,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Fellow nonbinary individual who doesn't care to 'call out' or 'nag people' and such about my pronouns. I see there is a lot of good advice already, but I thought I would add a little something too. I recently started my first job since graduating (under grad) and something I did to help people with my pronouns was put my pronouns on me. I wear a lab coat at work, so I just taped 'they\/them' across the back. People noticed and started using the correct pronouns\/asked about it. Of course, I have a few coworkers who were disgruntled by this but they had the good sense to not say something to my face. I just do not interact with them unless I have to. You may want to get a button\/pin with 'they\/them' or 'my pronouns are they\/them' to wear as well. That will help remind people. I would advice doing this along with the other suggestions people have given. Best of luck in your academic pursuits!","human_ref_B":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1226.0,"score_ratio":5.75} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7vyku","c_root_id_B":"hp81e4p","created_at_utc_A":1639950664,"created_at_utc_B":1639952998,"score_A":3,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","human_ref_B":"Fellow nonbinary individual who doesn't care to 'call out' or 'nag people' and such about my pronouns. I see there is a lot of good advice already, but I thought I would add a little something too. I recently started my first job since graduating (under grad) and something I did to help people with my pronouns was put my pronouns on me. I wear a lab coat at work, so I just taped 'they\/them' across the back. People noticed and started using the correct pronouns\/asked about it. Of course, I have a few coworkers who were disgruntled by this but they had the good sense to not say something to my face. I just do not interact with them unless I have to. You may want to get a button\/pin with 'they\/them' or 'my pronouns are they\/them' to wear as well. That will help remind people. I would advice doing this along with the other suggestions people have given. Best of luck in your academic pursuits!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2334.0,"score_ratio":7.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp81e4p","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639952998,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":23,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Fellow nonbinary individual who doesn't care to 'call out' or 'nag people' and such about my pronouns. I see there is a lot of good advice already, but I thought I would add a little something too. I recently started my first job since graduating (under grad) and something I did to help people with my pronouns was put my pronouns on me. I wear a lab coat at work, so I just taped 'they\/them' across the back. People noticed and started using the correct pronouns\/asked about it. Of course, I have a few coworkers who were disgruntled by this but they had the good sense to not say something to my face. I just do not interact with them unless I have to. You may want to get a button\/pin with 'they\/them' or 'my pronouns are they\/them' to wear as well. That will help remind people. I would advice doing this along with the other suggestions people have given. Best of luck in your academic pursuits!","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3589.0,"score_ratio":11.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uhz6","c_root_id_B":"hp7y9am","created_at_utc_A":1639966539,"created_at_utc_B":1639951646,"score_A":18,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","human_ref_B":"I'm not LGBT+ myself but I know some of my professors stance on the matter. I would guess, just statistically, in a university English department there probably aren't a lot of strongly conservative individuals who would refuse to address you by your preferred pronouns on religious or political principle. It's most likely that you are just working against long years of habit using he\/she style pronouns. I absolutely agree that calling people out aggressively in public settings probably won't be as helpful as reaching out individually in private. That should get at least some professors on board. I'm willing to bet that at least half made the substitution without thinking about and would have no problem addressing you as they\/them.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14893.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uhz6","c_root_id_B":"hp84z6g","created_at_utc_A":1639966539,"created_at_utc_B":1639954567,"score_A":18,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","human_ref_B":"I think saying \u2018oh, it\u2019s they please\u2019 is perfect for most situations. I\u2019ve been very conscientious about this with my students and I still make mistakes. It\u2019s new to everyone and a gentle reminder is very appropriate for these very human mistakes. Obviously if someone is being a jerk about it, that\u2019s a different approach. Another thing to keep in mind is that there\u2019s plenty of people on the autism spectrum and pronouns are an area they can have difficulties with. I know it\u2019s very different, but I have to remind people to call me by my full name and not any nicknames. I understand it\u2019s hard for people to not say what\u2019s intuitive for them and it feels automatic. It takes a few times and then they get it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11972.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uhz6","c_root_id_B":"hp8c2tj","created_at_utc_A":1639966539,"created_at_utc_B":1639957717,"score_A":18,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m so sorry. I work with non-binary contemporary writers as a lit scholar. My chair doesn\u2019t get their pronouns right and it infuriates me and it isn\u2019t even ME. I can\u2019t even imagine how infuriating and exhausting it it is for you. Here\u2019s my advice. (I\u2019m a very direct person). Correct them, quietly every time. If you\u2019re introduced as \u201cHe\/Him\u201d say \u201cHi. I\u2019m [yourname] They\/theirs.\u201d It will feel awkward, but roll right into your net sentence. Don\u2019t miss a beat and it\u2019ll stick. Practice it. Don\u2019t let your position scare you out of your truth. You just have to train yourself to KNOW it and OWN it. They\u2019re falling back on old scripts. You can shift it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8822.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp8uhz6","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639966539,"score_A":3,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18771.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7yjou","c_root_id_B":"hp8uhz6","created_at_utc_A":1639951772,"created_at_utc_B":1639966539,"score_A":4,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","human_ref_B":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14767.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uhz6","c_root_id_B":"hp8k1m3","created_at_utc_A":1639966539,"created_at_utc_B":1639961427,"score_A":18,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m sorry this is happening. I can understand making this mistake, though. I\u2019m old and I just forget, it\u2019s really a new way of thinking for me. That said, I would appreciate being reminded politely, either in public or in person. It would help me remember for you and for other non-binary folk in the future. I certainly don\u2019t mean to cause hurt, I just need practice. Good luck to you in your work!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5112.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uems","c_root_id_B":"hp8uhz6","created_at_utc_A":1639966494,"created_at_utc_B":1639966539,"score_A":5,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","human_ref_B":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":45.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uhz6","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639966539,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":18,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15875.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7syxp","c_root_id_B":"hp8uhz6","created_at_utc_A":1639949409,"created_at_utc_B":1639966539,"score_A":2,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","human_ref_B":">At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility >Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. You've never said anything. If we met at a conference or social event, how am I supposed to pick up on the fact that you prefer them\/they? Surely you're not regularly referring to yourself in the third person :D. I mean, I'd probably notice if I joined the table and everyone was referring to you as them\/they. But as the new person, you don't have that team to set those cues. As others have already mentioned, politely correcting someone is a long way from calling them out.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17130.0,"score_ratio":9.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp7y9am","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639951646,"score_A":3,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":"I'm not LGBT+ myself but I know some of my professors stance on the matter. I would guess, just statistically, in a university English department there probably aren't a lot of strongly conservative individuals who would refuse to address you by your preferred pronouns on religious or political principle. It's most likely that you are just working against long years of habit using he\/she style pronouns. I absolutely agree that calling people out aggressively in public settings probably won't be as helpful as reaching out individually in private. That should get at least some professors on board. I'm willing to bet that at least half made the substitution without thinking about and would have no problem addressing you as they\/them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3878.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7y9am","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639951646,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":10,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm not LGBT+ myself but I know some of my professors stance on the matter. I would guess, just statistically, in a university English department there probably aren't a lot of strongly conservative individuals who would refuse to address you by your preferred pronouns on religious or political principle. It's most likely that you are just working against long years of habit using he\/she style pronouns. I absolutely agree that calling people out aggressively in public settings probably won't be as helpful as reaching out individually in private. That should get at least some professors on board. I'm willing to bet that at least half made the substitution without thinking about and would have no problem addressing you as they\/them.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":982.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7y9am","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639951646,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":10,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm not LGBT+ myself but I know some of my professors stance on the matter. I would guess, just statistically, in a university English department there probably aren't a lot of strongly conservative individuals who would refuse to address you by your preferred pronouns on religious or political principle. It's most likely that you are just working against long years of habit using he\/she style pronouns. I absolutely agree that calling people out aggressively in public settings probably won't be as helpful as reaching out individually in private. That should get at least some professors on board. I'm willing to bet that at least half made the substitution without thinking about and would have no problem addressing you as they\/them.","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2237.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp9b90m","c_root_id_B":"hp84z6g","created_at_utc_A":1639974919,"created_at_utc_B":1639954567,"score_A":8,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","human_ref_B":"I think saying \u2018oh, it\u2019s they please\u2019 is perfect for most situations. I\u2019ve been very conscientious about this with my students and I still make mistakes. It\u2019s new to everyone and a gentle reminder is very appropriate for these very human mistakes. Obviously if someone is being a jerk about it, that\u2019s a different approach. Another thing to keep in mind is that there\u2019s plenty of people on the autism spectrum and pronouns are an area they can have difficulties with. I know it\u2019s very different, but I have to remind people to call me by my full name and not any nicknames. I understand it\u2019s hard for people to not say what\u2019s intuitive for them and it feels automatic. It takes a few times and then they get it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20352.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp9b90m","c_root_id_B":"hp8c2tj","created_at_utc_A":1639974919,"created_at_utc_B":1639957717,"score_A":8,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m so sorry. I work with non-binary contemporary writers as a lit scholar. My chair doesn\u2019t get their pronouns right and it infuriates me and it isn\u2019t even ME. I can\u2019t even imagine how infuriating and exhausting it it is for you. Here\u2019s my advice. (I\u2019m a very direct person). Correct them, quietly every time. If you\u2019re introduced as \u201cHe\/Him\u201d say \u201cHi. I\u2019m [yourname] They\/theirs.\u201d It will feel awkward, but roll right into your net sentence. Don\u2019t miss a beat and it\u2019ll stick. Practice it. Don\u2019t let your position scare you out of your truth. You just have to train yourself to KNOW it and OWN it. They\u2019re falling back on old scripts. You can shift it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17202.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp9b90m","c_root_id_B":"hp7p0j8","created_at_utc_A":1639974919,"created_at_utc_B":1639947768,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","human_ref_B":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27151.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7yjou","c_root_id_B":"hp9b90m","created_at_utc_A":1639951772,"created_at_utc_B":1639974919,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","human_ref_B":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23147.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8k1m3","c_root_id_B":"hp9b90m","created_at_utc_A":1639961427,"created_at_utc_B":1639974919,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m sorry this is happening. I can understand making this mistake, though. I\u2019m old and I just forget, it\u2019s really a new way of thinking for me. That said, I would appreciate being reminded politely, either in public or in person. It would help me remember for you and for other non-binary folk in the future. I certainly don\u2019t mean to cause hurt, I just need practice. Good luck to you in your work!","human_ref_B":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13492.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uems","c_root_id_B":"hp9b90m","created_at_utc_A":1639966494,"created_at_utc_B":1639974919,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","human_ref_B":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8425.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp9b7jy","c_root_id_B":"hp9b90m","created_at_utc_A":1639974896,"created_at_utc_B":1639974919,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"There are already a few good detailed suggestions here, so I'll let you take those, but definitely find a way to correct them, and every time someone messes up, say something. Eventually, they'll start catching themselves, but it will probably take time, because, cis people and academia. I had a professor last year who asked us our names and pronouns on the first day of class. She even wrote them all down on her clipboard. But throughout the entire semester, she never once correctly gendered any of the 3 they\/thems (including me). Why did she even ask? ​ Sending you support and encouragement from across the internet!","human_ref_B":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp9b90m","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639974919,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":24255.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7syxp","c_root_id_B":"hp9b90m","created_at_utc_A":1639949409,"created_at_utc_B":1639974919,"score_A":2,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","human_ref_B":"I agree with the advice to politely correct on the spot. Non-malicious misgendering is mostly just reflex\/muscle memory, and the more people are correct and hear your correct pronouns, the more they'll get used to using them. IMO anyone who would retaliate against you solely for correcting them politely would probably discriminate against you anyway later down the line when they realize you're non-binary, so there isn't any benefit in not correcting. It helps to have allies who will actively correct others when you aren't around. I'm a trans guy and when I started transitioning, I didn't wanna make some big announcement, so I told my PI, program director, labmates, and close friends, and told them to let other people know as it came up and to please correct any misgendering. They did, and word naturally diffused out, so that even people who I never told directly knew I was transitioning and to use male pronouns. There was still occasional misgendering, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people got it right.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25510.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp84z6g","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639954567,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":"I think saying \u2018oh, it\u2019s they please\u2019 is perfect for most situations. I\u2019ve been very conscientious about this with my students and I still make mistakes. It\u2019s new to everyone and a gentle reminder is very appropriate for these very human mistakes. Obviously if someone is being a jerk about it, that\u2019s a different approach. Another thing to keep in mind is that there\u2019s plenty of people on the autism spectrum and pronouns are an area they can have difficulties with. I know it\u2019s very different, but I have to remind people to call me by my full name and not any nicknames. I understand it\u2019s hard for people to not say what\u2019s intuitive for them and it feels automatic. It takes a few times and then they get it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6799.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp84z6g","c_root_id_B":"hp7yjou","created_at_utc_A":1639954567,"created_at_utc_B":1639951772,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I think saying \u2018oh, it\u2019s they please\u2019 is perfect for most situations. I\u2019ve been very conscientious about this with my students and I still make mistakes. It\u2019s new to everyone and a gentle reminder is very appropriate for these very human mistakes. Obviously if someone is being a jerk about it, that\u2019s a different approach. Another thing to keep in mind is that there\u2019s plenty of people on the autism spectrum and pronouns are an area they can have difficulties with. I know it\u2019s very different, but I have to remind people to call me by my full name and not any nicknames. I understand it\u2019s hard for people to not say what\u2019s intuitive for them and it feels automatic. It takes a few times and then they get it.","human_ref_B":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2795.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp84z6g","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639954567,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think saying \u2018oh, it\u2019s they please\u2019 is perfect for most situations. I\u2019ve been very conscientious about this with my students and I still make mistakes. It\u2019s new to everyone and a gentle reminder is very appropriate for these very human mistakes. Obviously if someone is being a jerk about it, that\u2019s a different approach. Another thing to keep in mind is that there\u2019s plenty of people on the autism spectrum and pronouns are an area they can have difficulties with. I know it\u2019s very different, but I have to remind people to call me by my full name and not any nicknames. I understand it\u2019s hard for people to not say what\u2019s intuitive for them and it feels automatic. It takes a few times and then they get it.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3903.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7syxp","c_root_id_B":"hp84z6g","created_at_utc_A":1639949409,"created_at_utc_B":1639954567,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","human_ref_B":"I think saying \u2018oh, it\u2019s they please\u2019 is perfect for most situations. I\u2019ve been very conscientious about this with my students and I still make mistakes. It\u2019s new to everyone and a gentle reminder is very appropriate for these very human mistakes. Obviously if someone is being a jerk about it, that\u2019s a different approach. Another thing to keep in mind is that there\u2019s plenty of people on the autism spectrum and pronouns are an area they can have difficulties with. I know it\u2019s very different, but I have to remind people to call me by my full name and not any nicknames. I understand it\u2019s hard for people to not say what\u2019s intuitive for them and it feels automatic. It takes a few times and then they get it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5158.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8c2tj","c_root_id_B":"hp7p0j8","created_at_utc_A":1639957717,"created_at_utc_B":1639947768,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m so sorry. I work with non-binary contemporary writers as a lit scholar. My chair doesn\u2019t get their pronouns right and it infuriates me and it isn\u2019t even ME. I can\u2019t even imagine how infuriating and exhausting it it is for you. Here\u2019s my advice. (I\u2019m a very direct person). Correct them, quietly every time. If you\u2019re introduced as \u201cHe\/Him\u201d say \u201cHi. I\u2019m [yourname] They\/theirs.\u201d It will feel awkward, but roll right into your net sentence. Don\u2019t miss a beat and it\u2019ll stick. Practice it. Don\u2019t let your position scare you out of your truth. You just have to train yourself to KNOW it and OWN it. They\u2019re falling back on old scripts. You can shift it.","human_ref_B":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9949.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8c2tj","c_root_id_B":"hp7yjou","created_at_utc_A":1639957717,"created_at_utc_B":1639951772,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m so sorry. I work with non-binary contemporary writers as a lit scholar. My chair doesn\u2019t get their pronouns right and it infuriates me and it isn\u2019t even ME. I can\u2019t even imagine how infuriating and exhausting it it is for you. Here\u2019s my advice. (I\u2019m a very direct person). Correct them, quietly every time. If you\u2019re introduced as \u201cHe\/Him\u201d say \u201cHi. I\u2019m [yourname] They\/theirs.\u201d It will feel awkward, but roll right into your net sentence. Don\u2019t miss a beat and it\u2019ll stick. Practice it. Don\u2019t let your position scare you out of your truth. You just have to train yourself to KNOW it and OWN it. They\u2019re falling back on old scripts. You can shift it.","human_ref_B":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5945.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8c2tj","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639957717,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m so sorry. I work with non-binary contemporary writers as a lit scholar. My chair doesn\u2019t get their pronouns right and it infuriates me and it isn\u2019t even ME. I can\u2019t even imagine how infuriating and exhausting it it is for you. Here\u2019s my advice. (I\u2019m a very direct person). Correct them, quietly every time. If you\u2019re introduced as \u201cHe\/Him\u201d say \u201cHi. I\u2019m [yourname] They\/theirs.\u201d It will feel awkward, but roll right into your net sentence. Don\u2019t miss a beat and it\u2019ll stick. Practice it. Don\u2019t let your position scare you out of your truth. You just have to train yourself to KNOW it and OWN it. They\u2019re falling back on old scripts. You can shift it.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7053.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8c2tj","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639957717,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m so sorry. I work with non-binary contemporary writers as a lit scholar. My chair doesn\u2019t get their pronouns right and it infuriates me and it isn\u2019t even ME. I can\u2019t even imagine how infuriating and exhausting it it is for you. Here\u2019s my advice. (I\u2019m a very direct person). Correct them, quietly every time. If you\u2019re introduced as \u201cHe\/Him\u201d say \u201cHi. I\u2019m [yourname] They\/theirs.\u201d It will feel awkward, but roll right into your net sentence. Don\u2019t miss a beat and it\u2019ll stick. Practice it. Don\u2019t let your position scare you out of your truth. You just have to train yourself to KNOW it and OWN it. They\u2019re falling back on old scripts. You can shift it.","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8308.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp7yjou","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639951772,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4004.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8k1m3","c_root_id_B":"hp7p0j8","created_at_utc_A":1639961427,"created_at_utc_B":1639947768,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m sorry this is happening. I can understand making this mistake, though. I\u2019m old and I just forget, it\u2019s really a new way of thinking for me. That said, I would appreciate being reminded politely, either in public or in person. It would help me remember for you and for other non-binary folk in the future. I certainly don\u2019t mean to cause hurt, I just need practice. Good luck to you in your work!","human_ref_B":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13659.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp8uems","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639966494,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18726.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7p0j8","c_root_id_B":"hp9b7jy","created_at_utc_A":1639947768,"created_at_utc_B":1639974896,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've noticed more and more people adding their pronouns to signatures\/Twitter handles etc., but mostly in the UK (because I haven't been in contact with many outside of the UK and the country I'm in now is decidedly against LGBTQ+ inclusivity). My own supervisors are mostly unaware or not interested in LGBTQ+ equality or needs, though not hostile. I'm not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I cannot speak from first hand experience, but with them I could peobably just explain it. They probably never thought of it, or use he\/she automatically. They were very willing to stop using the standard nickname people with (nearly) my name get here, because it's not my name but they automatically started using it. If you feel safe addressing your professors or TAs about it, I would do so. They probably didn't even notice they were using the wrong pronouns as it still is a very alien concept for a lot of people (I'm glad it's changing though), and the only way for them to become aware of it and for you to feel validated is to tell them. If you're worried about how to address it, maybe write it down and ask a peer for feedback on your tone and clarity, or post it here.","human_ref_B":"There are already a few good detailed suggestions here, so I'll let you take those, but definitely find a way to correct them, and every time someone messes up, say something. Eventually, they'll start catching themselves, but it will probably take time, because, cis people and academia. I had a professor last year who asked us our names and pronouns on the first day of class. She even wrote them all down on her clipboard. But throughout the entire semester, she never once correctly gendered any of the 3 they\/thems (including me). Why did she even ask? ​ Sending you support and encouragement from across the internet!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27128.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7yjou","c_root_id_B":"hp8uems","created_at_utc_A":1639951772,"created_at_utc_B":1639966494,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","human_ref_B":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14722.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7yjou","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639951772,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1108.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7yjou","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639951772,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Correct them, when possible. An email can work well, especially a simple one that just says something along the lines of, \"Hello Professor ___. ___ was great. I just want to clarify that my pronouns are they\/them. Earlier, you misidentified me as he\/him. I would appreciate it if you could use my correct pronouns in the future. Thank you and have a good week.\" The other benefit to an email is that if you get strange pushback, the interaction is documented, and if they outright refuse or do something weird, you can easily take the issue up the chain of command (HR, DEI, Chairs, or Deans). If someone misidentified me at public reading, conference, or roundtable before I spoke, I might say when it's my turn to speak: \"Just for clarification, my pronouns are _\/_\/_.\" That's enough of a public correction. I've been corrected by people for other things, and I'm thankful for it. I don't *want* to make these mistakes and so I find correction helpful. Based on my experiences with colleagues, most have thanked me when I have corrected them concerning myself and others. I think it's best to start in good faith with correcting others. This means believing from the start that these people actually want to be welcoming, inclusive, and accurate. People can still be shitty, and when it's ongoing, that's when the matter should move up the \"chain of command.\" If for whatever reason you do not feel confident or comfortable in doing any correcting, I would go ahead and speak with either the DEI Office, Chair, or Dean who can correct them on your behalf.","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2363.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp8uems","c_root_id_B":"hp8k1m3","created_at_utc_A":1639966494,"created_at_utc_B":1639961427,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m sorry this is happening. I can understand making this mistake, though. I\u2019m old and I just forget, it\u2019s really a new way of thinking for me. That said, I would appreciate being reminded politely, either in public or in person. It would help me remember for you and for other non-binary folk in the future. I certainly don\u2019t mean to cause hurt, I just need practice. Good luck to you in your work!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5067.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7vyku","c_root_id_B":"hp8k1m3","created_at_utc_A":1639950664,"created_at_utc_B":1639961427,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m sorry this is happening. I can understand making this mistake, though. I\u2019m old and I just forget, it\u2019s really a new way of thinking for me. That said, I would appreciate being reminded politely, either in public or in person. It would help me remember for you and for other non-binary folk in the future. I certainly don\u2019t mean to cause hurt, I just need practice. Good luck to you in your work!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10763.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7syxp","c_root_id_B":"hp8k1m3","created_at_utc_A":1639949409,"created_at_utc_B":1639961427,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m sorry this is happening. I can understand making this mistake, though. I\u2019m old and I just forget, it\u2019s really a new way of thinking for me. That said, I would appreciate being reminded politely, either in public or in person. It would help me remember for you and for other non-binary folk in the future. I certainly don\u2019t mean to cause hurt, I just need practice. Good luck to you in your work!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12018.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7vyku","c_root_id_B":"hp8uems","created_at_utc_A":1639950664,"created_at_utc_B":1639966494,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","human_ref_B":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15830.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7syxp","c_root_id_B":"hp8uems","created_at_utc_A":1639949409,"created_at_utc_B":1639966494,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","human_ref_B":"I am a fellow nonbinary person still exploring this identity. I look at it similar to a situation where someone calls you by the wrong name. It is an honest mistake that we go through, and are sometimes guilty of doing ourselves. correcting someone is not rude, and it doesn't put them on the spot if you do so graciously, and maybe even privately if you have the chance. I've let people call me by the wrong name for a long time, and when they found out what my actual name was, they were kinda upset that I didn't correct them sooner. If the people you are working with matter to you, then let them know when they goof. More than likely, they will really appreciate it and respect you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17085.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp9b7jy","c_root_id_B":"hp7vyku","created_at_utc_A":1639974896,"created_at_utc_B":1639950664,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"There are already a few good detailed suggestions here, so I'll let you take those, but definitely find a way to correct them, and every time someone messes up, say something. Eventually, they'll start catching themselves, but it will probably take time, because, cis people and academia. I had a professor last year who asked us our names and pronouns on the first day of class. She even wrote them all down on her clipboard. But throughout the entire semester, she never once correctly gendered any of the 3 they\/thems (including me). Why did she even ask? ​ Sending you support and encouragement from across the internet!","human_ref_B":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":24232.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7syxp","c_root_id_B":"hp9b7jy","created_at_utc_A":1639949409,"created_at_utc_B":1639974896,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","human_ref_B":"There are already a few good detailed suggestions here, so I'll let you take those, but definitely find a way to correct them, and every time someone messes up, say something. Eventually, they'll start catching themselves, but it will probably take time, because, cis people and academia. I had a professor last year who asked us our names and pronouns on the first day of class. She even wrote them all down on her clipboard. But throughout the entire semester, she never once correctly gendered any of the 3 they\/thems (including me). Why did she even ask? ​ Sending you support and encouragement from across the internet!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25487.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp7vyku","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639950664,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"As you know, this is a difficult situation to navigate. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone is intentionally engaging in misgendering you. That\u2019s not meant to minimize the distress related to it but is hopefully a prognostic indicator. You sound like you have adopted a fairly measured approach without the desired outcome. You should continue to take every reasonable opportunity to remind people of your self identification and pronoun preferences. As you have the opportunity, thank the people who do or try to use they\/them when referring to you. At the first of the semester, go up to each professor and kindly remind them of your preference. Then when you have the occasion to meet with classmates or professors on an individual basis remind them of your preferences. This may be more of the same for you but it will be a new semester and a good time to reboot and solidify your expectations. Try to determine who your allies are both among the students and professors, thank and encourage them. You might also consider going to talk to the chair if you don\u2019t see the ball move forward after talking to them on an individual basis. Honestly, I would approach them just like you approached your post. I have a problem that I am trying to solve. Do you have suggestions about what I can do? If they\u2019re worth their salt they\u2019ll take discrete action to correct the situation. The biggest mistake the people make in approaching the chair, a Dean, HR is that they don\u2019t adopt a stepwise process. It\u2019s incumbent upon you to communicate your distress and preferences on an individual basis before moving up the chain. Hopefully, that brings about course correction. The good news is that it doesn\u2019t sound like anyone has malicious intent. All you need is one profesor to be mindful of your preferences to shift the tide. It is not a simple change in mindset or grammar usage even for someone who is attentive to it. Unless, they have known someone like you, it will not come easily. That\u2019s the role you can serve for the next person who has other pronoun preferences or gender identity. I hope that is helpful.","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1255.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rk5c6t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.58,"history":"How best to navigate misgendering as a first-year PhD student\/early-career academic? I wasn't sure whether here, or r\/gradschool, or even an LGBT+-specific subreddit would be best. If it's better to crosspost or just submit elsewhere instead, I'd appreciate the heads up. So, I'm a first-year student in a really great English PhD program, having just finished my first semester. I'm also nonbinary, and use they\/them pronouns. This information is public: in the list of new students\/areas of interest shared with faculty at the beginning of the year, in my in-class \"icebreakers,\" and, for when things took place over Zoom, immediately after my name. Unfortunately, every single professor I worked with--both as a student and a TA--referred to me as \"he\" and \"him.\" Even one or two students made the same error. One particularly embarrassing instance of this happened where the moderator for a panel at a conference I participated in a couple months back read my author bio, but substituted in \"he\" and \"him\" for all places where I wrote \"they\" and them.\" The trouble I'm having, naturally, is how best to go about this as I go into my next semester and beyond. Up to now, I've elected to say nothing to these people, either publicly or privately. I'm temperamentally a bit more reserved, and I object, ethically, to doing any sort of aggressive \"calling out\" or, even worse, pursuing institutional action. My temperament and ethics aside, my status as a first-year early in my career contributes to my feeling troubled: though my work draws quite a bit on queer theory, I nevertheless fear either conscious or unconscious retaliation for directly taking things up with the professors individually. This is compounded by my being a bit of an outsider to the \"culture\"--only one of my parents went to college, and even then as a late adult--and having gotten into this program off the waitlist. There's definitely a feeling like I still need to prove I belong here. That said, I also know the situation is untenable. At first, I decided I would say nothing and use who respected what I asked for as a bellwether of their safety and compatibility viz. mentorship, but since every person of authority I interacted with this semester failed to do so, I know something needs to change. Moreover, I also still believe the onus is on me to self-advocate. So, that's basically where I'm at. I want to--and think I need to--assert this part of my identity, one that I embraced explicitly as part of my admissions material and one I've still been open about when I got here (whether people cared to listen or not). But I also am at a bit of a loss as to the best route to take I have amicable relationships with all of my cohort (as much as I saw them given the remoteness), and one or two more solid friendships, and I could see if I can get them \"on my side\" in terms of correcting professors we have when it happens, etc. But again, these are tough waters to chart. If there are any words of advice or encouragement or even a better subreddit this belongs in, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)","c_root_id_A":"hp9evnu","c_root_id_B":"hp7syxp","created_at_utc_A":1639977018,"created_at_utc_B":1639949409,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Correcting people on your preferred pronouns isn't \"calling out\" - it's merely correcting. You deserve to be referred to in accordance with your identity. If someone called you by the wrong name, you would correct them instantaneously, without it being a confrontation. This (ideally) shouldn't be any different, though I can see why you may be hesitant to do so. There is a non-binary graduate student in my department. I have been corrected, and have corrected others on their preferred pronouns. The more we normalize this kind of correction, the less intrusive it becomes. There's inevitably going to be pushback from some bigoted individuals...but they can go fuck themselves.","human_ref_B":"I hope you have an advisor who will help with the corrections in spaces like faculty meetings, and fellow students who will also bear the burden of correcting others. My closest doctoral peer is nonbinary, and has been very generous with their corrections when misgendered. I appreciate their patience and forgiveness, and I also appreciate their persistence and the persistence of others within our community to continually honor identity and pronouns. I would have hoped that your community would be on this path by now. I think gentle and persistent correction is a good approach. Do you have others who will speak up for and with you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27609.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"2yeka0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Say a person has gotten a PhD and left academia to work for a while. However, eventually they find that they miss doing research, yet they aren't interested in tenure-track prefessorships. Can one assist with research in their spare time, similar to how non-academics teach as adjuncts?","c_root_id_A":"cp8tvvf","c_root_id_B":"cp8vhh6","created_at_utc_A":1425874912,"created_at_utc_B":1425879051,"score_A":3,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Maybe -- this really depends on the field. If you're in a field where co-authoring is common, then you might be able to collaborate with colleagues.","human_ref_B":"I do something similar; I am a faculty member at a primarily undergrad. institution with no research facilities. In the summer I work at an R1 school in the lab of a former colleague. It's a nice situation because I can stay up-to-date in my field, and he gets a free postdoc. for a few months (and often he goes on vacay and I can mentor his students).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4139.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"2yeka0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Say a person has gotten a PhD and left academia to work for a while. However, eventually they find that they miss doing research, yet they aren't interested in tenure-track prefessorships. Can one assist with research in their spare time, similar to how non-academics teach as adjuncts?","c_root_id_A":"cp8upvi","c_root_id_B":"cp8vhh6","created_at_utc_A":1425877006,"created_at_utc_B":1425879051,"score_A":3,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Do you mean a paid or volunteer position?","human_ref_B":"I do something similar; I am a faculty member at a primarily undergrad. institution with no research facilities. In the summer I work at an R1 school in the lab of a former colleague. It's a nice situation because I can stay up-to-date in my field, and he gets a free postdoc. for a few months (and often he goes on vacay and I can mentor his students).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2045.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"2yeka0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Say a person has gotten a PhD and left academia to work for a while. However, eventually they find that they miss doing research, yet they aren't interested in tenure-track prefessorships. Can one assist with research in their spare time, similar to how non-academics teach as adjuncts?","c_root_id_A":"cp8vhh6","c_root_id_B":"cp8t98a","created_at_utc_A":1425879051,"created_at_utc_B":1425873453,"score_A":10,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I do something similar; I am a faculty member at a primarily undergrad. institution with no research facilities. In the summer I work at an R1 school in the lab of a former colleague. It's a nice situation because I can stay up-to-date in my field, and he gets a free postdoc. for a few months (and often he goes on vacay and I can mentor his students).","human_ref_B":"I have the feeling most PhD holders are going to be viewed as ridiculously overqualified as technicians\/research assistants.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5598.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"2yeka0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Say a person has gotten a PhD and left academia to work for a while. However, eventually they find that they miss doing research, yet they aren't interested in tenure-track prefessorships. Can one assist with research in their spare time, similar to how non-academics teach as adjuncts?","c_root_id_A":"cp8t98a","c_root_id_B":"cp8tvvf","created_at_utc_A":1425873453,"created_at_utc_B":1425874912,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I have the feeling most PhD holders are going to be viewed as ridiculously overqualified as technicians\/research assistants.","human_ref_B":"Maybe -- this really depends on the field. If you're in a field where co-authoring is common, then you might be able to collaborate with colleagues.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1459.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"2yeka0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Say a person has gotten a PhD and left academia to work for a while. However, eventually they find that they miss doing research, yet they aren't interested in tenure-track prefessorships. Can one assist with research in their spare time, similar to how non-academics teach as adjuncts?","c_root_id_A":"cp8upvi","c_root_id_B":"cp8t98a","created_at_utc_A":1425877006,"created_at_utc_B":1425873453,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Do you mean a paid or volunteer position?","human_ref_B":"I have the feeling most PhD holders are going to be viewed as ridiculously overqualified as technicians\/research assistants.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3553.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"2yeka0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Say a person has gotten a PhD and left academia to work for a while. However, eventually they find that they miss doing research, yet they aren't interested in tenure-track prefessorships. Can one assist with research in their spare time, similar to how non-academics teach as adjuncts?","c_root_id_A":"cp982xw","c_root_id_B":"cp8t98a","created_at_utc_A":1425917922,"created_at_utc_B":1425873453,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"The lab I did my PhD in had a part time 'postdoc' who was also a fulltime professor at a school with no research facilities. I don't know what the exact arrangement was between her and our PI, but she did it for quite some time.","human_ref_B":"I have the feeling most PhD holders are going to be viewed as ridiculously overqualified as technicians\/research assistants.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":44469.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"6e4q7k","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"In the social sciences, what is more influential in the long-run: books or journal articles?","c_root_id_A":"di7yvhm","c_root_id_B":"di83p4q","created_at_utc_A":1496141267,"created_at_utc_B":1496150607,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Social sciences is not detailed enough. Also the answer will always be articles due to ease of access.","human_ref_B":"Let me offer a counter-opinion to the perspectives you've received in this thread from education, business, and sociology. History is considered a \"book field.\" Do peer-reviewed articles have an impact? Absolutely. Will they help you on the job market and with tenure and promotion? Yes. But for many historians, the process of earning tenure revolves around a BOOK or monograph. Famous books in our field can be cited regularly for 30+ years. So, in agreement with the other responses here this is heavily field dependent. To add to the responses here - history is an example of a field where books are generally perceived as carrying more weight than articles.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9340.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm4r0hr","c_root_id_B":"hm51jeg","created_at_utc_A":1637912008,"created_at_utc_B":1637920526,"score_A":21,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"In my field it's pretty simple: are you getting grants on which you're the PI and funding yourself? It has nothing to do with whether your \"abilities\" are good enough except to the surprisingly minor extent it translates to that.","human_ref_B":"Throw a die ten times. If it always lands on a six you may be lucky enough to advance. On a serious note I'm only half joking, sadly luck and being in the right place at the right time is a huge part on whether or not you'll be able to advance your career. Everything else is helpful. Having the right connections will help, grants and publications will of course help, too. Comparing yourself to *recently hired* people can help (requirements constantly change, so established people are usually a bad measurement) but since you don't really know how many connections in the institute that person has and who they competed with, it's also not perfect. Not to forget that more positions then one would assume open specifically to hire a specific person and don't actually have a fair and open ended hiring process. Postdoc positions usually aren't the hard part anyways, the real challenge starts when you want to advance higher, which is sadly where the aforementioned luck and networking is becoming more important than any actually quantitative measurements. I know lots of genius and hard working people that are completely stuck at postdoc level and no one can really say why. They basically do nothing wrong and still get no where.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8518.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm5ikkr","c_root_id_B":"hm5jyvc","created_at_utc_A":1637933781,"created_at_utc_B":1637934604,"score_A":5,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I would strongly suggest talking to faculty in your current department and getting their feedback regarding the strengths and, importantly, the weakness of your application (e.g. CV, research vision statement).","human_ref_B":"This is a great question. I've seen it go both ways, people who both over-estimate their chances and others who drastically under-estimate them. In my field at least, asking about \"chances to get a permanent job\" is a different question than \"chances to get a job in a top x department.\" Because of larger sample sizes the former can be estimated more accurately. The latter doesn't necessarily require more of anything, but it does require certain intangibles that can be difficult to measure.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":823.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm5jyvc","c_root_id_B":"hm57mrg","created_at_utc_A":1637934604,"created_at_utc_B":1637925869,"score_A":9,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"This is a great question. I've seen it go both ways, people who both over-estimate their chances and others who drastically under-estimate them. In my field at least, asking about \"chances to get a permanent job\" is a different question than \"chances to get a job in a top x department.\" Because of larger sample sizes the former can be estimated more accurately. The latter doesn't necessarily require more of anything, but it does require certain intangibles that can be difficult to measure.","human_ref_B":"My advice, look at recent hires in your field. How do your publications stack up? Look at your proposed research. How do recent funding trends look for projects in that field?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8735.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm5ikkr","c_root_id_B":"hm57mrg","created_at_utc_A":1637933781,"created_at_utc_B":1637925869,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I would strongly suggest talking to faculty in your current department and getting their feedback regarding the strengths and, importantly, the weakness of your application (e.g. CV, research vision statement).","human_ref_B":"My advice, look at recent hires in your field. How do your publications stack up? Look at your proposed research. How do recent funding trends look for projects in that field?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7912.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm6lpua","c_root_id_B":"hm57mrg","created_at_utc_A":1637952321,"created_at_utc_B":1637925869,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Apply for jobs: how many interviews are you getting? Who is getting hired instead of you for the jobs you applied for? How do they differ from you?","human_ref_B":"My advice, look at recent hires in your field. How do your publications stack up? Look at your proposed research. How do recent funding trends look for projects in that field?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26452.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm5pdfq","c_root_id_B":"hm6lpua","created_at_utc_A":1637937567,"created_at_utc_B":1637952321,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Look at the following: 1) your number of first authored papers in peer reviewed journals. They should be around 10 in STEM fields generally. If you have a very high impact like nature you can do with 5. 2) raising funds involvement. At least 2 projects at 100k each min. 3) mentoring experience graduate and undergraduate. 4) teaching experience at least as TA. 5) over 400 citations.","human_ref_B":"Apply for jobs: how many interviews are you getting? Who is getting hired instead of you for the jobs you applied for? How do they differ from you?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14754.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm6lpua","c_root_id_B":"hm5vasn","created_at_utc_A":1637952321,"created_at_utc_B":1637940520,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Apply for jobs: how many interviews are you getting? Who is getting hired instead of you for the jobs you applied for? How do they differ from you?","human_ref_B":"Papers and\/or a niche skillset... networking, knowing people gets jobs.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11801.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"r2fn1n","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"How as a postdoc do I realistically assess my career prospects in academia? Being able to assess one's own career prospect seems important in academia and elsewhere. Otherwise one could spend a decade stuck in short-therm positions without realising that it leads nowhere, or on the opposite side, misjudge one's abilities and give up too quickly. However this is difficult to do because of things such as the impostor syndrome or the Dunning\u2013Kruger effect. So I would like to have some advice on how to realistically evaluate my career prospect to eventually get a permanent job in academia (say as a postdoc). I am in STEM but I believe such advice to be somewhat general.","c_root_id_A":"hm6mkf0","c_root_id_B":"hm5vasn","created_at_utc_A":1637952713,"created_at_utc_B":1637940520,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Haven't seen this yet in replies but academia also heavily deals in \"prestige\". That can take shape in many ways from having done a PhD\/postdoc at a prestige institution to working with a famous PI all the way to having a pub in a top journal. This article from a few years ago explains goes over some researchers' work that delver into this but the stats are very discouraging: https:\/\/slate.com\/human-interest\/2015\/02\/university-hiring-if-you-didn-t-get-your-ph-d-at-an-elite-university-good-luck-finding-an-academic-job.amp I think a lot of what folks are mentioning here establishes a baseline. But a lot of people meet those baselines so search committees start looking into \"fit\" (is this person enough like us?) Or potential (can this person make us famous and bring money?) Which is where a lot of those biases toward elite institutions probably take root? I've lost a job to a person who had half as many pubs, no funding, and worked in a related research area, even after the search committee had decided and told me I was the selected candidate. It's not just a numbers game.","human_ref_B":"Papers and\/or a niche skillset... networking, knowing people gets jobs.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12193.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"xfol4s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"what to know about using a job offer for leverage in academia? I am especially curious to know some potential negative affects for one's current job if it eventually does not work and one chooses to stay. Also, I assume that using a job offer for leverage is a \"one-time\" thing, right? I mean, if one uses another offer for leverage but fails, the reasonable exception should be that it won't work in the near future, right? Or do people regularly do this as a way to give some pressure to the dean? Suppose I like my current job but need something better. Knowing that this might be a \"one-time\" thing, what would be the right time to use a job offer for leverage?","c_root_id_A":"ionsuws","c_root_id_B":"ionlyma","created_at_utc_A":1663333659,"created_at_utc_B":1663330284,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Admin has money available for retention, this is the way to get access to that money. Often this is the primary process for getting a raise outside of title change in academia. But as has been said, you really have to commit to the ultimatum.","human_ref_B":"Possible pros: Leadership understands that you are in demand, and figures that you need to be treated as such. Possible cons: Leadership senses that you are not dedicated for the long haul and therefore not worth investing in. I have experienced both.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3375.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"xfol4s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"what to know about using a job offer for leverage in academia? I am especially curious to know some potential negative affects for one's current job if it eventually does not work and one chooses to stay. Also, I assume that using a job offer for leverage is a \"one-time\" thing, right? I mean, if one uses another offer for leverage but fails, the reasonable exception should be that it won't work in the near future, right? Or do people regularly do this as a way to give some pressure to the dean? Suppose I like my current job but need something better. Knowing that this might be a \"one-time\" thing, what would be the right time to use a job offer for leverage?","c_root_id_A":"ionpykr","c_root_id_B":"ionsuws","created_at_utc_A":1663332308,"created_at_utc_B":1663333659,"score_A":3,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019ve seen a few people try this move (about five), and all of them got nowhere with the \u201cleverage\u201d idea and ended up having to leave to take the other offer.","human_ref_B":"Admin has money available for retention, this is the way to get access to that money. Often this is the primary process for getting a raise outside of title change in academia. But as has been said, you really have to commit to the ultimatum.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1351.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"xfol4s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"what to know about using a job offer for leverage in academia? I am especially curious to know some potential negative affects for one's current job if it eventually does not work and one chooses to stay. Also, I assume that using a job offer for leverage is a \"one-time\" thing, right? I mean, if one uses another offer for leverage but fails, the reasonable exception should be that it won't work in the near future, right? Or do people regularly do this as a way to give some pressure to the dean? Suppose I like my current job but need something better. Knowing that this might be a \"one-time\" thing, what would be the right time to use a job offer for leverage?","c_root_id_A":"iontg6m","c_root_id_B":"ionpykr","created_at_utc_A":1663333931,"created_at_utc_B":1663332308,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m assuming this is a TT question. Mostly I\u2019d say \u201cleverage\u201d is the wrong way to think about this. People interview, get an offer, and decide to take the counteroffer all the time for a lot of reasons. I don\u2019t know how universal this is, but at the universities I\u2019ve been at there\u2019s a separate pot of money for counteroffers that isn\u2019t available otherwise. Where people will absolutely take offense is if it\u2019s clear that you\u2019re just wasting everyone\u2019s time to get an offer as part of negotiation. TT searches take a TON of energy and time and nobody likes being jerked around. So my take is as long as it\u2019s all in good faith, it\u2019s totally fine. Would you take this job? If the answer is \u201cno\u201d no matter what, save everyone a lot of trouble.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019ve seen a few people try this move (about five), and all of them got nowhere with the \u201cleverage\u201d idea and ended up having to leave to take the other offer.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1623.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7av2w9","c_root_id_B":"e7akudb","created_at_utc_A":1538868166,"created_at_utc_B":1538858545,"score_A":12,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"You might want to check out Philip Guo's articles and vlogs. He transitioned between academia and industry a few times (before and after his PhD) and is now a professor. He written and talked a lot about his experiences throughout his career. A PhD salary is low, but it's not literally minimum wage. In most places it translates to around $15\/hour. Keep in mind that a PhD typically takes 3-5 years post Masters when working on it full time. Working on it part time dramatically lengthens the duration. If you want to work and do a PhD simultaneously, note that you'll have to find not one, but *two* employers who agree to the situation (your industry employer and your PhD supervisor). Usually a PhD supervisor isn't someone who just lets you do your own thing and only checks on you occasionally. They have their own research programs they're trying to progress, and as a PhD student you're also sharing in the workload. This isn't always the case, but they often need people who can dedicate full time work to the projects, just like in industry.","human_ref_B":"I have a friend who works in a silicon valley tech company, he is also simultaneously doing his PhD at Stanford, because his manager at the company is a part-time faculty at the university. Not saying it's a possible option for you, but a possible situation in this case.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9621.0,"score_ratio":1.0909090909} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7av2w9","c_root_id_B":"e7ajsqg","created_at_utc_A":1538868166,"created_at_utc_B":1538857663,"score_A":12,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"You might want to check out Philip Guo's articles and vlogs. He transitioned between academia and industry a few times (before and after his PhD) and is now a professor. He written and talked a lot about his experiences throughout his career. A PhD salary is low, but it's not literally minimum wage. In most places it translates to around $15\/hour. Keep in mind that a PhD typically takes 3-5 years post Masters when working on it full time. Working on it part time dramatically lengthens the duration. If you want to work and do a PhD simultaneously, note that you'll have to find not one, but *two* employers who agree to the situation (your industry employer and your PhD supervisor). Usually a PhD supervisor isn't someone who just lets you do your own thing and only checks on you occasionally. They have their own research programs they're trying to progress, and as a PhD student you're also sharing in the workload. This isn't always the case, but they often need people who can dedicate full time work to the projects, just like in industry.","human_ref_B":"I just started last week and a guy on my course is doing it part-time and working otherwise. He said that he had to work it out with his boss, but I imagine you would only take a small income loss, and with some subsidization from good, funded courses and you might just end up in a similar place!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10503.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7afi3g","c_root_id_B":"e7av2w9","created_at_utc_A":1538853984,"created_at_utc_B":1538868166,"score_A":3,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I did it this way: 1. open your own consulting company and start getting contracts as software eng. Try to get those in the research domain that you pursue. Or at least relevant to the domain. 2. Then talk to your advisor and explain him your strategy. He might not accept it, but you can always offer a try out period. I did and it worked. Be very picky with your advisor, you will have to stick with him for 6-8 years of your life. There is a price for that though: 1. it will take you longer, you will see peeps who got into program after you and graduate before you, you have to be able to cope with that. 2. be careful with time management, you will need to know your priorities well. It is very easy to burn out, so find a hobby and do something on a side to vent out. Also do internships, they help distress and get you connections. Finally, only work on things you love, or you will drop out. I personally saw two talented peeps dropping out because of that. Do not get bullied by advisor to work on ideas that he\/she likes. Find your own path, since it is your thesis. Good luck!","human_ref_B":"You might want to check out Philip Guo's articles and vlogs. He transitioned between academia and industry a few times (before and after his PhD) and is now a professor. He written and talked a lot about his experiences throughout his career. A PhD salary is low, but it's not literally minimum wage. In most places it translates to around $15\/hour. Keep in mind that a PhD typically takes 3-5 years post Masters when working on it full time. Working on it part time dramatically lengthens the duration. If you want to work and do a PhD simultaneously, note that you'll have to find not one, but *two* employers who agree to the situation (your industry employer and your PhD supervisor). Usually a PhD supervisor isn't someone who just lets you do your own thing and only checks on you occasionally. They have their own research programs they're trying to progress, and as a PhD student you're also sharing in the workload. This isn't always the case, but they often need people who can dedicate full time work to the projects, just like in industry.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14182.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7av2w9","c_root_id_B":"e7alxcm","created_at_utc_A":1538868166,"created_at_utc_B":1538859509,"score_A":12,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"You might want to check out Philip Guo's articles and vlogs. He transitioned between academia and industry a few times (before and after his PhD) and is now a professor. He written and talked a lot about his experiences throughout his career. A PhD salary is low, but it's not literally minimum wage. In most places it translates to around $15\/hour. Keep in mind that a PhD typically takes 3-5 years post Masters when working on it full time. Working on it part time dramatically lengthens the duration. If you want to work and do a PhD simultaneously, note that you'll have to find not one, but *two* employers who agree to the situation (your industry employer and your PhD supervisor). Usually a PhD supervisor isn't someone who just lets you do your own thing and only checks on you occasionally. They have their own research programs they're trying to progress, and as a PhD student you're also sharing in the workload. This isn't always the case, but they often need people who can dedicate full time work to the projects, just like in industry.","human_ref_B":"This is a question for your boss! Different field, but my partner's employer is funding the CFO's MBA entirely in exchange for a 5-year commitment or something like that. You may be surprised with what your supervisor is willing to support. More commonly, I've heard of people reducing their weekly hours by 20-40% and taking a proportional pay cut. The only problem there is you might lose benefits, as benefits are usually limited to full-time employees","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8657.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7akudb","c_root_id_B":"e7ajsqg","created_at_utc_A":1538858545,"created_at_utc_B":1538857663,"score_A":11,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I have a friend who works in a silicon valley tech company, he is also simultaneously doing his PhD at Stanford, because his manager at the company is a part-time faculty at the university. Not saying it's a possible option for you, but a possible situation in this case.","human_ref_B":"I just started last week and a guy on my course is doing it part-time and working otherwise. He said that he had to work it out with his boss, but I imagine you would only take a small income loss, and with some subsidization from good, funded courses and you might just end up in a similar place!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":882.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7afi3g","c_root_id_B":"e7akudb","created_at_utc_A":1538853984,"created_at_utc_B":1538858545,"score_A":3,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I did it this way: 1. open your own consulting company and start getting contracts as software eng. Try to get those in the research domain that you pursue. Or at least relevant to the domain. 2. Then talk to your advisor and explain him your strategy. He might not accept it, but you can always offer a try out period. I did and it worked. Be very picky with your advisor, you will have to stick with him for 6-8 years of your life. There is a price for that though: 1. it will take you longer, you will see peeps who got into program after you and graduate before you, you have to be able to cope with that. 2. be careful with time management, you will need to know your priorities well. It is very easy to burn out, so find a hobby and do something on a side to vent out. Also do internships, they help distress and get you connections. Finally, only work on things you love, or you will drop out. I personally saw two talented peeps dropping out because of that. Do not get bullied by advisor to work on ideas that he\/she likes. Find your own path, since it is your thesis. Good luck!","human_ref_B":"I have a friend who works in a silicon valley tech company, he is also simultaneously doing his PhD at Stanford, because his manager at the company is a part-time faculty at the university. Not saying it's a possible option for you, but a possible situation in this case.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4561.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7ajsqg","c_root_id_B":"e7afi3g","created_at_utc_A":1538857663,"created_at_utc_B":1538853984,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I just started last week and a guy on my course is doing it part-time and working otherwise. He said that he had to work it out with his boss, but I imagine you would only take a small income loss, and with some subsidization from good, funded courses and you might just end up in a similar place!","human_ref_B":"I did it this way: 1. open your own consulting company and start getting contracts as software eng. Try to get those in the research domain that you pursue. Or at least relevant to the domain. 2. Then talk to your advisor and explain him your strategy. He might not accept it, but you can always offer a try out period. I did and it worked. Be very picky with your advisor, you will have to stick with him for 6-8 years of your life. There is a price for that though: 1. it will take you longer, you will see peeps who got into program after you and graduate before you, you have to be able to cope with that. 2. be careful with time management, you will need to know your priorities well. It is very easy to burn out, so find a hobby and do something on a side to vent out. Also do internships, they help distress and get you connections. Finally, only work on things you love, or you will drop out. I personally saw two talented peeps dropping out because of that. Do not get bullied by advisor to work on ideas that he\/she likes. Find your own path, since it is your thesis. Good luck!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3679.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"9ly7n9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.77,"history":"How should someone with an MS in CS and 6-years of R&D experience in the industry transition into a PhD program? Is there a way to do it that doesn't require such a drastic loss of income? Some background: 1. Been in industry for 6 years after BS in CS at a nationally recognizable consumer electronics company. Did good work for first 3 years in embedded development (plus some algorithm dev) and transitioned to one of the company's R&D teams. been there almost 3 years. One award, one patent pending, etc. Lead technical development for an industry first feature. I don't want to divulge much in the way of identifiable information, but from an industry perspective, my resume is looking pretty healthy. 2. While working at said company, I did my MS in CS at Georgia Tech online. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't do a thesis. Only the course option was available to remote students. However, I did work as a graduate teaching assistant one semester. I'd also done this during my BS. 4.0 GPA at GaTech, but I don't think that really means much. My question is this; **are there practical options for earning a PhD while working at a tech company?** Would I even be remotely qualified for them? I should probably clarify what I mean by practical, but honestly, I'm interested in whatever answers I can get. There was a period of time when I was working full time (50+ hour weeks), studying part time (2 courses), and serving as GTA part time. That almost killed me, and frankly, if I were working on a PhD, I'd like to be able to do it well. I definitely started to half-ass things when I was juggling two jobs with an MS program. I'm also not sure what value industry experience in R&D has in terms of PhD program acceptance -- but even if I got in, I don't really want to drop from 6-figures to minimum wage. I'd consider a serious pay cut, but nothing that drastic. My goals for the PhD are not financial. I want to transition into domains which are PhD dominated in the industry, and eventually, go into teaching at a cheap state school (I was an average student early on, from a fairly broke\/rural area, and I know that there's a lot of untapped potential in others from my background).","c_root_id_A":"e7afi3g","c_root_id_B":"e7alxcm","created_at_utc_A":1538853984,"created_at_utc_B":1538859509,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I did it this way: 1. open your own consulting company and start getting contracts as software eng. Try to get those in the research domain that you pursue. Or at least relevant to the domain. 2. Then talk to your advisor and explain him your strategy. He might not accept it, but you can always offer a try out period. I did and it worked. Be very picky with your advisor, you will have to stick with him for 6-8 years of your life. There is a price for that though: 1. it will take you longer, you will see peeps who got into program after you and graduate before you, you have to be able to cope with that. 2. be careful with time management, you will need to know your priorities well. It is very easy to burn out, so find a hobby and do something on a side to vent out. Also do internships, they help distress and get you connections. Finally, only work on things you love, or you will drop out. I personally saw two talented peeps dropping out because of that. Do not get bullied by advisor to work on ideas that he\/she likes. Find your own path, since it is your thesis. Good luck!","human_ref_B":"This is a question for your boss! Different field, but my partner's employer is funding the CFO's MBA entirely in exchange for a 5-year commitment or something like that. You may be surprised with what your supervisor is willing to support. More commonly, I've heard of people reducing their weekly hours by 20-40% and taking a proportional pay cut. The only problem there is you might lose benefits, as benefits are usually limited to full-time employees","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5525.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqn4sm4","c_root_id_B":"hqn2cxx","created_at_utc_A":1640924557,"created_at_utc_B":1640923345,"score_A":53,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"You being at worst an unproductive post doc might cost you a job offer from that group or a top tier facultyposition at the worst, but you would 100% still be employable and do just great in life (so absolutely do not give up on living). As someone who has harmed their career a few times with damaging procrastination, get some help. It\u2019s time.","human_ref_B":"I've not had a post-doc, but it definitely sounds like you need some mental health help! Please get yourself some counseling!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1212.0,"score_ratio":3.1176470588} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqn4sm4","c_root_id_B":"hqn4r0v","created_at_utc_A":1640924557,"created_at_utc_B":1640924535,"score_A":53,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"You being at worst an unproductive post doc might cost you a job offer from that group or a top tier facultyposition at the worst, but you would 100% still be employable and do just great in life (so absolutely do not give up on living). As someone who has harmed their career a few times with damaging procrastination, get some help. It\u2019s time.","human_ref_B":"Not 100% the same but: substance abuse. Academics like to drink and so did I. Luckily I cleaned up after about a year in academics. It\u2019s more prevalent than you think.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22.0,"score_ratio":3.3125} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqnclpj","c_root_id_B":"hqn2cxx","created_at_utc_A":1640928710,"created_at_utc_B":1640923345,"score_A":28,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"You're 9 months into a post-doc. You haven't ruined your life. Many people have nothing to show after 9 months, so worst case you're in their boat (but doesn't seem like it). Sounds like you're being overwhelmed by the situation and need some mentorship and mental health support. Hang in there, get help, work through it. Your future has not been ruined.","human_ref_B":"I've not had a post-doc, but it definitely sounds like you need some mental health help! Please get yourself some counseling!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5365.0,"score_ratio":1.6470588235} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqnclpj","c_root_id_B":"hqn4r0v","created_at_utc_A":1640928710,"created_at_utc_B":1640924535,"score_A":28,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"You're 9 months into a post-doc. You haven't ruined your life. Many people have nothing to show after 9 months, so worst case you're in their boat (but doesn't seem like it). Sounds like you're being overwhelmed by the situation and need some mentorship and mental health support. Hang in there, get help, work through it. Your future has not been ruined.","human_ref_B":"Not 100% the same but: substance abuse. Academics like to drink and so did I. Luckily I cleaned up after about a year in academics. It\u2019s more prevalent than you think.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4175.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqodt22","c_root_id_B":"hqnvca0","created_at_utc_A":1640955717,"created_at_utc_B":1640941486,"score_A":14,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"\"I'm 9 months in\" \"Squandered my only opportunity for a successful life\" Clearly you need some help for your mental states here, because the facts simply do not support your interpretation of them.","human_ref_B":"Honestly, it sounds like the first 9 months of every PI\u2019s post doc. Procrastinating is a near universal trait. It is often reinforced because it ultimate creates the anxiety to act and even excel in the face of a time limit and fear of failure. Your common case of procrastination is further complicated by your catastrophizing. You can plod along but you\u2019ll thrive if you better learn to manage these fairly typical traits that could undermine your progress. Like most of us you are probably your own worst enemy. In all honesty, I would encourage you to consider CBT. I also think you could get ground yourself by talking frankly with your PI. I suspect they will reassure you that you are hard working post doc with a lot of potential. Relatively speaking, it\u2019s too early in the game to know where this is going and, more than likely, will lead to a certain degree of guaranteed success.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14231.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqodt22","c_root_id_B":"hqo9ryn","created_at_utc_A":1640955717,"created_at_utc_B":1640952985,"score_A":14,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"\"I'm 9 months in\" \"Squandered my only opportunity for a successful life\" Clearly you need some help for your mental states here, because the facts simply do not support your interpretation of them.","human_ref_B":"It's really not a big deal (although I know it may seem like that!). First off, we're in a pandemic. That is absolutely (and deservedly so), everyone's \"get out of jail\" card to explain away pretty much anything over the past 2 years. Your current supervisor might know all the details and he might not buy it but anyone else will. Any interview questions about your output during the past year can easily be answered with \"lol pandemic\". Secondly, academia can suck. It sucks far worse if you're not engaged or interested in your project. Find something you enjoy doing as ultimately it'll eat up more and more of your time so you'd better be interested in it for it's own sake! Finally, it sounds like you know what the problems are, you just didn't address them at the time and let them build up. Now you know, hit them early next time and most importantly **ask for help**. The only thing worse than a post-doc who asks for help every 5 minutes is one who doesn't ask for help for months!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2732.0,"score_ratio":2.8} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqnqr32","c_root_id_B":"hqodt22","created_at_utc_A":1640937941,"created_at_utc_B":1640955717,"score_A":3,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Don't work to exhaustion. Take rest. Take counseling if necessary. I am pretty sure your contract will be renewed. I do not think this is career ending event at all. You will be fine.","human_ref_B":"\"I'm 9 months in\" \"Squandered my only opportunity for a successful life\" Clearly you need some help for your mental states here, because the facts simply do not support your interpretation of them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17776.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqnqr32","c_root_id_B":"hqnvca0","created_at_utc_A":1640937941,"created_at_utc_B":1640941486,"score_A":3,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Don't work to exhaustion. Take rest. Take counseling if necessary. I am pretty sure your contract will be renewed. I do not think this is career ending event at all. You will be fine.","human_ref_B":"Honestly, it sounds like the first 9 months of every PI\u2019s post doc. Procrastinating is a near universal trait. It is often reinforced because it ultimate creates the anxiety to act and even excel in the face of a time limit and fear of failure. Your common case of procrastination is further complicated by your catastrophizing. You can plod along but you\u2019ll thrive if you better learn to manage these fairly typical traits that could undermine your progress. Like most of us you are probably your own worst enemy. In all honesty, I would encourage you to consider CBT. I also think you could get ground yourself by talking frankly with your PI. I suspect they will reassure you that you are hard working post doc with a lot of potential. Relatively speaking, it\u2019s too early in the game to know where this is going and, more than likely, will lead to a certain degree of guaranteed success.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3545.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"rsk5er","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Stories of successful scientists who recovered from stupid mistakes\/habits during their postdoc(s)? I'm a postdoc at a national lab (about 9 months in), and I've made one overall mistake that may have ruined my life. Things were fine for the first few months, but as I cycled through starter projects, I got onto two that appeared to be very promising, but that I absolutely hated. They involved heavy use of a couple of techniques in which I didn't have much experience and always found very intimidating. I fell into a terrible old habit of procrastination that has plauged me for most of my life (although my PhD was very successful by the standards of my field, with 6 first author papers). As I collected data, I let it pile up and let things I didn't understand pile up with the promise to myself that I would learn the techniques later, that I would fix these problems later, but later never came. The result of hiding from my problems rather than facing them and asking for the help I needed is that I'm sitting o a mountain of data at the end of the year, with little ability to meaningfully analyze it. I've worked nearly every hour of every day for the last month to try to catch up, but the more I work and learn, the worse my situation begins to look. I don't know if my advisor will renew my contract, but I know that this has been a powerful and clear lesson, and a mistake that I will NEVER repeat. I feel as though I've squandered my only opportunity to have a successful life, and I've never felt worse. I was close to suicidal for a couple of weeks bit I've backed off from that. Has anybody currently doing well in their career\/life ever made mistakes like this is their first year of their postdoc and managed to recover? I know looking for reassurance isn't where my energy should be spent, but I would benefit from knowing that there is still hope.","c_root_id_A":"hqo9ryn","c_root_id_B":"hqnqr32","created_at_utc_A":1640952985,"created_at_utc_B":1640937941,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It's really not a big deal (although I know it may seem like that!). First off, we're in a pandemic. That is absolutely (and deservedly so), everyone's \"get out of jail\" card to explain away pretty much anything over the past 2 years. Your current supervisor might know all the details and he might not buy it but anyone else will. Any interview questions about your output during the past year can easily be answered with \"lol pandemic\". Secondly, academia can suck. It sucks far worse if you're not engaged or interested in your project. Find something you enjoy doing as ultimately it'll eat up more and more of your time so you'd better be interested in it for it's own sake! Finally, it sounds like you know what the problems are, you just didn't address them at the time and let them build up. Now you know, hit them early next time and most importantly **ask for help**. The only thing worse than a post-doc who asks for help every 5 minutes is one who doesn't ask for help for months!","human_ref_B":"Don't work to exhaustion. Take rest. Take counseling if necessary. I am pretty sure your contract will be renewed. I do not think this is career ending event at all. You will be fine.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15044.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"iyr3t0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it true that PhD students don\u2019t need to pay taxes on stipends? (USA) A few people in my program shared that they simply don\u2019t pay taxes on their university income. Nothing is withheld and they don\u2019t get a W2 or anything from the university. I\u2019ve heard this is common not just at my uni but generally for US unis... any comments to share?","c_root_id_A":"g6e5o6u","c_root_id_B":"g6e5vjn","created_at_utc_A":1600924981,"created_at_utc_B":1600925153,"score_A":42,"score_B":126,"human_ref_A":"My understanding is that graduate stipends are taxable income (I know this is true for, e.g., NSF fellowships that many graduate students get), but I also know of grad students who didn't report this on their tax returns - illegally (and maybe unbeknownst to them), but with little recourse in most cases. From the IRS: >Amounts received as payments for teaching, research, or other services required as a condition for receiving the scholarship or fellowship grant. However, you don't need to include in gross income any amounts you receive for services that are required by the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program, the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship and Financial Assistance Program, or a comprehensive student work-learning-service program (as defined in section 448(e) of the Higher Education Act of 1965) operated by a work college.","human_ref_B":"This is NOT generally true for US PhD stipends. If money is paid as a fellowship stipend, then taxes are not withheld but that income absolutely is taxable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":172.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"a02443","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.86,"history":"PhDs: Did any of you choose an 'easy' Masters thesis so that you could more easily get the necessary marks for entry into your PhD program? I wonder how widespread the practice is. I know most of you are brilliant and didn't need an easy route, but borderline cases like me . . . sigh","c_root_id_A":"eaf1sob","c_root_id_B":"eaeqqtc","created_at_utc_A":1543132696,"created_at_utc_B":1543119161,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"A lot of my fellow students swore off doing a PhD after their master theses. Doing a hard one is a good test to see whether you will enjoy doing a PhD.","human_ref_B":"I knew I wanted my PhD since I was a freshman in college so the MA was just a step along the road. I did a three semester program that allowed you to do a synthesis paper instead of a thesis. I took that track, kicked ass in my PhD and I\u2019m a happily tenured professor who\u2019s a very productive scholar. Looking at my vita now, my entire MA is just a line on it. Just my experiences for what it\u2019s worth!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13535.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"mtwywi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Struggling to get stable full-time work after a decade post PHD Struggling to find full-time stable work thats not short contracts or freelance - Medical Research PhD grad. Struggling to find meaningful full-time stable work currently freelancing PhD Trained Scientist should I retrain \/ persevere \/ pivot etc? And what trigger points should these be? **Summary:** 36YO Male trained in medical research, completed PhD, but I've struggled to find any stable work with long-term career potential or salary increase, currently mostly unemployed, but with a freelance medical writing job 1-2 days per week. Pls Help! Thanks for reading :D. **Training, Work Experience & Life:** 6 years High School 94.95 percentile (first in the state of NSW Australia in Biology) 4 years UnderGrad Medical Sciences 1 year First Class Honours \\[1publication\\] 1 year unemployed 4 years Doctorate PhD (Medical Research) \\[3 publications\\] 8 months unemployed (was applying every day) Trialed the GAMSAT Exam non-seriously Score: 60 \\[Applied but not accepted to 2 medical schools\\] 2 years at a startup R&D tax consultancy ($45K AUD\/year) {Leave reason: Couldn't get any higher raise after 2 years working out of person's living room} 1 year and half medium sized R&D tax consultancy ($60K AUD\/year) {Leave reason: Constant Bullying by Partners of Firm, I have no idea why, it may have been because I was working 4 days\/week, but they never mentioned it until the last 2 weeks after 2 years there} Daughter was born (Miracle of Life, but severely limits my ability to moonlight second job, side-hustle and study outside business hours) 3 years at a hospital research group ($75K AUD\/year) {Leave Reason: Research funding expended, staff contract ended} \\[2 publications\\] 9 months Army Deployment IT computer service helpdesk technician ($104K AUD\/year) {Leave Reason: Temporary Contract Ended} 1 month unemployed 2 weeks Freelance Medical Writing have 1-3 days worth of work per week depending ($20-30 AUD\/hour) \\-now- **Situation:** For the last 5 months, I've been applying for jobs every second day outside business hours, on the second day I've been doing something to improve my resume (this could be doing a pro-bono project) or messaging someone for advice on LinkedIn, or just cold contacting someone for advice or proposing work for them. I feel like I'm getting no where, I've applied for more 30 jobs that I've hit all the selection criteria. I've had no emails back, or calls, or interviews. I've had 2 interview invitations, but when I tried to arrange a time they disappeared and stopped responding. I've had 2 rejection emails. No-one is willing to provide any feedback. I've cold contacted more than 40 people in senior positions in LinkedIn and emails (no replies). I've also contacted several HR agencies and they don't reply at all. Theres also a lack of jobs in the area, it takes 4-5 hours of searching for me to find an appropriate job, they are rare. **Question:** I feel like there is something majorly wrong with the economics of this industry and job market. I'm convinced that it's not me, and the economics of Research and Development is just broken. I was a fool to not have researched the job market properly before studying Medical Research but there's just no data out there when I started this journey. The career guides had a whole lot of Fictional descriptions of different things that you would do as a medical or biotechnologist, but in reality these industries and companies only existed in Boston or Germany, all the while the universities around the world were producing truckloads of graduates in these fields and specialities. I'm at a stuck point, where I feel like I've pretty much exhausted all my options, and I've done all the spin off side jobs that are related to medical and health jobs, none of them have any stable career path. I want a job where I'm not at risk of losing it every year, and I fall unemployed for a few months after each job. My fear is that one day, the short-term unemployment periods turns into long-term unemployment. I'm thinking seriously to work part-time 3days\/week and potentially study for the Medicine Pre-selection Exam parttime (Called the GAMSAT) 3 days\/week, 1 day\/week family. Exam is super super difficult and will take a few years to get a good enough score, however, I feel like it is a quantitative measure that I can meaningfully progress in, rather than the zero replies I'm getting from 5months of job applications. After getting into Medicine School I can apply for an Army Study Scholarship $65K\/year. I am OK with not getting into Medical School after 5-7 years of trying, at least I can say that I did my best on my death bed. My Wife is super pissed off at me for suggesting this (Medicine Option), she says I need to support the family by applying for full-time jobs continuously and to talk to HR agencies. She says I'm a coward for trying to run away from the problem by attempting the GAMSAT exam, she doesn't think I will ever pass. I am fully committed to working part-time 3days per week, and get a full time job in the short term to support family however, I'm wary of the pending doom of long term unemployment, and just unviability and competitiveness of research and development jobs. If I can get a full time job in the next 2 months I'll take it, but I can't keep applying for jobs for another half-year or two, it just seems really idiotic and unproductive. Please give me your opinion and wisdom redditors? What should I do? Retrain \/ Perservere \/ Pivot \/ Else?","c_root_id_A":"gv3al57","c_root_id_B":"gv3llzs","created_at_utc_A":1618846120,"created_at_utc_B":1618850749,"score_A":9,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I found myself in a similar position a few years ago. I had returned to Ireland after a postdoc in the US. The return home was for family reasons and unplanned. I looked at medicine. I was 30 years old at the time with a one year old daughter. The ship for med studies had sailed at that point. You n3ed to focus on providing for your family now. You are plenty qualified. Is there any pharma work available? R&D may not be an option but they will always look to hire scientists for QC and manufacturing analysis","human_ref_B":"Please, please don't tell me that the training\/work\/life experience section of this post is what appears on your CV. You should be highlighting your work history, not making excuses for it. I agree with the others saying you need a trusted colleague to take a look at your CV and maybe an example of your cover letters. If you're applying for jobs you're genuinely well qualified for and consistently hearing nothing back you're not presenting yourself well. Your qualifications may not be obvious to a non-scientist screening CVs, they might be buried among irrelevant information, or you may have something on there that you shouldn't which is turning off employers","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4629.0,"score_ratio":2.2222222222} {"post_id":"mtwywi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Struggling to get stable full-time work after a decade post PHD Struggling to find full-time stable work thats not short contracts or freelance - Medical Research PhD grad. Struggling to find meaningful full-time stable work currently freelancing PhD Trained Scientist should I retrain \/ persevere \/ pivot etc? And what trigger points should these be? **Summary:** 36YO Male trained in medical research, completed PhD, but I've struggled to find any stable work with long-term career potential or salary increase, currently mostly unemployed, but with a freelance medical writing job 1-2 days per week. Pls Help! Thanks for reading :D. **Training, Work Experience & Life:** 6 years High School 94.95 percentile (first in the state of NSW Australia in Biology) 4 years UnderGrad Medical Sciences 1 year First Class Honours \\[1publication\\] 1 year unemployed 4 years Doctorate PhD (Medical Research) \\[3 publications\\] 8 months unemployed (was applying every day) Trialed the GAMSAT Exam non-seriously Score: 60 \\[Applied but not accepted to 2 medical schools\\] 2 years at a startup R&D tax consultancy ($45K AUD\/year) {Leave reason: Couldn't get any higher raise after 2 years working out of person's living room} 1 year and half medium sized R&D tax consultancy ($60K AUD\/year) {Leave reason: Constant Bullying by Partners of Firm, I have no idea why, it may have been because I was working 4 days\/week, but they never mentioned it until the last 2 weeks after 2 years there} Daughter was born (Miracle of Life, but severely limits my ability to moonlight second job, side-hustle and study outside business hours) 3 years at a hospital research group ($75K AUD\/year) {Leave Reason: Research funding expended, staff contract ended} \\[2 publications\\] 9 months Army Deployment IT computer service helpdesk technician ($104K AUD\/year) {Leave Reason: Temporary Contract Ended} 1 month unemployed 2 weeks Freelance Medical Writing have 1-3 days worth of work per week depending ($20-30 AUD\/hour) \\-now- **Situation:** For the last 5 months, I've been applying for jobs every second day outside business hours, on the second day I've been doing something to improve my resume (this could be doing a pro-bono project) or messaging someone for advice on LinkedIn, or just cold contacting someone for advice or proposing work for them. I feel like I'm getting no where, I've applied for more 30 jobs that I've hit all the selection criteria. I've had no emails back, or calls, or interviews. I've had 2 interview invitations, but when I tried to arrange a time they disappeared and stopped responding. I've had 2 rejection emails. No-one is willing to provide any feedback. I've cold contacted more than 40 people in senior positions in LinkedIn and emails (no replies). I've also contacted several HR agencies and they don't reply at all. Theres also a lack of jobs in the area, it takes 4-5 hours of searching for me to find an appropriate job, they are rare. **Question:** I feel like there is something majorly wrong with the economics of this industry and job market. I'm convinced that it's not me, and the economics of Research and Development is just broken. I was a fool to not have researched the job market properly before studying Medical Research but there's just no data out there when I started this journey. The career guides had a whole lot of Fictional descriptions of different things that you would do as a medical or biotechnologist, but in reality these industries and companies only existed in Boston or Germany, all the while the universities around the world were producing truckloads of graduates in these fields and specialities. I'm at a stuck point, where I feel like I've pretty much exhausted all my options, and I've done all the spin off side jobs that are related to medical and health jobs, none of them have any stable career path. I want a job where I'm not at risk of losing it every year, and I fall unemployed for a few months after each job. My fear is that one day, the short-term unemployment periods turns into long-term unemployment. I'm thinking seriously to work part-time 3days\/week and potentially study for the Medicine Pre-selection Exam parttime (Called the GAMSAT) 3 days\/week, 1 day\/week family. Exam is super super difficult and will take a few years to get a good enough score, however, I feel like it is a quantitative measure that I can meaningfully progress in, rather than the zero replies I'm getting from 5months of job applications. After getting into Medicine School I can apply for an Army Study Scholarship $65K\/year. I am OK with not getting into Medical School after 5-7 years of trying, at least I can say that I did my best on my death bed. My Wife is super pissed off at me for suggesting this (Medicine Option), she says I need to support the family by applying for full-time jobs continuously and to talk to HR agencies. She says I'm a coward for trying to run away from the problem by attempting the GAMSAT exam, she doesn't think I will ever pass. I am fully committed to working part-time 3days per week, and get a full time job in the short term to support family however, I'm wary of the pending doom of long term unemployment, and just unviability and competitiveness of research and development jobs. If I can get a full time job in the next 2 months I'll take it, but I can't keep applying for jobs for another half-year or two, it just seems really idiotic and unproductive. Please give me your opinion and wisdom redditors? What should I do? Retrain \/ Perservere \/ Pivot \/ Else?","c_root_id_A":"gv61172","c_root_id_B":"gv4krnu","created_at_utc_A":1618892592,"created_at_utc_B":1618865792,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"man you have to move where the opportunities are. In the US there are lots of job openings for scientists in biotech\/pharma, and you can make bank with a PhD. Australia is not the place to be.","human_ref_B":"Do you know what you want in life?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26800.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"mtwywi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Struggling to get stable full-time work after a decade post PHD Struggling to find full-time stable work thats not short contracts or freelance - Medical Research PhD grad. Struggling to find meaningful full-time stable work currently freelancing PhD Trained Scientist should I retrain \/ persevere \/ pivot etc? And what trigger points should these be? **Summary:** 36YO Male trained in medical research, completed PhD, but I've struggled to find any stable work with long-term career potential or salary increase, currently mostly unemployed, but with a freelance medical writing job 1-2 days per week. Pls Help! Thanks for reading :D. **Training, Work Experience & Life:** 6 years High School 94.95 percentile (first in the state of NSW Australia in Biology) 4 years UnderGrad Medical Sciences 1 year First Class Honours \\[1publication\\] 1 year unemployed 4 years Doctorate PhD (Medical Research) \\[3 publications\\] 8 months unemployed (was applying every day) Trialed the GAMSAT Exam non-seriously Score: 60 \\[Applied but not accepted to 2 medical schools\\] 2 years at a startup R&D tax consultancy ($45K AUD\/year) {Leave reason: Couldn't get any higher raise after 2 years working out of person's living room} 1 year and half medium sized R&D tax consultancy ($60K AUD\/year) {Leave reason: Constant Bullying by Partners of Firm, I have no idea why, it may have been because I was working 4 days\/week, but they never mentioned it until the last 2 weeks after 2 years there} Daughter was born (Miracle of Life, but severely limits my ability to moonlight second job, side-hustle and study outside business hours) 3 years at a hospital research group ($75K AUD\/year) {Leave Reason: Research funding expended, staff contract ended} \\[2 publications\\] 9 months Army Deployment IT computer service helpdesk technician ($104K AUD\/year) {Leave Reason: Temporary Contract Ended} 1 month unemployed 2 weeks Freelance Medical Writing have 1-3 days worth of work per week depending ($20-30 AUD\/hour) \\-now- **Situation:** For the last 5 months, I've been applying for jobs every second day outside business hours, on the second day I've been doing something to improve my resume (this could be doing a pro-bono project) or messaging someone for advice on LinkedIn, or just cold contacting someone for advice or proposing work for them. I feel like I'm getting no where, I've applied for more 30 jobs that I've hit all the selection criteria. I've had no emails back, or calls, or interviews. I've had 2 interview invitations, but when I tried to arrange a time they disappeared and stopped responding. I've had 2 rejection emails. No-one is willing to provide any feedback. I've cold contacted more than 40 people in senior positions in LinkedIn and emails (no replies). I've also contacted several HR agencies and they don't reply at all. Theres also a lack of jobs in the area, it takes 4-5 hours of searching for me to find an appropriate job, they are rare. **Question:** I feel like there is something majorly wrong with the economics of this industry and job market. I'm convinced that it's not me, and the economics of Research and Development is just broken. I was a fool to not have researched the job market properly before studying Medical Research but there's just no data out there when I started this journey. The career guides had a whole lot of Fictional descriptions of different things that you would do as a medical or biotechnologist, but in reality these industries and companies only existed in Boston or Germany, all the while the universities around the world were producing truckloads of graduates in these fields and specialities. I'm at a stuck point, where I feel like I've pretty much exhausted all my options, and I've done all the spin off side jobs that are related to medical and health jobs, none of them have any stable career path. I want a job where I'm not at risk of losing it every year, and I fall unemployed for a few months after each job. My fear is that one day, the short-term unemployment periods turns into long-term unemployment. I'm thinking seriously to work part-time 3days\/week and potentially study for the Medicine Pre-selection Exam parttime (Called the GAMSAT) 3 days\/week, 1 day\/week family. Exam is super super difficult and will take a few years to get a good enough score, however, I feel like it is a quantitative measure that I can meaningfully progress in, rather than the zero replies I'm getting from 5months of job applications. After getting into Medicine School I can apply for an Army Study Scholarship $65K\/year. I am OK with not getting into Medical School after 5-7 years of trying, at least I can say that I did my best on my death bed. My Wife is super pissed off at me for suggesting this (Medicine Option), she says I need to support the family by applying for full-time jobs continuously and to talk to HR agencies. She says I'm a coward for trying to run away from the problem by attempting the GAMSAT exam, she doesn't think I will ever pass. I am fully committed to working part-time 3days per week, and get a full time job in the short term to support family however, I'm wary of the pending doom of long term unemployment, and just unviability and competitiveness of research and development jobs. If I can get a full time job in the next 2 months I'll take it, but I can't keep applying for jobs for another half-year or two, it just seems really idiotic and unproductive. Please give me your opinion and wisdom redditors? What should I do? Retrain \/ Perservere \/ Pivot \/ Else?","c_root_id_A":"gv4krnu","c_root_id_B":"gvfadc7","created_at_utc_A":1618865792,"created_at_utc_B":1619081547,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Do you know what you want in life?","human_ref_B":"Dude. Your wife is right. It\u2019s ridiculous what you\u2019re planning. And go see someone about those resumes, because if your post is something to go off, they aren\u2019t great! I\u2019m in biomed (but not post doc) and Australian and the job market is bad but *definitely* not that bad.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":215755.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yerzw","c_root_id_B":"d6yfc0p","created_at_utc_A":1472267587,"created_at_utc_B":1472268636,"score_A":25,"score_B":86,"human_ref_A":"I would be pretty psyched as long as it wasn't the first or last week of classes. Those weeks are super hectic, but any other time and I'd enjoy that you were reading stuff outside of class and interested in it and I'd want to help promote that interest.","human_ref_B":"Nobody ever comes to my office hours. I'd be thrilled.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1049.0,"score_ratio":3.44} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yed30","c_root_id_B":"d6yfc0p","created_at_utc_A":1472266829,"created_at_utc_B":1472268636,"score_A":12,"score_B":86,"human_ref_A":"(Not a prof but) Not annoying but consider your timing...It would be uncomfortable for both you and the prof if you came and there was a group of students with coursework questions and you wanted to discuss something beyond the course. The purpose of office hours is generally to provide extra support to students, often they're not well-attended and then it's a great opportunity to have meaningful conversations beyond course content...But remember that the priority is still going to be a struggling student. If it's a popular prof or you anticipate this would happen, I'd recommend emailing them and asking your questions\/letting them know what you thought and that you wanted to drop by and discuss\/learn more about their research.","human_ref_B":"Nobody ever comes to my office hours. I'd be thrilled.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1807.0,"score_ratio":7.1666666667} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yeb9s","c_root_id_B":"d6yfc0p","created_at_utc_A":1472266738,"created_at_utc_B":1472268636,"score_A":11,"score_B":86,"human_ref_A":"I think most professors would be really excited by that. Most of the time the only thing that happens during office hours is students coming to complain about their grades.","human_ref_B":"Nobody ever comes to my office hours. I'd be thrilled.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1898.0,"score_ratio":7.8181818182} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yec24","c_root_id_B":"d6yfc0p","created_at_utc_A":1472266776,"created_at_utc_B":1472268636,"score_A":6,"score_B":86,"human_ref_A":"I would not be, no. I encourage you to go. Send an email first to make sure s\/he is there when you go. Better yet, send a copy of the article along with that message so that your Prof has some context, even if it is a quick skim 5 minutes before you get there.","human_ref_B":"Nobody ever comes to my office hours. I'd be thrilled.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1860.0,"score_ratio":14.3333333333} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yed30","c_root_id_B":"d6yerzw","created_at_utc_A":1472266829,"created_at_utc_B":1472267587,"score_A":12,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"(Not a prof but) Not annoying but consider your timing...It would be uncomfortable for both you and the prof if you came and there was a group of students with coursework questions and you wanted to discuss something beyond the course. The purpose of office hours is generally to provide extra support to students, often they're not well-attended and then it's a great opportunity to have meaningful conversations beyond course content...But remember that the priority is still going to be a struggling student. If it's a popular prof or you anticipate this would happen, I'd recommend emailing them and asking your questions\/letting them know what you thought and that you wanted to drop by and discuss\/learn more about their research.","human_ref_B":"I would be pretty psyched as long as it wasn't the first or last week of classes. Those weeks are super hectic, but any other time and I'd enjoy that you were reading stuff outside of class and interested in it and I'd want to help promote that interest.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":758.0,"score_ratio":2.0833333333} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yerzw","c_root_id_B":"d6yeb9s","created_at_utc_A":1472267587,"created_at_utc_B":1472266738,"score_A":25,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I would be pretty psyched as long as it wasn't the first or last week of classes. Those weeks are super hectic, but any other time and I'd enjoy that you were reading stuff outside of class and interested in it and I'd want to help promote that interest.","human_ref_B":"I think most professors would be really excited by that. Most of the time the only thing that happens during office hours is students coming to complain about their grades.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":849.0,"score_ratio":2.2727272727} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yerzw","c_root_id_B":"d6yec24","created_at_utc_A":1472267587,"created_at_utc_B":1472266776,"score_A":25,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I would be pretty psyched as long as it wasn't the first or last week of classes. Those weeks are super hectic, but any other time and I'd enjoy that you were reading stuff outside of class and interested in it and I'd want to help promote that interest.","human_ref_B":"I would not be, no. I encourage you to go. Send an email first to make sure s\/he is there when you go. Better yet, send a copy of the article along with that message so that your Prof has some context, even if it is a quick skim 5 minutes before you get there.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":811.0,"score_ratio":4.1666666667} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yed30","c_root_id_B":"d6yeb9s","created_at_utc_A":1472266829,"created_at_utc_B":1472266738,"score_A":12,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"(Not a prof but) Not annoying but consider your timing...It would be uncomfortable for both you and the prof if you came and there was a group of students with coursework questions and you wanted to discuss something beyond the course. The purpose of office hours is generally to provide extra support to students, often they're not well-attended and then it's a great opportunity to have meaningful conversations beyond course content...But remember that the priority is still going to be a struggling student. If it's a popular prof or you anticipate this would happen, I'd recommend emailing them and asking your questions\/letting them know what you thought and that you wanted to drop by and discuss\/learn more about their research.","human_ref_B":"I think most professors would be really excited by that. Most of the time the only thing that happens during office hours is students coming to complain about their grades.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":91.0,"score_ratio":1.0909090909} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yec24","c_root_id_B":"d6yed30","created_at_utc_A":1472266776,"created_at_utc_B":1472266829,"score_A":6,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I would not be, no. I encourage you to go. Send an email first to make sure s\/he is there when you go. Better yet, send a copy of the article along with that message so that your Prof has some context, even if it is a quick skim 5 minutes before you get there.","human_ref_B":"(Not a prof but) Not annoying but consider your timing...It would be uncomfortable for both you and the prof if you came and there was a group of students with coursework questions and you wanted to discuss something beyond the course. The purpose of office hours is generally to provide extra support to students, often they're not well-attended and then it's a great opportunity to have meaningful conversations beyond course content...But remember that the priority is still going to be a struggling student. If it's a popular prof or you anticipate this would happen, I'd recommend emailing them and asking your questions\/letting them know what you thought and that you wanted to drop by and discuss\/learn more about their research.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":53.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6ys4d9","c_root_id_B":"d6yec24","created_at_utc_A":1472305881,"created_at_utc_B":1472266776,"score_A":11,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"The secret to good ~~comedy~~ menteeship is *timing*. Office hours or having made an appointment; AWESOME! Unannounced 5 mins before a class or a week before a grant deadline: GTFO!","human_ref_B":"I would not be, no. I encourage you to go. Send an email first to make sure s\/he is there when you go. Better yet, send a copy of the article along with that message so that your Prof has some context, even if it is a quick skim 5 minutes before you get there.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":39105.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6ys4d9","c_root_id_B":"d6yloi1","created_at_utc_A":1472305881,"created_at_utc_B":1472284740,"score_A":11,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"The secret to good ~~comedy~~ menteeship is *timing*. Office hours or having made an appointment; AWESOME! Unannounced 5 mins before a class or a week before a grant deadline: GTFO!","human_ref_B":"Come, but don't expect me to tell you the answers to all your questions if I've never seen it, would love a discussion about it though.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21141.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yi30o","c_root_id_B":"d6ys4d9","created_at_utc_A":1472274413,"created_at_utc_B":1472305881,"score_A":3,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"No one ever comes to my office hours (time which I specifically set aside for student enquiries), so I would be overjoyed if a student came by with a question related to my field of study.","human_ref_B":"The secret to good ~~comedy~~ menteeship is *timing*. Office hours or having made an appointment; AWESOME! Unannounced 5 mins before a class or a week before a grant deadline: GTFO!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":31468.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yjvxn","c_root_id_B":"d6ys4d9","created_at_utc_A":1472278998,"created_at_utc_B":1472305881,"score_A":3,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"As long as it's not the first week, the week before an exam, or the last week, I'd appreciate it. The above weeks are usually the only weeks that might get busy.","human_ref_B":"The secret to good ~~comedy~~ menteeship is *timing*. Office hours or having made an appointment; AWESOME! Unannounced 5 mins before a class or a week before a grant deadline: GTFO!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26883.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yi30o","c_root_id_B":"d6yloi1","created_at_utc_A":1472274413,"created_at_utc_B":1472284740,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"No one ever comes to my office hours (time which I specifically set aside for student enquiries), so I would be overjoyed if a student came by with a question related to my field of study.","human_ref_B":"Come, but don't expect me to tell you the answers to all your questions if I've never seen it, would love a discussion about it though.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10327.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"4zs8hj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Professors of Reddit, would you be annoyed if a student of yours went to your office hours to get an opinion on an article? Hello, so I was reading through the local newspaper and found an article related to one of my professor's field..I am really curious about it but don't want to seem like I am really annoying. Plus I am trying to learn not to be shy. Anyways, hope to get some input.","c_root_id_A":"d6yloi1","c_root_id_B":"d6yjvxn","created_at_utc_A":1472284740,"created_at_utc_B":1472278998,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Come, but don't expect me to tell you the answers to all your questions if I've never seen it, would love a discussion about it though.","human_ref_B":"As long as it's not the first week, the week before an exam, or the last week, I'd appreciate it. The above weeks are usually the only weeks that might get busy.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5742.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw5pipu","c_root_id_B":"dw68gbn","created_at_utc_A":1521811235,"created_at_utc_B":1521828810,"score_A":9,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"These kind of thoughts are prevalent all throughout society and it's important to remember that ruminating on them, them being so persistent as to cause your work or relationships suffer, is a sign of depression. I don't want to say \"hey that sounds like depression\" but just highlight for anyone else reading and perhaps thinking \"I feel like that all the time\" it is probably worth talking to people about it or maybe even considering seeing a counsellor. To OP, yeah all the time, *especially* since graduating and returning to work and ending up in a factory. I'll go back eventually but I doubt those feelings will ever completely and permanently subside. It's part of the human condition I think","human_ref_B":"Sounds you are insignificant if you're comparing yourself to the rockstars. Just like the local guitar teacher who plays in a few local bands is insignificant compared to rockstars. But you have a really unique opportunity to be a true expert in your field while having the ability to teach students about your field. That's not insignificance. In fact, I'd say that's more significant than the person working night and day to invent something to get rich and notoriety. Stay grounded, my friends.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17575.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw68gbn","c_root_id_B":"dw60ohz","created_at_utc_A":1521828810,"created_at_utc_B":1521821941,"score_A":15,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Sounds you are insignificant if you're comparing yourself to the rockstars. Just like the local guitar teacher who plays in a few local bands is insignificant compared to rockstars. But you have a really unique opportunity to be a true expert in your field while having the ability to teach students about your field. That's not insignificance. In fact, I'd say that's more significant than the person working night and day to invent something to get rich and notoriety. Stay grounded, my friends.","human_ref_B":"Never","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6869.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw68gbn","c_root_id_B":"dw62qz9","created_at_utc_A":1521828810,"created_at_utc_B":1521823771,"score_A":15,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Sounds you are insignificant if you're comparing yourself to the rockstars. Just like the local guitar teacher who plays in a few local bands is insignificant compared to rockstars. But you have a really unique opportunity to be a true expert in your field while having the ability to teach students about your field. That's not insignificance. In fact, I'd say that's more significant than the person working night and day to invent something to get rich and notoriety. Stay grounded, my friends.","human_ref_B":"I try to turn it around and think if I keep working hard, *one day* I'll achieve something significant.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5039.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw68gbn","c_root_id_B":"dw5qj5m","created_at_utc_A":1521828810,"created_at_utc_B":1521812347,"score_A":15,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Sounds you are insignificant if you're comparing yourself to the rockstars. Just like the local guitar teacher who plays in a few local bands is insignificant compared to rockstars. But you have a really unique opportunity to be a true expert in your field while having the ability to teach students about your field. That's not insignificance. In fact, I'd say that's more significant than the person working night and day to invent something to get rich and notoriety. Stay grounded, my friends.","human_ref_B":"I just had the realization last night that academia is a toxic environment for many reasons, but an environment that makes people feel worthless is the worst kind of toxic. I am a grad student so I have literally no grounds to stand on in my department and I think it is the goal of almost every professor in my department to make students, and other faculty, feel like big piles of poo. Just because we do not know everything does not mean we are worthless. If you are missing a skill you want to learn and are not in a place where you are given time and resources to learn that skill you should get out. I have made the difficult decision to take my chances applying to other schools because my current department measures self-worth with status and success. If you feel like this, if you feel stuck, maybe your environment is not suited to your growth. We become academics for the love of the field and learning. If you are not able to be a scholar because of these feelings that's a problem!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16463.0,"score_ratio":7.5} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw68gbn","c_root_id_B":"dw669n8","created_at_utc_A":1521828810,"created_at_utc_B":1521826891,"score_A":15,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Sounds you are insignificant if you're comparing yourself to the rockstars. Just like the local guitar teacher who plays in a few local bands is insignificant compared to rockstars. But you have a really unique opportunity to be a true expert in your field while having the ability to teach students about your field. That's not insignificance. In fact, I'd say that's more significant than the person working night and day to invent something to get rich and notoriety. Stay grounded, my friends.","human_ref_B":"To be one of these research superstars requires the alignment of skill, experience, personality, opportunity, and luck. I don't have numbers on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Pareto 80\/20 principle applied in academia as well: the high-impact stuff being produced by the minority od scholars. Your work is important too, though, and no one knows the future. Your work could end up being foundational to something down the line. At worst, your work will still advance knowledge in some way. It's hard to keep a good perspective when we compare ourselves to others too much. Comparison is the enemy of happiness, and unfortunately, we are told that is what we must always do in order to succeed in our careers. It's taken me a long time to accept that I am enough, that I am still contributing even if I'm not giving keynote addresses and having my name dropped in the public eye. I just try to remember: every Simon needs a Garfunkel.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1919.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw66obh","c_root_id_B":"dw68gbn","created_at_utc_A":1521827245,"created_at_utc_B":1521828810,"score_A":3,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"http:\/\/matt.might.net\/articles\/phd-school-in-pictures\/","human_ref_B":"Sounds you are insignificant if you're comparing yourself to the rockstars. Just like the local guitar teacher who plays in a few local bands is insignificant compared to rockstars. But you have a really unique opportunity to be a true expert in your field while having the ability to teach students about your field. That's not insignificance. In fact, I'd say that's more significant than the person working night and day to invent something to get rich and notoriety. Stay grounded, my friends.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1565.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw60ohz","c_root_id_B":"dw5qj5m","created_at_utc_A":1521821941,"created_at_utc_B":1521812347,"score_A":9,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Never","human_ref_B":"I just had the realization last night that academia is a toxic environment for many reasons, but an environment that makes people feel worthless is the worst kind of toxic. I am a grad student so I have literally no grounds to stand on in my department and I think it is the goal of almost every professor in my department to make students, and other faculty, feel like big piles of poo. Just because we do not know everything does not mean we are worthless. If you are missing a skill you want to learn and are not in a place where you are given time and resources to learn that skill you should get out. I have made the difficult decision to take my chances applying to other schools because my current department measures self-worth with status and success. If you feel like this, if you feel stuck, maybe your environment is not suited to your growth. We become academics for the love of the field and learning. If you are not able to be a scholar because of these feelings that's a problem!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9594.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw62qz9","c_root_id_B":"dw5qj5m","created_at_utc_A":1521823771,"created_at_utc_B":1521812347,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I try to turn it around and think if I keep working hard, *one day* I'll achieve something significant.","human_ref_B":"I just had the realization last night that academia is a toxic environment for many reasons, but an environment that makes people feel worthless is the worst kind of toxic. I am a grad student so I have literally no grounds to stand on in my department and I think it is the goal of almost every professor in my department to make students, and other faculty, feel like big piles of poo. Just because we do not know everything does not mean we are worthless. If you are missing a skill you want to learn and are not in a place where you are given time and resources to learn that skill you should get out. I have made the difficult decision to take my chances applying to other schools because my current department measures self-worth with status and success. If you feel like this, if you feel stuck, maybe your environment is not suited to your growth. We become academics for the love of the field and learning. If you are not able to be a scholar because of these feelings that's a problem!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11424.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw669n8","c_root_id_B":"dw5qj5m","created_at_utc_A":1521826891,"created_at_utc_B":1521812347,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"To be one of these research superstars requires the alignment of skill, experience, personality, opportunity, and luck. I don't have numbers on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Pareto 80\/20 principle applied in academia as well: the high-impact stuff being produced by the minority od scholars. Your work is important too, though, and no one knows the future. Your work could end up being foundational to something down the line. At worst, your work will still advance knowledge in some way. It's hard to keep a good perspective when we compare ourselves to others too much. Comparison is the enemy of happiness, and unfortunately, we are told that is what we must always do in order to succeed in our careers. It's taken me a long time to accept that I am enough, that I am still contributing even if I'm not giving keynote addresses and having my name dropped in the public eye. I just try to remember: every Simon needs a Garfunkel.","human_ref_B":"I just had the realization last night that academia is a toxic environment for many reasons, but an environment that makes people feel worthless is the worst kind of toxic. I am a grad student so I have literally no grounds to stand on in my department and I think it is the goal of almost every professor in my department to make students, and other faculty, feel like big piles of poo. Just because we do not know everything does not mean we are worthless. If you are missing a skill you want to learn and are not in a place where you are given time and resources to learn that skill you should get out. I have made the difficult decision to take my chances applying to other schools because my current department measures self-worth with status and success. If you feel like this, if you feel stuck, maybe your environment is not suited to your growth. We become academics for the love of the field and learning. If you are not able to be a scholar because of these feelings that's a problem!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14544.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw66obh","c_root_id_B":"dw5qj5m","created_at_utc_A":1521827245,"created_at_utc_B":1521812347,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"http:\/\/matt.might.net\/articles\/phd-school-in-pictures\/","human_ref_B":"I just had the realization last night that academia is a toxic environment for many reasons, but an environment that makes people feel worthless is the worst kind of toxic. I am a grad student so I have literally no grounds to stand on in my department and I think it is the goal of almost every professor in my department to make students, and other faculty, feel like big piles of poo. Just because we do not know everything does not mean we are worthless. If you are missing a skill you want to learn and are not in a place where you are given time and resources to learn that skill you should get out. I have made the difficult decision to take my chances applying to other schools because my current department measures self-worth with status and success. If you feel like this, if you feel stuck, maybe your environment is not suited to your growth. We become academics for the love of the field and learning. If you are not able to be a scholar because of these feelings that's a problem!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14898.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"86k1wl","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Do you ever feel insignificant? The more I learn about the awesome innovations and research taking place, the more I feel like I am nothing compared to these people who are at the forefront of it all. Just a moment ago, I got this huge feeling of insignificance. A member of my university, researcher, is working on very interesting tech. It's actually something I also had the idea of but lacked the specific skills and resources to do any work on it (like the many other ideas I've had, this is no surprise). Then I come across this guy who is doing something similar, has turned it into a startup, raised millions and his work has a lot of promise! Down the rabbit hole, I go, reading up on all these people, some of whom I even interact with, and realizing I have never made such a contribution in my life. I know it's all incremental, and small things add up to great accomplishments. But sometimes, there is this surge of feeling insignificant. I just wanted to share this but had no idea where to...","c_root_id_A":"dw69p3d","c_root_id_B":"dw5qj5m","created_at_utc_A":1521829938,"created_at_utc_B":1521812347,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"p - value joke","human_ref_B":"I just had the realization last night that academia is a toxic environment for many reasons, but an environment that makes people feel worthless is the worst kind of toxic. I am a grad student so I have literally no grounds to stand on in my department and I think it is the goal of almost every professor in my department to make students, and other faculty, feel like big piles of poo. Just because we do not know everything does not mean we are worthless. If you are missing a skill you want to learn and are not in a place where you are given time and resources to learn that skill you should get out. I have made the difficult decision to take my chances applying to other schools because my current department measures self-worth with status and success. If you feel like this, if you feel stuck, maybe your environment is not suited to your growth. We become academics for the love of the field and learning. If you are not able to be a scholar because of these feelings that's a problem!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17591.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"vgni0l","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"How do you take good notes so you don't have to go back to the original literature? Hi all, Writing my thesis I have this big problem that I write notes, but ultimately I have to go back to reread where the notes are taken. How do you take notes so you don't have to look at the original source ever again? Examples would be really nice. Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"id2ff5r","c_root_id_B":"id2t5vh","created_at_utc_A":1655738005,"created_at_utc_B":1655743942,"score_A":8,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"IMO it depends on what the purpose is of your reading the original source, and of taking notes. For example, at one point I was trying to find justification for the theoretical framework of feminist social constructivism, so I looked through a number of papers that used it, and highlighted quotes saying that social constructivism wasn\u2019t sufficient, or that feminism (as a critical theory) wasn\u2019t sufficient. If I was taking notes rather than highlighting in Mendeley or another reference manager, I would have copied those quotes instead of highlighting. Then when I needed to cite the papers, o went back and read those quotes, rather than the full paper. In another case, my advisor told me to look for specific ideas in one of her papers to support something in a paper I was writing. For that I basically had one window open with her paper, while I was writing side-by-side in another window, so I got what I needed from the other paper without taking notes or even highlighting. If I\u2019m reading the paper without any specific reason, I try to write a few sentences summarizing important parts of the article, and then I assume that if I need more I *will* have to go back to the article. If I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m looking for, it\u2019s hard to know what to write in my notes. But at least my notes will help me know *where* in the article to look.","human_ref_B":"In Zotero, I just write down summarized phrases of the parts of the paper I think are most useful to me with the page reference. But as previous answers have mentioned, it\u2019s always good to consult papers, especially the core papers","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5937.0,"score_ratio":1.875} {"post_id":"vgni0l","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"How do you take good notes so you don't have to go back to the original literature? Hi all, Writing my thesis I have this big problem that I write notes, but ultimately I have to go back to reread where the notes are taken. How do you take notes so you don't have to look at the original source ever again? Examples would be really nice. Cheers!","c_root_id_A":"id32qja","c_root_id_B":"id3441b","created_at_utc_A":1655748063,"created_at_utc_B":1655748658,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"For my thesis, I made both a detailed and summarized version of notes for the articles I was reading on a given topic related to my thesis. This gave me two different documents: a summary-only document and a detailed-notes document. I think this worked. When I had a question about a given topic, I could then skim the summary doc to see what article I was thinking of or needed to reference. Then, if I had to find page numbers, quotations, etc., I would go the detailed document. I have to say that, while i liked this system, I haven't gone back to it since I've finished my thesis. It was a luxury of the thesis to be able to do something so in depth.","human_ref_B":"I have found that regardless to how great my notes are, I always have to return to the literature at some point.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":595.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"e1jo31","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Reading closed access paper of your prof Is it rude to talk with your prof about some paid-access papers of them, and will they know that you got then from sites like s*ih*b? Like, if they are third or fourth author of the paper, or in genereal, will they even get anything, when I purchase the Paper from Nature or Elsevier?","c_root_id_A":"f8r8irq","c_root_id_B":"f8ryxth","created_at_utc_A":1574734493,"created_at_utc_B":1574760262,"score_A":4,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"NEVER EVER pay publishers for papers! This is basically a scam. Profs get nothing, publishers are for profit with some ridiculous margins (google it). Scihub is ideal. If it makes you uncomfortable, ask prof for a pdf. It is not rude, if you are actually going to read them :)","human_ref_B":"Lol, you sweet summer child. I wish authors of journal papers got royalties.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":25769.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"e1jo31","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Reading closed access paper of your prof Is it rude to talk with your prof about some paid-access papers of them, and will they know that you got then from sites like s*ih*b? Like, if they are third or fourth author of the paper, or in genereal, will they even get anything, when I purchase the Paper from Nature or Elsevier?","c_root_id_A":"f8r85zr","c_root_id_B":"f8ryxth","created_at_utc_A":1574734256,"created_at_utc_B":1574760262,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Even if in a paid access journal the prof will (or really should) have a pdf copy of the paper. Ask the prof for the pdf. He is allowed to give you, with no problems.","human_ref_B":"Lol, you sweet summer child. I wish authors of journal papers got royalties.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26006.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"e1jo31","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Reading closed access paper of your prof Is it rude to talk with your prof about some paid-access papers of them, and will they know that you got then from sites like s*ih*b? Like, if they are third or fourth author of the paper, or in genereal, will they even get anything, when I purchase the Paper from Nature or Elsevier?","c_root_id_A":"f8r8irq","c_root_id_B":"f8r85zr","created_at_utc_A":1574734493,"created_at_utc_B":1574734256,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"NEVER EVER pay publishers for papers! This is basically a scam. Profs get nothing, publishers are for profit with some ridiculous margins (google it). Scihub is ideal. If it makes you uncomfortable, ask prof for a pdf. It is not rude, if you are actually going to read them :)","human_ref_B":"Even if in a paid access journal the prof will (or really should) have a pdf copy of the paper. Ask the prof for the pdf. He is allowed to give you, with no problems.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":237.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1nqwuw","c_root_id_B":"j1nqv5j","created_at_utc_A":1672008429,"created_at_utc_B":1672008405,"score_A":81,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"What do you mean by \u201cteaching at a high level\u201d? Teaching graduate courses? Teaching junior\/senior level undergraduate courses?","human_ref_B":"Undergrad institution","labels":1,"seconds_difference":24.0,"score_ratio":4.7647058824} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1nx8wo","c_root_id_B":"j1o9xey","created_at_utc_A":1672011585,"created_at_utc_B":1672018195,"score_A":54,"score_B":58,"human_ref_A":"This is field dependent, but any tenure track position at my field is going to require some research, even at community colleges. It may be pedagogical research, or a research program primarily focused on undergrads gaining experience, but it needs to be something. If you don\u2019t want to do no research, then teaching focused schools (PUIs) including state comprehensives and liberal arts colleges would be a good focus. Do keep in mind that pay will be a lot lower than more research focused faculty positions.","human_ref_B":"I'm in a non-tenure but permanent teaching position at a liberal arts college. I teach a 4\/4 load. My TT colleagues teach a 3\/3. I am not expected to do any research although I can if I want and there is support for it. There is a lot of teaching support. My university is discussing the possibility of making our teaching positions tenure track, but the evaluation would be on teaching only. I know some schools have TT teaching positions. For the record, even the TT faculty here get a lot of encouragement to focus there research on projects that include undergrads (no graduate program) and student involvement is weighted more than publishing. Feel free to PM me for more info. I love my job.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6610.0,"score_ratio":1.0740740741} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1o9xey","c_root_id_B":"j1nynku","created_at_utc_A":1672018195,"created_at_utc_B":1672012297,"score_A":58,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I'm in a non-tenure but permanent teaching position at a liberal arts college. I teach a 4\/4 load. My TT colleagues teach a 3\/3. I am not expected to do any research although I can if I want and there is support for it. There is a lot of teaching support. My university is discussing the possibility of making our teaching positions tenure track, but the evaluation would be on teaching only. I know some schools have TT teaching positions. For the record, even the TT faculty here get a lot of encouragement to focus there research on projects that include undergrads (no graduate program) and student involvement is weighted more than publishing. Feel free to PM me for more info. I love my job.","human_ref_B":"Some teaching roles are mainly centered around teaching. In Europe these will be titled \"lecturer\" for instance instead of \"professor\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5898.0,"score_ratio":3.2222222222} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1o9xey","c_root_id_B":"j1nqv5j","created_at_utc_A":1672018195,"created_at_utc_B":1672008405,"score_A":58,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"I'm in a non-tenure but permanent teaching position at a liberal arts college. I teach a 4\/4 load. My TT colleagues teach a 3\/3. I am not expected to do any research although I can if I want and there is support for it. There is a lot of teaching support. My university is discussing the possibility of making our teaching positions tenure track, but the evaluation would be on teaching only. I know some schools have TT teaching positions. For the record, even the TT faculty here get a lot of encouragement to focus there research on projects that include undergrads (no graduate program) and student involvement is weighted more than publishing. Feel free to PM me for more info. I love my job.","human_ref_B":"Undergrad institution","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9790.0,"score_ratio":3.4117647059} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1o9xey","c_root_id_B":"j1nt957","created_at_utc_A":1672018195,"created_at_utc_B":1672009581,"score_A":58,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"I'm in a non-tenure but permanent teaching position at a liberal arts college. I teach a 4\/4 load. My TT colleagues teach a 3\/3. I am not expected to do any research although I can if I want and there is support for it. There is a lot of teaching support. My university is discussing the possibility of making our teaching positions tenure track, but the evaluation would be on teaching only. I know some schools have TT teaching positions. For the record, even the TT faculty here get a lot of encouragement to focus there research on projects that include undergrads (no graduate program) and student involvement is weighted more than publishing. Feel free to PM me for more info. I love my job.","human_ref_B":"Liberal arts college or other primarily undergraduate institution! You could also teach high school at some fancy private schools without getting any additional degrees.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8614.0,"score_ratio":3.8666666667} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1o9xey","c_root_id_B":"j1o0ayu","created_at_utc_A":1672018195,"created_at_utc_B":1672013120,"score_A":58,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I'm in a non-tenure but permanent teaching position at a liberal arts college. I teach a 4\/4 load. My TT colleagues teach a 3\/3. I am not expected to do any research although I can if I want and there is support for it. There is a lot of teaching support. My university is discussing the possibility of making our teaching positions tenure track, but the evaluation would be on teaching only. I know some schools have TT teaching positions. For the record, even the TT faculty here get a lot of encouragement to focus there research on projects that include undergrads (no graduate program) and student involvement is weighted more than publishing. Feel free to PM me for more info. I love my job.","human_ref_B":"Assistant Teaching Professor tracks. Most aren\u2019t TT though some are.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5075.0,"score_ratio":4.4615384615} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1nqv5j","c_root_id_B":"j1nx8wo","created_at_utc_A":1672008405,"created_at_utc_B":1672011585,"score_A":17,"score_B":54,"human_ref_A":"Undergrad institution","human_ref_B":"This is field dependent, but any tenure track position at my field is going to require some research, even at community colleges. It may be pedagogical research, or a research program primarily focused on undergrads gaining experience, but it needs to be something. If you don\u2019t want to do no research, then teaching focused schools (PUIs) including state comprehensives and liberal arts colleges would be a good focus. Do keep in mind that pay will be a lot lower than more research focused faculty positions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3180.0,"score_ratio":3.1764705882} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1nt957","c_root_id_B":"j1nx8wo","created_at_utc_A":1672009581,"created_at_utc_B":1672011585,"score_A":15,"score_B":54,"human_ref_A":"Liberal arts college or other primarily undergraduate institution! You could also teach high school at some fancy private schools without getting any additional degrees.","human_ref_B":"This is field dependent, but any tenure track position at my field is going to require some research, even at community colleges. It may be pedagogical research, or a research program primarily focused on undergrads gaining experience, but it needs to be something. If you don\u2019t want to do no research, then teaching focused schools (PUIs) including state comprehensives and liberal arts colleges would be a good focus. Do keep in mind that pay will be a lot lower than more research focused faculty positions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2004.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1nynku","c_root_id_B":"j1nqv5j","created_at_utc_A":1672012297,"created_at_utc_B":1672008405,"score_A":18,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Some teaching roles are mainly centered around teaching. In Europe these will be titled \"lecturer\" for instance instead of \"professor\"","human_ref_B":"Undergrad institution","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3892.0,"score_ratio":1.0588235294} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1nynku","c_root_id_B":"j1nt957","created_at_utc_A":1672012297,"created_at_utc_B":1672009581,"score_A":18,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"Some teaching roles are mainly centered around teaching. In Europe these will be titled \"lecturer\" for instance instead of \"professor\"","human_ref_B":"Liberal arts college or other primarily undergraduate institution! You could also teach high school at some fancy private schools without getting any additional degrees.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2716.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1o0ayu","c_root_id_B":"j1odjz0","created_at_utc_A":1672013120,"created_at_utc_B":1672020175,"score_A":13,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"Assistant Teaching Professor tracks. Most aren\u2019t TT though some are.","human_ref_B":"Lecturer, Instructor, or Teaching professor (depending on the school). Often these are not tenure track positions (though some places they are) and you have a higher teaching load with reduced to zero research expectation. At my university, a lecturer teaches 4\/4 and has service obligation, but is not evaluated on research (though they can do it and it is supported). Those with PhDs can teach graduate classes. The only potential restriction we have is that they have to have graduate faculty status to serve on a thesis\/dissertation committee which means they have to have some type of recent research productivity for that status.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7055.0,"score_ratio":1.1538461538} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1oa8ho","c_root_id_B":"j1odjz0","created_at_utc_A":1672018363,"created_at_utc_B":1672020175,"score_A":9,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"Plenty of people get their PhD and then go on to work at small liberal arts colleges or regional state universities. That said, research expectations have increased everywhere. The community college is still a pure play for teaching\u2014mostly.","human_ref_B":"Lecturer, Instructor, or Teaching professor (depending on the school). Often these are not tenure track positions (though some places they are) and you have a higher teaching load with reduced to zero research expectation. At my university, a lecturer teaches 4\/4 and has service obligation, but is not evaluated on research (though they can do it and it is supported). Those with PhDs can teach graduate classes. The only potential restriction we have is that they have to have graduate faculty status to serve on a thesis\/dissertation committee which means they have to have some type of recent research productivity for that status.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1812.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1ovhj6","c_root_id_B":"j1ojgmo","created_at_utc_A":1672030332,"created_at_utc_B":1672023418,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Some community colleges. I am a tenured instructor at a CC- it depends on the department what value they place on research, but I\u2019m in a STEM position and we no longer care much* about research experience and have no research requirements. *there is value in research experience at my institution but that can generally be replaced by certain industry experience or certain types of graduate coursework.","human_ref_B":"Your best bet (assuming you want a stable income), is to work at a Teaching-focused Liberal Arts institute. But even doing so requires you do dedicate \\~30% of your time on research. This number is field-dependent, and in some fields, particularly the biological and computational sciences, that figure can be considered to be on the 'conservative' amount.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6914.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"zv85vu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? I prefer the teaching aspect of grad school more than the research and am interested in learning about which career opportunities are available to me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"j1omgoc","c_root_id_B":"j1ovhj6","created_at_utc_A":1672025103,"created_at_utc_B":1672030332,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m at a PUI. STEM. I need to get a few pubs, like 2, and one grant for tenure. Teaching load is 12 credits a semester so it\u2019s hard to get much research done during the semester.","human_ref_B":"Some community colleges. I am a tenured instructor at a CC- it depends on the department what value they place on research, but I\u2019m in a STEM position and we no longer care much* about research experience and have no research requirements. *there is value in research experience at my institution but that can generally be replaced by certain industry experience or certain types of graduate coursework.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5229.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wdmec","c_root_id_B":"i6vhoz0","created_at_utc_A":1651408766,"created_at_utc_B":1651382672,"score_A":79,"score_B":62,"human_ref_A":"Part of the reason I decided to leave academia was because I was so uncomfortable navigating the social elements. I come from a poor family and was the first in my family to go to college and I was surrounded by people whose parents were college professors and had lived such drastically different lives. The university's career center recommended a book called \"This fine place so far from home\" which was helpful but not helpful enough for me to feel comfortable in that world. (It also didn't help that I realized that most of the people around me were OBSESSED with what we were doing and I treated it like a job. I could see that I was not even remotely competitive when compared to someone who took a stack of Science magazines on vacation)","human_ref_B":"There was a lot of undergrad I did not know but when I got to grad school, I actually felt more comfortable. Then I learned how common it is for grad students to come from families where at least one of their parents are PhDs\/MDs\/lawyers, etc. and not blue collar jobs and suddenly I felt like an outcast. That said, the way I figured out the hidden curriculum was that I was a research tech for 3 years and people in the lab taught me a lot. I did not know grad school interviews were paid for, for example. I definitely think there is a lot more hidden curriculum in grad school than undergrad if for no other reason than it\u2019s a different mechanism. I had a lot of college prep discussions in HS but no one in college was prepping me for grad school without me asking.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26094.0,"score_ratio":1.2741935484} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6xmv6r","c_root_id_B":"i6wwp5c","created_at_utc_A":1651429834,"created_at_utc_B":1651418512,"score_A":25,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"Yes! Here are just a few reasons I've seen students bump up against the hidden curriculum and fail out or not get academic jobs. As a dissertation committee member, I've always tried to help, but I can only be outside reader because my program doesn't have grad students and there's only so much I can do. I hate to say it but a lot of my advice is about pretending to be middle class--not upper or lower, either is a disadvantage. Academics have cultural capital but will live a very modest life, so showing off a lot of wealth does not leave any better impression than being openly working class. That said, I think academia SHOULD be for everyone. As someone with a non-wealthy background myself, I'm very aware that it isn't in its current form. ​ Here are the issues I've seen personally or with my students: ​ 1. The first isn't about class, but it is about hidden curriculum. It is very common for failures to result from mismatched expectations for master's \/ PhD qualifying exams. If you're a student, make sure you know what a successful exam performance is like. If there's something specific you'll be producing, like a close reading of a literary text, ask for a successful sample. 2. The second is also hidden curriculum, but not class. Make sure you know citation practices in your field. These are supposed to be taught in undergrad and will not be retaught in the grad curriculum in a lot of detail, but you probably didn't learn them adequately as an undergrad. I've seen unintentional plagiarism on a dissertation and it was painful to unravel. Student was from a different country and misunderstood what her graduate instructors said about citation. 3. And on to class...a lot of interviewing for jobs is communication and language skills. I am in a foreign language field, so those skills need to be bilingual. You need to sound like a respectable middle class person in both languages, and some of that is about vocabulary, intonation and pronunciation. If you have a regional or foreign accent (I do, so I know), having very correct grammar and fancy vocabulary can offset a negative impression. 4. Students and job candidates can have little idea of what a professor's day-to-day work is like. This is a more acute problem if, say, neither your parents nor your parents' friends are academics, so you have no real-life models to follow. Get out all your questions with the faculty in your PhD program. It's always an odd experience when a job candidate asks me who makes the syllabus and the tests (the professor does!). These questions are natural and common from people who haven't done a lot of teaching or who have taught at large universities that heavily coordinate sections of the same course. 5. Dressing and looking middle class is key to getting that job. I hate that this is the case because academia should be for everyone with the interest and intellectual spark. I finally had success getting a job when I changed my style from more casual to what my image of a \"career woman\" was (shoulder-length straightened hair, makeup, clothes from Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, black shoes with a short heel, no nail polish). In my case I dressed up for the entire year I was a Visiting Assistant Professor and I got hired when the tenure track job came up. I wore my suit at least once a week! Slowly over time I reverted to my former style (crazy nail polish, long curly hair, no makeup, jeans and black tee shirts, Birkenstocks with socks). My students never cared, and my fellow faculty is now used to the fact that I buy my clothes at Costco and don't put makeup on my face. But actually getting the job is at least in part about appearances.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely yes there is. The book Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano was helpful for me in understanding and navigating the upper class world that is academia. One of my big wakeups was realizing my definition of \u201cbroke\u201d was very different from others. One of my colleagues gave the impression she worked through undergrad like me and was a non traditional student and all that and it turned out she was so broke her parents had to send her $500\/month \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31 Depending on what field you\u2019re going into there is a higher chance of their parents being in that field, which means it\u2019s easier for them to get internships, jobs, etc. Try to read what you can, observe what you can, and find good mentors because you\u2019ll need them more than others. Be a creative problem solver (ie: I asked people what to wear to a conference and the answers were all over the place so finally I searched the previous year\u2019s hashtag on social media to see what people were really wearing). Profs are so steeped in the world sometimes it can be hard for them to understand the issues of someone who is not. It can be really lonely. But! The fact that you know there are things you might not know is already a good sign!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11322.0,"score_ratio":1.3157894737} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6xmv6r","c_root_id_B":"i6wqwk6","created_at_utc_A":1651429834,"created_at_utc_B":1651415883,"score_A":25,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Yes! Here are just a few reasons I've seen students bump up against the hidden curriculum and fail out or not get academic jobs. As a dissertation committee member, I've always tried to help, but I can only be outside reader because my program doesn't have grad students and there's only so much I can do. I hate to say it but a lot of my advice is about pretending to be middle class--not upper or lower, either is a disadvantage. Academics have cultural capital but will live a very modest life, so showing off a lot of wealth does not leave any better impression than being openly working class. That said, I think academia SHOULD be for everyone. As someone with a non-wealthy background myself, I'm very aware that it isn't in its current form. ​ Here are the issues I've seen personally or with my students: ​ 1. The first isn't about class, but it is about hidden curriculum. It is very common for failures to result from mismatched expectations for master's \/ PhD qualifying exams. If you're a student, make sure you know what a successful exam performance is like. If there's something specific you'll be producing, like a close reading of a literary text, ask for a successful sample. 2. The second is also hidden curriculum, but not class. Make sure you know citation practices in your field. These are supposed to be taught in undergrad and will not be retaught in the grad curriculum in a lot of detail, but you probably didn't learn them adequately as an undergrad. I've seen unintentional plagiarism on a dissertation and it was painful to unravel. Student was from a different country and misunderstood what her graduate instructors said about citation. 3. And on to class...a lot of interviewing for jobs is communication and language skills. I am in a foreign language field, so those skills need to be bilingual. You need to sound like a respectable middle class person in both languages, and some of that is about vocabulary, intonation and pronunciation. If you have a regional or foreign accent (I do, so I know), having very correct grammar and fancy vocabulary can offset a negative impression. 4. Students and job candidates can have little idea of what a professor's day-to-day work is like. This is a more acute problem if, say, neither your parents nor your parents' friends are academics, so you have no real-life models to follow. Get out all your questions with the faculty in your PhD program. It's always an odd experience when a job candidate asks me who makes the syllabus and the tests (the professor does!). These questions are natural and common from people who haven't done a lot of teaching or who have taught at large universities that heavily coordinate sections of the same course. 5. Dressing and looking middle class is key to getting that job. I hate that this is the case because academia should be for everyone with the interest and intellectual spark. I finally had success getting a job when I changed my style from more casual to what my image of a \"career woman\" was (shoulder-length straightened hair, makeup, clothes from Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, black shoes with a short heel, no nail polish). In my case I dressed up for the entire year I was a Visiting Assistant Professor and I got hired when the tenure track job came up. I wore my suit at least once a week! Slowly over time I reverted to my former style (crazy nail polish, long curly hair, no makeup, jeans and black tee shirts, Birkenstocks with socks). My students never cared, and my fellow faculty is now used to the fact that I buy my clothes at Costco and don't put makeup on my face. But actually getting the job is at least in part about appearances.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely. I only survived graduate school because I had a *very* patient mentor who was willing to explain to me what was wrong with that email I just sent or why I had to apologize to some other professor. I owe him so much.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13951.0,"score_ratio":2.2727272727} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6xmv6r","c_root_id_B":"i6wn3m5","created_at_utc_A":1651429834,"created_at_utc_B":1651414028,"score_A":25,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Yes! Here are just a few reasons I've seen students bump up against the hidden curriculum and fail out or not get academic jobs. As a dissertation committee member, I've always tried to help, but I can only be outside reader because my program doesn't have grad students and there's only so much I can do. I hate to say it but a lot of my advice is about pretending to be middle class--not upper or lower, either is a disadvantage. Academics have cultural capital but will live a very modest life, so showing off a lot of wealth does not leave any better impression than being openly working class. That said, I think academia SHOULD be for everyone. As someone with a non-wealthy background myself, I'm very aware that it isn't in its current form. ​ Here are the issues I've seen personally or with my students: ​ 1. The first isn't about class, but it is about hidden curriculum. It is very common for failures to result from mismatched expectations for master's \/ PhD qualifying exams. If you're a student, make sure you know what a successful exam performance is like. If there's something specific you'll be producing, like a close reading of a literary text, ask for a successful sample. 2. The second is also hidden curriculum, but not class. Make sure you know citation practices in your field. These are supposed to be taught in undergrad and will not be retaught in the grad curriculum in a lot of detail, but you probably didn't learn them adequately as an undergrad. I've seen unintentional plagiarism on a dissertation and it was painful to unravel. Student was from a different country and misunderstood what her graduate instructors said about citation. 3. And on to class...a lot of interviewing for jobs is communication and language skills. I am in a foreign language field, so those skills need to be bilingual. You need to sound like a respectable middle class person in both languages, and some of that is about vocabulary, intonation and pronunciation. If you have a regional or foreign accent (I do, so I know), having very correct grammar and fancy vocabulary can offset a negative impression. 4. Students and job candidates can have little idea of what a professor's day-to-day work is like. This is a more acute problem if, say, neither your parents nor your parents' friends are academics, so you have no real-life models to follow. Get out all your questions with the faculty in your PhD program. It's always an odd experience when a job candidate asks me who makes the syllabus and the tests (the professor does!). These questions are natural and common from people who haven't done a lot of teaching or who have taught at large universities that heavily coordinate sections of the same course. 5. Dressing and looking middle class is key to getting that job. I hate that this is the case because academia should be for everyone with the interest and intellectual spark. I finally had success getting a job when I changed my style from more casual to what my image of a \"career woman\" was (shoulder-length straightened hair, makeup, clothes from Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, black shoes with a short heel, no nail polish). In my case I dressed up for the entire year I was a Visiting Assistant Professor and I got hired when the tenure track job came up. I wore my suit at least once a week! Slowly over time I reverted to my former style (crazy nail polish, long curly hair, no makeup, jeans and black tee shirts, Birkenstocks with socks). My students never cared, and my fellow faculty is now used to the fact that I buy my clothes at Costco and don't put makeup on my face. But actually getting the job is at least in part about appearances.","human_ref_B":"I came from a poor family and received no guidance on academic matters (nor barely any on general \u201cadulting\u201d, personal finance and nutrition and the like, though I\u2019d had a leg up there having been quite independent since age ~8). Didn\u2019t really feel there to be much of a hidden curriculum, or at least by the time I\u2019d gotten to grad school I\u2019d read enough \u201cguide to grad school\u201d-style retrospectives that much less was unclear to me than during the the hs -> ugrad transition (but even then, I never felt too out of place\u2026 probably on account of largely avoiding \u201chigh society\u201d gatherings, though! so perhaps lacking the opportunity).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15806.0,"score_ratio":2.2727272727} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wj254","c_root_id_B":"i6xmv6r","created_at_utc_A":1651411927,"created_at_utc_B":1651429834,"score_A":7,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"The big difference is knowing that a lot in academia is highly variable and you can and should ask about anything. There really aren't many tangible similarities between my & my parents' grad school experience. I think a lot of people talking about the hidden curriculum imagine that kids of academics just *know* things, but the reality is there's so much variability from institution to institution and field to field that tangible stuff isn't that helpful. The mindset towards work and being encouraged to ask questions about everything my whole life is probably the most helpful thing.","human_ref_B":"Yes! Here are just a few reasons I've seen students bump up against the hidden curriculum and fail out or not get academic jobs. As a dissertation committee member, I've always tried to help, but I can only be outside reader because my program doesn't have grad students and there's only so much I can do. I hate to say it but a lot of my advice is about pretending to be middle class--not upper or lower, either is a disadvantage. Academics have cultural capital but will live a very modest life, so showing off a lot of wealth does not leave any better impression than being openly working class. That said, I think academia SHOULD be for everyone. As someone with a non-wealthy background myself, I'm very aware that it isn't in its current form. ​ Here are the issues I've seen personally or with my students: ​ 1. The first isn't about class, but it is about hidden curriculum. It is very common for failures to result from mismatched expectations for master's \/ PhD qualifying exams. If you're a student, make sure you know what a successful exam performance is like. If there's something specific you'll be producing, like a close reading of a literary text, ask for a successful sample. 2. The second is also hidden curriculum, but not class. Make sure you know citation practices in your field. These are supposed to be taught in undergrad and will not be retaught in the grad curriculum in a lot of detail, but you probably didn't learn them adequately as an undergrad. I've seen unintentional plagiarism on a dissertation and it was painful to unravel. Student was from a different country and misunderstood what her graduate instructors said about citation. 3. And on to class...a lot of interviewing for jobs is communication and language skills. I am in a foreign language field, so those skills need to be bilingual. You need to sound like a respectable middle class person in both languages, and some of that is about vocabulary, intonation and pronunciation. If you have a regional or foreign accent (I do, so I know), having very correct grammar and fancy vocabulary can offset a negative impression. 4. Students and job candidates can have little idea of what a professor's day-to-day work is like. This is a more acute problem if, say, neither your parents nor your parents' friends are academics, so you have no real-life models to follow. Get out all your questions with the faculty in your PhD program. It's always an odd experience when a job candidate asks me who makes the syllabus and the tests (the professor does!). These questions are natural and common from people who haven't done a lot of teaching or who have taught at large universities that heavily coordinate sections of the same course. 5. Dressing and looking middle class is key to getting that job. I hate that this is the case because academia should be for everyone with the interest and intellectual spark. I finally had success getting a job when I changed my style from more casual to what my image of a \"career woman\" was (shoulder-length straightened hair, makeup, clothes from Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, black shoes with a short heel, no nail polish). In my case I dressed up for the entire year I was a Visiting Assistant Professor and I got hired when the tenure track job came up. I wore my suit at least once a week! Slowly over time I reverted to my former style (crazy nail polish, long curly hair, no makeup, jeans and black tee shirts, Birkenstocks with socks). My students never cared, and my fellow faculty is now used to the fact that I buy my clothes at Costco and don't put makeup on my face. But actually getting the job is at least in part about appearances.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17907.0,"score_ratio":3.5714285714} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6whbpm","c_root_id_B":"i6xmv6r","created_at_utc_A":1651410970,"created_at_utc_B":1651429834,"score_A":6,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"I mean, like most questions posed here about grad school; your question is far too broad. Different programs, different degree fields, different schools, different nations, and different PIs\/students are all going to have very different responses to this question.","human_ref_B":"Yes! Here are just a few reasons I've seen students bump up against the hidden curriculum and fail out or not get academic jobs. As a dissertation committee member, I've always tried to help, but I can only be outside reader because my program doesn't have grad students and there's only so much I can do. I hate to say it but a lot of my advice is about pretending to be middle class--not upper or lower, either is a disadvantage. Academics have cultural capital but will live a very modest life, so showing off a lot of wealth does not leave any better impression than being openly working class. That said, I think academia SHOULD be for everyone. As someone with a non-wealthy background myself, I'm very aware that it isn't in its current form. ​ Here are the issues I've seen personally or with my students: ​ 1. The first isn't about class, but it is about hidden curriculum. It is very common for failures to result from mismatched expectations for master's \/ PhD qualifying exams. If you're a student, make sure you know what a successful exam performance is like. If there's something specific you'll be producing, like a close reading of a literary text, ask for a successful sample. 2. The second is also hidden curriculum, but not class. Make sure you know citation practices in your field. These are supposed to be taught in undergrad and will not be retaught in the grad curriculum in a lot of detail, but you probably didn't learn them adequately as an undergrad. I've seen unintentional plagiarism on a dissertation and it was painful to unravel. Student was from a different country and misunderstood what her graduate instructors said about citation. 3. And on to class...a lot of interviewing for jobs is communication and language skills. I am in a foreign language field, so those skills need to be bilingual. You need to sound like a respectable middle class person in both languages, and some of that is about vocabulary, intonation and pronunciation. If you have a regional or foreign accent (I do, so I know), having very correct grammar and fancy vocabulary can offset a negative impression. 4. Students and job candidates can have little idea of what a professor's day-to-day work is like. This is a more acute problem if, say, neither your parents nor your parents' friends are academics, so you have no real-life models to follow. Get out all your questions with the faculty in your PhD program. It's always an odd experience when a job candidate asks me who makes the syllabus and the tests (the professor does!). These questions are natural and common from people who haven't done a lot of teaching or who have taught at large universities that heavily coordinate sections of the same course. 5. Dressing and looking middle class is key to getting that job. I hate that this is the case because academia should be for everyone with the interest and intellectual spark. I finally had success getting a job when I changed my style from more casual to what my image of a \"career woman\" was (shoulder-length straightened hair, makeup, clothes from Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, black shoes with a short heel, no nail polish). In my case I dressed up for the entire year I was a Visiting Assistant Professor and I got hired when the tenure track job came up. I wore my suit at least once a week! Slowly over time I reverted to my former style (crazy nail polish, long curly hair, no makeup, jeans and black tee shirts, Birkenstocks with socks). My students never cared, and my fellow faculty is now used to the fact that I buy my clothes at Costco and don't put makeup on my face. But actually getting the job is at least in part about appearances.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18864.0,"score_ratio":4.1666666667} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wqwk6","c_root_id_B":"i6wwp5c","created_at_utc_A":1651415883,"created_at_utc_B":1651418512,"score_A":11,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"Absolutely. I only survived graduate school because I had a *very* patient mentor who was willing to explain to me what was wrong with that email I just sent or why I had to apologize to some other professor. I owe him so much.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely yes there is. The book Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano was helpful for me in understanding and navigating the upper class world that is academia. One of my big wakeups was realizing my definition of \u201cbroke\u201d was very different from others. One of my colleagues gave the impression she worked through undergrad like me and was a non traditional student and all that and it turned out she was so broke her parents had to send her $500\/month \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31 Depending on what field you\u2019re going into there is a higher chance of their parents being in that field, which means it\u2019s easier for them to get internships, jobs, etc. Try to read what you can, observe what you can, and find good mentors because you\u2019ll need them more than others. Be a creative problem solver (ie: I asked people what to wear to a conference and the answers were all over the place so finally I searched the previous year\u2019s hashtag on social media to see what people were really wearing). Profs are so steeped in the world sometimes it can be hard for them to understand the issues of someone who is not. It can be really lonely. But! The fact that you know there are things you might not know is already a good sign!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2629.0,"score_ratio":1.7272727273} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wn3m5","c_root_id_B":"i6wwp5c","created_at_utc_A":1651414028,"created_at_utc_B":1651418512,"score_A":11,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I came from a poor family and received no guidance on academic matters (nor barely any on general \u201cadulting\u201d, personal finance and nutrition and the like, though I\u2019d had a leg up there having been quite independent since age ~8). Didn\u2019t really feel there to be much of a hidden curriculum, or at least by the time I\u2019d gotten to grad school I\u2019d read enough \u201cguide to grad school\u201d-style retrospectives that much less was unclear to me than during the the hs -> ugrad transition (but even then, I never felt too out of place\u2026 probably on account of largely avoiding \u201chigh society\u201d gatherings, though! so perhaps lacking the opportunity).","human_ref_B":"Absolutely yes there is. The book Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano was helpful for me in understanding and navigating the upper class world that is academia. One of my big wakeups was realizing my definition of \u201cbroke\u201d was very different from others. One of my colleagues gave the impression she worked through undergrad like me and was a non traditional student and all that and it turned out she was so broke her parents had to send her $500\/month \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31 Depending on what field you\u2019re going into there is a higher chance of their parents being in that field, which means it\u2019s easier for them to get internships, jobs, etc. Try to read what you can, observe what you can, and find good mentors because you\u2019ll need them more than others. Be a creative problem solver (ie: I asked people what to wear to a conference and the answers were all over the place so finally I searched the previous year\u2019s hashtag on social media to see what people were really wearing). Profs are so steeped in the world sometimes it can be hard for them to understand the issues of someone who is not. It can be really lonely. But! The fact that you know there are things you might not know is already a good sign!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4484.0,"score_ratio":1.7272727273} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wj254","c_root_id_B":"i6wwp5c","created_at_utc_A":1651411927,"created_at_utc_B":1651418512,"score_A":7,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"The big difference is knowing that a lot in academia is highly variable and you can and should ask about anything. There really aren't many tangible similarities between my & my parents' grad school experience. I think a lot of people talking about the hidden curriculum imagine that kids of academics just *know* things, but the reality is there's so much variability from institution to institution and field to field that tangible stuff isn't that helpful. The mindset towards work and being encouraged to ask questions about everything my whole life is probably the most helpful thing.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely yes there is. The book Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano was helpful for me in understanding and navigating the upper class world that is academia. One of my big wakeups was realizing my definition of \u201cbroke\u201d was very different from others. One of my colleagues gave the impression she worked through undergrad like me and was a non traditional student and all that and it turned out she was so broke her parents had to send her $500\/month \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31 Depending on what field you\u2019re going into there is a higher chance of their parents being in that field, which means it\u2019s easier for them to get internships, jobs, etc. Try to read what you can, observe what you can, and find good mentors because you\u2019ll need them more than others. Be a creative problem solver (ie: I asked people what to wear to a conference and the answers were all over the place so finally I searched the previous year\u2019s hashtag on social media to see what people were really wearing). Profs are so steeped in the world sometimes it can be hard for them to understand the issues of someone who is not. It can be really lonely. But! The fact that you know there are things you might not know is already a good sign!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6585.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6whbpm","c_root_id_B":"i6wwp5c","created_at_utc_A":1651410970,"created_at_utc_B":1651418512,"score_A":6,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I mean, like most questions posed here about grad school; your question is far too broad. Different programs, different degree fields, different schools, different nations, and different PIs\/students are all going to have very different responses to this question.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely yes there is. The book Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano was helpful for me in understanding and navigating the upper class world that is academia. One of my big wakeups was realizing my definition of \u201cbroke\u201d was very different from others. One of my colleagues gave the impression she worked through undergrad like me and was a non traditional student and all that and it turned out she was so broke her parents had to send her $500\/month \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31 Depending on what field you\u2019re going into there is a higher chance of their parents being in that field, which means it\u2019s easier for them to get internships, jobs, etc. Try to read what you can, observe what you can, and find good mentors because you\u2019ll need them more than others. Be a creative problem solver (ie: I asked people what to wear to a conference and the answers were all over the place so finally I searched the previous year\u2019s hashtag on social media to see what people were really wearing). Profs are so steeped in the world sometimes it can be hard for them to understand the issues of someone who is not. It can be really lonely. But! The fact that you know there are things you might not know is already a good sign!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7542.0,"score_ratio":3.1666666667} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wqwk6","c_root_id_B":"i6wj254","created_at_utc_A":1651415883,"created_at_utc_B":1651411927,"score_A":11,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Absolutely. I only survived graduate school because I had a *very* patient mentor who was willing to explain to me what was wrong with that email I just sent or why I had to apologize to some other professor. I owe him so much.","human_ref_B":"The big difference is knowing that a lot in academia is highly variable and you can and should ask about anything. There really aren't many tangible similarities between my & my parents' grad school experience. I think a lot of people talking about the hidden curriculum imagine that kids of academics just *know* things, but the reality is there's so much variability from institution to institution and field to field that tangible stuff isn't that helpful. The mindset towards work and being encouraged to ask questions about everything my whole life is probably the most helpful thing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3956.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6whbpm","c_root_id_B":"i6wqwk6","created_at_utc_A":1651410970,"created_at_utc_B":1651415883,"score_A":6,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I mean, like most questions posed here about grad school; your question is far too broad. Different programs, different degree fields, different schools, different nations, and different PIs\/students are all going to have very different responses to this question.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely. I only survived graduate school because I had a *very* patient mentor who was willing to explain to me what was wrong with that email I just sent or why I had to apologize to some other professor. I owe him so much.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4913.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wj254","c_root_id_B":"i6wn3m5","created_at_utc_A":1651411927,"created_at_utc_B":1651414028,"score_A":7,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"The big difference is knowing that a lot in academia is highly variable and you can and should ask about anything. There really aren't many tangible similarities between my & my parents' grad school experience. I think a lot of people talking about the hidden curriculum imagine that kids of academics just *know* things, but the reality is there's so much variability from institution to institution and field to field that tangible stuff isn't that helpful. The mindset towards work and being encouraged to ask questions about everything my whole life is probably the most helpful thing.","human_ref_B":"I came from a poor family and received no guidance on academic matters (nor barely any on general \u201cadulting\u201d, personal finance and nutrition and the like, though I\u2019d had a leg up there having been quite independent since age ~8). Didn\u2019t really feel there to be much of a hidden curriculum, or at least by the time I\u2019d gotten to grad school I\u2019d read enough \u201cguide to grad school\u201d-style retrospectives that much less was unclear to me than during the the hs -> ugrad transition (but even then, I never felt too out of place\u2026 probably on account of largely avoiding \u201chigh society\u201d gatherings, though! so perhaps lacking the opportunity).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2101.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wn3m5","c_root_id_B":"i6whbpm","created_at_utc_A":1651414028,"created_at_utc_B":1651410970,"score_A":11,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I came from a poor family and received no guidance on academic matters (nor barely any on general \u201cadulting\u201d, personal finance and nutrition and the like, though I\u2019d had a leg up there having been quite independent since age ~8). Didn\u2019t really feel there to be much of a hidden curriculum, or at least by the time I\u2019d gotten to grad school I\u2019d read enough \u201cguide to grad school\u201d-style retrospectives that much less was unclear to me than during the the hs -> ugrad transition (but even then, I never felt too out of place\u2026 probably on account of largely avoiding \u201chigh society\u201d gatherings, though! so perhaps lacking the opportunity).","human_ref_B":"I mean, like most questions posed here about grad school; your question is far too broad. Different programs, different degree fields, different schools, different nations, and different PIs\/students are all going to have very different responses to this question.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3058.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6xy5k1","c_root_id_B":"i6wj254","created_at_utc_A":1651434681,"created_at_utc_B":1651411927,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"As first-gen from a low-income family, I definitely feel that there's a \"hidden curriculum.\" The academics themselves have never been a problem, but other aspects have been rough. The social aspect has been the worst. Everyone emphasizes the value of networking, but no one really tells us how to network successfully in an academic environment. It's made worse by faculty not really mingling with students at department events in my program, so we don't even get that modeled to us by our own potential mentors. I also think the faculty assume we know a lot more than we know about professional development. For example, no one has talked to us about publishing articles, so a couple of us want to do that but have no idea how to start that process. Some of this I've tried to look into online, but the advice is overwhelmingly geared toward STEM people, which I am not. The other thing for me is there's also this *general* discomfort and trouble navigating a white-collar environment as someone who grew up poor. I don't know what I can ask for, or when I can speak up with my own ideas, or when I'm supposed to just keep my mouth shut. I don't know how to act more generally at these events that feel like they were never meant for me, if that makes sense. *Academically* I feel like I've excelled, but this is the kind of stuff where I still lag behind.","human_ref_B":"The big difference is knowing that a lot in academia is highly variable and you can and should ask about anything. There really aren't many tangible similarities between my & my parents' grad school experience. I think a lot of people talking about the hidden curriculum imagine that kids of academics just *know* things, but the reality is there's so much variability from institution to institution and field to field that tangible stuff isn't that helpful. The mindset towards work and being encouraged to ask questions about everything my whole life is probably the most helpful thing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22754.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6whbpm","c_root_id_B":"i6xy5k1","created_at_utc_A":1651410970,"created_at_utc_B":1651434681,"score_A":6,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I mean, like most questions posed here about grad school; your question is far too broad. Different programs, different degree fields, different schools, different nations, and different PIs\/students are all going to have very different responses to this question.","human_ref_B":"As first-gen from a low-income family, I definitely feel that there's a \"hidden curriculum.\" The academics themselves have never been a problem, but other aspects have been rough. The social aspect has been the worst. Everyone emphasizes the value of networking, but no one really tells us how to network successfully in an academic environment. It's made worse by faculty not really mingling with students at department events in my program, so we don't even get that modeled to us by our own potential mentors. I also think the faculty assume we know a lot more than we know about professional development. For example, no one has talked to us about publishing articles, so a couple of us want to do that but have no idea how to start that process. Some of this I've tried to look into online, but the advice is overwhelmingly geared toward STEM people, which I am not. The other thing for me is there's also this *general* discomfort and trouble navigating a white-collar environment as someone who grew up poor. I don't know what I can ask for, or when I can speak up with my own ideas, or when I'm supposed to just keep my mouth shut. I don't know how to act more generally at these events that feel like they were never meant for me, if that makes sense. *Academically* I feel like I've excelled, but this is the kind of stuff where I still lag behind.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23711.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6wj254","c_root_id_B":"i6whbpm","created_at_utc_A":1651411927,"created_at_utc_B":1651410970,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"The big difference is knowing that a lot in academia is highly variable and you can and should ask about anything. There really aren't many tangible similarities between my & my parents' grad school experience. I think a lot of people talking about the hidden curriculum imagine that kids of academics just *know* things, but the reality is there's so much variability from institution to institution and field to field that tangible stuff isn't that helpful. The mindset towards work and being encouraged to ask questions about everything my whole life is probably the most helpful thing.","human_ref_B":"I mean, like most questions posed here about grad school; your question is far too broad. Different programs, different degree fields, different schools, different nations, and different PIs\/students are all going to have very different responses to this question.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":957.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"ufs8pw","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? Is there a hidden curriculum in graduate-level academia? For those who grew up without a lot of cultural or economic capital, or come from a working poor background, were you more aware of it during your graduate years than in your undergraduate years? What were the tools that you used to navigate this? I come from a long line of timber workers and waitresses, and anyone with a Bachelor's degree graduated from the same college - one that has a 98% acceptance rate and is not competitive in any sense of the word on any level. I know less than 5 people with advanced degrees. I feel confident in my area of study, and I am already working in my preferred industry, but I worry about struggling when I am so wildly out of my social, cultural, and economic element.","c_root_id_A":"i6yfd93","c_root_id_B":"i6ya8ps","created_at_utc_A":1651442277,"created_at_utc_B":1651439970,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I would be interested in knowing if this is primarily a problem in the US. I don't see why it would be, but I never even heard of the term \"first gen\" before joining twitter and the issue feels completely alien to me. I'm in the UK and I don't have any family members who are academics, but it never even crossed my mind that this would put me at a disadvantage. Yes, there was a lot to learn but I just did my due diligence, researched the application process like everyone else, and I genuinely cannot see how I could have been disadvantaged.","human_ref_B":"This discussion is helpful for me. My parents went to uni but they never told me any of this stuff and they aren't good with social skills. After my undergrad I got crappy jobs, partly because my visa at the time didn't allow me to get a permanent position and partly because I didn't have any idea how to get a proper job and lacked the confidence to even try. Now I'm doing postgrad and have been networking. I am in a much smaller field now so the academics are more accessible. I also talk a fair bit in class and always turn on my camera, while most students leave their cameras switched off.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2307.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3xrli","c_root_id_B":"du3uu5l","created_at_utc_A":1518402422,"created_at_utc_B":1518398871,"score_A":67,"score_B":58,"human_ref_A":"Grading. I like teaching a lot, and love working with my students. But I *hate* having to put a score on a paper or project...a critique is no problem, but having to put a number\/grade to it is a PITA. Part of the problem is the way it comes in waves, nothing at all for several weeks and then a huge crush of grading, etc. I don't really mind any of the rest of the gig, even the endless committee meetings. My students are mostly great, they do what we ask of them, and my colleagues are (for the most part) friends that I enjoy being around. I've been at this a while now (~25 years) and the most rewarding part by far is seeing our students go into the world and do amazing things.","human_ref_B":"Dealing with unmotivated students who are ready to complain at the drop of a hat.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3551.0,"score_ratio":1.1551724138} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3xrli","c_root_id_B":"du3vjgx","created_at_utc_A":1518402422,"created_at_utc_B":1518399720,"score_A":67,"score_B":38,"human_ref_A":"Grading. I like teaching a lot, and love working with my students. But I *hate* having to put a score on a paper or project...a critique is no problem, but having to put a number\/grade to it is a PITA. Part of the problem is the way it comes in waves, nothing at all for several weeks and then a huge crush of grading, etc. I don't really mind any of the rest of the gig, even the endless committee meetings. My students are mostly great, they do what we ask of them, and my colleagues are (for the most part) friends that I enjoy being around. I've been at this a while now (~25 years) and the most rewarding part by far is seeing our students go into the world and do amazing things.","human_ref_B":"Favorite part: When I get to make a difference. When I hear someone tell me that this is the first time math has ever made sense, or that they actually like it now. Least favorite part: Getting told how to do my job by admins who have never been in a classroom.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2702.0,"score_ratio":1.7631578947} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3xh1k","c_root_id_B":"du3xrli","created_at_utc_A":1518402063,"created_at_utc_B":1518402422,"score_A":16,"score_B":67,"human_ref_A":"Looking for work. By far, I'd think.","human_ref_B":"Grading. I like teaching a lot, and love working with my students. But I *hate* having to put a score on a paper or project...a critique is no problem, but having to put a number\/grade to it is a PITA. Part of the problem is the way it comes in waves, nothing at all for several weeks and then a huge crush of grading, etc. I don't really mind any of the rest of the gig, even the endless committee meetings. My students are mostly great, they do what we ask of them, and my colleagues are (for the most part) friends that I enjoy being around. I've been at this a while now (~25 years) and the most rewarding part by far is seeing our students go into the world and do amazing things.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":359.0,"score_ratio":4.1875} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3xrli","c_root_id_B":"du3v7oh","created_at_utc_A":1518402422,"created_at_utc_B":1518399319,"score_A":67,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Grading. I like teaching a lot, and love working with my students. But I *hate* having to put a score on a paper or project...a critique is no problem, but having to put a number\/grade to it is a PITA. Part of the problem is the way it comes in waves, nothing at all for several weeks and then a huge crush of grading, etc. I don't really mind any of the rest of the gig, even the endless committee meetings. My students are mostly great, they do what we ask of them, and my colleagues are (for the most part) friends that I enjoy being around. I've been at this a while now (~25 years) and the most rewarding part by far is seeing our students go into the world and do amazing things.","human_ref_B":"Least favourite: grading and admin Most favourite: research","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3103.0,"score_ratio":4.7857142857} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3v7oh","c_root_id_B":"du3vjgx","created_at_utc_A":1518399319,"created_at_utc_B":1518399720,"score_A":14,"score_B":38,"human_ref_A":"Least favourite: grading and admin Most favourite: research","human_ref_B":"Favorite part: When I get to make a difference. When I hear someone tell me that this is the first time math has ever made sense, or that they actually like it now. Least favorite part: Getting told how to do my job by admins who have never been in a classroom.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":401.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3xh1k","c_root_id_B":"du3yld6","created_at_utc_A":1518402063,"created_at_utc_B":1518403417,"score_A":16,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Looking for work. By far, I'd think.","human_ref_B":"Most favorite: the flexibility to do a bunch of things that I want - it's kind of like being an entrepreneur without the constant risk of the business going under Least favorite: grading (I just want to teach them good things and have them learn, grades are a mediocre proxy for their learning)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1354.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3v7oh","c_root_id_B":"du3yld6","created_at_utc_A":1518399319,"created_at_utc_B":1518403417,"score_A":14,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Least favourite: grading and admin Most favourite: research","human_ref_B":"Most favorite: the flexibility to do a bunch of things that I want - it's kind of like being an entrepreneur without the constant risk of the business going under Least favorite: grading (I just want to teach them good things and have them learn, grades are a mediocre proxy for their learning)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4098.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du43dk8","c_root_id_B":"du4e0v1","created_at_utc_A":1518409577,"created_at_utc_B":1518430760,"score_A":17,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Contrary to many comments here, I enjoy the grading process. It's like seeing the results of my experiment--Did that new activity help my students learn better? How did X project go this term vs. last term? I use Google Docs and the dialogue my students and I have about their work via the comments tool is engaging and sometimes hilarious. What I dislike is the *volume* of grading I have. Who decided that writing 4-5 six-page papers AND a portfolio in 16 weeks is the best way for new writers to learn? Why must research papers be 10-12 pages long vs. a more succinct set of research exercises that target specific skills? Other favorite: The quiet that descends on a room full of thinking writing students, or the sound of my students laughing all together. Other least favorite: The lack of awareness some full-time faculty have about the skills and potential of the adjunct workforce.","human_ref_B":"Favourite: freedom. I know this isn't the case across the world, at least to the same degree (and this sub has a lot of people from the US where it seems less the case), but at least in the UK I get 42 days of assignable holiday a year (+10 I can't assign), a liberal work from home policy, the ability to make my own schedule, pick and choose what I do on a given day, work on what I like, etc. No other job I've encountered comes with the same degree of freedom, while still being well-paid enough to live comfortably. I worked in industry for a while, earning a ludicrous salary, but working ridiculous hours just to meet deadlines. The work-life balance of my current job is phenomenal by comparison - and I definitely learned that making a ton of money is no fun when you don't have any time to spend it. Second favourite: lifelong learning. I've always loved learning, and having a job which facilitates it in a semi-structured way is probably something we all under-value, as is the environment in which we all work, where learning is normal and encouraged. Least favourite: meetings and committees. A few years ago, it probably would've been marking, but I've replaced one with the other, and in retrospect I almost miss the marking by comparison.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21183.0,"score_ratio":1.0588235294} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du43dk8","c_root_id_B":"du3xh1k","created_at_utc_A":1518409577,"created_at_utc_B":1518402063,"score_A":17,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Contrary to many comments here, I enjoy the grading process. It's like seeing the results of my experiment--Did that new activity help my students learn better? How did X project go this term vs. last term? I use Google Docs and the dialogue my students and I have about their work via the comments tool is engaging and sometimes hilarious. What I dislike is the *volume* of grading I have. Who decided that writing 4-5 six-page papers AND a portfolio in 16 weeks is the best way for new writers to learn? Why must research papers be 10-12 pages long vs. a more succinct set of research exercises that target specific skills? Other favorite: The quiet that descends on a room full of thinking writing students, or the sound of my students laughing all together. Other least favorite: The lack of awareness some full-time faculty have about the skills and potential of the adjunct workforce.","human_ref_B":"Looking for work. By far, I'd think.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7514.0,"score_ratio":1.0625} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3v7oh","c_root_id_B":"du43dk8","created_at_utc_A":1518399319,"created_at_utc_B":1518409577,"score_A":14,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Least favourite: grading and admin Most favourite: research","human_ref_B":"Contrary to many comments here, I enjoy the grading process. It's like seeing the results of my experiment--Did that new activity help my students learn better? How did X project go this term vs. last term? I use Google Docs and the dialogue my students and I have about their work via the comments tool is engaging and sometimes hilarious. What I dislike is the *volume* of grading I have. Who decided that writing 4-5 six-page papers AND a portfolio in 16 weeks is the best way for new writers to learn? Why must research papers be 10-12 pages long vs. a more succinct set of research exercises that target specific skills? Other favorite: The quiet that descends on a room full of thinking writing students, or the sound of my students laughing all together. Other least favorite: The lack of awareness some full-time faculty have about the skills and potential of the adjunct workforce.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10258.0,"score_ratio":1.2142857143} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du43dk8","c_root_id_B":"du3z84s","created_at_utc_A":1518409577,"created_at_utc_B":1518404176,"score_A":17,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Contrary to many comments here, I enjoy the grading process. It's like seeing the results of my experiment--Did that new activity help my students learn better? How did X project go this term vs. last term? I use Google Docs and the dialogue my students and I have about their work via the comments tool is engaging and sometimes hilarious. What I dislike is the *volume* of grading I have. Who decided that writing 4-5 six-page papers AND a portfolio in 16 weeks is the best way for new writers to learn? Why must research papers be 10-12 pages long vs. a more succinct set of research exercises that target specific skills? Other favorite: The quiet that descends on a room full of thinking writing students, or the sound of my students laughing all together. Other least favorite: The lack of awareness some full-time faculty have about the skills and potential of the adjunct workforce.","human_ref_B":"I loathe grading. I teach graphic design (studio courses). Grading creative work is time consuming. I try to make the process more efficient every semester but it\u2019s still draining. I also dislike dealing with the F\/D students after returning graded projects. In general, F\/D students put very little effort into the project... but invest a lot of energy in arguing\/complaining about the grade. Not to sound like too much of a whiner, but staying on top of my inbox can be a downer. The number of emails I receive in a day (excluding spam) is often overwhelming. Students will email me at 02:00 AM and ask why I didn\u2019t reply when I see them in class at 08:00 AM. Don\u2019t get me wrong. Email is a great tool and I\u2019d much rather read an email than sit through a meeting that should have been an email... Research is my favorite. Seeing students succeed is great as well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5401.0,"score_ratio":1.7} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3zwpq","c_root_id_B":"du43dk8","created_at_utc_A":1518405026,"created_at_utc_B":1518409577,"score_A":8,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Grading. I teach literature and composition. So much grading.","human_ref_B":"Contrary to many comments here, I enjoy the grading process. It's like seeing the results of my experiment--Did that new activity help my students learn better? How did X project go this term vs. last term? I use Google Docs and the dialogue my students and I have about their work via the comments tool is engaging and sometimes hilarious. What I dislike is the *volume* of grading I have. Who decided that writing 4-5 six-page papers AND a portfolio in 16 weeks is the best way for new writers to learn? Why must research papers be 10-12 pages long vs. a more succinct set of research exercises that target specific skills? Other favorite: The quiet that descends on a room full of thinking writing students, or the sound of my students laughing all together. Other least favorite: The lack of awareness some full-time faculty have about the skills and potential of the adjunct workforce.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4551.0,"score_ratio":2.125} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du4e0v1","c_root_id_B":"du3xh1k","created_at_utc_A":1518430760,"created_at_utc_B":1518402063,"score_A":18,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Favourite: freedom. I know this isn't the case across the world, at least to the same degree (and this sub has a lot of people from the US where it seems less the case), but at least in the UK I get 42 days of assignable holiday a year (+10 I can't assign), a liberal work from home policy, the ability to make my own schedule, pick and choose what I do on a given day, work on what I like, etc. No other job I've encountered comes with the same degree of freedom, while still being well-paid enough to live comfortably. I worked in industry for a while, earning a ludicrous salary, but working ridiculous hours just to meet deadlines. The work-life balance of my current job is phenomenal by comparison - and I definitely learned that making a ton of money is no fun when you don't have any time to spend it. Second favourite: lifelong learning. I've always loved learning, and having a job which facilitates it in a semi-structured way is probably something we all under-value, as is the environment in which we all work, where learning is normal and encouraged. Least favourite: meetings and committees. A few years ago, it probably would've been marking, but I've replaced one with the other, and in retrospect I almost miss the marking by comparison.","human_ref_B":"Looking for work. By far, I'd think.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28697.0,"score_ratio":1.125} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du4e0v1","c_root_id_B":"du3v7oh","created_at_utc_A":1518430760,"created_at_utc_B":1518399319,"score_A":18,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Favourite: freedom. I know this isn't the case across the world, at least to the same degree (and this sub has a lot of people from the US where it seems less the case), but at least in the UK I get 42 days of assignable holiday a year (+10 I can't assign), a liberal work from home policy, the ability to make my own schedule, pick and choose what I do on a given day, work on what I like, etc. No other job I've encountered comes with the same degree of freedom, while still being well-paid enough to live comfortably. I worked in industry for a while, earning a ludicrous salary, but working ridiculous hours just to meet deadlines. The work-life balance of my current job is phenomenal by comparison - and I definitely learned that making a ton of money is no fun when you don't have any time to spend it. Second favourite: lifelong learning. I've always loved learning, and having a job which facilitates it in a semi-structured way is probably something we all under-value, as is the environment in which we all work, where learning is normal and encouraged. Least favourite: meetings and committees. A few years ago, it probably would've been marking, but I've replaced one with the other, and in retrospect I almost miss the marking by comparison.","human_ref_B":"Least favourite: grading and admin Most favourite: research","labels":1,"seconds_difference":31441.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du4e0v1","c_root_id_B":"du3z84s","created_at_utc_A":1518430760,"created_at_utc_B":1518404176,"score_A":18,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Favourite: freedom. I know this isn't the case across the world, at least to the same degree (and this sub has a lot of people from the US where it seems less the case), but at least in the UK I get 42 days of assignable holiday a year (+10 I can't assign), a liberal work from home policy, the ability to make my own schedule, pick and choose what I do on a given day, work on what I like, etc. No other job I've encountered comes with the same degree of freedom, while still being well-paid enough to live comfortably. I worked in industry for a while, earning a ludicrous salary, but working ridiculous hours just to meet deadlines. The work-life balance of my current job is phenomenal by comparison - and I definitely learned that making a ton of money is no fun when you don't have any time to spend it. Second favourite: lifelong learning. I've always loved learning, and having a job which facilitates it in a semi-structured way is probably something we all under-value, as is the environment in which we all work, where learning is normal and encouraged. Least favourite: meetings and committees. A few years ago, it probably would've been marking, but I've replaced one with the other, and in retrospect I almost miss the marking by comparison.","human_ref_B":"I loathe grading. I teach graphic design (studio courses). Grading creative work is time consuming. I try to make the process more efficient every semester but it\u2019s still draining. I also dislike dealing with the F\/D students after returning graded projects. In general, F\/D students put very little effort into the project... but invest a lot of energy in arguing\/complaining about the grade. Not to sound like too much of a whiner, but staying on top of my inbox can be a downer. The number of emails I receive in a day (excluding spam) is often overwhelming. Students will email me at 02:00 AM and ask why I didn\u2019t reply when I see them in class at 08:00 AM. Don\u2019t get me wrong. Email is a great tool and I\u2019d much rather read an email than sit through a meeting that should have been an email... Research is my favorite. Seeing students succeed is great as well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26584.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du4e0v1","c_root_id_B":"du3zwpq","created_at_utc_A":1518430760,"created_at_utc_B":1518405026,"score_A":18,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Favourite: freedom. I know this isn't the case across the world, at least to the same degree (and this sub has a lot of people from the US where it seems less the case), but at least in the UK I get 42 days of assignable holiday a year (+10 I can't assign), a liberal work from home policy, the ability to make my own schedule, pick and choose what I do on a given day, work on what I like, etc. No other job I've encountered comes with the same degree of freedom, while still being well-paid enough to live comfortably. I worked in industry for a while, earning a ludicrous salary, but working ridiculous hours just to meet deadlines. The work-life balance of my current job is phenomenal by comparison - and I definitely learned that making a ton of money is no fun when you don't have any time to spend it. Second favourite: lifelong learning. I've always loved learning, and having a job which facilitates it in a semi-structured way is probably something we all under-value, as is the environment in which we all work, where learning is normal and encouraged. Least favourite: meetings and committees. A few years ago, it probably would've been marking, but I've replaced one with the other, and in retrospect I almost miss the marking by comparison.","human_ref_B":"Grading. I teach literature and composition. So much grading.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":25734.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du3xh1k","c_root_id_B":"du3v7oh","created_at_utc_A":1518402063,"created_at_utc_B":1518399319,"score_A":16,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Looking for work. By far, I'd think.","human_ref_B":"Least favourite: grading and admin Most favourite: research","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2744.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"7wx3vx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Academics, what is your favorite\/least favorite part of your job?","c_root_id_A":"du4hj41","c_root_id_B":"du4ehjv","created_at_utc_A":1518438885,"created_at_utc_B":1518432006,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Favourite is the flexibility and stimulation. Least favourite is the marking. It's boring, unsatisfying, hugely time consuming, you're under firm deadlines, and it rarely makes students happy.","human_ref_B":"Favourite: I love teaching, I love research and I love the flexibility and variability of my hours. Least: \"When am I ever going to use this?\" This isn't high school and this course isn't a prereq for anything outside the field, so if you didn't think it was interesting, didn't think the material would be of use to you, why did you sign up?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6879.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"eariaz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.79,"history":"Do you think there is such thing as a bad test taker? I'm curious, I've always thought the notion was kind of bizarre. It's essentially saying that I'm bad at displaying my understanding of something. I do get that test anxiety is a thing, I've dealt with it quite a bit myself, however, it has never been a problem when I am sufficiently familiar with the material. I don't mean things like standardized testing, because honestly, I'm not the greatest at standardized tests like the SAT\/GRE. I'm more talking about things that have a clearly defined expectation of knowledge. I personally feel like it's something that people are taught from a pretty young age to justify not being naturally good at something.","c_root_id_A":"fawbp7c","c_root_id_B":"fawbnvc","created_at_utc_A":1576368723,"created_at_utc_B":1576368708,"score_A":17,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"All throughout my undergrad I would black out for the first half hour of any test and not be able to write, so.... it doesn't really matter how well you know the content at that point","human_ref_B":"Finishing an MS in teaching now. Yes, there are bad test takers. There are those who do not handle stress well, who have difficulty concentrating, and who have difficulty expressing what they do know on demand. Simply because you haven't experienced the problem doesn't mean that the problem doesn't exist. The current system which is predicated upon one knowledgeable person transferring knowledge into the minds of receptive and unquestioning others who then demonstrate \"sufficient familiarity with the material\" through testing is hardly equitable (read Paolo Freire's *Pedagogy of the Oppressed* for more on the \"banking\" model) and demonstrably privileges those who do well in that system -- who don't have concentration issues, who have time and a quiet environment to study, who have been taught how to study effectively, who have social support in times of stress, who have the resources they need to succeed. Yes, your argument is partially true, some people who have had problems with testing while young may believe they're no good at taking tests in much the same way that both girls and boys are equally good at math and science when small, but girls are told often enough that they aren't supposed to be good at it, and do worse (statistically) in those subjects as they get older. They learn not to study and work hard and get further behind. Students bad a testing may learn similarly, so that when you see them they have practiced being bad at it long enough that it's true. Good for you that you don't that problem, but don't belittle those who do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15.0,"score_ratio":3.4} {"post_id":"eariaz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.79,"history":"Do you think there is such thing as a bad test taker? I'm curious, I've always thought the notion was kind of bizarre. It's essentially saying that I'm bad at displaying my understanding of something. I do get that test anxiety is a thing, I've dealt with it quite a bit myself, however, it has never been a problem when I am sufficiently familiar with the material. I don't mean things like standardized testing, because honestly, I'm not the greatest at standardized tests like the SAT\/GRE. I'm more talking about things that have a clearly defined expectation of knowledge. I personally feel like it's something that people are taught from a pretty young age to justify not being naturally good at something.","c_root_id_A":"fawg8ze","c_root_id_B":"fawbnvc","created_at_utc_A":1576370751,"created_at_utc_B":1576368708,"score_A":9,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I do have some students do badly on tests for reasons that are not solely related to their understanding of the topic . They don't read the question. They don't read all the answers, They don't systematically go through and think out things. They don't check their work. But for the most part, the people who do not do well on the exams, also basically don't know the stuff. They can't explain it to me when I talk to them, they don't recognize it if they see it again in not exactly the same colors or format as it was on the book, they are bad a writing it down, they are bad and drawing it. So for the most part no - with the caveat that there are certain learning disabilities, or language barriers etc - that might prevent someone who does know what they are about from performing well on a certain assessment.","human_ref_B":"Finishing an MS in teaching now. Yes, there are bad test takers. There are those who do not handle stress well, who have difficulty concentrating, and who have difficulty expressing what they do know on demand. Simply because you haven't experienced the problem doesn't mean that the problem doesn't exist. The current system which is predicated upon one knowledgeable person transferring knowledge into the minds of receptive and unquestioning others who then demonstrate \"sufficient familiarity with the material\" through testing is hardly equitable (read Paolo Freire's *Pedagogy of the Oppressed* for more on the \"banking\" model) and demonstrably privileges those who do well in that system -- who don't have concentration issues, who have time and a quiet environment to study, who have been taught how to study effectively, who have social support in times of stress, who have the resources they need to succeed. Yes, your argument is partially true, some people who have had problems with testing while young may believe they're no good at taking tests in much the same way that both girls and boys are equally good at math and science when small, but girls are told often enough that they aren't supposed to be good at it, and do worse (statistically) in those subjects as they get older. They learn not to study and work hard and get further behind. Students bad a testing may learn similarly, so that when you see them they have practiced being bad at it long enough that it's true. Good for you that you don't that problem, but don't belittle those who do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2043.0,"score_ratio":1.8} {"post_id":"eariaz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.79,"history":"Do you think there is such thing as a bad test taker? I'm curious, I've always thought the notion was kind of bizarre. It's essentially saying that I'm bad at displaying my understanding of something. I do get that test anxiety is a thing, I've dealt with it quite a bit myself, however, it has never been a problem when I am sufficiently familiar with the material. I don't mean things like standardized testing, because honestly, I'm not the greatest at standardized tests like the SAT\/GRE. I'm more talking about things that have a clearly defined expectation of knowledge. I personally feel like it's something that people are taught from a pretty young age to justify not being naturally good at something.","c_root_id_A":"fawf79l","c_root_id_B":"fawg8ze","created_at_utc_A":1576370270,"created_at_utc_B":1576370751,"score_A":3,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I would not describe myself as a bad test taker and I don\u2019t know how many people who describe themselves that way are underprepared for the test vs some other issue. If I have a tenuous grasp of the material tests are stressful and I have difficulty recalling information I know I studied, but I think that\u2019s mostly because I don\u2019t know the material well enough. In my students, at least some of those who have told me they have test anxiety, also do poorly on low stakes homework and when I ask them questions. They have problems with the material beyond the anxiety of the test environment.","human_ref_B":"I do have some students do badly on tests for reasons that are not solely related to their understanding of the topic . They don't read the question. They don't read all the answers, They don't systematically go through and think out things. They don't check their work. But for the most part, the people who do not do well on the exams, also basically don't know the stuff. They can't explain it to me when I talk to them, they don't recognize it if they see it again in not exactly the same colors or format as it was on the book, they are bad a writing it down, they are bad and drawing it. So for the most part no - with the caveat that there are certain learning disabilities, or language barriers etc - that might prevent someone who does know what they are about from performing well on a certain assessment.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":481.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"eariaz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.79,"history":"Do you think there is such thing as a bad test taker? I'm curious, I've always thought the notion was kind of bizarre. It's essentially saying that I'm bad at displaying my understanding of something. I do get that test anxiety is a thing, I've dealt with it quite a bit myself, however, it has never been a problem when I am sufficiently familiar with the material. I don't mean things like standardized testing, because honestly, I'm not the greatest at standardized tests like the SAT\/GRE. I'm more talking about things that have a clearly defined expectation of knowledge. I personally feel like it's something that people are taught from a pretty young age to justify not being naturally good at something.","c_root_id_A":"faysuyz","c_root_id_B":"fayk5oh","created_at_utc_A":1576406321,"created_at_utc_B":1576402074,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m terrible at taking timed tests. My brain simply doesn\u2019t work quickly in that capacity (ADHD). So timed tests are terrifying because I was always worried I wouldn\u2019t be able to finish, and if I rush too much I make stupid mistakes like a 3 turning into a 2. So in that sense, I\u2019m a \u201cbad test-taker\u201d but in real life tests aren\u2019t timed in the same sense and I have little issues.","human_ref_B":"There are certainly people who, for a variety of reasons (anxiety, ADHD etc) are bad at test taking, but I think the majority of people who claim to be 'bad at tests' just aren't prepared, not only have they not properly learned the material, but essay writing isn't an inherent skill, its something that you need to learn and many people don't take the time to do that (how many of your peers actually bother to read let alone absorb and work on feedback on essays they get)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4247.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"3hzfjj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What was the make or break moment in your academic career? i.e. what lead you down the path to success or what did the opposite","c_root_id_A":"cucdo01","c_root_id_B":"cucbi5h","created_at_utc_A":1440293525,"created_at_utc_B":1440289408,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Great question. The most important was when I was an undergrad, and a casual encounter with a professor led me to change majors to a field I'd never even taken a class in before that semester. The second most were probably a series of decisions made in grad school, when I pushed hard to get more teaching experience while most of my peers were digging into their research. Those experiences included teaching my own courses for the first time, which led to adjunct work, which got me my tenure-track job before I was finished with my dissertation. In my case none of the real milestones were intellectual, but were rather professional-- decisions made, paths taken, opportunities pursued or foregone, that put me on the path to an academic career.","human_ref_B":"Two moments. Being hired for a postdoc at a great US school and years later winning a royal society fellowship.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4117.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e739i86","c_root_id_B":"e739j8r","created_at_utc_A":1538575615,"created_at_utc_B":1538575641,"score_A":16,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"From what I can tell, having a social media presence or a blog is a good way of informally communicating what your research is and how it's important to a non-academic audience, which can be useful in making it more prominent and can help in applying for some jobs and grants (especially those that are government-related and will want to know how your research is actually useful). Blog posts could also be picked up and re-circulated by larger websites that may ask you to write similar content for them specifically, which can really help get your name out there. It won't be as important as getting papers published and going to conferences, but it could still give you a bit of an advantage. Just be sure that everything you post is good quality and that it won't come back to haunt you further down the road.","human_ref_B":"I don't think it's necessary in any way at all. That said, I think it had definitely helped me advertise my work, but more importantly, build connections. For better or for worse, sites like Facebook establish a false sense of intimacy. Someone in my field friends me, we comment on each other's posts all year, and then when I see them at a conference the next year, it's like we are long lost friends and we have an instant, easy conversation. I could deconstruct all the problems with that, but in reality, it has helped build my professional relationships. Now, we need to have a post about all the downsides of having to monitor your social media for total professionalism at all times... I've got about a million strategies for that as well, if needed.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26.0,"score_ratio":2.625} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e738pmo","c_root_id_B":"e739j8r","created_at_utc_A":1538574877,"created_at_utc_B":1538575641,"score_A":9,"score_B":42,"human_ref_A":"As with any other line of work: if you have quality to offer, people will notice. Presence comes to you, not the other way around.","human_ref_B":"I don't think it's necessary in any way at all. That said, I think it had definitely helped me advertise my work, but more importantly, build connections. For better or for worse, sites like Facebook establish a false sense of intimacy. Someone in my field friends me, we comment on each other's posts all year, and then when I see them at a conference the next year, it's like we are long lost friends and we have an instant, easy conversation. I could deconstruct all the problems with that, but in reality, it has helped build my professional relationships. Now, we need to have a post about all the downsides of having to monitor your social media for total professionalism at all times... I've got about a million strategies for that as well, if needed.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":764.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e738pmo","c_root_id_B":"e739i86","created_at_utc_A":1538574877,"created_at_utc_B":1538575615,"score_A":9,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"As with any other line of work: if you have quality to offer, people will notice. Presence comes to you, not the other way around.","human_ref_B":"From what I can tell, having a social media presence or a blog is a good way of informally communicating what your research is and how it's important to a non-academic audience, which can be useful in making it more prominent and can help in applying for some jobs and grants (especially those that are government-related and will want to know how your research is actually useful). Blog posts could also be picked up and re-circulated by larger websites that may ask you to write similar content for them specifically, which can really help get your name out there. It won't be as important as getting papers published and going to conferences, but it could still give you a bit of an advantage. Just be sure that everything you post is good quality and that it won't come back to haunt you further down the road.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":738.0,"score_ratio":1.7777777778} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e738pmo","c_root_id_B":"e73e8od","created_at_utc_A":1538574877,"created_at_utc_B":1538579737,"score_A":9,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"As with any other line of work: if you have quality to offer, people will notice. Presence comes to you, not the other way around.","human_ref_B":"I'm going to go against the grain somewhat here. A lot of the funding opportunities I've been looking at -as a grad student myself - ask explicitly about the dissemination of your work to a wider audience, and social media is a great tool in that regard. Having a public twitter account, or an official blog, are good ways of demonstrating that your research is applicable to a wider audience - especially if you run a \"professional\" account that regularly posts related content. I'd be willing to bet there's variation by field, but having an official online presence might be useful down the line.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4860.0,"score_ratio":1.5555555556} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e73e8od","c_root_id_B":"e73blgv","created_at_utc_A":1538579737,"created_at_utc_B":1538577463,"score_A":14,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I'm going to go against the grain somewhat here. A lot of the funding opportunities I've been looking at -as a grad student myself - ask explicitly about the dissemination of your work to a wider audience, and social media is a great tool in that regard. Having a public twitter account, or an official blog, are good ways of demonstrating that your research is applicable to a wider audience - especially if you run a \"professional\" account that regularly posts related content. I'd be willing to bet there's variation by field, but having an official online presence might be useful down the line.","human_ref_B":"My blog was central to me attaining my current position. I was writing posts about once a month- just something short about my field\/ideas. People on the committee read it (though they weren't supposed to, but it can be had to completely avoid a person's internet presence). I teach digital media, so maintaining a solid presence is kind of a must. It also generally helped to paint me as a serious\/devoted scholar in the minds of the committee. I work at a mostly teaching-oriented school, and they invited several advanced undergraduates to provide input on the candidates. They all read my blog and looked over my photos (my instagram is linked to my blog, and mostly features some harmless pictures of nature stuff). The students really enjoyed the blog posts, especially in contrast to stuffy job documents. All of these small interactions with my work gave me an edge. It's a small edge, but I think it's worth investing in during this climate. Every small advantage in this job market is important, and I want to exploit every possible advantage available to me.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2274.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e73e8od","c_root_id_B":"e73a9hu","created_at_utc_A":1538579737,"created_at_utc_B":1538576296,"score_A":14,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm going to go against the grain somewhat here. A lot of the funding opportunities I've been looking at -as a grad student myself - ask explicitly about the dissemination of your work to a wider audience, and social media is a great tool in that regard. Having a public twitter account, or an official blog, are good ways of demonstrating that your research is applicable to a wider audience - especially if you run a \"professional\" account that regularly posts related content. I'd be willing to bet there's variation by field, but having an official online presence might be useful down the line.","human_ref_B":"It's not **necessary**, we don't live in Black Mirror (yet) ). What you should use social media for is to connect with\/follow other researchers in your field who utilize social media for connecting with\/following other researchers. You *should not* do social media for the sake of it, rather then genuine experiences of being able to showcase your efforts and find other like minded individuals.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3441.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e73blgv","c_root_id_B":"e73a9hu","created_at_utc_A":1538577463,"created_at_utc_B":1538576296,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"My blog was central to me attaining my current position. I was writing posts about once a month- just something short about my field\/ideas. People on the committee read it (though they weren't supposed to, but it can be had to completely avoid a person's internet presence). I teach digital media, so maintaining a solid presence is kind of a must. It also generally helped to paint me as a serious\/devoted scholar in the minds of the committee. I work at a mostly teaching-oriented school, and they invited several advanced undergraduates to provide input on the candidates. They all read my blog and looked over my photos (my instagram is linked to my blog, and mostly features some harmless pictures of nature stuff). The students really enjoyed the blog posts, especially in contrast to stuffy job documents. All of these small interactions with my work gave me an edge. It's a small edge, but I think it's worth investing in during this climate. Every small advantage in this job market is important, and I want to exploit every possible advantage available to me.","human_ref_B":"It's not **necessary**, we don't live in Black Mirror (yet) ). What you should use social media for is to connect with\/follow other researchers in your field who utilize social media for connecting with\/following other researchers. You *should not* do social media for the sake of it, rather then genuine experiences of being able to showcase your efforts and find other like minded individuals.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1167.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e73a9hu","c_root_id_B":"e73gcn8","created_at_utc_A":1538576296,"created_at_utc_B":1538581516,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It's not **necessary**, we don't live in Black Mirror (yet) ). What you should use social media for is to connect with\/follow other researchers in your field who utilize social media for connecting with\/following other researchers. You *should not* do social media for the sake of it, rather then genuine experiences of being able to showcase your efforts and find other like minded individuals.","human_ref_B":"It really depends on your field and your career\/aspirations. There are plenty of head-toward-the-bench folks in STEM who are very successful without Tweeting about their centrifuges and autoclaves. Yet, if you're even a grad student in a field like Communication or Composition, then you probably need to think about these kinds of things.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5220.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e73a9hu","c_root_id_B":"e73qbms","created_at_utc_A":1538576296,"created_at_utc_B":1538589769,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It's not **necessary**, we don't live in Black Mirror (yet) ). What you should use social media for is to connect with\/follow other researchers in your field who utilize social media for connecting with\/following other researchers. You *should not* do social media for the sake of it, rather then genuine experiences of being able to showcase your efforts and find other like minded individuals.","human_ref_B":"It's definitely not \"necessary.\" But it can increase visibility, and that can help. I created a blog as a postdoc with the goal of having any search committee I applied to already know me and know that my work was interesting before they saw my application. Obviously there are other ways to accomplish the same ends (like publishing in important journals) but I found that in my field, that did less for name-recognition than one might expect (I _did_ publish in the most important journal in my field and the response was underwhelming, especially compared to my online work). There are obvious risks associated with such a thing as well. So one needs to be somewhat careful and deliberate about it. For some institutions, a \"public presence\" in a junior scholar is a great thing. For others it may seen as a waste of time. So it's not a guaranteed sort of thing, and the value of it will vary. But it _is_ a good way to plant a flag and say to the wider world, including your field, \"I am someone who is an expert in this domain of knowledge,\" and assuming you do a good job of that, it can be very helpful.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13473.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9l13d6","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How necessary is it to cultivate a decent online social media presence for an academic career e.g. personal blog, Twitter, etc.? I'm a grad student and hoping to gain some insight into how important having a presence on a platform like Twitter (for research purposes) actually is. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"e73ji4y","c_root_id_B":"e73qbms","created_at_utc_A":1538584144,"created_at_utc_B":1538589769,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"As an early career researcher, Twitter is great to find out about conferences etc. that aren't directly in my particular research 'bubble' but still relevant for looking at my work from a broader perspective. (Plus a lot of the conferences in my field are also publicised via Twitter and a fair amount of people in my field are on it). Twitter also directly helped me find out about an amazing opportunity that I certainly would not have heard about otherwise through the regular academic channels. Try and keep things professional (at least until you're a bit more senior) and it can really be a useful tool which allows you to make connections with academics from across the world within and beyond your discipline.","human_ref_B":"It's definitely not \"necessary.\" But it can increase visibility, and that can help. I created a blog as a postdoc with the goal of having any search committee I applied to already know me and know that my work was interesting before they saw my application. Obviously there are other ways to accomplish the same ends (like publishing in important journals) but I found that in my field, that did less for name-recognition than one might expect (I _did_ publish in the most important journal in my field and the response was underwhelming, especially compared to my online work). There are obvious risks associated with such a thing as well. So one needs to be somewhat careful and deliberate about it. For some institutions, a \"public presence\" in a junior scholar is a great thing. For others it may seen as a waste of time. So it's not a guaranteed sort of thing, and the value of it will vary. But it _is_ a good way to plant a flag and say to the wider world, including your field, \"I am someone who is an expert in this domain of knowledge,\" and assuming you do a good job of that, it can be very helpful.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5625.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"x5on9m","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"Empowering myself back after being bullied by a graduate student Long story short I have been bullied by another student in the lab I was doing my PhD. It began more than a year ago now, just after going from Masters degree to PhD in the same lab. This student made me feel like sh*t every week, talking harshly, commenting everything I was doing, saying I wasn\u2019t doing my tasks. I was never enough. In top of that I am openly feminist. He does not believe in equity and privileges. Talking with him was sometimes unsatisfying as you can imagine. After 8 months of suffering from the situation, we had another disagreement (it was about sexual assault). He was very angry so I tried to apologize and I thought he moved on. The next day, my supervisor asked me to go to her office, she was crying and wanted me to explain what happened. I did and she told me that my feminism has no place on university, she was so angry and she told me the student said he would file a claim if it happened again. I was so shocked to see her cry so I apologized. I realized what happened 1h later and I talked to someone in the university to vent. The next day I was ready to talk to my supervisor. I was crying, she was not. She made me talk with the other student (that supposedly did not realized anything of what he did). We explained to each other what we thought the other one did wrong. And so I thought it will end there. A month later, he started again the bullying. My error was to not say anything again. At some point I was away from the lab during 3 weeks (travel+covid+conference). During this time I was able to regain confidence in myself and ready to enjoy my PhD student life when I\u2019ll be back to the lab. First day I came back he destroyed everything. At this point I was so tired I asked to go to another office and I explained to my supervisor and co-director why. They did not seem impressed. Two weeks later, I had no news about the situation so I asked my co-director. He said he did not really know, he thought my supervisor talked to the student. At this point I was really depressed, and it was visible, I said I wasn\u2019t able to work correctly. We were supposed to have a meeting the next day with my supervisor but she canceled because she wanted to have a neutral person for the meeting. In the meantime I went to see a therapist and the \u00ab person respect office \u00bb to know what I could do. Has I applied to some positions and was supposed to have an interview for a job in my university, I decided to not go further. Anyway my co-director told me it had to be done gradually .. So I had to be depressed during the next two weeks that were supposed to be my holidays. I was able to find a job. So first day I came back I told my supervisor I was done with the PhD. She seemed happy and I did not receive any comment on my work during these 3 years. As I did an accelerate pathway between my masters and my PhD, I do not have my diploma yet. I am currently writing my masters thesis to have a diploma so I will be able to have an open work permit after that. I am still really depressed and it is hard for me to write because everytime I open the draft of my thesis, I have flashbacks and I cry. One morning I saw a student that looked like him and my heart skipped a beat. I am so unsatisfied but I am not sure what to do. I am scared that If I take action, it will impact my career as my new job is in the same university. I am scared that If I do something now, my supervisor blocks my efforts in my thesis. As I have been gaslighted during several months to make me believe I was too sensitive and it was not intended from the other student, I think I need some advise to empower my self back, trust myself on what I lived and be able to finish my thesis, maybe open a complaint if I have the energy. Did you ever live something like that ?","c_root_id_A":"in2bzsg","c_root_id_B":"in2kwpa","created_at_utc_A":1662305133,"created_at_utc_B":1662308624,"score_A":20,"score_B":44,"human_ref_A":"Eleanor Roosevelt famously said: \"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.\" This guy is a jerk. You may not be able to avoid him, or make him nicer, but you can learn ways to deal with him without feeling bad about yourself. I suggest you pick up some skills on verbal self-defense. This is advice I wish I could give my younger self. You really don't have to care what he thinks.","human_ref_B":"95% of the time Academia protects the bullies. Legally, it is just easier. My department is dealing with one particularly bad bully right now and it is such an energy-suck. Everyone f\u2019ing hates her but admins refuse to do anything more than remove her from committees and give her basic classes. She even bullies the students.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3491.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"tecf4g","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Losing my logins and access to my institution\u2019s library which means I can\u2019t access any literature without paywalls after I graduate. Besides SciHub, are there any ways to gain access to academic\/medical literature that don\u2019t require a paywall? Maybe a public library somehow? Thank you","c_root_id_A":"i0ougqa","c_root_id_B":"i0ow02r","created_at_utc_A":1647305206,"created_at_utc_B":1647305901,"score_A":4,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"Google Scholar","human_ref_B":"Many Universities will provide you with alumni accounts (this includes your Undergrad uni). Also many of the places I've worked are happy to extend your email\/account (in a restricted fashion) after you leave to provide your access to library resources. Chat to your IT dept or librarian.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":695.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"tecf4g","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Losing my logins and access to my institution\u2019s library which means I can\u2019t access any literature without paywalls after I graduate. Besides SciHub, are there any ways to gain access to academic\/medical literature that don\u2019t require a paywall? Maybe a public library somehow? Thank you","c_root_id_A":"i0p58d4","c_root_id_B":"i0ougqa","created_at_utc_A":1647310070,"created_at_utc_B":1647305206,"score_A":24,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"If you use Google scholar and find one behind a paywall, you could try looking the authors up on research gate or their professional\/faculty webpage and asking if they'd share the article. Authors are allowed to send individuals their articles.","human_ref_B":"Google Scholar","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4864.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"tecf4g","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Losing my logins and access to my institution\u2019s library which means I can\u2019t access any literature without paywalls after I graduate. Besides SciHub, are there any ways to gain access to academic\/medical literature that don\u2019t require a paywall? Maybe a public library somehow? Thank you","c_root_id_A":"i0ougqa","c_root_id_B":"i0phyda","created_at_utc_A":1647305206,"created_at_utc_B":1647316135,"score_A":4,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Google Scholar","human_ref_B":"LibGen","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10929.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"tecf4g","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Losing my logins and access to my institution\u2019s library which means I can\u2019t access any literature without paywalls after I graduate. Besides SciHub, are there any ways to gain access to academic\/medical literature that don\u2019t require a paywall? Maybe a public library somehow? Thank you","c_root_id_A":"i0pkkyt","c_root_id_B":"i0ougqa","created_at_utc_A":1647317541,"created_at_utc_B":1647305206,"score_A":8,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Second the alumni answer. As another option, if you\u2019re graduating with a doctorate, you may be able to get adjunct status. Library access is a key benefit.","human_ref_B":"Google Scholar","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12335.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"tecf4g","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Losing my logins and access to my institution\u2019s library which means I can\u2019t access any literature without paywalls after I graduate. Besides SciHub, are there any ways to gain access to academic\/medical literature that don\u2019t require a paywall? Maybe a public library somehow? Thank you","c_root_id_A":"i0ougqa","c_root_id_B":"i0qosjm","created_at_utc_A":1647305206,"created_at_utc_B":1647347073,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Google Scholar","human_ref_B":"1. click on the ''versions'' part on google scholar, usually there's a free pdf in here, especially if it's an older paper 2. ask the authors for a copy (you can do this easily with a researchgate account)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":41867.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"tecf4g","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Losing my logins and access to my institution\u2019s library which means I can\u2019t access any literature without paywalls after I graduate. Besides SciHub, are there any ways to gain access to academic\/medical literature that don\u2019t require a paywall? Maybe a public library somehow? Thank you","c_root_id_A":"i0qosjm","c_root_id_B":"i0qlqbl","created_at_utc_A":1647347073,"created_at_utc_B":1647345251,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"1. click on the ''versions'' part on google scholar, usually there's a free pdf in here, especially if it's an older paper 2. ask the authors for a copy (you can do this easily with a researchgate account)","human_ref_B":"Your local public library!!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1822.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"ec0b8z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"What fraction of papers that you review do you recommend rejecting? This year I've gotten many more requests to review papers than previously, and I'm finding that I'm rejecting many more papers than I expected, more than half. And most of those I recommend for acceptance are not very good. Is this normal? Is this really representative of the state of journal submissions?","c_root_id_A":"fb8e7o9","c_root_id_B":"fb8cgzm","created_at_utc_A":1576611989,"created_at_utc_B":1576610912,"score_A":16,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"These things differ dramatically from field to field. My field has notoriously high rejection rates: top journals are around 5% acceptance and most other journals that anyone reads are around 5-15%. Occasionally people do studies on these sorts of things (see here, for example), though I'm not aware of any on what percentage of papers that make it to referees get rejected.","human_ref_B":"I reviewed three papers in the last two months (one offensively and embarrassingly bad, the other just kind of bad) and outright rejected two and said minor revisions on a third (if I knew the field better, I might have said major revisions). On average, I probably don't reject 66% of papers. It is probably usually more like 50\/50.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1077.0,"score_ratio":1.2307692308} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i2a0se9","c_root_id_B":"i290ps2","created_at_utc_A":1648355366,"created_at_utc_B":1648336511,"score_A":16,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Post recovery for students the biggest issue I\u2019ve noticed is \u201cCovid brain\u201d is a major issue even a year later. Some really sharp students now seem on par with serial stoners in terms of cognition and processing. A couple have had weight loss issues too, as sense of taste never returned fully.","human_ref_B":"I got COVID in December. Was out for a week, similar to if it had been a bad flu. Wasn\u2019t a big deal and all the normal mechanisms for dealing with sick leave were enough.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18855.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i2a0se9","c_root_id_B":"i2929zo","created_at_utc_A":1648355366,"created_at_utc_B":1648337248,"score_A":16,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Post recovery for students the biggest issue I\u2019ve noticed is \u201cCovid brain\u201d is a major issue even a year later. Some really sharp students now seem on par with serial stoners in terms of cognition and processing. A couple have had weight loss issues too, as sense of taste never returned fully.","human_ref_B":"I am the primary caregiver for my two children. When my family got covid, I didn\u2019t go to school for 4 weeks, because it hit us like dominoes. I\u2019m still catching up.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18118.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i2a0se9","c_root_id_B":"i28jp8n","created_at_utc_A":1648355366,"created_at_utc_B":1648328614,"score_A":16,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Post recovery for students the biggest issue I\u2019ve noticed is \u201cCovid brain\u201d is a major issue even a year later. Some really sharp students now seem on par with serial stoners in terms of cognition and processing. A couple have had weight loss issues too, as sense of taste never returned fully.","human_ref_B":"Universities have rules about COVID. My MSc students can request an extension, but none did. PhD students could go on sick leave, essentially, extending their funding.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26752.0,"score_ratio":2.2857142857} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i2a0se9","c_root_id_B":"i28eqhl","created_at_utc_A":1648355366,"created_at_utc_B":1648326396,"score_A":16,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Post recovery for students the biggest issue I\u2019ve noticed is \u201cCovid brain\u201d is a major issue even a year later. Some really sharp students now seem on par with serial stoners in terms of cognition and processing. A couple have had weight loss issues too, as sense of taste never returned fully.","human_ref_B":"I got COVID the first week of my master's program and was unable to take a placement test for a language class that would have been very helpful with my research. As a result, I wasn't able to take the class. Pretty frustrating.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28970.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i29q9j6","c_root_id_B":"i2a0se9","created_at_utc_A":1648349268,"created_at_utc_B":1648355366,"score_A":2,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Nov. 2020, I had a bad case of strep. Still had to stay out of the lab for a week and a half until I got two negatives and a positive strep test. Threw off a mouse experiment badly, and I had to work over Thanksgiving and cancel family events. Dec. 2020, roommate did get COVID. I was out for 24 days, because policy then was 14 days after the end of symptoms of the person you're in contact with. I had to recruit another lab to finish the mouse experiment for me since no one in my lab had any mouse experience besides me, and felt *terribly* guilty about the whole matter. I still owe people for that one. Nov. 2021, I myself got COVID despite everything and a booster thanks to *stupid* policies at my SO's workplace. Again meant my mouse experiments were royally screwed and I missed both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I'm still playing catchup from that one, but thankfully didn't have to recruit anyone to cover my ass. So basically, fucking hell. I'm grateful my school had such a strict policy (no one I came in contact with got COVID thanks to these policies), but it meant the carefully planned experiments I had were thrown off pretty significantly. Working on a publication now and finding lots of holes thanks to this whole shebang.","human_ref_B":"Post recovery for students the biggest issue I\u2019ve noticed is \u201cCovid brain\u201d is a major issue even a year later. Some really sharp students now seem on par with serial stoners in terms of cognition and processing. A couple have had weight loss issues too, as sense of taste never returned fully.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6098.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i2a0se9","c_root_id_B":"i29lazo","created_at_utc_A":1648355366,"created_at_utc_B":1648346679,"score_A":16,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Post recovery for students the biggest issue I\u2019ve noticed is \u201cCovid brain\u201d is a major issue even a year later. Some really sharp students now seem on par with serial stoners in terms of cognition and processing. A couple have had weight loss issues too, as sense of taste never returned fully.","human_ref_B":"I had a very mild case of COViD, then three weeks later simultaneously developed pneumonia and had the flu. It set me back in my courses quite a bit. I have a very understanding PI (who I take one of my courses with). It was tough to play catch up on everything and really only just did. At first I tried to work through it before I realized I needed to talk to my professors. It took about a month, but I\u2019m back up and running now, although behind on research.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8687.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i28jp8n","c_root_id_B":"i290ps2","created_at_utc_A":1648328614,"created_at_utc_B":1648336511,"score_A":7,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Universities have rules about COVID. My MSc students can request an extension, but none did. PhD students could go on sick leave, essentially, extending their funding.","human_ref_B":"I got COVID in December. Was out for a week, similar to if it had been a bad flu. Wasn\u2019t a big deal and all the normal mechanisms for dealing with sick leave were enough.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7897.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i28eqhl","c_root_id_B":"i290ps2","created_at_utc_A":1648326396,"created_at_utc_B":1648336511,"score_A":6,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I got COVID the first week of my master's program and was unable to take a placement test for a language class that would have been very helpful with my research. As a result, I wasn't able to take the class. Pretty frustrating.","human_ref_B":"I got COVID in December. Was out for a week, similar to if it had been a bad flu. Wasn\u2019t a big deal and all the normal mechanisms for dealing with sick leave were enough.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10115.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i28jp8n","c_root_id_B":"i28eqhl","created_at_utc_A":1648328614,"created_at_utc_B":1648326396,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Universities have rules about COVID. My MSc students can request an extension, but none did. PhD students could go on sick leave, essentially, extending their funding.","human_ref_B":"I got COVID the first week of my master's program and was unable to take a placement test for a language class that would have been very helpful with my research. As a result, I wasn't able to take the class. Pretty frustrating.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2218.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i2azu52","c_root_id_B":"i29q9j6","created_at_utc_A":1648383196,"created_at_utc_B":1648349268,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I single developed long Covid symptoms that lasted about 6 months and it was awful for my work","human_ref_B":"Nov. 2020, I had a bad case of strep. Still had to stay out of the lab for a week and a half until I got two negatives and a positive strep test. Threw off a mouse experiment badly, and I had to work over Thanksgiving and cancel family events. Dec. 2020, roommate did get COVID. I was out for 24 days, because policy then was 14 days after the end of symptoms of the person you're in contact with. I had to recruit another lab to finish the mouse experiment for me since no one in my lab had any mouse experience besides me, and felt *terribly* guilty about the whole matter. I still owe people for that one. Nov. 2021, I myself got COVID despite everything and a booster thanks to *stupid* policies at my SO's workplace. Again meant my mouse experiments were royally screwed and I missed both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I'm still playing catchup from that one, but thankfully didn't have to recruit anyone to cover my ass. So basically, fucking hell. I'm grateful my school had such a strict policy (no one I came in contact with got COVID thanks to these policies), but it meant the carefully planned experiments I had were thrown off pretty significantly. Working on a publication now and finding lots of holes thanks to this whole shebang.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":33928.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"tozipi","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"For those who got COVID or had grad students get COVID, how has it affected you or your grad students? I recently got COVID after avoiding it for nearly two years. I\u2019m fortunately able to work from home and have a very accommodating supervisor, but I wonder how it has affected others? Particularly those who have an obligation to be at the university or to interact with students\/participants\/others in a regular basis?","c_root_id_A":"i2azu52","c_root_id_B":"i29lazo","created_at_utc_A":1648383196,"created_at_utc_B":1648346679,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I single developed long Covid symptoms that lasted about 6 months and it was awful for my work","human_ref_B":"I had a very mild case of COViD, then three weeks later simultaneously developed pneumonia and had the flu. It set me back in my courses quite a bit. I have a very understanding PI (who I take one of my courses with). It was tough to play catch up on everything and really only just did. At first I tried to work through it before I realized I needed to talk to my professors. It took about a month, but I\u2019m back up and running now, although behind on research.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":36517.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"bl3d16","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Submitted thesis. Found a mistake in my results. Viva in a few days. What do I do? So basically I am an undergrad engineer in my 3rd year. The thesis deadline was at the end of last month and I have my Viva in a few days from now. I realised today that there is an error in my results. For any engineers out there, I was meant to obtain 3rd principal strain rather than 1st principal strain. I went back and reobtained the correct results which cause a 50% increase to the results I had originally. The effect it has on my discussion\/conclusion does not change my views, but it still is a fairly big difference when comparing with other results from previous studies. I am debating what I should do in regards to my Viva. Should I mention it? I am worrying how this will efect my grade. Any suggestions would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"emm7a7p","c_root_id_B":"emm24sy","created_at_utc_A":1557114792,"created_at_utc_B":1557111447,"score_A":19,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Engineering is a sacred discipline, one day you may have lives depending on your integrity and ability to handle these kinds of moments. What you are going through is actually the most important thing about becoming an engineer. Integrity, The two shuttle disasters demonstrated how fear and laziness caused deaths. If it were me, I would immediately notify those grading the items that you discovered the error, that you are recalculating the results with the intention showing the correction during your Viva. If I were an instructor I would be incredibly impressed with your standards and commitment to truth. If for some reason they lower your grade, then they are not worthy of being your teachers. This makes for good reading: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ritual_of_the_Calling_of_an_Engineer","human_ref_B":"Prepare slides and present the proper results during the presentation. Show the original results side by side with the corrected ones. Discuss anything in the discussion part of the paper that may change as a result of this correction. My stat mentor told a few stories of students presenting the wrong results from SPSS output and he said when it came up they usually failed the defense and had to do the entire defense over. Presenting the proper results there should at least move this into pass with revisions area.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3345.0,"score_ratio":1.3571428571} {"post_id":"mhk25s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"Is it normal for the host department to ask for slides in advance from candidate interviewing for faculty positions? My colleague and I are wondering whether this is a good idea especially if the slides contain unpublished material but a request has been made to email the slides to the department committee well before the presentation made by the candidate during the interview. Is this a norm and how would you handle the fact that you may not wish to share the unpublished material over web with anyone before it's published.","c_root_id_A":"gt0izlr","c_root_id_B":"gt00hpj","created_at_utc_A":1617271020,"created_at_utc_B":1617255069,"score_A":22,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I chaired many search committees over the years and also chaired the department for 5 years before I retired 18 months ago. I'd suggest you send whatever they ask to be sent without redaction. If you want to put an \"unpublished material\" overlay that would be fine. In a later post you indicate that they're asking for an abstract, as well, and that you're considering not sending it because you don't want too many people attending your online presentation. If I was chairing the committee and you didn't send what we asked to be sent, we'd likely eliminate you from consideration. Likewise, if you sent it but with dire warnings to the committee about misusing your IP or asking other people to not attend your presentation, we'd likely eliminate you from consideration. It indicates the potential of future problems with a colleague and there are plenty of people who will send what we ask even if it's an odd situation. Having said that, maybe you're in an academic area where data are financially very valuable and\/or there's a history of IP theft. If so, I don't have a suggestion since my academic area is not one where a few data slides would allow somebody to steal IP nor is there a history of people screwing potential colleagues out of IP.","human_ref_B":"They could be asking this for accessibility reasons. It is common to share slides in advance when working with interpreters or captioners. This is the norm in my department for that reason- the interpreters need time to review the materials to understand how best to interpret and clarify any terms or jargon. However, the department should make sure to give you plenty of notice that the slides will be required in advance, typically a week minimum. Good luck with the presentation & interview!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15951.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"mhk25s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"Is it normal for the host department to ask for slides in advance from candidate interviewing for faculty positions? My colleague and I are wondering whether this is a good idea especially if the slides contain unpublished material but a request has been made to email the slides to the department committee well before the presentation made by the candidate during the interview. Is this a norm and how would you handle the fact that you may not wish to share the unpublished material over web with anyone before it's published.","c_root_id_A":"gt0izlr","c_root_id_B":"gt0g8ha","created_at_utc_A":1617271020,"created_at_utc_B":1617268894,"score_A":22,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I chaired many search committees over the years and also chaired the department for 5 years before I retired 18 months ago. I'd suggest you send whatever they ask to be sent without redaction. If you want to put an \"unpublished material\" overlay that would be fine. In a later post you indicate that they're asking for an abstract, as well, and that you're considering not sending it because you don't want too many people attending your online presentation. If I was chairing the committee and you didn't send what we asked to be sent, we'd likely eliminate you from consideration. Likewise, if you sent it but with dire warnings to the committee about misusing your IP or asking other people to not attend your presentation, we'd likely eliminate you from consideration. It indicates the potential of future problems with a colleague and there are plenty of people who will send what we ask even if it's an odd situation. Having said that, maybe you're in an academic area where data are financially very valuable and\/or there's a history of IP theft. If so, I don't have a suggestion since my academic area is not one where a few data slides would allow somebody to steal IP nor is there a history of people screwing potential colleagues out of IP.","human_ref_B":"No one is going to misuse your slides or steal your ideas. Professors are too busy with their own research program. Go all in, the process is already so competitive, don't diminish your candidacy in the least bit. Also, in principle they are interviewing you because no one else in the department has your expertise, and so they are trying to build that part of the department up. So probably no one will have the means to scoop you or appropriate your work anyway.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2126.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"mhk25s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"Is it normal for the host department to ask for slides in advance from candidate interviewing for faculty positions? My colleague and I are wondering whether this is a good idea especially if the slides contain unpublished material but a request has been made to email the slides to the department committee well before the presentation made by the candidate during the interview. Is this a norm and how would you handle the fact that you may not wish to share the unpublished material over web with anyone before it's published.","c_root_id_A":"gt0ithj","c_root_id_B":"gt0izlr","created_at_utc_A":1617270886,"created_at_utc_B":1617271020,"score_A":8,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"Pretty common given all interviews are being done online these days, as it prevents any technical issues on the day.","human_ref_B":"I chaired many search committees over the years and also chaired the department for 5 years before I retired 18 months ago. I'd suggest you send whatever they ask to be sent without redaction. If you want to put an \"unpublished material\" overlay that would be fine. In a later post you indicate that they're asking for an abstract, as well, and that you're considering not sending it because you don't want too many people attending your online presentation. If I was chairing the committee and you didn't send what we asked to be sent, we'd likely eliminate you from consideration. Likewise, if you sent it but with dire warnings to the committee about misusing your IP or asking other people to not attend your presentation, we'd likely eliminate you from consideration. It indicates the potential of future problems with a colleague and there are plenty of people who will send what we ask even if it's an odd situation. Having said that, maybe you're in an academic area where data are financially very valuable and\/or there's a history of IP theft. If so, I don't have a suggestion since my academic area is not one where a few data slides would allow somebody to steal IP nor is there a history of people screwing potential colleagues out of IP.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":134.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"5arx1o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Submitting for a TT assistant prof job. They ask for *at least* three letters of reference. Should I send more or just stick with the three? I have five solid references that I could ask, but I don't want to overload my referees if there's no added value. Do you think it is of benefit to submit more reference letters than the requirement, or should I just leave it with the requested three? For background: I am at a postdoc and am applying for an assistant prof job at a very good university. I know the odds of me getting it are low to begin with because of the reputation of the university but want to apply because I do think I have some shot.","c_root_id_A":"d9jlphh","c_root_id_B":"d9jm9t0","created_at_utc_A":1478150870,"created_at_utc_B":1478151939,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"If you have five and they say at least three, you should maybe cut the weakest of the five. I would always err on the side of more information in this case. You are trying to *sell* yourself.","human_ref_B":"I sent five to the job I landed. The additional two were from the chair at the Ivy where I taught, and the last from the head of our major professional organization. The other three were committee members, all big names in several adjacent fields. If each speaks to different key things, I don't see why not. But 5 would be the most, and mine were all notably different in scope and content.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1069.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"jw7jub","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.67,"history":"I witnessed my dean checking out a female student and it is really bothering me At the same time, he's making empty statements about promoting women in engineering while actually being very rude to women and even losing his temper at a female staff member, embarrassing her in front of her students. Him and I are supposed to work together, but I can't forget the way he stared at the female student that day. He completely was oblivious to me standing behind him because his neck was twisted towards the poor, unsuspecting girl who had her back towards him. He had held the door open for her and followed her walk as she moved down the hall. I cannot take him seriously during meetings and this is hell. What am I supposed to do? Pretend it's cool until he leaves for another campus?","c_root_id_A":"gcprw3p","c_root_id_B":"gcq4jhu","created_at_utc_A":1605705644,"created_at_utc_B":1605712972,"score_A":9,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"As someone (cis male, 37) who has worked at universities\/colleges my whole professional life, including a decade as an adjunct instructor, I agree that it can sink your opinion of someone to see even a single instance of such behavior. It is not difficult to control your eyes. As a person of power, as an adult, as a male in a patriarchal system, your dean should know better and behave better. That said, it\u2019s totally unsurprising to hear of such checking-out in the academy. But my two cents\u2019 is that, as a dude, I am in control of where my eyes go and I am fully aware of the way a look can be disrespectful. Also, I\u2019m in my thirties. College students are, like, nineteen and stuff. Come on, man.","human_ref_B":"\u201casexual deans\u201d is what we need.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7328.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"2wscz7","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"PhD's who left academia for industry, is it as difficult as I've been lead to believe to find work? I think it's something that is often thrown around when considering a PhD opportunity, but I'd like to hear from who have done it or tried to do it. Is it as hard as I've been told? Do you get told you're 'overqualified' for the position? If you want to say, is the pay less?","c_root_id_A":"cou5wrx","c_root_id_B":"cou3wc0","created_at_utc_A":1424666595,"created_at_utc_B":1424662932,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I notice you're a geology undergrad. I'm getting my MS in geology (geophysics focus) right now and I worked in industry for 3 years before going back. While I'm not a PhD who left for industry, I may be able to offer some insight. As a PhD geologist, you won't have trouble finding work for an oil company. Petroleum prefers top tier students and that demand is met due to really high salaries. If your plan is to go into environmental or mining, a PhD is probably a bit overkill. You can look at it from a company's perspective. Regardless of who they hire, they are going to have to train them to do the job. A job in industry is very different than research. So your options is to hire someone with BS for say, 50k, and train them to do the job. Or, you could hire someone with PhD and will likely have to pay them more, say 60k-65k, and train them to do the same job. In this case it's cheaper and easier to hire the BS graduate. This is why PhDs are seen as overqualified. They demand a higher salary for what amounts to no real practical industry experience. There's a point of diminishing returns for geology degrees in industry. An MS is fantastic to get as it makes you more employable and less likely to get laid off during hard times. A PhD is also good, but only if your ultimate goal is research\/academia. Spending an extra 4-6 years in grad school after an MS means 4-6 years of missed income, benefits, and retirement which may end up affecting you later in your career.","human_ref_B":"It all comes down to industry experience. Industry values experience over most things. If you go into an interview for a job where you have to apply what you learned, and you start talking about models you developed but never fully tested, you're going to be disappointed. Let me give you an example. I currently have a BS and applied to an additive manufacturing R&D position. I spent the last year working for a startup company where I took on many hands on projects and responsibilities. With that experience, I have been considered as a potential candidate over masters and PhD fresh graduates. This is coming straight from the mouth of the interviewer. What you need to be looking at is internships if you're running into issues with being hired.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3663.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"v9k83l","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"What tips and tricks worked best for you when you started to feel unmotivated? I\u2019ve been struggling to find the motivation to study and complete coursework for the past year now but I only have a few more courses left until I get my degree. I need to power through this and am looking for tips and tricks that have helped others to bring back their motivation.","c_root_id_A":"ibx5kak","c_root_id_B":"ibxg0t4","created_at_utc_A":1654907494,"created_at_utc_B":1654913056,"score_A":3,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I just make to-do lists and hold myself to them. It keeps me from over or underthinking what I\u2019m doing and I don\u2019t have the chance to get anxious about if or what I should be doing","human_ref_B":"I trick myself by saying, I'll just open that file with the document I need to work on. Of course, when I open it, I start reading, I start working, .... Even thought I KNOW I am tricking myself, it works every time. I'll just get that book I need to read and find the correct page. Etc.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5562.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"v9k83l","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"What tips and tricks worked best for you when you started to feel unmotivated? I\u2019ve been struggling to find the motivation to study and complete coursework for the past year now but I only have a few more courses left until I get my degree. I need to power through this and am looking for tips and tricks that have helped others to bring back their motivation.","c_root_id_A":"ibypom5","c_root_id_B":"ibxt42a","created_at_utc_A":1654947437,"created_at_utc_B":1654920165,"score_A":17,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"1. Don't power through it. That thinking makes intrinsic motivation less likely. Pretend that you really want to learn the stuff. (Fake it until you make it.) 2. Make a Pomodoro plan. Different tasks require different time slots, so you have to try out different ones for each type. 3. Get off Reddit! (Says someone who is on Reddit when he should be rewriting a manuscript.)","human_ref_B":"Eat the frog","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27272.0,"score_ratio":2.4285714286} {"post_id":"v9k83l","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"What tips and tricks worked best for you when you started to feel unmotivated? I\u2019ve been struggling to find the motivation to study and complete coursework for the past year now but I only have a few more courses left until I get my degree. I need to power through this and am looking for tips and tricks that have helped others to bring back their motivation.","c_root_id_A":"ibypom5","c_root_id_B":"ibx5kak","created_at_utc_A":1654947437,"created_at_utc_B":1654907494,"score_A":17,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"1. Don't power through it. That thinking makes intrinsic motivation less likely. Pretend that you really want to learn the stuff. (Fake it until you make it.) 2. Make a Pomodoro plan. Different tasks require different time slots, so you have to try out different ones for each type. 3. Get off Reddit! (Says someone who is on Reddit when he should be rewriting a manuscript.)","human_ref_B":"I just make to-do lists and hold myself to them. It keeps me from over or underthinking what I\u2019m doing and I don\u2019t have the chance to get anxious about if or what I should be doing","labels":1,"seconds_difference":39943.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"v9k83l","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"What tips and tricks worked best for you when you started to feel unmotivated? I\u2019ve been struggling to find the motivation to study and complete coursework for the past year now but I only have a few more courses left until I get my degree. I need to power through this and am looking for tips and tricks that have helped others to bring back their motivation.","c_root_id_A":"ibypom5","c_root_id_B":"ibykfqi","created_at_utc_A":1654947437,"created_at_utc_B":1654942969,"score_A":17,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"1. Don't power through it. That thinking makes intrinsic motivation less likely. Pretend that you really want to learn the stuff. (Fake it until you make it.) 2. Make a Pomodoro plan. Different tasks require different time slots, so you have to try out different ones for each type. 3. Get off Reddit! (Says someone who is on Reddit when he should be rewriting a manuscript.)","human_ref_B":"The best trick is get off social media and avoid distractions from people around you. Trust me you will feel rejuvenated","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4468.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"v9k83l","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"What tips and tricks worked best for you when you started to feel unmotivated? I\u2019ve been struggling to find the motivation to study and complete coursework for the past year now but I only have a few more courses left until I get my degree. I need to power through this and am looking for tips and tricks that have helped others to bring back their motivation.","c_root_id_A":"ibxt42a","c_root_id_B":"ibx5kak","created_at_utc_A":1654920165,"created_at_utc_B":1654907494,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Eat the frog","human_ref_B":"I just make to-do lists and hold myself to them. It keeps me from over or underthinking what I\u2019m doing and I don\u2019t have the chance to get anxious about if or what I should be doing","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12671.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"26eaqg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"I'm commenting on a paper at a well-known professional humanities conference. How critical can I be of the paper, while still being polite?","c_root_id_A":"chq9zc8","c_root_id_B":"chq7985","created_at_utc_A":1400969123,"created_at_utc_B":1400961726,"score_A":33,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Dan Dennett's rules: How to compose a successful critical commentary: * You should attempt to re-express your target\u2019s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, \u201cThanks, I wish I\u2019d thought of putting it that way. * You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement). * You should mention anything you have learned from your target. * Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.","human_ref_B":"Bear in mind that \"critical\" doesn't mean \"negative\".","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7397.0,"score_ratio":1.65} {"post_id":"26eaqg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"I'm commenting on a paper at a well-known professional humanities conference. How critical can I be of the paper, while still being polite?","c_root_id_A":"chq7az4","c_root_id_B":"chq9zc8","created_at_utc_A":1400961868,"created_at_utc_B":1400969123,"score_A":4,"score_B":33,"human_ref_A":"I use the guideline: would I say this in person? If not, it might be too critical. I'm also a blunt person and will give feedback in person. I do notice that I'm more forward in written feedback (less coughing within positive things). If it is fair criticism, I've give the critique. The other guideline: would I want to hear this feedback and in this way? If not, you might need to make changes.","human_ref_B":"Dan Dennett's rules: How to compose a successful critical commentary: * You should attempt to re-express your target\u2019s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, \u201cThanks, I wish I\u2019d thought of putting it that way. * You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement). * You should mention anything you have learned from your target. * Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7255.0,"score_ratio":8.25} {"post_id":"bam0w9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Has anyone done a PhD without funding? Has anyone done this without any form of tuition assistance\/scholarships and actually paid the fees?","c_root_id_A":"ekcvxr0","c_root_id_B":"ekd3jtc","created_at_utc_A":1554687061,"created_at_utc_B":1554693230,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Yes and they shouldn't have.","human_ref_B":"Going to have to disagree with some other comments here. I was able to fund myself for my PhD, and I wouldn't say it had any negative effect on my career. I got a couple postdocs after, and I'm about to take up a dream permanent job offer at a high-rank research institution. The monetary element is definitely tough, of course, but I don't think there's any significantly negative career impact, personally! In case relevant, this was in the UK.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6169.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"bam0w9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Has anyone done a PhD without funding? Has anyone done this without any form of tuition assistance\/scholarships and actually paid the fees?","c_root_id_A":"eke1w2t","c_root_id_B":"ekdkp56","created_at_utc_A":1554734511,"created_at_utc_B":1554715918,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Do not do this under any circumstance other than you have a trust fund and no better way to spend it. Kidding aside, please don't do this. No one should ever pay for a PhD. It's so much debt to take on for working what feels like 2 full time jobs + very uncertain job prospects down the line.","human_ref_B":"I am going for a PhD program without funding because I can afford and have confidence to survive during the program. However. PhD designation matters a lot due to different cost structure. If you are going to New Zealand s\u00f3 say, tuition fee for international students is relatively low compare to UK \/ US. You can easily afford tuition cost on the NZ even if you are self funded.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18593.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kz2ocu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Which offers more career field flexibility in STEM: mathematics or physics? I know your degree is less important than your skills but different degrees are geared towards different skills, right? Would you be able to go from a maths degree into a career field focused on one of the sciences, and would it be harder than with a physics degree? What about having a physics degree and going into a more maths oriented field like finance or tech?","c_root_id_A":"gjlr7hc","c_root_id_B":"gjqg4g6","created_at_utc_A":1610898630,"created_at_utc_B":1610988731,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"There are fewer science based jobs than tech and finance jobs so Applied math should generally open more opportunities. But if you're focused on the sciences and their applications then physics is a better option.","human_ref_B":"depending on the physics subfield, you might not even get to deal with any useful math. source: i'm a physics grad with a msc and i've been struggling to find a job.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":90101.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"u1fdyo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"How to ask\/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA)","c_root_id_A":"i4dnmys","c_root_id_B":"i4ch65r","created_at_utc_A":1649731484,"created_at_utc_B":1649713093,"score_A":42,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"I don\u2019t understand this weirdness. You can apply to be in anyone\u2019s lab, why are you tracking one particular person\u2019s career who may or may not interact with your potential supervisor? Weird drama.","human_ref_B":"Ask your department head. You can give as little or as much reason as you like, or a false reason. If the tenure process is not complete or official, the head will probably say they can\u2019t answer. I recently asked this very question because a former student was coming into town and they wanted to surprise the PI and celebrate the tenure approval, but we weren\u2019t sure if it was official yet. It wasn\u2019t, but the department head said they were just waiting on the stamp from the college Dean (or somebody), so it was assumed to be a yes, but not entirely final. It was a yes at the Dept and committee levels.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18391.0,"score_ratio":2.625} {"post_id":"u1fdyo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"How to ask\/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA)","c_root_id_A":"i4dnmys","c_root_id_B":"i4c4ci7","created_at_utc_A":1649731484,"created_at_utc_B":1649708162,"score_A":42,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I don\u2019t understand this weirdness. You can apply to be in anyone\u2019s lab, why are you tracking one particular person\u2019s career who may or may not interact with your potential supervisor? Weird drama.","human_ref_B":"If you search around on your school's website, you may be able to find some timelines for promotion and tenure. It may not have a clear deadline for when a final decision is made, though (and I think sometimes the deadlines are missed anyways). I don't know when in the process a review seminar would be given (we don't have those), but after putting in your package I'd say 5 to 10 months might be a rough timeframe for an official decision.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23322.0,"score_ratio":3.2307692308} {"post_id":"u1fdyo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"How to ask\/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA)","c_root_id_A":"i4dnmys","c_root_id_B":"i4bz7im","created_at_utc_A":1649731484,"created_at_utc_B":1649706092,"score_A":42,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I don\u2019t understand this weirdness. You can apply to be in anyone\u2019s lab, why are you tracking one particular person\u2019s career who may or may not interact with your potential supervisor? Weird drama.","human_ref_B":"Schools usually publish promotions. Google the school and promotions and see if their name is on the list.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":25392.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"u1fdyo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"How to ask\/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA)","c_root_id_A":"i4ch65r","c_root_id_B":"i4c4ci7","created_at_utc_A":1649713093,"created_at_utc_B":1649708162,"score_A":16,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Ask your department head. You can give as little or as much reason as you like, or a false reason. If the tenure process is not complete or official, the head will probably say they can\u2019t answer. I recently asked this very question because a former student was coming into town and they wanted to surprise the PI and celebrate the tenure approval, but we weren\u2019t sure if it was official yet. It wasn\u2019t, but the department head said they were just waiting on the stamp from the college Dean (or somebody), so it was assumed to be a yes, but not entirely final. It was a yes at the Dept and committee levels.","human_ref_B":"If you search around on your school's website, you may be able to find some timelines for promotion and tenure. It may not have a clear deadline for when a final decision is made, though (and I think sometimes the deadlines are missed anyways). I don't know when in the process a review seminar would be given (we don't have those), but after putting in your package I'd say 5 to 10 months might be a rough timeframe for an official decision.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4931.0,"score_ratio":1.2307692308} {"post_id":"u1fdyo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"How to ask\/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA)","c_root_id_A":"i4ch65r","c_root_id_B":"i4bz7im","created_at_utc_A":1649713093,"created_at_utc_B":1649706092,"score_A":16,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Ask your department head. You can give as little or as much reason as you like, or a false reason. If the tenure process is not complete or official, the head will probably say they can\u2019t answer. I recently asked this very question because a former student was coming into town and they wanted to surprise the PI and celebrate the tenure approval, but we weren\u2019t sure if it was official yet. It wasn\u2019t, but the department head said they were just waiting on the stamp from the college Dean (or somebody), so it was assumed to be a yes, but not entirely final. It was a yes at the Dept and committee levels.","human_ref_B":"Schools usually publish promotions. Google the school and promotions and see if their name is on the list.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7001.0,"score_ratio":2.2857142857} {"post_id":"u1fdyo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"How to ask\/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA)","c_root_id_A":"i4bz7im","c_root_id_B":"i4c4ci7","created_at_utc_A":1649706092,"created_at_utc_B":1649708162,"score_A":7,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Schools usually publish promotions. Google the school and promotions and see if their name is on the list.","human_ref_B":"If you search around on your school's website, you may be able to find some timelines for promotion and tenure. It may not have a clear deadline for when a final decision is made, though (and I think sometimes the deadlines are missed anyways). I don't know when in the process a review seminar would be given (we don't have those), but after putting in your package I'd say 5 to 10 months might be a rough timeframe for an official decision.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2070.0,"score_ratio":1.8571428571} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0ib9z","c_root_id_B":"fq0mwji","created_at_utc_A":1589032282,"created_at_utc_B":1589034489,"score_A":8,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I'll echo the general \"It really depends on the specific department\". I have mostly been in relatively functional departments as a student \/ postdoc \/ faculty member with relatively minimal personality conflicts. However, I have colleagues at other universities (same discipline) who have had miserable experiences. A purely anecdotal example, I have a good friend who is a tenured professor but was extremely close to leaving academia as they and their students were bullied \/ intimidated by the chair of the department for years. No one else in the department came to their aid and the relevant dean basically ignored them until the actions of the chair rose to physical threats of violence. This is an extreme and unusual situation to be sure, but it highlights that at all steps of the process, you need to do your homework about a place (i.e. try to get as much info about a department from third parties as you can before committing).","human_ref_B":"I'm honestly very surprised at the positive comments on this thread, although I'm really glad that people have had much better experiences in their academic fields and departments than I did. I obtained my PhD in Classical Studies, and I think Classical Studies as a field is very toxic. While I had a lovely advisor and kept away from the worst bullies, I witnessed a lot of abuse during graduate school. For example, one professor who taught important Greek language courses targeted at least six women graduate students while I was in the department. He ridiculed them for their language skills and forced them to do remedial work for one to two semesters after the end of his class. He would threaten to have these women expelled from the program. He never did the same to any male student (at least over this eight year period). As far as I know, no one has ever called him out for this behavior, because it was relatively commonplace. This normalization of abuse prompted my departure from Classics and from academics, and I can't say I regret leaving. All this to say, there are certainly fields that are more toxic than others. If you're thinking about attending graduate school, for example, do your best to find a stable department with policies that protect students from abuse and harassment.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2207.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0mlj2","c_root_id_B":"fq0mwji","created_at_utc_A":1589034355,"created_at_utc_B":1589034489,"score_A":5,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I think it really depends on the school, department, and the location of that school, etc. I'm in a pretty liberal school in New England, and everyone is pretty against any form of nastiness - matter of fact, the faculty check each other pretty regularly. HOWEVER, there are those profs that have been around since the dawn of time and take time to be nasty. I would say make your support system and rely on them. I will say it's important to \"shift\" through people that are being nasty and those that are just being a bit too frank. It's a tough balance but honestly this is where that support system in the school comes in. That being said I have had people be rude. Needlessly so. But, honestly, that's anywhere you go.","human_ref_B":"I'm honestly very surprised at the positive comments on this thread, although I'm really glad that people have had much better experiences in their academic fields and departments than I did. I obtained my PhD in Classical Studies, and I think Classical Studies as a field is very toxic. While I had a lovely advisor and kept away from the worst bullies, I witnessed a lot of abuse during graduate school. For example, one professor who taught important Greek language courses targeted at least six women graduate students while I was in the department. He ridiculed them for their language skills and forced them to do remedial work for one to two semesters after the end of his class. He would threaten to have these women expelled from the program. He never did the same to any male student (at least over this eight year period). As far as I know, no one has ever called him out for this behavior, because it was relatively commonplace. This normalization of abuse prompted my departure from Classics and from academics, and I can't say I regret leaving. All this to say, there are certainly fields that are more toxic than others. If you're thinking about attending graduate school, for example, do your best to find a stable department with policies that protect students from abuse and harassment.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":134.0,"score_ratio":2.8} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0mwji","c_root_id_B":"fq0hkpv","created_at_utc_A":1589034489,"created_at_utc_B":1589031986,"score_A":14,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm honestly very surprised at the positive comments on this thread, although I'm really glad that people have had much better experiences in their academic fields and departments than I did. I obtained my PhD in Classical Studies, and I think Classical Studies as a field is very toxic. While I had a lovely advisor and kept away from the worst bullies, I witnessed a lot of abuse during graduate school. For example, one professor who taught important Greek language courses targeted at least six women graduate students while I was in the department. He ridiculed them for their language skills and forced them to do remedial work for one to two semesters after the end of his class. He would threaten to have these women expelled from the program. He never did the same to any male student (at least over this eight year period). As far as I know, no one has ever called him out for this behavior, because it was relatively commonplace. This normalization of abuse prompted my departure from Classics and from academics, and I can't say I regret leaving. All this to say, there are certainly fields that are more toxic than others. If you're thinking about attending graduate school, for example, do your best to find a stable department with policies that protect students from abuse and harassment.","human_ref_B":"There are tribalistic tendencies for sure, especially when methodological\/paradigmatic differences arise between camps in a field. Just try to be cordial to all and not get involved in unconstructive criticisms of other approaches.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2503.0,"score_ratio":4.6666666667} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0hkpv","c_root_id_B":"fq0ib9z","created_at_utc_A":1589031986,"created_at_utc_B":1589032282,"score_A":3,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"There are tribalistic tendencies for sure, especially when methodological\/paradigmatic differences arise between camps in a field. Just try to be cordial to all and not get involved in unconstructive criticisms of other approaches.","human_ref_B":"I'll echo the general \"It really depends on the specific department\". I have mostly been in relatively functional departments as a student \/ postdoc \/ faculty member with relatively minimal personality conflicts. However, I have colleagues at other universities (same discipline) who have had miserable experiences. A purely anecdotal example, I have a good friend who is a tenured professor but was extremely close to leaving academia as they and their students were bullied \/ intimidated by the chair of the department for years. No one else in the department came to their aid and the relevant dean basically ignored them until the actions of the chair rose to physical threats of violence. This is an extreme and unusual situation to be sure, but it highlights that at all steps of the process, you need to do your homework about a place (i.e. try to get as much info about a department from third parties as you can before committing).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":296.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0mlj2","c_root_id_B":"fq0n920","created_at_utc_A":1589034355,"created_at_utc_B":1589034629,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I think it really depends on the school, department, and the location of that school, etc. I'm in a pretty liberal school in New England, and everyone is pretty against any form of nastiness - matter of fact, the faculty check each other pretty regularly. HOWEVER, there are those profs that have been around since the dawn of time and take time to be nasty. I would say make your support system and rely on them. I will say it's important to \"shift\" through people that are being nasty and those that are just being a bit too frank. It's a tough balance but honestly this is where that support system in the school comes in. That being said I have had people be rude. Needlessly so. But, honestly, that's anywhere you go.","human_ref_B":"None. Expect your ego to get bruised - your work is going to get criticized, you aren't going to be the smartest person around, you're going to fail a lot and not going to get a lot of what you apply for. Expect to work hard relative to your pay, though honestly the flexibility\/self motivated nature means it's quite easy to slack as a grad student or post doc without immediately jeopardizing your job, unlike other fields. You just hurt your long term prospects. Expect some petty office politics. You shouldn't expect nastiness, bullying, abuse, etc though. It does happen, but it isn't the rule. The issue more is that the power balance, the lack of oversight, & reliance on connections means that when you end up in a bad situation, it is really really bad. It's not common though. The \"bad advisors\" I've seen are generally absentee, not cruel.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":274.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0hkpv","c_root_id_B":"fq0n920","created_at_utc_A":1589031986,"created_at_utc_B":1589034629,"score_A":3,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"There are tribalistic tendencies for sure, especially when methodological\/paradigmatic differences arise between camps in a field. Just try to be cordial to all and not get involved in unconstructive criticisms of other approaches.","human_ref_B":"None. Expect your ego to get bruised - your work is going to get criticized, you aren't going to be the smartest person around, you're going to fail a lot and not going to get a lot of what you apply for. Expect to work hard relative to your pay, though honestly the flexibility\/self motivated nature means it's quite easy to slack as a grad student or post doc without immediately jeopardizing your job, unlike other fields. You just hurt your long term prospects. Expect some petty office politics. You shouldn't expect nastiness, bullying, abuse, etc though. It does happen, but it isn't the rule. The issue more is that the power balance, the lack of oversight, & reliance on connections means that when you end up in a bad situation, it is really really bad. It's not common though. The \"bad advisors\" I've seen are generally absentee, not cruel.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2643.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0mlj2","c_root_id_B":"fq0putf","created_at_utc_A":1589034355,"created_at_utc_B":1589035733,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I think it really depends on the school, department, and the location of that school, etc. I'm in a pretty liberal school in New England, and everyone is pretty against any form of nastiness - matter of fact, the faculty check each other pretty regularly. HOWEVER, there are those profs that have been around since the dawn of time and take time to be nasty. I would say make your support system and rely on them. I will say it's important to \"shift\" through people that are being nasty and those that are just being a bit too frank. It's a tough balance but honestly this is where that support system in the school comes in. That being said I have had people be rude. Needlessly so. But, honestly, that's anywhere you go.","human_ref_B":"I agree... we aren't immune to it because there are horrible people everywhere but I personally don't think it's as bad because you have more space to ignore people who you don't really want to deal with (for the most part) although I'm sure it's happened. I think the hardest thing to deal with is the inconsistency and politics. You might work your tail off and watch someone else get ahead who does nothing just because they are well liked or well connected. And a lot of times people got into those positions of favor by being cutthroat or screwing over other people in the process. In other words, not that different from most other industries in that regard. I've also found that there is a lot of groupthink. I can't tell you the number of meetings I've sat through where everyone in the room gave each other high fives over a crappy idea and when it failed, instead of recognizing that it failed and coming up with a new plan, everyone insisted that it wasn't *actually* a bad idea but just nobody else \"got it.\" (For example: our school spent millions on a very unnecessary new building while simultaneously cutting all of our academic support programs and several majors and also failing to fix dorms that are falling apart - several of which still don't have air conditioning, all because of apparent financial problems. When the students were rightfully pissed that their needs clearly weren't the priority and retention dropped, \"they just don't get it.\" No, it was a horrible decision.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1378.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0putf","c_root_id_B":"fq0hkpv","created_at_utc_A":1589035733,"created_at_utc_B":1589031986,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I agree... we aren't immune to it because there are horrible people everywhere but I personally don't think it's as bad because you have more space to ignore people who you don't really want to deal with (for the most part) although I'm sure it's happened. I think the hardest thing to deal with is the inconsistency and politics. You might work your tail off and watch someone else get ahead who does nothing just because they are well liked or well connected. And a lot of times people got into those positions of favor by being cutthroat or screwing over other people in the process. In other words, not that different from most other industries in that regard. I've also found that there is a lot of groupthink. I can't tell you the number of meetings I've sat through where everyone in the room gave each other high fives over a crappy idea and when it failed, instead of recognizing that it failed and coming up with a new plan, everyone insisted that it wasn't *actually* a bad idea but just nobody else \"got it.\" (For example: our school spent millions on a very unnecessary new building while simultaneously cutting all of our academic support programs and several majors and also failing to fix dorms that are falling apart - several of which still don't have air conditioning, all because of apparent financial problems. When the students were rightfully pissed that their needs clearly weren't the priority and retention dropped, \"they just don't get it.\" No, it was a horrible decision.)","human_ref_B":"There are tribalistic tendencies for sure, especially when methodological\/paradigmatic differences arise between camps in a field. Just try to be cordial to all and not get involved in unconstructive criticisms of other approaches.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3747.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0hkpv","c_root_id_B":"fq0mlj2","created_at_utc_A":1589031986,"created_at_utc_B":1589034355,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"There are tribalistic tendencies for sure, especially when methodological\/paradigmatic differences arise between camps in a field. Just try to be cordial to all and not get involved in unconstructive criticisms of other approaches.","human_ref_B":"I think it really depends on the school, department, and the location of that school, etc. I'm in a pretty liberal school in New England, and everyone is pretty against any form of nastiness - matter of fact, the faculty check each other pretty regularly. HOWEVER, there are those profs that have been around since the dawn of time and take time to be nasty. I would say make your support system and rely on them. I will say it's important to \"shift\" through people that are being nasty and those that are just being a bit too frank. It's a tough balance but honestly this is where that support system in the school comes in. That being said I have had people be rude. Needlessly so. But, honestly, that's anywhere you go.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2369.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0hkpv","c_root_id_B":"fq20f2u","created_at_utc_A":1589031986,"created_at_utc_B":1589051707,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"There are tribalistic tendencies for sure, especially when methodological\/paradigmatic differences arise between camps in a field. Just try to be cordial to all and not get involved in unconstructive criticisms of other approaches.","human_ref_B":"It depends on the university, the department, etc. it also depends on who you are. If you are a woman in a male dominated field or a minority, people will reenact what they do in society. You are likely to face prejudice and discrimination. I have watched people claim that scholars who study discrimination, for example, must have an agenda. Yeah, I guess wanting a fair system is an agenda. People can just be nasty. I have seen scholars tell phd students that the research of another professor is garbage. Just because academia is supposed to be a meritocracy, it doesn\u2019t mean it is. People favored by the system will defend it and take others down if necessary. I have not seen much of it myself but I\u2019ve seen and heard horror stories.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19721.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0hkpv","c_root_id_B":"fq26rfq","created_at_utc_A":1589031986,"created_at_utc_B":1589053336,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"There are tribalistic tendencies for sure, especially when methodological\/paradigmatic differences arise between camps in a field. Just try to be cordial to all and not get involved in unconstructive criticisms of other approaches.","human_ref_B":"I'll second the sentiment of \"it depends on the department.\" Ask the graduate students currently in the programs you're looking at for their opinions. If it's bad, they'll hopefully let you know. My program is so bad that university administration is stepping in and potentially suspending the program if the faculty can't fix some issues within the next 5 years. They actively discriminate by changing requirements based on how the feel about you. Should you not fit their idea of what they think you should be, there's no chance they'll pass you in major exams. We're told that graduate school should be painful. Faculty will send out emails to the entire department belittling one individual for no reason. They've harassed people into sharing personal medical info (illegal). They've spent entire class periods making fun of people for coming from a working class background. They've attempted to fire people for taking time off to care for sick immediate family members (illegal). They leave long, ranting voicemails for their students telling them they're complete failures. They ignore disability accommodations (illegal). They scream at library staff in the halls. They make blatantly sexist statements if you're female. They bully junior faculty into not speaking up. There are some good faculty members, don't get me wrong. But my experience has been absolute hell. When they brought me in for a camps visit as they were recruiting me, I got to meet current students. They warned me not to come here. I should have listened.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21350.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0xxj5","c_root_id_B":"fq20f2u","created_at_utc_A":1589039003,"created_at_utc_B":1589051707,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Compared to what an average person expects, probably 200% more. Compared to how Reddit portrays it, probably 450% less. Don't let this place scare you, go for it and you will manage to get through just like we all did. There is something about the culture of being a graduate student to be just miserable and complain all the time while you are going through it. However, later on, I think most of us have much fonder memories than we ever think we would have. Being a PhD student is a bit like being a teenager all over again and there really isn't much you can do save yourself from the angst of your intellectual adolescence. Easy classes are taught by idiots and a waste of your time you could be researching, challenging ones are too hard and taught by sadists. When you advisor gets in involved, it feels like they are micromanaging you, if they take a step back and let you work on your own a bit, they are neglecting and\/or just using you. You feel that everyone is smarter than you but, at the same time, that you should be doing way better than you are in terms of getting the recognition you deserve. All this is a product of how much the PhD process is a mindfuck and how we allow it to feel like a referendum on our worth as human beings. As a result, the psychological stakes are incredibly high, but it's all temporary. We learn, we outgrow it, and come out much better scholars in the end. I am sure people way stupider and way more emotionally unstable that you got there PhD, moved on, and did really well. You'll be fine.","human_ref_B":"It depends on the university, the department, etc. it also depends on who you are. If you are a woman in a male dominated field or a minority, people will reenact what they do in society. You are likely to face prejudice and discrimination. I have watched people claim that scholars who study discrimination, for example, must have an agenda. Yeah, I guess wanting a fair system is an agenda. People can just be nasty. I have seen scholars tell phd students that the research of another professor is garbage. Just because academia is supposed to be a meritocracy, it doesn\u2019t mean it is. People favored by the system will defend it and take others down if necessary. I have not seen much of it myself but I\u2019ve seen and heard horror stories.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12704.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq0xxj5","c_root_id_B":"fq26rfq","created_at_utc_A":1589039003,"created_at_utc_B":1589053336,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Compared to what an average person expects, probably 200% more. Compared to how Reddit portrays it, probably 450% less. Don't let this place scare you, go for it and you will manage to get through just like we all did. There is something about the culture of being a graduate student to be just miserable and complain all the time while you are going through it. However, later on, I think most of us have much fonder memories than we ever think we would have. Being a PhD student is a bit like being a teenager all over again and there really isn't much you can do save yourself from the angst of your intellectual adolescence. Easy classes are taught by idiots and a waste of your time you could be researching, challenging ones are too hard and taught by sadists. When you advisor gets in involved, it feels like they are micromanaging you, if they take a step back and let you work on your own a bit, they are neglecting and\/or just using you. You feel that everyone is smarter than you but, at the same time, that you should be doing way better than you are in terms of getting the recognition you deserve. All this is a product of how much the PhD process is a mindfuck and how we allow it to feel like a referendum on our worth as human beings. As a result, the psychological stakes are incredibly high, but it's all temporary. We learn, we outgrow it, and come out much better scholars in the end. I am sure people way stupider and way more emotionally unstable that you got there PhD, moved on, and did really well. You'll be fine.","human_ref_B":"I'll second the sentiment of \"it depends on the department.\" Ask the graduate students currently in the programs you're looking at for their opinions. If it's bad, they'll hopefully let you know. My program is so bad that university administration is stepping in and potentially suspending the program if the faculty can't fix some issues within the next 5 years. They actively discriminate by changing requirements based on how the feel about you. Should you not fit their idea of what they think you should be, there's no chance they'll pass you in major exams. We're told that graduate school should be painful. Faculty will send out emails to the entire department belittling one individual for no reason. They've harassed people into sharing personal medical info (illegal). They've spent entire class periods making fun of people for coming from a working class background. They've attempted to fire people for taking time off to care for sick immediate family members (illegal). They leave long, ranting voicemails for their students telling them they're complete failures. They ignore disability accommodations (illegal). They scream at library staff in the halls. They make blatantly sexist statements if you're female. They bully junior faculty into not speaking up. There are some good faculty members, don't get me wrong. But my experience has been absolute hell. When they brought me in for a camps visit as they were recruiting me, I got to meet current students. They warned me not to come here. I should have listened.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14333.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq1r68c","c_root_id_B":"fq0xxj5","created_at_utc_A":1589048267,"created_at_utc_B":1589039003,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think the difference with the outside world is the way these problems are ignored or tolerated in academia. In most other businesses, when you have a problem with someone being nasty, you can reach to HR and generally there are consequences for the person who's behaving badly. There seems to be an assumption that professors are above those things because the selection is so difficult that the chosen ones are thought of as being too valuable to be bothered with those \"sensitive\" people who feel wronged by them. It is also a little bit of a closed environment, so often it seems like people have different views about what is normal compared to the rest of society. So it might be why people come to social media, anonymously, to talk about these problems, it's the only place where they feel safe to do so and they are hoping to find answers to their problems. It might show a picture that is a little bit distorted and seems a little bit worse than reality, but these problems are real. I have to say it hurts a little bit to see how almost everyone here seems to think everything is fine. But at the same time it is representative of what you hear when you have a problem with someone in academia, a lot of denial. It might be fine for some, but definitely not for everyone, especially for minorities and international students and postdocs.","human_ref_B":"Compared to what an average person expects, probably 200% more. Compared to how Reddit portrays it, probably 450% less. Don't let this place scare you, go for it and you will manage to get through just like we all did. There is something about the culture of being a graduate student to be just miserable and complain all the time while you are going through it. However, later on, I think most of us have much fonder memories than we ever think we would have. Being a PhD student is a bit like being a teenager all over again and there really isn't much you can do save yourself from the angst of your intellectual adolescence. Easy classes are taught by idiots and a waste of your time you could be researching, challenging ones are too hard and taught by sadists. When you advisor gets in involved, it feels like they are micromanaging you, if they take a step back and let you work on your own a bit, they are neglecting and\/or just using you. You feel that everyone is smarter than you but, at the same time, that you should be doing way better than you are in terms of getting the recognition you deserve. All this is a product of how much the PhD process is a mindfuck and how we allow it to feel like a referendum on our worth as human beings. As a result, the psychological stakes are incredibly high, but it's all temporary. We learn, we outgrow it, and come out much better scholars in the end. I am sure people way stupider and way more emotionally unstable that you got there PhD, moved on, and did really well. You'll be fine.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9264.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq28kpw","c_root_id_B":"fq0xxj5","created_at_utc_A":1589053802,"created_at_utc_B":1589039003,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Lets remember that nature polled phd students and 1\/3 showed depression symptoms, 1\/3 showed sufficient symptoms to be called depressed, and the other 1\/3 were fine. That is statistics, so does not mean that you will, but there is a seizeble chance. I think first of all that most phds do overwork. How much depends on the project and if you are experimental. I work in a university that aims to protect phds from bad environments, but I know a guy in another uni in the same city that was bullied by the supervisor and the group in a way that led to depression and he ended up leaving the phd. He was also handsomely paid, and it did not matter to him. I have heard about many internal positions, for phds and postdocs, created adhoc to hire a specific person. So no chance if you are the outsider. Politics are important. I know for sure that in the country where I did the phd there are politics involved even for appointing tenure positions. So in summary, depends on the people you end up working with. Ask around to know the culture inside the group. And for later on, make friends, because you will make enemies and you will need friends. Because your enemies will be reviewers and judges of funding, and that means survival.","human_ref_B":"Compared to what an average person expects, probably 200% more. Compared to how Reddit portrays it, probably 450% less. Don't let this place scare you, go for it and you will manage to get through just like we all did. There is something about the culture of being a graduate student to be just miserable and complain all the time while you are going through it. However, later on, I think most of us have much fonder memories than we ever think we would have. Being a PhD student is a bit like being a teenager all over again and there really isn't much you can do save yourself from the angst of your intellectual adolescence. Easy classes are taught by idiots and a waste of your time you could be researching, challenging ones are too hard and taught by sadists. When you advisor gets in involved, it feels like they are micromanaging you, if they take a step back and let you work on your own a bit, they are neglecting and\/or just using you. You feel that everyone is smarter than you but, at the same time, that you should be doing way better than you are in terms of getting the recognition you deserve. All this is a product of how much the PhD process is a mindfuck and how we allow it to feel like a referendum on our worth as human beings. As a result, the psychological stakes are incredibly high, but it's all temporary. We learn, we outgrow it, and come out much better scholars in the end. I am sure people way stupider and way more emotionally unstable that you got there PhD, moved on, and did really well. You'll be fine.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14799.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq1r68c","c_root_id_B":"fq20f2u","created_at_utc_A":1589048267,"created_at_utc_B":1589051707,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I think the difference with the outside world is the way these problems are ignored or tolerated in academia. In most other businesses, when you have a problem with someone being nasty, you can reach to HR and generally there are consequences for the person who's behaving badly. There seems to be an assumption that professors are above those things because the selection is so difficult that the chosen ones are thought of as being too valuable to be bothered with those \"sensitive\" people who feel wronged by them. It is also a little bit of a closed environment, so often it seems like people have different views about what is normal compared to the rest of society. So it might be why people come to social media, anonymously, to talk about these problems, it's the only place where they feel safe to do so and they are hoping to find answers to their problems. It might show a picture that is a little bit distorted and seems a little bit worse than reality, but these problems are real. I have to say it hurts a little bit to see how almost everyone here seems to think everything is fine. But at the same time it is representative of what you hear when you have a problem with someone in academia, a lot of denial. It might be fine for some, but definitely not for everyone, especially for minorities and international students and postdocs.","human_ref_B":"It depends on the university, the department, etc. it also depends on who you are. If you are a woman in a male dominated field or a minority, people will reenact what they do in society. You are likely to face prejudice and discrimination. I have watched people claim that scholars who study discrimination, for example, must have an agenda. Yeah, I guess wanting a fair system is an agenda. People can just be nasty. I have seen scholars tell phd students that the research of another professor is garbage. Just because academia is supposed to be a meritocracy, it doesn\u2019t mean it is. People favored by the system will defend it and take others down if necessary. I have not seen much of it myself but I\u2019ve seen and heard horror stories.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3440.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq1mgkf","c_root_id_B":"fq20f2u","created_at_utc_A":1589046956,"created_at_utc_B":1589051707,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Like others have said: it depends on the university and departement. I did my PhD (in the EU) at a department where everyone was really supportive of one another. I never experienced any kind of \"nastiness\" while working there, and I have actually very fond memories of my time as a PhD candidate. However, I had a very bad experience as a postdoc at another university (also in the EU) under the supervision of a narcissistic PI, who made everyone's life miserable (including that of himself)...","human_ref_B":"It depends on the university, the department, etc. it also depends on who you are. If you are a woman in a male dominated field or a minority, people will reenact what they do in society. You are likely to face prejudice and discrimination. I have watched people claim that scholars who study discrimination, for example, must have an agenda. Yeah, I guess wanting a fair system is an agenda. People can just be nasty. I have seen scholars tell phd students that the research of another professor is garbage. Just because academia is supposed to be a meritocracy, it doesn\u2019t mean it is. People favored by the system will defend it and take others down if necessary. I have not seen much of it myself but I\u2019ve seen and heard horror stories.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4751.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq1r68c","c_root_id_B":"fq26rfq","created_at_utc_A":1589048267,"created_at_utc_B":1589053336,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I think the difference with the outside world is the way these problems are ignored or tolerated in academia. In most other businesses, when you have a problem with someone being nasty, you can reach to HR and generally there are consequences for the person who's behaving badly. There seems to be an assumption that professors are above those things because the selection is so difficult that the chosen ones are thought of as being too valuable to be bothered with those \"sensitive\" people who feel wronged by them. It is also a little bit of a closed environment, so often it seems like people have different views about what is normal compared to the rest of society. So it might be why people come to social media, anonymously, to talk about these problems, it's the only place where they feel safe to do so and they are hoping to find answers to their problems. It might show a picture that is a little bit distorted and seems a little bit worse than reality, but these problems are real. I have to say it hurts a little bit to see how almost everyone here seems to think everything is fine. But at the same time it is representative of what you hear when you have a problem with someone in academia, a lot of denial. It might be fine for some, but definitely not for everyone, especially for minorities and international students and postdocs.","human_ref_B":"I'll second the sentiment of \"it depends on the department.\" Ask the graduate students currently in the programs you're looking at for their opinions. If it's bad, they'll hopefully let you know. My program is so bad that university administration is stepping in and potentially suspending the program if the faculty can't fix some issues within the next 5 years. They actively discriminate by changing requirements based on how the feel about you. Should you not fit their idea of what they think you should be, there's no chance they'll pass you in major exams. We're told that graduate school should be painful. Faculty will send out emails to the entire department belittling one individual for no reason. They've harassed people into sharing personal medical info (illegal). They've spent entire class periods making fun of people for coming from a working class background. They've attempted to fire people for taking time off to care for sick immediate family members (illegal). They leave long, ranting voicemails for their students telling them they're complete failures. They ignore disability accommodations (illegal). They scream at library staff in the halls. They make blatantly sexist statements if you're female. They bully junior faculty into not speaking up. There are some good faculty members, don't get me wrong. But my experience has been absolute hell. When they brought me in for a camps visit as they were recruiting me, I got to meet current students. They warned me not to come here. I should have listened.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5069.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq1mgkf","c_root_id_B":"fq26rfq","created_at_utc_A":1589046956,"created_at_utc_B":1589053336,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Like others have said: it depends on the university and departement. I did my PhD (in the EU) at a department where everyone was really supportive of one another. I never experienced any kind of \"nastiness\" while working there, and I have actually very fond memories of my time as a PhD candidate. However, I had a very bad experience as a postdoc at another university (also in the EU) under the supervision of a narcissistic PI, who made everyone's life miserable (including that of himself)...","human_ref_B":"I'll second the sentiment of \"it depends on the department.\" Ask the graduate students currently in the programs you're looking at for their opinions. If it's bad, they'll hopefully let you know. My program is so bad that university administration is stepping in and potentially suspending the program if the faculty can't fix some issues within the next 5 years. They actively discriminate by changing requirements based on how the feel about you. Should you not fit their idea of what they think you should be, there's no chance they'll pass you in major exams. We're told that graduate school should be painful. Faculty will send out emails to the entire department belittling one individual for no reason. They've harassed people into sharing personal medical info (illegal). They've spent entire class periods making fun of people for coming from a working class background. They've attempted to fire people for taking time off to care for sick immediate family members (illegal). They leave long, ranting voicemails for their students telling them they're complete failures. They ignore disability accommodations (illegal). They scream at library staff in the halls. They make blatantly sexist statements if you're female. They bully junior faculty into not speaking up. There are some good faculty members, don't get me wrong. But my experience has been absolute hell. When they brought me in for a camps visit as they were recruiting me, I got to meet current students. They warned me not to come here. I should have listened.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6380.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq1r68c","c_root_id_B":"fq1mgkf","created_at_utc_A":1589048267,"created_at_utc_B":1589046956,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think the difference with the outside world is the way these problems are ignored or tolerated in academia. In most other businesses, when you have a problem with someone being nasty, you can reach to HR and generally there are consequences for the person who's behaving badly. There seems to be an assumption that professors are above those things because the selection is so difficult that the chosen ones are thought of as being too valuable to be bothered with those \"sensitive\" people who feel wronged by them. It is also a little bit of a closed environment, so often it seems like people have different views about what is normal compared to the rest of society. So it might be why people come to social media, anonymously, to talk about these problems, it's the only place where they feel safe to do so and they are hoping to find answers to their problems. It might show a picture that is a little bit distorted and seems a little bit worse than reality, but these problems are real. I have to say it hurts a little bit to see how almost everyone here seems to think everything is fine. But at the same time it is representative of what you hear when you have a problem with someone in academia, a lot of denial. It might be fine for some, but definitely not for everyone, especially for minorities and international students and postdocs.","human_ref_B":"Like others have said: it depends on the university and departement. I did my PhD (in the EU) at a department where everyone was really supportive of one another. I never experienced any kind of \"nastiness\" while working there, and I have actually very fond memories of my time as a PhD candidate. However, I had a very bad experience as a postdoc at another university (also in the EU) under the supervision of a narcissistic PI, who made everyone's life miserable (including that of himself)...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1311.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"gga1k5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"How much office politics, bullying, incivility, abuse and other nastiness is present in academia that one should know and prepare for beforehand? Non-native English speaker here. Whether you are going into a PhD or a post PhD position like a postdoc or an academic job, how much office politics, bullying, incivility, oppression\/overwork and other nastiness should one be prepared for? Lets be realistic here. All jobs have some sort of human nastiness in one form or another to various degrees. And to survive in the work world you need to develop your skin and toughen yourself enough to face that. So how much human nastiness should people wanting to go into academia prepare for?","c_root_id_A":"fq1mgkf","c_root_id_B":"fq28kpw","created_at_utc_A":1589046956,"created_at_utc_B":1589053802,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Like others have said: it depends on the university and departement. I did my PhD (in the EU) at a department where everyone was really supportive of one another. I never experienced any kind of \"nastiness\" while working there, and I have actually very fond memories of my time as a PhD candidate. However, I had a very bad experience as a postdoc at another university (also in the EU) under the supervision of a narcissistic PI, who made everyone's life miserable (including that of himself)...","human_ref_B":"Lets remember that nature polled phd students and 1\/3 showed depression symptoms, 1\/3 showed sufficient symptoms to be called depressed, and the other 1\/3 were fine. That is statistics, so does not mean that you will, but there is a seizeble chance. I think first of all that most phds do overwork. How much depends on the project and if you are experimental. I work in a university that aims to protect phds from bad environments, but I know a guy in another uni in the same city that was bullied by the supervisor and the group in a way that led to depression and he ended up leaving the phd. He was also handsomely paid, and it did not matter to him. I have heard about many internal positions, for phds and postdocs, created adhoc to hire a specific person. So no chance if you are the outsider. Politics are important. I know for sure that in the country where I did the phd there are politics involved even for appointing tenure positions. So in summary, depends on the people you end up working with. Ask around to know the culture inside the group. And for later on, make friends, because you will make enemies and you will need friends. Because your enemies will be reviewers and judges of funding, and that means survival.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6846.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"h7vmb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Fellow educators, does anyone know where to buy prepared slides for teaching students fluorescence microscopy? The only one I've found so far is the FluoCells from Thermo Fischer and those cost $200 per slide. This is my first time teaching this workshop and I honestly don't know how many slides I'll need for several sections with a total of 70 students, but I'm sure they'll drop quite a few. I don't have my own lab at this university to make the slides myself, so I'll have to buy them, but they're so incredibly expensive P.S. I'm really sorry for spamming this sub, but I don't have anyone else to ask","c_root_id_A":"funjn1k","c_root_id_B":"fuo59dk","created_at_utc_A":1592006121,"created_at_utc_B":1592019553,"score_A":36,"score_B":82,"human_ref_A":"That\u2019s obscene. Could you ask someone who does have a lab if they have any they\u2019re willing to give you?","human_ref_B":"My dumbass thought you were referring to powerpoint slides \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 nothing made sense!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13432.0,"score_ratio":2.2777777778} {"post_id":"h7vmb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Fellow educators, does anyone know where to buy prepared slides for teaching students fluorescence microscopy? The only one I've found so far is the FluoCells from Thermo Fischer and those cost $200 per slide. This is my first time teaching this workshop and I honestly don't know how many slides I'll need for several sections with a total of 70 students, but I'm sure they'll drop quite a few. I don't have my own lab at this university to make the slides myself, so I'll have to buy them, but they're so incredibly expensive P.S. I'm really sorry for spamming this sub, but I don't have anyone else to ask","c_root_id_A":"fuo59dk","c_root_id_B":"funo6j0","created_at_utc_A":1592019553,"created_at_utc_B":1592008822,"score_A":82,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"My dumbass thought you were referring to powerpoint slides \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 nothing made sense!","human_ref_B":"Is it important to you that there individual sections on the slide be fluorescent or is it ok if you put a droplet on the slide, and that droplet is fluorescent? I ask because you should be able to buy fluorescein sodium salt and make your own solution with water, out a droplet on a regular glass slide and voila, you\u2019ve got a fluorescent slide. You could even go up to the edge of the droplet and you should see a sharp boundary.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10731.0,"score_ratio":3.1538461538} {"post_id":"h7vmb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Fellow educators, does anyone know where to buy prepared slides for teaching students fluorescence microscopy? The only one I've found so far is the FluoCells from Thermo Fischer and those cost $200 per slide. This is my first time teaching this workshop and I honestly don't know how many slides I'll need for several sections with a total of 70 students, but I'm sure they'll drop quite a few. I don't have my own lab at this university to make the slides myself, so I'll have to buy them, but they're so incredibly expensive P.S. I'm really sorry for spamming this sub, but I don't have anyone else to ask","c_root_id_A":"funpct1","c_root_id_B":"fuo59dk","created_at_utc_A":1592009531,"created_at_utc_B":1592019553,"score_A":29,"score_B":82,"human_ref_A":"r\/labrats might also be a good place to ask this! (I don't work with anything involving slides so sorry I can't help with any advice there)","human_ref_B":"My dumbass thought you were referring to powerpoint slides \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 nothing made sense!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10022.0,"score_ratio":2.8275862069} {"post_id":"h7vmb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Fellow educators, does anyone know where to buy prepared slides for teaching students fluorescence microscopy? The only one I've found so far is the FluoCells from Thermo Fischer and those cost $200 per slide. This is my first time teaching this workshop and I honestly don't know how many slides I'll need for several sections with a total of 70 students, but I'm sure they'll drop quite a few. I don't have my own lab at this university to make the slides myself, so I'll have to buy them, but they're so incredibly expensive P.S. I'm really sorry for spamming this sub, but I don't have anyone else to ask","c_root_id_A":"funr1m3","c_root_id_B":"fuo59dk","created_at_utc_A":1592010544,"created_at_utc_B":1592019553,"score_A":6,"score_B":82,"human_ref_A":"Your department should have something for you.","human_ref_B":"My dumbass thought you were referring to powerpoint slides \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 nothing made sense!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9009.0,"score_ratio":13.6666666667} {"post_id":"h7vmb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Fellow educators, does anyone know where to buy prepared slides for teaching students fluorescence microscopy? The only one I've found so far is the FluoCells from Thermo Fischer and those cost $200 per slide. This is my first time teaching this workshop and I honestly don't know how many slides I'll need for several sections with a total of 70 students, but I'm sure they'll drop quite a few. I don't have my own lab at this university to make the slides myself, so I'll have to buy them, but they're so incredibly expensive P.S. I'm really sorry for spamming this sub, but I don't have anyone else to ask","c_root_id_A":"funpct1","c_root_id_B":"funo6j0","created_at_utc_A":1592009531,"created_at_utc_B":1592008822,"score_A":29,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"r\/labrats might also be a good place to ask this! (I don't work with anything involving slides so sorry I can't help with any advice there)","human_ref_B":"Is it important to you that there individual sections on the slide be fluorescent or is it ok if you put a droplet on the slide, and that droplet is fluorescent? I ask because you should be able to buy fluorescein sodium salt and make your own solution with water, out a droplet on a regular glass slide and voila, you\u2019ve got a fluorescent slide. You could even go up to the edge of the droplet and you should see a sharp boundary.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":709.0,"score_ratio":1.1153846154} {"post_id":"h7vmb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Fellow educators, does anyone know where to buy prepared slides for teaching students fluorescence microscopy? The only one I've found so far is the FluoCells from Thermo Fischer and those cost $200 per slide. This is my first time teaching this workshop and I honestly don't know how many slides I'll need for several sections with a total of 70 students, but I'm sure they'll drop quite a few. I don't have my own lab at this university to make the slides myself, so I'll have to buy them, but they're so incredibly expensive P.S. I'm really sorry for spamming this sub, but I don't have anyone else to ask","c_root_id_A":"fuo6p3p","c_root_id_B":"funr1m3","created_at_utc_A":1592020535,"created_at_utc_B":1592010544,"score_A":11,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Do you really need standard-quality slides for a course like this (as in high quality used to optimize your microscope settings)? Teaching a beginner microscopy course I either mock up my own slides with materials I have laying about or dive into my past projects folder (quick demonstrations I even just use highlighter or other readily available fluorescent materials on a business card). I\u2019d also recommend asking around your STEM labs to see if people have any semi-failed slides laying about. Even your standard histology slides will fluoresce beautifully and can make an interesting discussion on dyes versus fluorophores. I\u2019d be very surprised if your biology dept teaching labs don\u2019t have enough of those in various stains laying about (DM if you need recommendations on stains and settings). For advanced courses, I usually had students come in small groups so they could get a feel for things without my anxiety acting up over them blindly touching settings. I would really recommend against buying multiple sets of standards. My life is the development and testing of fluorescent systems and even then we only kept about 3 sets laying about - and only that many because someone [who was absolutely not a sleep deprived younger version of me] lost the all-important 495nm slide.","human_ref_B":"Your department should have something for you.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9991.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"h7vmb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Fellow educators, does anyone know where to buy prepared slides for teaching students fluorescence microscopy? The only one I've found so far is the FluoCells from Thermo Fischer and those cost $200 per slide. This is my first time teaching this workshop and I honestly don't know how many slides I'll need for several sections with a total of 70 students, but I'm sure they'll drop quite a few. I don't have my own lab at this university to make the slides myself, so I'll have to buy them, but they're so incredibly expensive P.S. I'm really sorry for spamming this sub, but I don't have anyone else to ask","c_root_id_A":"funr1m3","c_root_id_B":"fuo87up","created_at_utc_A":1592010544,"created_at_utc_B":1592021602,"score_A":6,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Your department should have something for you.","human_ref_B":"Can you make your own slides? Chlorophyll will autofluoresce - would be pretty cheap and easy to mount yourself some plant\/algae samples.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11058.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"nolgaj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is doing a PhD worth it if I want to work in industry? I am a molecular biologist and i knnow I want to work in industry. But I've been debating if doing a PhD is worth to then progress later on in my career in industry to higher positions. Is it worth doing a PhD for industry? Does anyone have any experience with that? I've heard very mixed reviews....","c_root_id_A":"h00o14a","c_root_id_B":"h00ylxv","created_at_utc_A":1622411793,"created_at_utc_B":1622417589,"score_A":15,"score_B":44,"human_ref_A":"I cant speak to your industry, but get on LinkedIn or an organizations website and check the education\/CV of people who have the job you want to have. What does it look like? What will a PhD give you? Knowledge and networking can take you very far, you have to weigh if a PhD gives you those more than just working.","human_ref_B":"In molecular biology the higher positions are mostly PhDs. Once you do a PhD you will find out how little you know. So, worth it, yes, but not without cost. Your pay will be low, you will go through rough periods and supervision is often bad. Afterwards you will be more mature and that is exactly what is good about it in the end. Pick a topic or technique that is relevant in industry.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5796.0,"score_ratio":2.9333333333} {"post_id":"nolgaj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is doing a PhD worth it if I want to work in industry? I am a molecular biologist and i knnow I want to work in industry. But I've been debating if doing a PhD is worth to then progress later on in my career in industry to higher positions. Is it worth doing a PhD for industry? Does anyone have any experience with that? I've heard very mixed reviews....","c_root_id_A":"h016dli","c_root_id_B":"h01902z","created_at_utc_A":1622422008,"created_at_utc_B":1622423544,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Would you be doing it in the US?","human_ref_B":"From what I've seen it's a complete 50\/50. Most advisors don't give a flying fuck about your education once you declare you're more interested in industry. However, a lot of industry jobs are based on academic success. So from experience, either you're good enough for an advisor to care about your success regardless or you're good at lying. It's mostly random if you get someone who cares about your success rather than just theirs...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1536.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"nolgaj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Is doing a PhD worth it if I want to work in industry? I am a molecular biologist and i knnow I want to work in industry. But I've been debating if doing a PhD is worth to then progress later on in my career in industry to higher positions. Is it worth doing a PhD for industry? Does anyone have any experience with that? I've heard very mixed reviews....","c_root_id_A":"h016dli","c_root_id_B":"h01k8f7","created_at_utc_A":1622422008,"created_at_utc_B":1622430039,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Would you be doing it in the US?","human_ref_B":"I'm a molecular biologist with a masters and I chose to go into industry while finishing my thesis. Its a bitch. There hurdles in getting your foot in the door. And depending on your local economy and where you plan to go can be difficult to find a full time job. I'm currently working for an insourcing company embedded at my clients facility as a Biochemist performing Bioassays such as ELISAs and Luciferase for quality control. Most of the other work available, being out of college for about 4 years now, is largely contracting work. Being a permanent position in my company these appear as too great a risk and upward mobility is difficult. Depending on your starting point, such as publications and level of research and experience with various techniques, it can be an upward battle. Ultimately I chose providing for a family and I say this as the easier and more rewarding path for myself personally. With a Ph.D. you will ultimately be spending the majority of your time writing grants, whether in academia or industry. I personally preferred doing the science and getting in the lab and producing results. There is no easy path or right answer. Just make the commitment and dig in for the long haul. Either choice is an uphill battle.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8031.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"mjfzx9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Should I leave the tenure track? Hey academics. Anyone have advice\/perspective on my situation? It seems likely that I may be offered a job in industry (doing something I feel good about ethically) soon. This job would have several advantages: about double the salary, get to live in a location I prefer (my current location isn\u2019t bad though), near family, with more career options for my spouse. I think I would enjoy the work. However, I do also love being a professor. My position is quite good: I have a t-t job with reasonable tenure requirements in a friendly department in a good (though far from family) location. The problem is that the issues I have with my job are basically unfixable: the university will not suddenly pay me significantly more (cost of living here is high), reduce my teaching load (I like teaching but the load is high compared to our research expectations), or move near my family. I could address some of those by getting a different academic job, which I think I could probably do eventually, but the location would likely be worse (in terms of my preferences) and it\u2019s not appealing to move my family, possibly multiple times, while I wait for the dream prof job in a location near family to come up. Plus, people at more prestigious\/better paid institutions often seem way more stressed than my colleagues. Work life balance is important to me. In thinking about my work options, one thing I wonder is whether I will regret giving up on academia during the stressful assistant professor years. Does tenure radically change your relationship to work? Does it open up your work focus and\/or allow a lot more space to do non-work stuff? I\u2019d love to hear your insight.","c_root_id_A":"gtar24d","c_root_id_B":"gta7303","created_at_utc_A":1617495151,"created_at_utc_B":1617483701,"score_A":19,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"The pros of the industry job seem to massively outweigh your current job. It seems that you like teaching a little bit, so maybe an adjunct position at a university near the new job would be possible? Teach one course, on the topic of your interest. One of my current instructors is like this - an industry professional with a PhD who teaches a highly specialized course in her field. Not sure at all if that\u2019s an option or something that even interests you, but this potential new job seems to be worth leaving for","human_ref_B":"I'm retired from a state college, so not terribly prestigious nor highly paid. I had opportunities to go into non-academic areas a couple of times in my 38 year career. More pay, of course, but I was doing something I really loved doing and had a lot of freedom to do the things I wanted to do. I was around campus a lot but I only HAD to do a limited number of things each week. Meanwhile, my wife was director of technology in our school system and worked 8-5 with 3 weeks of vacation. A fine job, but she viewed it as a job. I woke up every day happy to do what I was doing and looking forward to going to the college. So, for me, it was a great career. We lived far from family but we visited a lot and took the opportunity to see the country. Tenure and associate didn't change my work load, at all, but I already had a nice work-life balance. At our college. we tend to release people early who don't do well. So, tenure, while stressful, is expected. I can only remember 1 person in our school who came up for tenure and didn't receive it. Work loads at our college tend to change at about 15 years for faculty who choose to step back a bit. There's not a huge ramification to that because they do enough, just not killing it the way they had been before. Those that don't step back tend to become the senior faculty leaders and can become very busy with Faculty Senate, accreditation, strategic planning and so on..","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11450.0,"score_ratio":2.375} {"post_id":"mjfzx9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Should I leave the tenure track? Hey academics. Anyone have advice\/perspective on my situation? It seems likely that I may be offered a job in industry (doing something I feel good about ethically) soon. This job would have several advantages: about double the salary, get to live in a location I prefer (my current location isn\u2019t bad though), near family, with more career options for my spouse. I think I would enjoy the work. However, I do also love being a professor. My position is quite good: I have a t-t job with reasonable tenure requirements in a friendly department in a good (though far from family) location. The problem is that the issues I have with my job are basically unfixable: the university will not suddenly pay me significantly more (cost of living here is high), reduce my teaching load (I like teaching but the load is high compared to our research expectations), or move near my family. I could address some of those by getting a different academic job, which I think I could probably do eventually, but the location would likely be worse (in terms of my preferences) and it\u2019s not appealing to move my family, possibly multiple times, while I wait for the dream prof job in a location near family to come up. Plus, people at more prestigious\/better paid institutions often seem way more stressed than my colleagues. Work life balance is important to me. In thinking about my work options, one thing I wonder is whether I will regret giving up on academia during the stressful assistant professor years. Does tenure radically change your relationship to work? Does it open up your work focus and\/or allow a lot more space to do non-work stuff? I\u2019d love to hear your insight.","c_root_id_A":"gtbk1wq","c_root_id_B":"gtb30cb","created_at_utc_A":1617514077,"created_at_utc_B":1617502399,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m tenured in a humanities department in an R1. The year after tenure was a huge relief\u2014I had worked myself nearly to collapse in the last two years before tenure, and not having a loaded gun pointed at my head twenty-four hours a day was an incredible relief. I felt like I had really accomplished something, as well, which was satisfying. The years since have gotten steadily worse. My work\/life balance is a mess (partially the university; partially maladaptive habits I developed in grad school and on the push to tenure; and partially the department\u2019s conclusion that I could manage about the amount of work I was doing _before_ tenure, plus a little extra\u2014I do not think they were aware of how hard I was driving myself to get everything done before tenure and how much I was counting on taking my foot off the gas once I was promoted.) I also find myself doing a lot more things as an associate professor that I am not good at and dislike (tons of bureaucratic administrivia) and fewer things I enjoy and find meaningful. My job satisfaction is negative and has been since 2019, so it\u2019s not all pandemic-related. I have other friends whose post-tenure lives are more enjoyable and better-balanced, so it\u2019s possible. I guess I\u2019ve learned that tenure is not a magic bullet that will fix everything. If there is underlying dissatisfaction with the job, tenure will not necessarily make it disappear.","human_ref_B":"If you are in a discipline where industry jobs are available AND where coming back into academia is a possible option later on, given that you have academic credentials, I would say seriously consider leaving for the industry job if it gives you the flexibility you're seeking. That puts you in the driver's seat from here on--you can watch for an academic post that meets your requirements in terms of location, teaching load and compensation and ignore all the rest, while feeling comfortable with your professional development otherwise. If it's a situation where it's industry OR academia, and there's it's a one-way trip, it's a weightier choice, obviously.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11678.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"mjfzx9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Should I leave the tenure track? Hey academics. Anyone have advice\/perspective on my situation? It seems likely that I may be offered a job in industry (doing something I feel good about ethically) soon. This job would have several advantages: about double the salary, get to live in a location I prefer (my current location isn\u2019t bad though), near family, with more career options for my spouse. I think I would enjoy the work. However, I do also love being a professor. My position is quite good: I have a t-t job with reasonable tenure requirements in a friendly department in a good (though far from family) location. The problem is that the issues I have with my job are basically unfixable: the university will not suddenly pay me significantly more (cost of living here is high), reduce my teaching load (I like teaching but the load is high compared to our research expectations), or move near my family. I could address some of those by getting a different academic job, which I think I could probably do eventually, but the location would likely be worse (in terms of my preferences) and it\u2019s not appealing to move my family, possibly multiple times, while I wait for the dream prof job in a location near family to come up. Plus, people at more prestigious\/better paid institutions often seem way more stressed than my colleagues. Work life balance is important to me. In thinking about my work options, one thing I wonder is whether I will regret giving up on academia during the stressful assistant professor years. Does tenure radically change your relationship to work? Does it open up your work focus and\/or allow a lot more space to do non-work stuff? I\u2019d love to hear your insight.","c_root_id_A":"gtb2sc4","c_root_id_B":"gtbk1wq","created_at_utc_A":1617502262,"created_at_utc_B":1617514077,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Tenure did not radically change my relationship with my work, but it did change my relationship with my state institution. I moved almost 2 hours away to a much more desirable place that worked better for my spouse and our standard of living, reduced my teaching load, cut out the BS with service and department drama, and mental commitment to the institution. I started doing more consulting work, which dovetailed better with my research and made me more fulfilled. I\u2019m in the humanities so my \u201cindustry\u201d options might be different than yours, but things definitely improved in terms of my quality of life and overall satisfaction. I have to commute, but only 2 days\/week when I teach and honestly that distance is worth it! I have a lot of flexibility and really do feel like I can focus on my research. FYI I started with a 3-2 and now teach a 1-2.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m tenured in a humanities department in an R1. The year after tenure was a huge relief\u2014I had worked myself nearly to collapse in the last two years before tenure, and not having a loaded gun pointed at my head twenty-four hours a day was an incredible relief. I felt like I had really accomplished something, as well, which was satisfying. The years since have gotten steadily worse. My work\/life balance is a mess (partially the university; partially maladaptive habits I developed in grad school and on the push to tenure; and partially the department\u2019s conclusion that I could manage about the amount of work I was doing _before_ tenure, plus a little extra\u2014I do not think they were aware of how hard I was driving myself to get everything done before tenure and how much I was counting on taking my foot off the gas once I was promoted.) I also find myself doing a lot more things as an associate professor that I am not good at and dislike (tons of bureaucratic administrivia) and fewer things I enjoy and find meaningful. My job satisfaction is negative and has been since 2019, so it\u2019s not all pandemic-related. I have other friends whose post-tenure lives are more enjoyable and better-balanced, so it\u2019s possible. I guess I\u2019ve learned that tenure is not a magic bullet that will fix everything. If there is underlying dissatisfaction with the job, tenure will not necessarily make it disappear.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11815.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"mjfzx9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Should I leave the tenure track? Hey academics. Anyone have advice\/perspective on my situation? It seems likely that I may be offered a job in industry (doing something I feel good about ethically) soon. This job would have several advantages: about double the salary, get to live in a location I prefer (my current location isn\u2019t bad though), near family, with more career options for my spouse. I think I would enjoy the work. However, I do also love being a professor. My position is quite good: I have a t-t job with reasonable tenure requirements in a friendly department in a good (though far from family) location. The problem is that the issues I have with my job are basically unfixable: the university will not suddenly pay me significantly more (cost of living here is high), reduce my teaching load (I like teaching but the load is high compared to our research expectations), or move near my family. I could address some of those by getting a different academic job, which I think I could probably do eventually, but the location would likely be worse (in terms of my preferences) and it\u2019s not appealing to move my family, possibly multiple times, while I wait for the dream prof job in a location near family to come up. Plus, people at more prestigious\/better paid institutions often seem way more stressed than my colleagues. Work life balance is important to me. In thinking about my work options, one thing I wonder is whether I will regret giving up on academia during the stressful assistant professor years. Does tenure radically change your relationship to work? Does it open up your work focus and\/or allow a lot more space to do non-work stuff? I\u2019d love to hear your insight.","c_root_id_A":"gtbk1wq","c_root_id_B":"gtb433q","created_at_utc_A":1617514077,"created_at_utc_B":1617503056,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m tenured in a humanities department in an R1. The year after tenure was a huge relief\u2014I had worked myself nearly to collapse in the last two years before tenure, and not having a loaded gun pointed at my head twenty-four hours a day was an incredible relief. I felt like I had really accomplished something, as well, which was satisfying. The years since have gotten steadily worse. My work\/life balance is a mess (partially the university; partially maladaptive habits I developed in grad school and on the push to tenure; and partially the department\u2019s conclusion that I could manage about the amount of work I was doing _before_ tenure, plus a little extra\u2014I do not think they were aware of how hard I was driving myself to get everything done before tenure and how much I was counting on taking my foot off the gas once I was promoted.) I also find myself doing a lot more things as an associate professor that I am not good at and dislike (tons of bureaucratic administrivia) and fewer things I enjoy and find meaningful. My job satisfaction is negative and has been since 2019, so it\u2019s not all pandemic-related. I have other friends whose post-tenure lives are more enjoyable and better-balanced, so it\u2019s possible. I guess I\u2019ve learned that tenure is not a magic bullet that will fix everything. If there is underlying dissatisfaction with the job, tenure will not necessarily make it disappear.","human_ref_B":"Is it truly all or none? E.g. is there any capacity for consulting with them, but staying academic, or working with them, but taking on a more minor teaching \/ research role? Also - what is the job stability of the industry job?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11021.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"mjfzx9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Should I leave the tenure track? Hey academics. Anyone have advice\/perspective on my situation? It seems likely that I may be offered a job in industry (doing something I feel good about ethically) soon. This job would have several advantages: about double the salary, get to live in a location I prefer (my current location isn\u2019t bad though), near family, with more career options for my spouse. I think I would enjoy the work. However, I do also love being a professor. My position is quite good: I have a t-t job with reasonable tenure requirements in a friendly department in a good (though far from family) location. The problem is that the issues I have with my job are basically unfixable: the university will not suddenly pay me significantly more (cost of living here is high), reduce my teaching load (I like teaching but the load is high compared to our research expectations), or move near my family. I could address some of those by getting a different academic job, which I think I could probably do eventually, but the location would likely be worse (in terms of my preferences) and it\u2019s not appealing to move my family, possibly multiple times, while I wait for the dream prof job in a location near family to come up. Plus, people at more prestigious\/better paid institutions often seem way more stressed than my colleagues. Work life balance is important to me. In thinking about my work options, one thing I wonder is whether I will regret giving up on academia during the stressful assistant professor years. Does tenure radically change your relationship to work? Does it open up your work focus and\/or allow a lot more space to do non-work stuff? I\u2019d love to hear your insight.","c_root_id_A":"gtb2sc4","c_root_id_B":"gtb30cb","created_at_utc_A":1617502262,"created_at_utc_B":1617502399,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Tenure did not radically change my relationship with my work, but it did change my relationship with my state institution. I moved almost 2 hours away to a much more desirable place that worked better for my spouse and our standard of living, reduced my teaching load, cut out the BS with service and department drama, and mental commitment to the institution. I started doing more consulting work, which dovetailed better with my research and made me more fulfilled. I\u2019m in the humanities so my \u201cindustry\u201d options might be different than yours, but things definitely improved in terms of my quality of life and overall satisfaction. I have to commute, but only 2 days\/week when I teach and honestly that distance is worth it! I have a lot of flexibility and really do feel like I can focus on my research. FYI I started with a 3-2 and now teach a 1-2.","human_ref_B":"If you are in a discipline where industry jobs are available AND where coming back into academia is a possible option later on, given that you have academic credentials, I would say seriously consider leaving for the industry job if it gives you the flexibility you're seeking. That puts you in the driver's seat from here on--you can watch for an academic post that meets your requirements in terms of location, teaching load and compensation and ignore all the rest, while feeling comfortable with your professional development otherwise. If it's a situation where it's industry OR academia, and there's it's a one-way trip, it's a weightier choice, obviously.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":137.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuak8s","c_root_id_B":"dzub197","created_at_utc_A":1527710435,"created_at_utc_B":1527710852,"score_A":21,"score_B":58,"human_ref_A":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","human_ref_B":"This semester, Professor Kitty did not do any of our learning for us. This semester, we had to do all of our learning ourselves... *Though, my next favorite was:* Professor Kitty is not my mother. Professor Kitty does not love me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":417.0,"score_ratio":2.7619047619} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuf96b","c_root_id_B":"dzue0wb","created_at_utc_A":1527714639,"created_at_utc_B":1527713522,"score_A":48,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"\u201cDr Dodger is so mean I can\u2019t believe that he has children. The state should take them away.\u201d","human_ref_B":"I had one student who said I was the only competent person at the university, and i should be promoted to replace the principal.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1117.0,"score_ratio":1.2307692308} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc5vs","c_root_id_B":"dzuf96b","created_at_utc_A":1527711855,"created_at_utc_B":1527714639,"score_A":24,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","human_ref_B":"\u201cDr Dodger is so mean I can\u2019t believe that he has children. The state should take them away.\u201d","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2784.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuf96b","c_root_id_B":"dzuak8s","created_at_utc_A":1527714639,"created_at_utc_B":1527710435,"score_A":48,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"\u201cDr Dodger is so mean I can\u2019t believe that he has children. The state should take them away.\u201d","human_ref_B":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4204.0,"score_ratio":2.2857142857} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzuf96b","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527714639,"score_A":7,"score_B":48,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"\u201cDr Dodger is so mean I can\u2019t believe that he has children. The state should take them away.\u201d","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2887.0,"score_ratio":6.8571428571} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc5vs","c_root_id_B":"dzue0wb","created_at_utc_A":1527711855,"created_at_utc_B":1527713522,"score_A":24,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","human_ref_B":"I had one student who said I was the only competent person at the university, and i should be promoted to replace the principal.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1667.0,"score_ratio":1.625} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzue0wb","c_root_id_B":"dzuak8s","created_at_utc_A":1527713522,"created_at_utc_B":1527710435,"score_A":39,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"I had one student who said I was the only competent person at the university, and i should be promoted to replace the principal.","human_ref_B":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3087.0,"score_ratio":1.8571428571} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzue0wb","c_root_id_B":"dzuc1rl","created_at_utc_A":1527713522,"created_at_utc_B":1527711752,"score_A":39,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I had one student who said I was the only competent person at the university, and i should be promoted to replace the principal.","human_ref_B":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1770.0,"score_ratio":5.5714285714} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzufa7e","c_root_id_B":"dzugagw","created_at_utc_A":1527714665,"created_at_utc_B":1527715603,"score_A":27,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"SS1: 'This class was too difficult' SS2: 'This class was too easy' \u00af\\\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af","human_ref_B":"\"Nice ass\" my first semester of grad school. I now separate my jeans into TA-appropriate and not.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":938.0,"score_ratio":1.3703703704} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc5vs","c_root_id_B":"dzugagw","created_at_utc_A":1527711855,"created_at_utc_B":1527715603,"score_A":24,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","human_ref_B":"\"Nice ass\" my first semester of grad school. I now separate my jeans into TA-appropriate and not.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3748.0,"score_ratio":1.5416666667} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuak8s","c_root_id_B":"dzugagw","created_at_utc_A":1527710435,"created_at_utc_B":1527715603,"score_A":21,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","human_ref_B":"\"Nice ass\" my first semester of grad school. I now separate my jeans into TA-appropriate and not.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5168.0,"score_ratio":1.7619047619} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzugagw","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527715603,"score_A":7,"score_B":37,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"\"Nice ass\" my first semester of grad school. I now separate my jeans into TA-appropriate and not.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3851.0,"score_ratio":5.2857142857} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzujngm","c_root_id_B":"dzuk4b3","created_at_utc_A":1527718860,"created_at_utc_B":1527719323,"score_A":33,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","human_ref_B":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":463.0,"score_ratio":1.0909090909} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzufa7e","c_root_id_B":"dzujngm","created_at_utc_A":1527714665,"created_at_utc_B":1527718860,"score_A":27,"score_B":33,"human_ref_A":"SS1: 'This class was too difficult' SS2: 'This class was too easy' \u00af\\\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af","human_ref_B":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4195.0,"score_ratio":1.2222222222} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzujngm","c_root_id_B":"dzuc5vs","created_at_utc_A":1527718860,"created_at_utc_B":1527711855,"score_A":33,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","human_ref_B":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7005.0,"score_ratio":1.375} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuak8s","c_root_id_B":"dzujngm","created_at_utc_A":1527710435,"created_at_utc_B":1527718860,"score_A":21,"score_B":33,"human_ref_A":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","human_ref_B":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8425.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzujngm","c_root_id_B":"dzugvj6","created_at_utc_A":1527718860,"created_at_utc_B":1527716159,"score_A":33,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","human_ref_B":"I had a student write and erase \"fumbles thinks that I'm unintelligent\". She also filled in her student ID on the scantron, which they were told not to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2701.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuh4zm","c_root_id_B":"dzujngm","created_at_utc_A":1527716406,"created_at_utc_B":1527718860,"score_A":14,"score_B":33,"human_ref_A":"One briefly mentioned they enjoyed the class, then continued onto a full page rant listing other faculty members that should be fired. Many of these professors were not in my department nor in remotely related fields. Another specified a time and place that I should appear if I was interested in a date. They realized the comments were anonymous, but didn't know I wouldn't see them until well after grades were due. I had missed my chance. Dang. One of the most positive comments I ever received had to be left out of my tenure portfolio because it was filled with an alarming number of expletives. I thought it was fantastic, but I'm not sure the committee shared my sense of humor.","human_ref_B":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2454.0,"score_ratio":2.3571428571} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzujngm","c_root_id_B":"dzuc1rl","created_at_utc_A":1527718860,"created_at_utc_B":1527711752,"score_A":33,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","human_ref_B":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7108.0,"score_ratio":4.7142857143} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuicoe","c_root_id_B":"dzujngm","created_at_utc_A":1527717564,"created_at_utc_B":1527718860,"score_A":3,"score_B":33,"human_ref_A":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","human_ref_B":"One of my favourite comments was along the lines of \"I do not like that there are no definitive answers to discussions in [8eMH83]'s class. He should give more direct answers.\" The module? Philosophy...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1296.0,"score_ratio":11.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk4b3","c_root_id_B":"dzuk02s","created_at_utc_A":1527719323,"created_at_utc_B":1527719207,"score_A":36,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","human_ref_B":"\u201cShe was enthusiastic, but not so much as to be off-putting\u201d I\u2019m glad I hit that balance for ya. \u201cBased on how she talked about research, it sometimes seemed like she cared more about her PhD work than our class\u201d Yes, I am here to get a degree. No offense, but you all are a means to an end. \u201cGood TA, but was often very frazzled\u201d Welcome to grad school. You don\u2019t know the half of it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":116.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzufa7e","c_root_id_B":"dzuk4b3","created_at_utc_A":1527714665,"created_at_utc_B":1527719323,"score_A":27,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"SS1: 'This class was too difficult' SS2: 'This class was too easy' \u00af\\\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af","human_ref_B":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4658.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk4b3","c_root_id_B":"dzuc5vs","created_at_utc_A":1527719323,"created_at_utc_B":1527711855,"score_A":36,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","human_ref_B":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7468.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk4b3","c_root_id_B":"dzuak8s","created_at_utc_A":1527719323,"created_at_utc_B":1527710435,"score_A":36,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","human_ref_B":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8888.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk4b3","c_root_id_B":"dzugvj6","created_at_utc_A":1527719323,"created_at_utc_B":1527716159,"score_A":36,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","human_ref_B":"I had a student write and erase \"fumbles thinks that I'm unintelligent\". She also filled in her student ID on the scantron, which they were told not to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3164.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk4b3","c_root_id_B":"dzuh4zm","created_at_utc_A":1527719323,"created_at_utc_B":1527716406,"score_A":36,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","human_ref_B":"One briefly mentioned they enjoyed the class, then continued onto a full page rant listing other faculty members that should be fired. Many of these professors were not in my department nor in remotely related fields. Another specified a time and place that I should appear if I was interested in a date. They realized the comments were anonymous, but didn't know I wouldn't see them until well after grades were due. I had missed my chance. Dang. One of the most positive comments I ever received had to be left out of my tenure portfolio because it was filled with an alarming number of expletives. I thought it was fantastic, but I'm not sure the committee shared my sense of humor.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2917.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzuk4b3","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527719323,"score_A":7,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7571.0,"score_ratio":5.1428571429} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuicoe","c_root_id_B":"dzuk4b3","created_at_utc_A":1527717564,"created_at_utc_B":1527719323,"score_A":3,"score_B":36,"human_ref_A":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","human_ref_B":"Best: When a student is asked to comment on my weaknesses: None, the man is born to teach period. I have been in the military, EMS, and Medical working environments for several years before coming to Clemson. I know a talented teacher when i come across one. This man is the definition of what a teaching professor should be. Worst: When a student is asked to comment on my strengths: I mean you improved you haircut game about halfway through the semester but that's about it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1759.0,"score_ratio":12.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc5vs","c_root_id_B":"dzuk02s","created_at_utc_A":1527711855,"created_at_utc_B":1527719207,"score_A":24,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","human_ref_B":"\u201cShe was enthusiastic, but not so much as to be off-putting\u201d I\u2019m glad I hit that balance for ya. \u201cBased on how she talked about research, it sometimes seemed like she cared more about her PhD work than our class\u201d Yes, I am here to get a degree. No offense, but you all are a means to an end. \u201cGood TA, but was often very frazzled\u201d Welcome to grad school. You don\u2019t know the half of it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7352.0,"score_ratio":1.125} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk02s","c_root_id_B":"dzuak8s","created_at_utc_A":1527719207,"created_at_utc_B":1527710435,"score_A":27,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"\u201cShe was enthusiastic, but not so much as to be off-putting\u201d I\u2019m glad I hit that balance for ya. \u201cBased on how she talked about research, it sometimes seemed like she cared more about her PhD work than our class\u201d Yes, I am here to get a degree. No offense, but you all are a means to an end. \u201cGood TA, but was often very frazzled\u201d Welcome to grad school. You don\u2019t know the half of it.","human_ref_B":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8772.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzugvj6","c_root_id_B":"dzuk02s","created_at_utc_A":1527716159,"created_at_utc_B":1527719207,"score_A":18,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I had a student write and erase \"fumbles thinks that I'm unintelligent\". She also filled in her student ID on the scantron, which they were told not to do.","human_ref_B":"\u201cShe was enthusiastic, but not so much as to be off-putting\u201d I\u2019m glad I hit that balance for ya. \u201cBased on how she talked about research, it sometimes seemed like she cared more about her PhD work than our class\u201d Yes, I am here to get a degree. No offense, but you all are a means to an end. \u201cGood TA, but was often very frazzled\u201d Welcome to grad school. You don\u2019t know the half of it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3048.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk02s","c_root_id_B":"dzuh4zm","created_at_utc_A":1527719207,"created_at_utc_B":1527716406,"score_A":27,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"\u201cShe was enthusiastic, but not so much as to be off-putting\u201d I\u2019m glad I hit that balance for ya. \u201cBased on how she talked about research, it sometimes seemed like she cared more about her PhD work than our class\u201d Yes, I am here to get a degree. No offense, but you all are a means to an end. \u201cGood TA, but was often very frazzled\u201d Welcome to grad school. You don\u2019t know the half of it.","human_ref_B":"One briefly mentioned they enjoyed the class, then continued onto a full page rant listing other faculty members that should be fired. Many of these professors were not in my department nor in remotely related fields. Another specified a time and place that I should appear if I was interested in a date. They realized the comments were anonymous, but didn't know I wouldn't see them until well after grades were due. I had missed my chance. Dang. One of the most positive comments I ever received had to be left out of my tenure portfolio because it was filled with an alarming number of expletives. I thought it was fantastic, but I'm not sure the committee shared my sense of humor.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2801.0,"score_ratio":1.9285714286} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzuk02s","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527719207,"score_A":7,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"\u201cShe was enthusiastic, but not so much as to be off-putting\u201d I\u2019m glad I hit that balance for ya. \u201cBased on how she talked about research, it sometimes seemed like she cared more about her PhD work than our class\u201d Yes, I am here to get a degree. No offense, but you all are a means to an end. \u201cGood TA, but was often very frazzled\u201d Welcome to grad school. You don\u2019t know the half of it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7455.0,"score_ratio":3.8571428571} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuk02s","c_root_id_B":"dzuicoe","created_at_utc_A":1527719207,"created_at_utc_B":1527717564,"score_A":27,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\u201cShe was enthusiastic, but not so much as to be off-putting\u201d I\u2019m glad I hit that balance for ya. \u201cBased on how she talked about research, it sometimes seemed like she cared more about her PhD work than our class\u201d Yes, I am here to get a degree. No offense, but you all are a means to an end. \u201cGood TA, but was often very frazzled\u201d Welcome to grad school. You don\u2019t know the half of it.","human_ref_B":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1643.0,"score_ratio":9.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc5vs","c_root_id_B":"dzufa7e","created_at_utc_A":1527711855,"created_at_utc_B":1527714665,"score_A":24,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","human_ref_B":"SS1: 'This class was too difficult' SS2: 'This class was too easy' \u00af\\\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2810.0,"score_ratio":1.125} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuak8s","c_root_id_B":"dzufa7e","created_at_utc_A":1527710435,"created_at_utc_B":1527714665,"score_A":21,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","human_ref_B":"SS1: 'This class was too difficult' SS2: 'This class was too easy' \u00af\\\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4230.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzufa7e","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527714665,"score_A":7,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"SS1: 'This class was too difficult' SS2: 'This class was too easy' \u00af\\\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2913.0,"score_ratio":3.8571428571} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuak8s","c_root_id_B":"dzuc5vs","created_at_utc_A":1527710435,"created_at_utc_B":1527711855,"score_A":21,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Not on a feedback forum, but on a course\\-evaluation I got a \"You never smile, lighten up\". Definitely most memorable, and also a useful one. It was a way to come to realize some of the symptoms of me being nervous. So when I can, try to remember to smile more.","human_ref_B":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1420.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzuc5vs","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527711855,"score_A":7,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"I teach at a community college, and plenty of my colleagues phone it in. My most memorable comment was on a course eval that said something along the lines of, \"This class was difficult, but it was the first class I took where I really felt like this was a college class.\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":103.0,"score_ratio":3.4285714286} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzulb5b","c_root_id_B":"dzugvj6","created_at_utc_A":1527720530,"created_at_utc_B":1527716159,"score_A":21,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"\u2018Wish we\u2019d had more classes with [other lecturer], she is super hot.\u2019 This is the most emotionally confusing statement ever. Am I mad to not be sexually objectified now?","human_ref_B":"I had a student write and erase \"fumbles thinks that I'm unintelligent\". She also filled in her student ID on the scantron, which they were told not to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4371.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuh4zm","c_root_id_B":"dzulb5b","created_at_utc_A":1527716406,"created_at_utc_B":1527720530,"score_A":14,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"One briefly mentioned they enjoyed the class, then continued onto a full page rant listing other faculty members that should be fired. Many of these professors were not in my department nor in remotely related fields. Another specified a time and place that I should appear if I was interested in a date. They realized the comments were anonymous, but didn't know I wouldn't see them until well after grades were due. I had missed my chance. Dang. One of the most positive comments I ever received had to be left out of my tenure portfolio because it was filled with an alarming number of expletives. I thought it was fantastic, but I'm not sure the committee shared my sense of humor.","human_ref_B":"\u2018Wish we\u2019d had more classes with [other lecturer], she is super hot.\u2019 This is the most emotionally confusing statement ever. Am I mad to not be sexually objectified now?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4124.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzulb5b","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527720530,"score_A":7,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"\u2018Wish we\u2019d had more classes with [other lecturer], she is super hot.\u2019 This is the most emotionally confusing statement ever. Am I mad to not be sexually objectified now?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8778.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzulb5b","c_root_id_B":"dzuicoe","created_at_utc_A":1527720530,"created_at_utc_B":1527717564,"score_A":21,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\u2018Wish we\u2019d had more classes with [other lecturer], she is super hot.\u2019 This is the most emotionally confusing statement ever. Am I mad to not be sexually objectified now?","human_ref_B":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2966.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzugvj6","c_root_id_B":"dzuc1rl","created_at_utc_A":1527716159,"created_at_utc_B":1527711752,"score_A":18,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I had a student write and erase \"fumbles thinks that I'm unintelligent\". She also filled in her student ID on the scantron, which they were told not to do.","human_ref_B":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4407.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuoufs","c_root_id_B":"dzuh4zm","created_at_utc_A":1527724231,"created_at_utc_B":1527716406,"score_A":17,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"My favorite one was \"Prof is a bro\"","human_ref_B":"One briefly mentioned they enjoyed the class, then continued onto a full page rant listing other faculty members that should be fired. Many of these professors were not in my department nor in remotely related fields. Another specified a time and place that I should appear if I was interested in a date. They realized the comments were anonymous, but didn't know I wouldn't see them until well after grades were due. I had missed my chance. Dang. One of the most positive comments I ever received had to be left out of my tenure portfolio because it was filled with an alarming number of expletives. I thought it was fantastic, but I'm not sure the committee shared my sense of humor.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7825.0,"score_ratio":1.2142857143} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuoc0f","c_root_id_B":"dzuoufs","created_at_utc_A":1527723691,"created_at_utc_B":1527724231,"score_A":15,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"\u201cProfessor Blarg is the most arrogant jerk I\u2019ve ever taken a class with and I despised every minute I spent in his company.\u201d I share it with students on the first day of class to try and benefit from exceeding expectations.","human_ref_B":"My favorite one was \"Prof is a bro\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":540.0,"score_ratio":1.1333333333} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuc1rl","c_root_id_B":"dzuoufs","created_at_utc_A":1527711752,"created_at_utc_B":1527724231,"score_A":7,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","human_ref_B":"My favorite one was \"Prof is a bro\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12479.0,"score_ratio":2.4285714286} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuoufs","c_root_id_B":"dzumvpa","created_at_utc_A":1527724231,"created_at_utc_B":1527722159,"score_A":17,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"My favorite one was \"Prof is a bro\"","human_ref_B":"Couple of \"I never enjoyed history but I liked this class, it made me think\" but my absolute favourite, one that I reflect on frequently, esp. concerning my first gen students who struggle with approaching academic faculty: \"IntrovertedImmigrant is very kind.\" Reminds me why we should always learn the art of how to teach. Simple kindness can help disadvantaged students feel comfortable enough to learn. Edit: asked a colleague in a different department. Her answer: \"THIS CLASS WAS LIT\ud83d\udd25\" (flame emoji included)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2072.0,"score_ratio":2.8333333333} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuicoe","c_root_id_B":"dzuoufs","created_at_utc_A":1527717564,"created_at_utc_B":1527724231,"score_A":3,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","human_ref_B":"My favorite one was \"Prof is a bro\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6667.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuh4zm","c_root_id_B":"dzuoc0f","created_at_utc_A":1527716406,"created_at_utc_B":1527723691,"score_A":14,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"One briefly mentioned they enjoyed the class, then continued onto a full page rant listing other faculty members that should be fired. Many of these professors were not in my department nor in remotely related fields. Another specified a time and place that I should appear if I was interested in a date. They realized the comments were anonymous, but didn't know I wouldn't see them until well after grades were due. I had missed my chance. Dang. One of the most positive comments I ever received had to be left out of my tenure portfolio because it was filled with an alarming number of expletives. I thought it was fantastic, but I'm not sure the committee shared my sense of humor.","human_ref_B":"\u201cProfessor Blarg is the most arrogant jerk I\u2019ve ever taken a class with and I despised every minute I spent in his company.\u201d I share it with students on the first day of class to try and benefit from exceeding expectations.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7285.0,"score_ratio":1.0714285714} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuh4zm","c_root_id_B":"dzuc1rl","created_at_utc_A":1527716406,"created_at_utc_B":1527711752,"score_A":14,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"One briefly mentioned they enjoyed the class, then continued onto a full page rant listing other faculty members that should be fired. Many of these professors were not in my department nor in remotely related fields. Another specified a time and place that I should appear if I was interested in a date. They realized the comments were anonymous, but didn't know I wouldn't see them until well after grades were due. I had missed my chance. Dang. One of the most positive comments I ever received had to be left out of my tenure portfolio because it was filled with an alarming number of expletives. I thought it was fantastic, but I'm not sure the committee shared my sense of humor.","human_ref_B":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4654.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuoc0f","c_root_id_B":"dzuc1rl","created_at_utc_A":1527723691,"created_at_utc_B":1527711752,"score_A":15,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"\u201cProfessor Blarg is the most arrogant jerk I\u2019ve ever taken a class with and I despised every minute I spent in his company.\u201d I share it with students on the first day of class to try and benefit from exceeding expectations.","human_ref_B":"That I managed to make complex, difficult and conceptual ideas (I teach a lot of epistemology to social science undergrads) comprehensible, manageable and (importantly for me) understood why these were important such that they were able to apply what they learned to other courses and to their own research (dissertation). I love any comments along these lines. I simply do not have any other major goal in teaching than to develop critical faculties, so when this happens, and particularly when students realise that this has happened, I love feeling the real satisfaction of a job done well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11939.0,"score_ratio":2.1428571429} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuoc0f","c_root_id_B":"dzumvpa","created_at_utc_A":1527723691,"created_at_utc_B":1527722159,"score_A":15,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"\u201cProfessor Blarg is the most arrogant jerk I\u2019ve ever taken a class with and I despised every minute I spent in his company.\u201d I share it with students on the first day of class to try and benefit from exceeding expectations.","human_ref_B":"Couple of \"I never enjoyed history but I liked this class, it made me think\" but my absolute favourite, one that I reflect on frequently, esp. concerning my first gen students who struggle with approaching academic faculty: \"IntrovertedImmigrant is very kind.\" Reminds me why we should always learn the art of how to teach. Simple kindness can help disadvantaged students feel comfortable enough to learn. Edit: asked a colleague in a different department. Her answer: \"THIS CLASS WAS LIT\ud83d\udd25\" (flame emoji included)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1532.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuicoe","c_root_id_B":"dzuoc0f","created_at_utc_A":1527717564,"created_at_utc_B":1527723691,"score_A":3,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","human_ref_B":"\u201cProfessor Blarg is the most arrogant jerk I\u2019ve ever taken a class with and I despised every minute I spent in his company.\u201d I share it with students on the first day of class to try and benefit from exceeding expectations.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6127.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzumvpa","c_root_id_B":"dzv6itz","created_at_utc_A":1527722159,"created_at_utc_B":1527744064,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Couple of \"I never enjoyed history but I liked this class, it made me think\" but my absolute favourite, one that I reflect on frequently, esp. concerning my first gen students who struggle with approaching academic faculty: \"IntrovertedImmigrant is very kind.\" Reminds me why we should always learn the art of how to teach. Simple kindness can help disadvantaged students feel comfortable enough to learn. Edit: asked a colleague in a different department. Her answer: \"THIS CLASS WAS LIT\ud83d\udd25\" (flame emoji included)","human_ref_B":"\"Aren't we all MusicalFitness deep down inside?\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21905.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzumvpa","c_root_id_B":"dzv6r95","created_at_utc_A":1527722159,"created_at_utc_B":1527744432,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Couple of \"I never enjoyed history but I liked this class, it made me think\" but my absolute favourite, one that I reflect on frequently, esp. concerning my first gen students who struggle with approaching academic faculty: \"IntrovertedImmigrant is very kind.\" Reminds me why we should always learn the art of how to teach. Simple kindness can help disadvantaged students feel comfortable enough to learn. Edit: asked a colleague in a different department. Her answer: \"THIS CLASS WAS LIT\ud83d\udd25\" (flame emoji included)","human_ref_B":"\"I won't be in university next year, but I'd come to your course for free. I've never had such fun and learnt so much at the same time.\"","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22273.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuicoe","c_root_id_B":"dzumvpa","created_at_utc_A":1527717564,"created_at_utc_B":1527722159,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","human_ref_B":"Couple of \"I never enjoyed history but I liked this class, it made me think\" but my absolute favourite, one that I reflect on frequently, esp. concerning my first gen students who struggle with approaching academic faculty: \"IntrovertedImmigrant is very kind.\" Reminds me why we should always learn the art of how to teach. Simple kindness can help disadvantaged students feel comfortable enough to learn. Edit: asked a colleague in a different department. Her answer: \"THIS CLASS WAS LIT\ud83d\udd25\" (flame emoji included)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4595.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzv6itz","c_root_id_B":"dzuicoe","created_at_utc_A":1527744064,"created_at_utc_B":1527717564,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\"Aren't we all MusicalFitness deep down inside?\"","human_ref_B":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26500.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzv6r95","c_root_id_B":"dzuicoe","created_at_utc_A":1527744432,"created_at_utc_B":1527717564,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\"I won't be in university next year, but I'd come to your course for free. I've never had such fun and learnt so much at the same time.\"","human_ref_B":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26868.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzvjipj","c_root_id_B":"dzv9zt3","created_at_utc_A":1527768767,"created_at_utc_B":1527750200,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I was in my first semester teaching full time right out of grad school at the age of 27. The question asked something like, \"What can the instructor do to improve?\" and one student responded, \"PLEASE WEAR TIGHT SHIRTS MORE OFTEN!\" I then had to sit with the dean to go through them and he informed me that this particular response was passed around the administrative office.","human_ref_B":"I once had two comments one after another (from different students): \u201cKind and caring professor\u201d \u201cCondescending and rude\u201d","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18567.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzuicoe","c_root_id_B":"dzvjipj","created_at_utc_A":1527717564,"created_at_utc_B":1527768767,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","human_ref_B":"I was in my first semester teaching full time right out of grad school at the age of 27. The question asked something like, \"What can the instructor do to improve?\" and one student responded, \"PLEASE WEAR TIGHT SHIRTS MORE OFTEN!\" I then had to sit with the dean to go through them and he informed me that this particular response was passed around the administrative office.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":51203.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzvjipj","c_root_id_B":"dzvfw3m","created_at_utc_A":1527768767,"created_at_utc_B":1527762866,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I was in my first semester teaching full time right out of grad school at the age of 27. The question asked something like, \"What can the instructor do to improve?\" and one student responded, \"PLEASE WEAR TIGHT SHIRTS MORE OFTEN!\" I then had to sit with the dean to go through them and he informed me that this particular response was passed around the administrative office.","human_ref_B":"\"I think she only TAed for this course because she wanted a good grade\" This student was confused on so many levels...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5901.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8nbjtu","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Lecturers, Course Leaders and Tutors - What have been the most memorable comments you have received in student feedback forms? I have filled out plenty course feedback forms during my time as an undergrad and this semester was the first time I have been on the receiving end of it as a seminar tutor. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Overall I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting it to be all bad because it was my first time. There were some pleasant ones, some neutral, and others that were so intentionally harsh that I just found it funny. What have been some of the most memorable comments you have received?","c_root_id_A":"dzv9zt3","c_root_id_B":"dzuicoe","created_at_utc_A":1527750200,"created_at_utc_B":1527717564,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I once had two comments one after another (from different students): \u201cKind and caring professor\u201d \u201cCondescending and rude\u201d","human_ref_B":"SMFet is my rockstar. As a metalhead that made my day. \\m\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32636.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3ptud","c_root_id_B":"eb3oiqq","created_at_utc_A":1543967149,"created_at_utc_B":1543966134,"score_A":35,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":".......almost there........almost there......AAAAAH *splash* *flush*","human_ref_B":"\u201cUgh that took forever\u201d","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1015.0,"score_ratio":1.9444444444} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3ptud","c_root_id_B":"eb3oszx","created_at_utc_A":1543967149,"created_at_utc_B":1543966349,"score_A":35,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":".......almost there........almost there......AAAAAH *splash* *flush*","human_ref_B":"Elation, and maybe a little bit of fear about what's about to come next?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":800.0,"score_ratio":2.0588235294} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3ptud","c_root_id_B":"eb3nipp","created_at_utc_A":1543967149,"created_at_utc_B":1543965361,"score_A":35,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":".......almost there........almost there......AAAAAH *splash* *flush*","human_ref_B":"\"What now?\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1788.0,"score_ratio":11.6666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3oiqq","c_root_id_B":"eb3xckd","created_at_utc_A":1543966134,"created_at_utc_B":1543973376,"score_A":18,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"\u201cUgh that took forever\u201d","human_ref_B":"So fucking over it. Somehow, the defense was an emotional let down. I was also proud about how much I knew","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7242.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3oszx","c_root_id_B":"eb3xckd","created_at_utc_A":1543966349,"created_at_utc_B":1543973376,"score_A":17,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"Elation, and maybe a little bit of fear about what's about to come next?","human_ref_B":"So fucking over it. Somehow, the defense was an emotional let down. I was also proud about how much I knew","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7027.0,"score_ratio":1.2352941176} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3r95l","c_root_id_B":"eb3xckd","created_at_utc_A":1543968318,"created_at_utc_B":1543973376,"score_A":17,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"Hungover and crashing from the huge amounts of adderall I was taking","human_ref_B":"So fucking over it. Somehow, the defense was an emotional let down. I was also proud about how much I knew","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5058.0,"score_ratio":1.2352941176} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3xckd","c_root_id_B":"eb3upnp","created_at_utc_A":1543973376,"created_at_utc_B":1543971199,"score_A":21,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"So fucking over it. Somehow, the defense was an emotional let down. I was also proud about how much I knew","human_ref_B":"Am here right now waiting to defend. CAN'T WAIT TO GTFO! Some context: I got an early career position somewhere and really just want to quickly join them.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2177.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3xckd","c_root_id_B":"eb3uudp","created_at_utc_A":1543973376,"created_at_utc_B":1543971306,"score_A":21,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"So fucking over it. Somehow, the defense was an emotional let down. I was also proud about how much I knew","human_ref_B":"Exhausted and ready to be done with it","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2070.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3nipp","c_root_id_B":"eb3xckd","created_at_utc_A":1543965361,"created_at_utc_B":1543973376,"score_A":3,"score_B":21,"human_ref_A":"\"What now?\"","human_ref_B":"So fucking over it. Somehow, the defense was an emotional let down. I was also proud about how much I knew","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8015.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3xckd","c_root_id_B":"eb3r5pz","created_at_utc_A":1543973376,"created_at_utc_B":1543968237,"score_A":21,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"So fucking over it. Somehow, the defense was an emotional let down. I was also proud about how much I knew","human_ref_B":"i gotta get outta here already","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5139.0,"score_ratio":7.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3oiqq","c_root_id_B":"eb3nipp","created_at_utc_A":1543966134,"created_at_utc_B":1543965361,"score_A":18,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\u201cUgh that took forever\u201d","human_ref_B":"\"What now?\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":773.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3nipp","c_root_id_B":"eb3oszx","created_at_utc_A":1543965361,"created_at_utc_B":1543966349,"score_A":3,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"\"What now?\"","human_ref_B":"Elation, and maybe a little bit of fear about what's about to come next?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":988.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3r95l","c_root_id_B":"eb3nipp","created_at_utc_A":1543968318,"created_at_utc_B":1543965361,"score_A":17,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Hungover and crashing from the huge amounts of adderall I was taking","human_ref_B":"\"What now?\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2957.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3r5pz","c_root_id_B":"eb3r95l","created_at_utc_A":1543968237,"created_at_utc_B":1543968318,"score_A":3,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"i gotta get outta here already","human_ref_B":"Hungover and crashing from the huge amounts of adderall I was taking","labels":0,"seconds_difference":81.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb45gdi","c_root_id_B":"eb3upnp","created_at_utc_A":1543979970,"created_at_utc_B":1543971199,"score_A":13,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","human_ref_B":"Am here right now waiting to defend. CAN'T WAIT TO GTFO! Some context: I got an early career position somewhere and really just want to quickly join them.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8771.0,"score_ratio":1.0833333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3uudp","c_root_id_B":"eb45gdi","created_at_utc_A":1543971306,"created_at_utc_B":1543979970,"score_A":12,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Exhausted and ready to be done with it","human_ref_B":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8664.0,"score_ratio":1.0833333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb45blp","c_root_id_B":"eb45gdi","created_at_utc_A":1543979864,"created_at_utc_B":1543979970,"score_A":6,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"A big whew and a touch of melancholy. A sense of making my minute contribution. Awareness that I survived a major hazing. Respect for my supervisor. Admiration for my spouse, and thanks we survived it. Disgust for some of my defense committee.","human_ref_B":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":106.0,"score_ratio":2.1666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb43jgs","c_root_id_B":"eb45gdi","created_at_utc_A":1543978418,"created_at_utc_B":1543979970,"score_A":5,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Ecstasy. Fear. Relief. Anxiety. Sadness. Joy. Contentment. Yep - it was a whirlwind... Oops, forgot: EXHAUSTED! And PROUD! Also, some of these were not just about the diss, but were related to leaving and getting out of the program I had grown to hate, but also leaving friends and a few mentors I had grown to love...","human_ref_B":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1552.0,"score_ratio":2.6} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3nipp","c_root_id_B":"eb45gdi","created_at_utc_A":1543965361,"created_at_utc_B":1543979970,"score_A":3,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"\"What now?\"","human_ref_B":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14609.0,"score_ratio":4.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3r5pz","c_root_id_B":"eb45gdi","created_at_utc_A":1543968237,"created_at_utc_B":1543979970,"score_A":3,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"i gotta get outta here already","human_ref_B":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11733.0,"score_ratio":4.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb42m8x","c_root_id_B":"eb45gdi","created_at_utc_A":1543977678,"created_at_utc_B":1543979970,"score_A":3,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"I transitioned straight into staying in the same lab as a temp while I looked for work for about four months, so a bit of a let down. Mostly just tired and a bit relieved. Can't say say I was ever proud.","human_ref_B":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2292.0,"score_ratio":4.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb45b4b","c_root_id_B":"eb45gdi","created_at_utc_A":1543979853,"created_at_utc_B":1543979970,"score_A":3,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Tired. ETA I randomly started cooking again instead of takeout once I sent the penultimate dissertation to my advisor. But I was tired.","human_ref_B":"Sick of my topic, sick of my research, overcaffeinated, and just really ready to be done. My sleep schedule was screwed and I was living on Taco Bell because they'd just opened one right across the street from my building. I really couldn't comprehend that the end was in sight until I was right there at the end. It was pretty awesome to have the printed dissertation with all the signatures, though. That felt good - all the literal blood, sweat, and tears turned into something tangible, solid, heavy and smelling reassuringly like toner and fresh paper.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":117.0,"score_ratio":4.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3nipp","c_root_id_B":"eb3upnp","created_at_utc_A":1543965361,"created_at_utc_B":1543971199,"score_A":3,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"\"What now?\"","human_ref_B":"Am here right now waiting to defend. CAN'T WAIT TO GTFO! Some context: I got an early career position somewhere and really just want to quickly join them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5838.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3r5pz","c_root_id_B":"eb3upnp","created_at_utc_A":1543968237,"created_at_utc_B":1543971199,"score_A":3,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"i gotta get outta here already","human_ref_B":"Am here right now waiting to defend. CAN'T WAIT TO GTFO! Some context: I got an early career position somewhere and really just want to quickly join them.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2962.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3uudp","c_root_id_B":"eb3nipp","created_at_utc_A":1543971306,"created_at_utc_B":1543965361,"score_A":12,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Exhausted and ready to be done with it","human_ref_B":"\"What now?\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5945.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3r5pz","c_root_id_B":"eb3uudp","created_at_utc_A":1543968237,"created_at_utc_B":1543971306,"score_A":3,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"i gotta get outta here already","human_ref_B":"Exhausted and ready to be done with it","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3069.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb45blp","c_root_id_B":"eb4qojz","created_at_utc_A":1543979864,"created_at_utc_B":1544007461,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"A big whew and a touch of melancholy. A sense of making my minute contribution. Awareness that I survived a major hazing. Respect for my supervisor. Admiration for my spouse, and thanks we survived it. Disgust for some of my defense committee.","human_ref_B":"Anticlimactic","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27597.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb4qojz","c_root_id_B":"eb43jgs","created_at_utc_A":1544007461,"created_at_utc_B":1543978418,"score_A":7,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Anticlimactic","human_ref_B":"Ecstasy. Fear. Relief. Anxiety. Sadness. Joy. Contentment. Yep - it was a whirlwind... Oops, forgot: EXHAUSTED! And PROUD! Also, some of these were not just about the diss, but were related to leaving and getting out of the program I had grown to hate, but also leaving friends and a few mentors I had grown to love...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29043.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3nipp","c_root_id_B":"eb4qojz","created_at_utc_A":1543965361,"created_at_utc_B":1544007461,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"\"What now?\"","human_ref_B":"Anticlimactic","labels":0,"seconds_difference":42100.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb4qojz","c_root_id_B":"eb3r5pz","created_at_utc_A":1544007461,"created_at_utc_B":1543968237,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Anticlimactic","human_ref_B":"i gotta get outta here already","labels":1,"seconds_difference":39224.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb4qojz","c_root_id_B":"eb42m8x","created_at_utc_A":1544007461,"created_at_utc_B":1543977678,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Anticlimactic","human_ref_B":"I transitioned straight into staying in the same lab as a temp while I looked for work for about four months, so a bit of a let down. Mostly just tired and a bit relieved. Can't say say I was ever proud.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29783.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb4qojz","c_root_id_B":"eb45b4b","created_at_utc_A":1544007461,"created_at_utc_B":1543979853,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Anticlimactic","human_ref_B":"Tired. ETA I randomly started cooking again instead of takeout once I sent the penultimate dissertation to my advisor. But I was tired.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27608.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb4qojz","c_root_id_B":"eb46awg","created_at_utc_A":1544007461,"created_at_utc_B":1543980672,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Anticlimactic","human_ref_B":"I was teaching full time so spent the last nine months of the diss writing at night and on weekends. All I could really think about was \"I will get to sleep once this damned thing is done!\" Was *so* happy when my committee said \"OK, no revisions, you're good\" after a three-hour grilling.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26789.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb46x0r","c_root_id_B":"eb4qojz","created_at_utc_A":1543981218,"created_at_utc_B":1544007461,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Nothing. There was still a lot of work ahead.","human_ref_B":"Anticlimactic","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26243.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb45blp","c_root_id_B":"eb43jgs","created_at_utc_A":1543979864,"created_at_utc_B":1543978418,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"A big whew and a touch of melancholy. A sense of making my minute contribution. Awareness that I survived a major hazing. Respect for my supervisor. Admiration for my spouse, and thanks we survived it. Disgust for some of my defense committee.","human_ref_B":"Ecstasy. Fear. Relief. Anxiety. Sadness. Joy. Contentment. Yep - it was a whirlwind... Oops, forgot: EXHAUSTED! And PROUD! Also, some of these were not just about the diss, but were related to leaving and getting out of the program I had grown to hate, but also leaving friends and a few mentors I had grown to love...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1446.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3nipp","c_root_id_B":"eb45blp","created_at_utc_A":1543965361,"created_at_utc_B":1543979864,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"\"What now?\"","human_ref_B":"A big whew and a touch of melancholy. A sense of making my minute contribution. Awareness that I survived a major hazing. Respect for my supervisor. Admiration for my spouse, and thanks we survived it. Disgust for some of my defense committee.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14503.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb3r5pz","c_root_id_B":"eb45blp","created_at_utc_A":1543968237,"created_at_utc_B":1543979864,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"i gotta get outta here already","human_ref_B":"A big whew and a touch of melancholy. A sense of making my minute contribution. Awareness that I survived a major hazing. Respect for my supervisor. Admiration for my spouse, and thanks we survived it. Disgust for some of my defense committee.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11627.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb45blp","c_root_id_B":"eb42m8x","created_at_utc_A":1543979864,"created_at_utc_B":1543977678,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"A big whew and a touch of melancholy. A sense of making my minute contribution. Awareness that I survived a major hazing. Respect for my supervisor. Admiration for my spouse, and thanks we survived it. Disgust for some of my defense committee.","human_ref_B":"I transitioned straight into staying in the same lab as a temp while I looked for work for about four months, so a bit of a let down. Mostly just tired and a bit relieved. Can't say say I was ever proud.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2186.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb45blp","c_root_id_B":"eb45b4b","created_at_utc_A":1543979864,"created_at_utc_B":1543979853,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"A big whew and a touch of melancholy. A sense of making my minute contribution. Awareness that I survived a major hazing. Respect for my supervisor. Admiration for my spouse, and thanks we survived it. Disgust for some of my defense committee.","human_ref_B":"Tired. ETA I randomly started cooking again instead of takeout once I sent the penultimate dissertation to my advisor. But I was tired.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb43jgs","c_root_id_B":"eb3nipp","created_at_utc_A":1543978418,"created_at_utc_B":1543965361,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Ecstasy. Fear. Relief. Anxiety. Sadness. Joy. Contentment. Yep - it was a whirlwind... Oops, forgot: EXHAUSTED! And PROUD! Also, some of these were not just about the diss, but were related to leaving and getting out of the program I had grown to hate, but also leaving friends and a few mentors I had grown to love...","human_ref_B":"\"What now?\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13057.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb43jgs","c_root_id_B":"eb3r5pz","created_at_utc_A":1543978418,"created_at_utc_B":1543968237,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Ecstasy. Fear. Relief. Anxiety. Sadness. Joy. Contentment. Yep - it was a whirlwind... Oops, forgot: EXHAUSTED! And PROUD! Also, some of these were not just about the diss, but were related to leaving and getting out of the program I had grown to hate, but also leaving friends and a few mentors I had grown to love...","human_ref_B":"i gotta get outta here already","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10181.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb42m8x","c_root_id_B":"eb43jgs","created_at_utc_A":1543977678,"created_at_utc_B":1543978418,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I transitioned straight into staying in the same lab as a temp while I looked for work for about four months, so a bit of a let down. Mostly just tired and a bit relieved. Can't say say I was ever proud.","human_ref_B":"Ecstasy. Fear. Relief. Anxiety. Sadness. Joy. Contentment. Yep - it was a whirlwind... Oops, forgot: EXHAUSTED! And PROUD! Also, some of these were not just about the diss, but were related to leaving and getting out of the program I had grown to hate, but also leaving friends and a few mentors I had grown to love...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":740.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb54ur0","c_root_id_B":"eb4tye7","created_at_utc_A":1544022715,"created_at_utc_B":1544012224,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"For me, the end was just increasing anxiety until it was out the door. And then... it was great. I felt like a huge burden had lifted. I could do ridiculous things, like while away a Sunday morning at a coffee shop, reading the entire Sunday New York Times. Just an amazing feeling. ^(But then you go back to the anxiety thing when you have to get a job. And then once you get the job, it continues. Will tenure produce another fleeting moment of satisfaction? We'll see, we'll see.)","human_ref_B":"Panic about finding a postdoc and worrying about what I was going to do next.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10491.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"a3649w","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"PhDs: Please describe the feeling you felt when you were nearing the end of your dissertation and you realized 'the end really is in sight' Just wondering what it feels like!","c_root_id_A":"eb4zmm9","c_root_id_B":"eb54ur0","created_at_utc_A":1544018394,"created_at_utc_B":1544022715,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"\u201cHuh, so that\u2019s what my children look like\u201d","human_ref_B":"For me, the end was just increasing anxiety until it was out the door. And then... it was great. I felt like a huge burden had lifted. I could do ridiculous things, like while away a Sunday morning at a coffee shop, reading the entire Sunday New York Times. Just an amazing feeling. ^(But then you go back to the anxiety thing when you have to get a job. And then once you get the job, it continues. Will tenure produce another fleeting moment of satisfaction? We'll see, we'll see.)","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4321.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"22mlot","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Advice: My TA got really bad (like horrible) evaluations- how do I tell her? I just got the evaluations from a course I taught this year. The course was made up of lectures and labs. I taught the lectures and both myself and my TA both (independently) ran our own labs. I never saw her teach because our labs were run at the same time. Anyway- she got horrible evaluations from students (many refused to answer the section)! Without going into too much detail, let's just say, they ripped her to shreds. I don't know how (or how much) to tell her. All her work with me was awesome, she helped me so much and was super professional and organized. Also, I think it is the first time she has been a classroom\/lab leader. TL;DR : Would you have wanted to know the hard cold honest truth when from your first students ever? Or should I sugarcoat things to be nice?","c_root_id_A":"cgoaj5m","c_root_id_B":"cgoan3q","created_at_utc_A":1397070706,"created_at_utc_B":1397070928,"score_A":40,"score_B":65,"human_ref_A":"1) Evaluation scores aren't a perfect metric of teaching ability. 2) Constructive advice trumps simply sharing the bad evaluations Yes, I think sugar coating is important here. Not to misinform the TA, but to be clear that teaching is a skill that takes time to perfect, and that teaching isn't an inherent gift but can be improved with practice and learning. Its important to know what is the reason for these low evaluations, which may take some oversight into the classroom time of the TA.","human_ref_B":"I'd schedule a meeting, tell her all the positive things you have to say about how she helped you as a TA. Then let her know that the students gave her pretty unfavorable reviews, and she should read through them so that she can better understand what is and isn't working with her student interactions. I think you need to give them all to her, no filtering. She's got to learn how to handle it and better now than later. What kind of criticisms did they give her? She was a bad facilitator? Gave poor instructions\/didn't seem to know what she was doing? Didn't get their stuff back to them on time? Was condescending? What was the problem exactly? You should be prepared to help her identify the consistencies and what you do to prevent that in your labs. *Also, have a story about the worst eval you've ever received ready, so she knows she's not alone and this happens to all of us but we can improve and move on.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":222.0,"score_ratio":1.625} {"post_id":"22mlot","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Advice: My TA got really bad (like horrible) evaluations- how do I tell her? I just got the evaluations from a course I taught this year. The course was made up of lectures and labs. I taught the lectures and both myself and my TA both (independently) ran our own labs. I never saw her teach because our labs were run at the same time. Anyway- she got horrible evaluations from students (many refused to answer the section)! Without going into too much detail, let's just say, they ripped her to shreds. I don't know how (or how much) to tell her. All her work with me was awesome, she helped me so much and was super professional and organized. Also, I think it is the first time she has been a classroom\/lab leader. TL;DR : Would you have wanted to know the hard cold honest truth when from your first students ever? Or should I sugarcoat things to be nice?","c_root_id_A":"cgoan3q","c_root_id_B":"cgoa3dh","created_at_utc_A":1397070928,"created_at_utc_B":1397069834,"score_A":65,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I'd schedule a meeting, tell her all the positive things you have to say about how she helped you as a TA. Then let her know that the students gave her pretty unfavorable reviews, and she should read through them so that she can better understand what is and isn't working with her student interactions. I think you need to give them all to her, no filtering. She's got to learn how to handle it and better now than later. What kind of criticisms did they give her? She was a bad facilitator? Gave poor instructions\/didn't seem to know what she was doing? Didn't get their stuff back to them on time? Was condescending? What was the problem exactly? You should be prepared to help her identify the consistencies and what you do to prevent that in your labs. *Also, have a story about the worst eval you've ever received ready, so she knows she's not alone and this happens to all of us but we can improve and move on.","human_ref_B":"I was a TA for the first time last semester, and while I thought it went well, I've never seen any evaluations so I have no idea where I actually fell on the spectrum. Giving your feedback is good - I know I would want it - but nI think it's important that it also be wrapped with constructive advice on how to improve. Don't just give her the reviews and leave it at that - offer her or offer to work with her and develop ways for her to improve. Without advice and coaching, that kind of feedback can be destructive and demoralizing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1094.0,"score_ratio":8.125} {"post_id":"22mlot","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Advice: My TA got really bad (like horrible) evaluations- how do I tell her? I just got the evaluations from a course I taught this year. The course was made up of lectures and labs. I taught the lectures and both myself and my TA both (independently) ran our own labs. I never saw her teach because our labs were run at the same time. Anyway- she got horrible evaluations from students (many refused to answer the section)! Without going into too much detail, let's just say, they ripped her to shreds. I don't know how (or how much) to tell her. All her work with me was awesome, she helped me so much and was super professional and organized. Also, I think it is the first time she has been a classroom\/lab leader. TL;DR : Would you have wanted to know the hard cold honest truth when from your first students ever? Or should I sugarcoat things to be nice?","c_root_id_A":"cgoaj5m","c_root_id_B":"cgoa3dh","created_at_utc_A":1397070706,"created_at_utc_B":1397069834,"score_A":40,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"1) Evaluation scores aren't a perfect metric of teaching ability. 2) Constructive advice trumps simply sharing the bad evaluations Yes, I think sugar coating is important here. Not to misinform the TA, but to be clear that teaching is a skill that takes time to perfect, and that teaching isn't an inherent gift but can be improved with practice and learning. Its important to know what is the reason for these low evaluations, which may take some oversight into the classroom time of the TA.","human_ref_B":"I was a TA for the first time last semester, and while I thought it went well, I've never seen any evaluations so I have no idea where I actually fell on the spectrum. Giving your feedback is good - I know I would want it - but nI think it's important that it also be wrapped with constructive advice on how to improve. Don't just give her the reviews and leave it at that - offer her or offer to work with her and develop ways for her to improve. Without advice and coaching, that kind of feedback can be destructive and demoralizing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":872.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"22mlot","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Advice: My TA got really bad (like horrible) evaluations- how do I tell her? I just got the evaluations from a course I taught this year. The course was made up of lectures and labs. I taught the lectures and both myself and my TA both (independently) ran our own labs. I never saw her teach because our labs were run at the same time. Anyway- she got horrible evaluations from students (many refused to answer the section)! Without going into too much detail, let's just say, they ripped her to shreds. I don't know how (or how much) to tell her. All her work with me was awesome, she helped me so much and was super professional and organized. Also, I think it is the first time she has been a classroom\/lab leader. TL;DR : Would you have wanted to know the hard cold honest truth when from your first students ever? Or should I sugarcoat things to be nice?","c_root_id_A":"cgoa3dh","c_root_id_B":"cgoc58l","created_at_utc_A":1397069834,"created_at_utc_B":1397073826,"score_A":8,"score_B":30,"human_ref_A":"I was a TA for the first time last semester, and while I thought it went well, I've never seen any evaluations so I have no idea where I actually fell on the spectrum. Giving your feedback is good - I know I would want it - but nI think it's important that it also be wrapped with constructive advice on how to improve. Don't just give her the reviews and leave it at that - offer her or offer to work with her and develop ways for her to improve. Without advice and coaching, that kind of feedback can be destructive and demoralizing.","human_ref_B":"What level course was it? The students were all probably little shitty bastards.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3992.0,"score_ratio":3.75} {"post_id":"22mlot","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Advice: My TA got really bad (like horrible) evaluations- how do I tell her? I just got the evaluations from a course I taught this year. The course was made up of lectures and labs. I taught the lectures and both myself and my TA both (independently) ran our own labs. I never saw her teach because our labs were run at the same time. Anyway- she got horrible evaluations from students (many refused to answer the section)! Without going into too much detail, let's just say, they ripped her to shreds. I don't know how (or how much) to tell her. All her work with me was awesome, she helped me so much and was super professional and organized. Also, I think it is the first time she has been a classroom\/lab leader. TL;DR : Would you have wanted to know the hard cold honest truth when from your first students ever? Or should I sugarcoat things to be nice?","c_root_id_A":"cgod3ol","c_root_id_B":"cgoa3dh","created_at_utc_A":1397075644,"created_at_utc_B":1397069834,"score_A":11,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I would be honest but focus on the constructive criticism. Maybe first ask her how *she* think it went and what areas she might think she could do better. Take some of it with a grain of salt. I have had students complain that I didn't do things I actually did. One student called the department to complain they hadn't seen a TA in weeks and needed help - said TA held regular office hours and *came to class*.","human_ref_B":"I was a TA for the first time last semester, and while I thought it went well, I've never seen any evaluations so I have no idea where I actually fell on the spectrum. Giving your feedback is good - I know I would want it - but nI think it's important that it also be wrapped with constructive advice on how to improve. Don't just give her the reviews and leave it at that - offer her or offer to work with her and develop ways for her to improve. Without advice and coaching, that kind of feedback can be destructive and demoralizing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5810.0,"score_ratio":1.375} {"post_id":"22mlot","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Advice: My TA got really bad (like horrible) evaluations- how do I tell her? I just got the evaluations from a course I taught this year. The course was made up of lectures and labs. I taught the lectures and both myself and my TA both (independently) ran our own labs. I never saw her teach because our labs were run at the same time. Anyway- she got horrible evaluations from students (many refused to answer the section)! Without going into too much detail, let's just say, they ripped her to shreds. I don't know how (or how much) to tell her. All her work with me was awesome, she helped me so much and was super professional and organized. Also, I think it is the first time she has been a classroom\/lab leader. TL;DR : Would you have wanted to know the hard cold honest truth when from your first students ever? Or should I sugarcoat things to be nice?","c_root_id_A":"cgojw32","c_root_id_B":"cgosjuq","created_at_utc_A":1397090260,"created_at_utc_B":1397112843,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Lots of good responses here. To those I would just add a couple of things: 1. If your school has some sort of Faculty Teaching and Learning Center, you might call them up and tell them what happened, and see if they can assist you or the TA in some way. They may be able to assign a staff member to facilitate a discussion with the TA. 2. Next time (I'm assuming there will be a next time) consider having students in this TA's section do some informal evaluations at mid-semester, or even every 1\/4 of the semester. This Profhacker article goes into detail on this. I have my own students do this and it is super helpful as a distant early warning system to help nip classroom issues in the bud. To join these two together, note that many teaching\/learning centers offer structured midterm evaluation focus groups as one of their services. At my place they call them Mid Semester Interviews on Teaching, and they work like magic.","human_ref_B":"I don't have grad students but as a long-time department chair I have mentored quite a few junior faculty through to tenure. Some have had pretty rocky starts. Here's what I'd suggest: Give her *your* evals as a point of comparison, and sit down with her to discuss both. Ask her to look for patterns in her evals and patterns in yours: what is different? If you have access to evals from other TAs (from past semesters?) perhaps share some of those as well. If you hide the results she won't have a chance to improve. Don't sugar coat, treat it as a learning experience and *teach* her how to improve. Also, be sure to observe her next semester-- it's a shame you didn't do so this time, or ask someone else to in your absence. Rookies need mentoring and that has to be backed up with direct observation.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22583.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"22mlot","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Advice: My TA got really bad (like horrible) evaluations- how do I tell her? I just got the evaluations from a course I taught this year. The course was made up of lectures and labs. I taught the lectures and both myself and my TA both (independently) ran our own labs. I never saw her teach because our labs were run at the same time. Anyway- she got horrible evaluations from students (many refused to answer the section)! Without going into too much detail, let's just say, they ripped her to shreds. I don't know how (or how much) to tell her. All her work with me was awesome, she helped me so much and was super professional and organized. Also, I think it is the first time she has been a classroom\/lab leader. TL;DR : Would you have wanted to know the hard cold honest truth when from your first students ever? Or should I sugarcoat things to be nice?","c_root_id_A":"cgosjuq","c_root_id_B":"cgoo1ul","created_at_utc_A":1397112843,"created_at_utc_B":1397099294,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I don't have grad students but as a long-time department chair I have mentored quite a few junior faculty through to tenure. Some have had pretty rocky starts. Here's what I'd suggest: Give her *your* evals as a point of comparison, and sit down with her to discuss both. Ask her to look for patterns in her evals and patterns in yours: what is different? If you have access to evals from other TAs (from past semesters?) perhaps share some of those as well. If you hide the results she won't have a chance to improve. Don't sugar coat, treat it as a learning experience and *teach* her how to improve. Also, be sure to observe her next semester-- it's a shame you didn't do so this time, or ask someone else to in your absence. Rookies need mentoring and that has to be backed up with direct observation.","human_ref_B":"Two key principles: * Sooner is better than later, and waiting will only make things worse. * Speak to the facts as you understand them, without implicit judgment. These seem necessary to finding effective solutions.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13549.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8obszy","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"Has anyone experienced online harassment from anonymous students? A colleague has been experiencing harassment online for months. He confided in me about it this weekend. He has been receiving sexual messages on personal email accounts and harassment on social media. There have been anonymous comments on faculty blogs and university web pages suggesting that he has inappropriate relationships with students, complaining about his teaching style, and comments approaching death threats. He has alerted the appropriate admin and employees at the university to ensure this doesn\u2019t affect his tenure, but nothing has happened, aside from the comments being deleted. He consulted a lawyer but the comments aren\u2019t threatening enough for police to get involved, and the anonymous nature of the comments prevents any criminal suits from being filed. Is harassment like this common in academia? Have you heard about anything similar occurring at your institution, and if so, what happened?","c_root_id_A":"e0264y5","c_root_id_B":"e02deut","created_at_utc_A":1528062023,"created_at_utc_B":1528070238,"score_A":10,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"Are these comments public? Where I live right now, this can be ruled under \u201cpublic defamation\u201d or \u201chate speech\u201d. Might want to look it up?","human_ref_B":"20$ it\u2019s some asshole who failed or got caught plagiarizing. I feel bad for your colleague - hopefully admin had his back with this.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8215.0,"score_ratio":2.8} {"post_id":"8obszy","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"Has anyone experienced online harassment from anonymous students? A colleague has been experiencing harassment online for months. He confided in me about it this weekend. He has been receiving sexual messages on personal email accounts and harassment on social media. There have been anonymous comments on faculty blogs and university web pages suggesting that he has inappropriate relationships with students, complaining about his teaching style, and comments approaching death threats. He has alerted the appropriate admin and employees at the university to ensure this doesn\u2019t affect his tenure, but nothing has happened, aside from the comments being deleted. He consulted a lawyer but the comments aren\u2019t threatening enough for police to get involved, and the anonymous nature of the comments prevents any criminal suits from being filed. Is harassment like this common in academia? Have you heard about anything similar occurring at your institution, and if so, what happened?","c_root_id_A":"e026w3s","c_root_id_B":"e02deut","created_at_utc_A":1528062846,"created_at_utc_B":1528070238,"score_A":9,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"Literally never heard of this anywhere else, but surely comments approaching death threats are threatening enough for police to investigate?","human_ref_B":"20$ it\u2019s some asshole who failed or got caught plagiarizing. I feel bad for your colleague - hopefully admin had his back with this.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7392.0,"score_ratio":3.1111111111} {"post_id":"8obszy","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"Has anyone experienced online harassment from anonymous students? A colleague has been experiencing harassment online for months. He confided in me about it this weekend. He has been receiving sexual messages on personal email accounts and harassment on social media. There have been anonymous comments on faculty blogs and university web pages suggesting that he has inappropriate relationships with students, complaining about his teaching style, and comments approaching death threats. He has alerted the appropriate admin and employees at the university to ensure this doesn\u2019t affect his tenure, but nothing has happened, aside from the comments being deleted. He consulted a lawyer but the comments aren\u2019t threatening enough for police to get involved, and the anonymous nature of the comments prevents any criminal suits from being filed. Is harassment like this common in academia? Have you heard about anything similar occurring at your institution, and if so, what happened?","c_root_id_A":"e02luac","c_root_id_B":"e0264y5","created_at_utc_A":1528079197,"created_at_utc_B":1528062023,"score_A":11,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":">Is harassment like this common in academia? Have you heard about anything similar occurring at your institution, and if so, what happened? Well I got a story but I think it's of a more extreme nature than what your colleague is going through (so don't scare him off if you share this with him). In my last year of what's equivalent to first year of university in the States one of my profs and his wife (also a prof at the same institution) got a death threat letter from a former student that failed both their classes. What happened is that police got involved and they both left temporarily the institution. At the time it was very shocking since the prof was forced to just stop teaching the course for the rest of the semester and as word got around very quickly people (parents and students) got very worried about safety. Like I said though, the police got involved but the process took *extremely* long. They stopped working at the school for about a year and a half. The kid who wrote the letters got taken to court and all and received a sentence for this. We weren't sure if they were going to come back (they were amazing profs with PhDs, real quality academics and students were very sad for them), but in the end they did about two years or so later. The school handled the safety matters very well though (one of the props to go to a private upper-class school...) by sending letters and hiring more security guards for quite some time. Oh one thing though is that now this prof (I don't know about his wife) doesn't openly display his office hours last time I went to this school. You have to schedule an appointment with him as far as I know. What I take from this is that the legal system takes forever to make something happen. I hope your colleague can take this to court but unfortunately it won't happen overnight.","human_ref_B":"Are these comments public? Where I live right now, this can be ruled under \u201cpublic defamation\u201d or \u201chate speech\u201d. Might want to look it up?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17174.0,"score_ratio":1.1} {"post_id":"8obszy","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"Has anyone experienced online harassment from anonymous students? A colleague has been experiencing harassment online for months. He confided in me about it this weekend. He has been receiving sexual messages on personal email accounts and harassment on social media. There have been anonymous comments on faculty blogs and university web pages suggesting that he has inappropriate relationships with students, complaining about his teaching style, and comments approaching death threats. He has alerted the appropriate admin and employees at the university to ensure this doesn\u2019t affect his tenure, but nothing has happened, aside from the comments being deleted. He consulted a lawyer but the comments aren\u2019t threatening enough for police to get involved, and the anonymous nature of the comments prevents any criminal suits from being filed. Is harassment like this common in academia? Have you heard about anything similar occurring at your institution, and if so, what happened?","c_root_id_A":"e02luac","c_root_id_B":"e026w3s","created_at_utc_A":1528079197,"created_at_utc_B":1528062846,"score_A":11,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":">Is harassment like this common in academia? Have you heard about anything similar occurring at your institution, and if so, what happened? Well I got a story but I think it's of a more extreme nature than what your colleague is going through (so don't scare him off if you share this with him). In my last year of what's equivalent to first year of university in the States one of my profs and his wife (also a prof at the same institution) got a death threat letter from a former student that failed both their classes. What happened is that police got involved and they both left temporarily the institution. At the time it was very shocking since the prof was forced to just stop teaching the course for the rest of the semester and as word got around very quickly people (parents and students) got very worried about safety. Like I said though, the police got involved but the process took *extremely* long. They stopped working at the school for about a year and a half. The kid who wrote the letters got taken to court and all and received a sentence for this. We weren't sure if they were going to come back (they were amazing profs with PhDs, real quality academics and students were very sad for them), but in the end they did about two years or so later. The school handled the safety matters very well though (one of the props to go to a private upper-class school...) by sending letters and hiring more security guards for quite some time. Oh one thing though is that now this prof (I don't know about his wife) doesn't openly display his office hours last time I went to this school. You have to schedule an appointment with him as far as I know. What I take from this is that the legal system takes forever to make something happen. I hope your colleague can take this to court but unfortunately it won't happen overnight.","human_ref_B":"Literally never heard of this anywhere else, but surely comments approaching death threats are threatening enough for police to investigate?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16351.0,"score_ratio":1.2222222222} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icc3xty","c_root_id_B":"iccjqzv","created_at_utc_A":1655218815,"created_at_utc_B":1655225331,"score_A":34,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"Master's degree yes, PhD no. PhDs are over the top brutal.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely no way I could have done my PhD in Microbiology and had a job. It was easily 60 hours a week plus weekends, and that's after all the classwork was finished up and I was just focused on the lab. In fact, I think we were prohibited from having outside employment as a condition of our stipend. By the way, most legit PhD programs (in the sciences, at least) should provide you with a stipend and a tuition reimbursement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6516.0,"score_ratio":1.1764705882} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icbzjwm","c_root_id_B":"iccjqzv","created_at_utc_A":1655216936,"created_at_utc_B":1655225331,"score_A":4,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"No s\u00e9 si se puede contestar en espa\u00f1ol. So I will continue to write in English. I am from Costa Rica, in a situation like yours. I would like to study abroad for \"better academic education\" but the cost of education in, say, US or European universities are so high I don't know what to do. I can study here, and the total cost of the masters would be around 4000$ there's no way a masters in other countries is as cheap. But the \"prestige\" and \"education\" have me thinking. I think I study here simply because of the money. If you are making so much money, it'll more easy to you. Have you considered an online masters degree? Anyway, I wish you the best and hope you can make it abroad if that's your goal.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely no way I could have done my PhD in Microbiology and had a job. It was easily 60 hours a week plus weekends, and that's after all the classwork was finished up and I was just focused on the lab. In fact, I think we were prohibited from having outside employment as a condition of our stipend. By the way, most legit PhD programs (in the sciences, at least) should provide you with a stipend and a tuition reimbursement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8395.0,"score_ratio":10.0} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"iccjqzv","c_root_id_B":"icccogv","created_at_utc_A":1655225331,"created_at_utc_B":1655222472,"score_A":40,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Absolutely no way I could have done my PhD in Microbiology and had a job. It was easily 60 hours a week plus weekends, and that's after all the classwork was finished up and I was just focused on the lab. In fact, I think we were prohibited from having outside employment as a condition of our stipend. By the way, most legit PhD programs (in the sciences, at least) should provide you with a stipend and a tuition reimbursement.","human_ref_B":"Doing a master's in your country is definitely not giving up. Honestly, the \"prestige\" thing wears off really quickly (except for a few select institutions), at least for a PhD. Others may disagree, but I don't see it offering any clear advantage to you unless you are planning to move into an academic career. More importantly, I think you will have a challenging time finding a PhD supervisor in such institutes if you plan to work full time (they can choose from many applicants who will work in their lab full time). My advice is to complete a master's in your home country. If you really enjoy it, then consider doing a PhD abroad.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2859.0,"score_ratio":10.0} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"iccimcd","c_root_id_B":"iccjqzv","created_at_utc_A":1655224877,"created_at_utc_B":1655225331,"score_A":3,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"I did. I taught a full course load with two kids, attended college full time. Most of the classes were online, synchronous. But it was brutal when i started to write my dissertation. I tried to take it a bit at a time. Woke up with many panic attacks. But it felt so good to finally defend!!!","human_ref_B":"Absolutely no way I could have done my PhD in Microbiology and had a job. It was easily 60 hours a week plus weekends, and that's after all the classwork was finished up and I was just focused on the lab. In fact, I think we were prohibited from having outside employment as a condition of our stipend. By the way, most legit PhD programs (in the sciences, at least) should provide you with a stipend and a tuition reimbursement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":454.0,"score_ratio":13.3333333333} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icc2py5","c_root_id_B":"iccjqzv","created_at_utc_A":1655218300,"created_at_utc_B":1655225331,"score_A":4,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"If you can finish your master and sufficiently distinguish yourself, then you can just do your PhD in some place abroad with decent PhD salaries and you will not need any money (you'll probably make more than what you are getting now). Obviously you can't keep your job, but you can then come back to industry later if you wish. Alternatively, there are grants you could apply to to cover the cost of a master's abroad.","human_ref_B":"Absolutely no way I could have done my PhD in Microbiology and had a job. It was easily 60 hours a week plus weekends, and that's after all the classwork was finished up and I was just focused on the lab. In fact, I think we were prohibited from having outside employment as a condition of our stipend. By the way, most legit PhD programs (in the sciences, at least) should provide you with a stipend and a tuition reimbursement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7031.0,"score_ratio":10.0} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icc3ac8","c_root_id_B":"iccjqzv","created_at_utc_A":1655218541,"created_at_utc_B":1655225331,"score_A":4,"score_B":40,"human_ref_A":"I did this. While pursuing my masters degree, i had a full time job. Although I got a full scholarship that covered all my expenses, I needed extra money for personal reasons.Plus i wanted to make sure my career advanced as i was not sure whether i wanted to pursue PhD as well. I have started working on the second year of master's degree which worked better for me because i only had few elective courses and my master's thesis. My recommendation would be 1) make sure your job provides an opportunity to work flexible hours 2) make sure to check the mandatory courses and the schedule of these courses. I had much more flexibility with the elective courses as I could choose them based on whether i am interested in the subject as well as whether they would fit my work schedule. I continued to do the same during PhD, compared to master's degree i would say it was a lot harder and stressful for me. I still got a scholarship for PhD (covering tuition and a small monthly allowance that is only enough to cover my rent as I do not live on campus) and I kept my job and then got promoted with better pay and a position. As for PhD, I feel i am behind many of my peers in terms of research progress. But i also completed more than some of my peers. I am feeling much more stressed than during my master's degree and probably more stressed than many other PhDs. I use part of my salary to make sure my daily life is more convenient, invest in creating a comfortable work environment as I work from home and do most of my writing and reading at home. What helped is that I tried to find ways to connect my work with my research, my company provides flexibility, support and actually some company data for one of my papers. Overall, master's degree + full time job is doable and not too hard PhD degree + full time job is also doable if you don't mind taking time to finish your PhD but i am not sure whether it worth it. Edit: i am studying in a different country than my home country and the company i work for is from my home country","human_ref_B":"Absolutely no way I could have done my PhD in Microbiology and had a job. It was easily 60 hours a week plus weekends, and that's after all the classwork was finished up and I was just focused on the lab. In fact, I think we were prohibited from having outside employment as a condition of our stipend. By the way, most legit PhD programs (in the sciences, at least) should provide you with a stipend and a tuition reimbursement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6790.0,"score_ratio":10.0} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icbzjwm","c_root_id_B":"icc3xty","created_at_utc_A":1655216936,"created_at_utc_B":1655218815,"score_A":4,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"No s\u00e9 si se puede contestar en espa\u00f1ol. So I will continue to write in English. I am from Costa Rica, in a situation like yours. I would like to study abroad for \"better academic education\" but the cost of education in, say, US or European universities are so high I don't know what to do. I can study here, and the total cost of the masters would be around 4000$ there's no way a masters in other countries is as cheap. But the \"prestige\" and \"education\" have me thinking. I think I study here simply because of the money. If you are making so much money, it'll more easy to you. Have you considered an online masters degree? Anyway, I wish you the best and hope you can make it abroad if that's your goal.","human_ref_B":"Master's degree yes, PhD no. PhDs are over the top brutal.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1879.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icc2py5","c_root_id_B":"icc3xty","created_at_utc_A":1655218300,"created_at_utc_B":1655218815,"score_A":4,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"If you can finish your master and sufficiently distinguish yourself, then you can just do your PhD in some place abroad with decent PhD salaries and you will not need any money (you'll probably make more than what you are getting now). Obviously you can't keep your job, but you can then come back to industry later if you wish. Alternatively, there are grants you could apply to to cover the cost of a master's abroad.","human_ref_B":"Master's degree yes, PhD no. PhDs are over the top brutal.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":515.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icc3ac8","c_root_id_B":"icc3xty","created_at_utc_A":1655218541,"created_at_utc_B":1655218815,"score_A":4,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"I did this. While pursuing my masters degree, i had a full time job. Although I got a full scholarship that covered all my expenses, I needed extra money for personal reasons.Plus i wanted to make sure my career advanced as i was not sure whether i wanted to pursue PhD as well. I have started working on the second year of master's degree which worked better for me because i only had few elective courses and my master's thesis. My recommendation would be 1) make sure your job provides an opportunity to work flexible hours 2) make sure to check the mandatory courses and the schedule of these courses. I had much more flexibility with the elective courses as I could choose them based on whether i am interested in the subject as well as whether they would fit my work schedule. I continued to do the same during PhD, compared to master's degree i would say it was a lot harder and stressful for me. I still got a scholarship for PhD (covering tuition and a small monthly allowance that is only enough to cover my rent as I do not live on campus) and I kept my job and then got promoted with better pay and a position. As for PhD, I feel i am behind many of my peers in terms of research progress. But i also completed more than some of my peers. I am feeling much more stressed than during my master's degree and probably more stressed than many other PhDs. I use part of my salary to make sure my daily life is more convenient, invest in creating a comfortable work environment as I work from home and do most of my writing and reading at home. What helped is that I tried to find ways to connect my work with my research, my company provides flexibility, support and actually some company data for one of my papers. Overall, master's degree + full time job is doable and not too hard PhD degree + full time job is also doable if you don't mind taking time to finish your PhD but i am not sure whether it worth it. Edit: i am studying in a different country than my home country and the company i work for is from my home country","human_ref_B":"Master's degree yes, PhD no. PhDs are over the top brutal.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":274.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icckxdm","c_root_id_B":"icbzjwm","created_at_utc_A":1655225801,"created_at_utc_B":1655216936,"score_A":9,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I did a master's while working full time. It was pretty brutal. Doable, but very hard. I'd recommend clearing your plate of issues as much as possible before starting. In my experience I was either working or studying about 70-80 hours per week, not including commuting. I had about one hour per day to do literally everything else (cook, clean, socialize, take breaks, etc). I was only able to do it with the help of my partner. TL;DR: Yes, but YMMV","human_ref_B":"No s\u00e9 si se puede contestar en espa\u00f1ol. So I will continue to write in English. I am from Costa Rica, in a situation like yours. I would like to study abroad for \"better academic education\" but the cost of education in, say, US or European universities are so high I don't know what to do. I can study here, and the total cost of the masters would be around 4000$ there's no way a masters in other countries is as cheap. But the \"prestige\" and \"education\" have me thinking. I think I study here simply because of the money. If you are making so much money, it'll more easy to you. Have you considered an online masters degree? Anyway, I wish you the best and hope you can make it abroad if that's your goal.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8865.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icckxdm","c_root_id_B":"icccogv","created_at_utc_A":1655225801,"created_at_utc_B":1655222472,"score_A":9,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I did a master's while working full time. It was pretty brutal. Doable, but very hard. I'd recommend clearing your plate of issues as much as possible before starting. In my experience I was either working or studying about 70-80 hours per week, not including commuting. I had about one hour per day to do literally everything else (cook, clean, socialize, take breaks, etc). I was only able to do it with the help of my partner. TL;DR: Yes, but YMMV","human_ref_B":"Doing a master's in your country is definitely not giving up. Honestly, the \"prestige\" thing wears off really quickly (except for a few select institutions), at least for a PhD. Others may disagree, but I don't see it offering any clear advantage to you unless you are planning to move into an academic career. More importantly, I think you will have a challenging time finding a PhD supervisor in such institutes if you plan to work full time (they can choose from many applicants who will work in their lab full time). My advice is to complete a master's in your home country. If you really enjoy it, then consider doing a PhD abroad.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3329.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"iccimcd","c_root_id_B":"icckxdm","created_at_utc_A":1655224877,"created_at_utc_B":1655225801,"score_A":3,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I did. I taught a full course load with two kids, attended college full time. Most of the classes were online, synchronous. But it was brutal when i started to write my dissertation. I tried to take it a bit at a time. Woke up with many panic attacks. But it felt so good to finally defend!!!","human_ref_B":"I did a master's while working full time. It was pretty brutal. Doable, but very hard. I'd recommend clearing your plate of issues as much as possible before starting. In my experience I was either working or studying about 70-80 hours per week, not including commuting. I had about one hour per day to do literally everything else (cook, clean, socialize, take breaks, etc). I was only able to do it with the help of my partner. TL;DR: Yes, but YMMV","labels":0,"seconds_difference":924.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icc2py5","c_root_id_B":"icckxdm","created_at_utc_A":1655218300,"created_at_utc_B":1655225801,"score_A":4,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"If you can finish your master and sufficiently distinguish yourself, then you can just do your PhD in some place abroad with decent PhD salaries and you will not need any money (you'll probably make more than what you are getting now). Obviously you can't keep your job, but you can then come back to industry later if you wish. Alternatively, there are grants you could apply to to cover the cost of a master's abroad.","human_ref_B":"I did a master's while working full time. It was pretty brutal. Doable, but very hard. I'd recommend clearing your plate of issues as much as possible before starting. In my experience I was either working or studying about 70-80 hours per week, not including commuting. I had about one hour per day to do literally everything else (cook, clean, socialize, take breaks, etc). I was only able to do it with the help of my partner. TL;DR: Yes, but YMMV","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7501.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icc3ac8","c_root_id_B":"icckxdm","created_at_utc_A":1655218541,"created_at_utc_B":1655225801,"score_A":4,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I did this. While pursuing my masters degree, i had a full time job. Although I got a full scholarship that covered all my expenses, I needed extra money for personal reasons.Plus i wanted to make sure my career advanced as i was not sure whether i wanted to pursue PhD as well. I have started working on the second year of master's degree which worked better for me because i only had few elective courses and my master's thesis. My recommendation would be 1) make sure your job provides an opportunity to work flexible hours 2) make sure to check the mandatory courses and the schedule of these courses. I had much more flexibility with the elective courses as I could choose them based on whether i am interested in the subject as well as whether they would fit my work schedule. I continued to do the same during PhD, compared to master's degree i would say it was a lot harder and stressful for me. I still got a scholarship for PhD (covering tuition and a small monthly allowance that is only enough to cover my rent as I do not live on campus) and I kept my job and then got promoted with better pay and a position. As for PhD, I feel i am behind many of my peers in terms of research progress. But i also completed more than some of my peers. I am feeling much more stressed than during my master's degree and probably more stressed than many other PhDs. I use part of my salary to make sure my daily life is more convenient, invest in creating a comfortable work environment as I work from home and do most of my writing and reading at home. What helped is that I tried to find ways to connect my work with my research, my company provides flexibility, support and actually some company data for one of my papers. Overall, master's degree + full time job is doable and not too hard PhD degree + full time job is also doable if you don't mind taking time to finish your PhD but i am not sure whether it worth it. Edit: i am studying in a different country than my home country and the company i work for is from my home country","human_ref_B":"I did a master's while working full time. It was pretty brutal. Doable, but very hard. I'd recommend clearing your plate of issues as much as possible before starting. In my experience I was either working or studying about 70-80 hours per week, not including commuting. I had about one hour per day to do literally everything else (cook, clean, socialize, take breaks, etc). I was only able to do it with the help of my partner. TL;DR: Yes, but YMMV","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7260.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"ice7c8l","c_root_id_B":"iccimcd","created_at_utc_A":1655251340,"created_at_utc_B":1655224877,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It really depends on your field, your employment, your country, and your reasons for completing it. I did but I did not need to be in a science lab, I did not have course work for my PhD (I did for my Masters but did it online\/after hours).","human_ref_B":"I did. I taught a full course load with two kids, attended college full time. Most of the classes were online, synchronous. But it was brutal when i started to write my dissertation. I tried to take it a bit at a time. Woke up with many panic attacks. But it felt so good to finally defend!!!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26463.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"ice7c8l","c_root_id_B":"icdz86e","created_at_utc_A":1655251340,"created_at_utc_B":1655247337,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It really depends on your field, your employment, your country, and your reasons for completing it. I did but I did not need to be in a science lab, I did not have course work for my PhD (I did for my Masters but did it online\/after hours).","human_ref_B":"I know someone who is working while pursuing his PhD. His company is funding the PhD, so he does not have teaching assistant or research assistant responsibilities. Even so, he is pretty behind and it will probably take him more than the expected number of years to graduate. Many students work part-time during a masters degree. PhDs in STEM are usually stipended in return for research assistant or teaching assistant responsibilities, which is essentially a job.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4003.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"ice7c8l","c_root_id_B":"iccnu4w","created_at_utc_A":1655251340,"created_at_utc_B":1655226989,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It really depends on your field, your employment, your country, and your reasons for completing it. I did but I did not need to be in a science lab, I did not have course work for my PhD (I did for my Masters but did it online\/after hours).","human_ref_B":"There might also be visa issues if you want to study in another country. Many countries don't let you work remotely for a company not registered in that country, and some places don't let you work at all while on a student visa.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":24351.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"iccporw","c_root_id_B":"ice7c8l","created_at_utc_A":1655227736,"created_at_utc_B":1655251340,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes, most of the master's students at my university are working full time or part time. But you are right, studying internationally is expensive. Government funded universities in the US will charge at least double the tuition for an international student. Private universities are generally already that expensive, but for everyone. There are a few doc programs geared toward people that have jobs, but they are usually those that focus on professional practice rather than research. A common example in the US is an Education Doctorates (EdD) that people working full time jobs in education get with the hopes of moving up in administration. I'm not in the engineering world, so I don't know if the difference in a PhD in Engineering or a Doctor of Engineering (EngD) is similar or not. But if your goal is to move into academics, then you want a PhD program that is a full time research position which will most likely mean quitting your day job. However, unless your goal is to take a pay cut to become a professor, you should really think about if a doctorate makes sense.","human_ref_B":"It really depends on your field, your employment, your country, and your reasons for completing it. I did but I did not need to be in a science lab, I did not have course work for my PhD (I did for my Masters but did it online\/after hours).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23604.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icdz86e","c_root_id_B":"iccnu4w","created_at_utc_A":1655247337,"created_at_utc_B":1655226989,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I know someone who is working while pursuing his PhD. His company is funding the PhD, so he does not have teaching assistant or research assistant responsibilities. Even so, he is pretty behind and it will probably take him more than the expected number of years to graduate. Many students work part-time during a masters degree. PhDs in STEM are usually stipended in return for research assistant or teaching assistant responsibilities, which is essentially a job.","human_ref_B":"There might also be visa issues if you want to study in another country. Many countries don't let you work remotely for a company not registered in that country, and some places don't let you work at all while on a student visa.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20348.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"iccporw","c_root_id_B":"icdz86e","created_at_utc_A":1655227736,"created_at_utc_B":1655247337,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes, most of the master's students at my university are working full time or part time. But you are right, studying internationally is expensive. Government funded universities in the US will charge at least double the tuition for an international student. Private universities are generally already that expensive, but for everyone. There are a few doc programs geared toward people that have jobs, but they are usually those that focus on professional practice rather than research. A common example in the US is an Education Doctorates (EdD) that people working full time jobs in education get with the hopes of moving up in administration. I'm not in the engineering world, so I don't know if the difference in a PhD in Engineering or a Doctor of Engineering (EngD) is similar or not. But if your goal is to move into academics, then you want a PhD program that is a full time research position which will most likely mean quitting your day job. However, unless your goal is to take a pay cut to become a professor, you should really think about if a doctorate makes sense.","human_ref_B":"I know someone who is working while pursuing his PhD. His company is funding the PhD, so he does not have teaching assistant or research assistant responsibilities. Even so, he is pretty behind and it will probably take him more than the expected number of years to graduate. Many students work part-time during a masters degree. PhDs in STEM are usually stipended in return for research assistant or teaching assistant responsibilities, which is essentially a job.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19601.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"icelb8y","c_root_id_B":"iccnu4w","created_at_utc_A":1655258290,"created_at_utc_B":1655226989,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"If getting a PhD is your dream, you should go for it (with the usual caveats about thinking through what career options you'd be equipped and excited to do afterwards), and do it full time. I did 80% of my PhD full time, and the last year while I was working (long story... went on leave, spent some time in industry, decided to come back and finish my PhD and get an academic job). That last year, when I was both working full time and finishing my PhD, was absolutely brutal, and that was even though I had done all of the \"experimental\" work needed for my PhD before I left and was mostly just writing up results. I would strongly recommend against doing both simultaneously if you can avoid it. In contrast, I now have a PhD student who is working full time at a company that's paying for his PhD. He's doing it part time, in an area related to his full time job, with support of his employer, and we're both comfortable with him taking a bit longer to graduate given his life circumstances. It still sounds rough for him -- he's an incredibly focused and disciplined student, and I have huge respect for his ability to balance his family life, PhD, and full time job. The other thing I feel he's missing out on is some of the networking and acculturation that typically comes from focusing on a PhD full-time -- but given his career and personal goals this isn't a huge deal in his particular case. So in short, it's possible, but it's hard, and there are costs. If you really want to do a PhD, try to find a way to do it full time. MS is a bit of a different story, but even then, if it's a research-focused program I'd expect the pressures to be similar. Good luck!","human_ref_B":"There might also be visa issues if you want to study in another country. Many countries don't let you work remotely for a company not registered in that country, and some places don't let you work at all while on a student visa.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":31301.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"vc4b6c","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Can you study a master\/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's\/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time\/schedule and money I would need to study\/live abroad)","c_root_id_A":"iccporw","c_root_id_B":"icelb8y","created_at_utc_A":1655227736,"created_at_utc_B":1655258290,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes, most of the master's students at my university are working full time or part time. But you are right, studying internationally is expensive. Government funded universities in the US will charge at least double the tuition for an international student. Private universities are generally already that expensive, but for everyone. There are a few doc programs geared toward people that have jobs, but they are usually those that focus on professional practice rather than research. A common example in the US is an Education Doctorates (EdD) that people working full time jobs in education get with the hopes of moving up in administration. I'm not in the engineering world, so I don't know if the difference in a PhD in Engineering or a Doctor of Engineering (EngD) is similar or not. But if your goal is to move into academics, then you want a PhD program that is a full time research position which will most likely mean quitting your day job. However, unless your goal is to take a pay cut to become a professor, you should really think about if a doctorate makes sense.","human_ref_B":"If getting a PhD is your dream, you should go for it (with the usual caveats about thinking through what career options you'd be equipped and excited to do afterwards), and do it full time. I did 80% of my PhD full time, and the last year while I was working (long story... went on leave, spent some time in industry, decided to come back and finish my PhD and get an academic job). That last year, when I was both working full time and finishing my PhD, was absolutely brutal, and that was even though I had done all of the \"experimental\" work needed for my PhD before I left and was mostly just writing up results. I would strongly recommend against doing both simultaneously if you can avoid it. In contrast, I now have a PhD student who is working full time at a company that's paying for his PhD. He's doing it part time, in an area related to his full time job, with support of his employer, and we're both comfortable with him taking a bit longer to graduate given his life circumstances. It still sounds rough for him -- he's an incredibly focused and disciplined student, and I have huge respect for his ability to balance his family life, PhD, and full time job. The other thing I feel he's missing out on is some of the networking and acculturation that typically comes from focusing on a PhD full-time -- but given his career and personal goals this isn't a huge deal in his particular case. So in short, it's possible, but it's hard, and there are costs. If you really want to do a PhD, try to find a way to do it full time. MS is a bit of a different story, but even then, if it's a research-focused program I'd expect the pressures to be similar. Good luck!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":30554.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"uzei03","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"What's the history of the graduate student stipend? Have STEM graduate students in the US always received a stipend\/salary since? I've been trying to do a bit of reading on graduate students in the US and there isn't a whole lot readily accessible info on whether they've historically always been paid and how that amount or model has changes over time. I assume it differs from department to department, and even differed between different universities so for simplicity, any information about individual degrees or departments is welcome!","c_root_id_A":"iacvs67","c_root_id_B":"iab21rt","created_at_utc_A":1653773608,"created_at_utc_B":1653741467,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"This would make a good \/r\/askhistorians post!","human_ref_B":"A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. This has it root in the apprenticeship system and in the stipends paid to clergy from medieval times if you are in the US stipends are typically set by NIH is you get NIH funds. Your tuition and the cost of your research is part of you renumeration","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32141.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"ttyxvj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Is the UK academic system in a state of perpetual crisis? Just curious, I just arrived a few months ago, but with the strike action, COVID, inflation, the on-going cost of living crisis, the recent restructuring of student loans, the eventual end of the tuition freeze in 2025, and the continual over regulation of the academic sector by the Office of Students - how does any of this place the academy in a positive place for the 2020s, let alone the 2030s? Is the sector just going to continue to eat itself alive until it's brought back down to a more reasonable size? I don't know, but I would like to hear other UK-based academics thoughts on this issues.","c_root_id_A":"i32ai7r","c_root_id_B":"i32xdh8","created_at_utc_A":1648866600,"created_at_utc_B":1648881181,"score_A":9,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I have been hearing stories of doom and gloom regarding UK academia for years, but it has continued to attract top researchers and disproportionate amounts of funding. I am sceptical as to whether this \"inevitable downfall\", as many seem to imply, will ever come. Perhaps that's just because academia is getting worse and worse everywhere, though, and not just the UK....","human_ref_B":"> Is the UK ~~academic system~~ in a ~~state of perpetual~~ crisis? Yes.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14581.0,"score_ratio":1.5555555556} {"post_id":"ttyxvj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Is the UK academic system in a state of perpetual crisis? Just curious, I just arrived a few months ago, but with the strike action, COVID, inflation, the on-going cost of living crisis, the recent restructuring of student loans, the eventual end of the tuition freeze in 2025, and the continual over regulation of the academic sector by the Office of Students - how does any of this place the academy in a positive place for the 2020s, let alone the 2030s? Is the sector just going to continue to eat itself alive until it's brought back down to a more reasonable size? I don't know, but I would like to hear other UK-based academics thoughts on this issues.","c_root_id_A":"i32xdh8","c_root_id_B":"i319dej","created_at_utc_A":1648881181,"created_at_utc_B":1648848360,"score_A":14,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"> Is the UK ~~academic system~~ in a ~~state of perpetual~~ crisis? Yes.","human_ref_B":"Well, the positive is possibly the root cause of the issue you identify. More people, from a greater range of backgrounds, than ever before in British history, have access to higher education. Not that it helps the cost of living \ud83d\ude09","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32821.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ttyxvj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Is the UK academic system in a state of perpetual crisis? Just curious, I just arrived a few months ago, but with the strike action, COVID, inflation, the on-going cost of living crisis, the recent restructuring of student loans, the eventual end of the tuition freeze in 2025, and the continual over regulation of the academic sector by the Office of Students - how does any of this place the academy in a positive place for the 2020s, let alone the 2030s? Is the sector just going to continue to eat itself alive until it's brought back down to a more reasonable size? I don't know, but I would like to hear other UK-based academics thoughts on this issues.","c_root_id_A":"i32ai7r","c_root_id_B":"i319dej","created_at_utc_A":1648866600,"created_at_utc_B":1648848360,"score_A":9,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I have been hearing stories of doom and gloom regarding UK academia for years, but it has continued to attract top researchers and disproportionate amounts of funding. I am sceptical as to whether this \"inevitable downfall\", as many seem to imply, will ever come. Perhaps that's just because academia is getting worse and worse everywhere, though, and not just the UK....","human_ref_B":"Well, the positive is possibly the root cause of the issue you identify. More people, from a greater range of backgrounds, than ever before in British history, have access to higher education. Not that it helps the cost of living \ud83d\ude09","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18240.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"ttyxvj","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Is the UK academic system in a state of perpetual crisis? Just curious, I just arrived a few months ago, but with the strike action, COVID, inflation, the on-going cost of living crisis, the recent restructuring of student loans, the eventual end of the tuition freeze in 2025, and the continual over regulation of the academic sector by the Office of Students - how does any of this place the academy in a positive place for the 2020s, let alone the 2030s? Is the sector just going to continue to eat itself alive until it's brought back down to a more reasonable size? I don't know, but I would like to hear other UK-based academics thoughts on this issues.","c_root_id_A":"i33j7s9","c_root_id_B":"i319dej","created_at_utc_A":1648899725,"created_at_utc_B":1648848360,"score_A":8,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I am not based in the UK. I left 2-3 years ago because of: 1. growing admin pressure on academic working conditions ; 2. mismanagement when it comes to finances\/hiring; and 3. Brexit (surprise surprise!). The long explanation from each one of the above: 1: The first has to do with the fact that the British governments and newspapers have been trying to quantify institutional quality to an absurd amount of detail and with\u2014in my opinion\u2014bizarre metrics. Look at the Research Excellence Framework (REF); the whole submission process is so time consuming. In CS, it ignored most top conference venues (CS cares for conferences, not journals). As a result, at most universities, CS departments appeared to 'underperform,' leading to senior management slicing CS funding (I have seen it personally at 2 universities and know stories of at least 3 others). In other departments, non-REF accredited venues are given lower priority or academics are denied travel funding. The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) not only added additional admin overheads, but it also shifted a focus to 'strongly encourage' students to go into fintech or pursue postgrad education as means of gaming the system. Overall, we have seen more and more admin work added that is not appropriately reflected in our work hours. eating our research time. 2: Most universities are overexpanded in terms of students and facilities. The moment the government removed the cap, we have seen them willing to drop admission standards to get more students through the door. The CS department I was part of went from <100 students to 200 students per year on its undergrad and from <50 to 250 on its taught masters. The university, after our Head of Department, pushed for it, decided to hire 3-4 teaching fellows on temporary contracts... Unfortunately, with the push of zero-hour and temp contracts, this is not an isolated incident. It is even worse at some universities where whole departments were put in administration and everyone (including chaired professors) had to reapply for their jobs. My favourite was a case that made public news, where a University decided to reduce its PolSci department from 20 to 5 faculty! Apparently, the CFO decided 'that is all you need to handle teaching'... At the same time, there is a huge pay cap between vice chancellors and the average faculty salary. Let me not get started on salaries *decreasing* due to inflation and pensions getting all screwed up. 3: Most universities are overexpanded and were relying on EU and Asian students to stay afloat. Brexit reduced those students. The uncertainty in negotiations also got British universities out of H2020 (and now HorizonEurope) consortiums, even if they were still *technically* eligible to participate. After moving away, it is not once I heard \"Let's avoid a UK university\" when European proposal consortiums were formed. There is, of course, also the personal issue. While I am waiting, I noticed\u2014even when attending bloody parliamentary events (my work has an impact on policymaking)\u2014an increasing amount of passive-aggressive questions such as: \"Are you moving back home after your contract is done?\" and \"What are you doing after?\" I moved to Sweden. It is not perfect (no dual-funding system :() , but at least I feel like I am a valued employee. I am encouraged to take my 30something days off every year and I do so without regrets as 99% of my admin is accounted for \u2014which is soooo much less. As I get more students to teach, I get a significant boost in my work hours allocated for marking (almost 30-45 minutes per student instead of the non-realistic 5-10 as I used to in the UK).","human_ref_B":"Well, the positive is possibly the root cause of the issue you identify. More people, from a greater range of backgrounds, than ever before in British history, have access to higher education. Not that it helps the cost of living \ud83d\ude09","labels":1,"seconds_difference":51365.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"pxu8yg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Collaborator wants me to do a postdoc but I'm not sure... I'm in the final year of my PhD (Physics) and up until now had planned on moving to industry. I wasn't planning on looking for a postdoc position as I haven't really enjoyed my project and the whole process has really taken its toll on my mental health and self esteem. Out of the blue, one of my collaborators at another university emailed me asking if I would be interested in doing a postdoc with them. The postdoc would be in a similar field to my current research but the work would be more simulation based rather than 'real data'. This would require a lot of effort getting up to scratch as I have no experience with simulations plus I would have to move to another country. They have also invited me to give a seminar at their department - this is really scary to me as I have only given 10 minute talks at conferences and I always found the Q&A very tough. I struggle to think on the spot and feel my knowledge is lacking. I guess I am a little flattered that someone potentially wants to work with me and in a way I have been feeling like a failure or 'not smart enough' for considering leaving academia. I am also scared that if I leave academia now, that door is closed forever as in my area it is very hard to return. However, I do know that there are plenty of opportunities in industry for me too (haven't actually applied yet though). Am I being silly even considering this offer even though it goes against everything I thought up until now? Does anyone have any interesting thought on postdoc vs industry?","c_root_id_A":"hepwg8r","c_root_id_B":"hepxqqu","created_at_utc_A":1632921587,"created_at_utc_B":1632922216,"score_A":7,"score_B":30,"human_ref_A":"What would this postdoc bring you compared to the industry? Do you have a job lined up in the industry? Also, it is difficult to find a job with a PhD in physics (depending on the field), so additional translatable skills like coding and simulation+code architecture are also good.","human_ref_B":"I am very new to the field of academia, so I cannot say much about whether the post doc would be valuable for you, but I will tell you what I tell myself and my colleagues when other people want us to do things: everyone wants things. Just got an email about needing grad student volunteers for a social event, an event to which we are not otherwise invited. \"Everyone wants things.\" I deleted that email. Everyone wants a volunteer. Everyone wants a collaborator. Everyone wants you to fill out a survey. Everyone thinks this job is a good move. Everyone has a need, a want, and an opinion that pulls you in one direction or another. It's great to get offers, but decide what's best for you by your own definition of success.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":629.0,"score_ratio":4.2857142857} {"post_id":"pxu8yg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Collaborator wants me to do a postdoc but I'm not sure... I'm in the final year of my PhD (Physics) and up until now had planned on moving to industry. I wasn't planning on looking for a postdoc position as I haven't really enjoyed my project and the whole process has really taken its toll on my mental health and self esteem. Out of the blue, one of my collaborators at another university emailed me asking if I would be interested in doing a postdoc with them. The postdoc would be in a similar field to my current research but the work would be more simulation based rather than 'real data'. This would require a lot of effort getting up to scratch as I have no experience with simulations plus I would have to move to another country. They have also invited me to give a seminar at their department - this is really scary to me as I have only given 10 minute talks at conferences and I always found the Q&A very tough. I struggle to think on the spot and feel my knowledge is lacking. I guess I am a little flattered that someone potentially wants to work with me and in a way I have been feeling like a failure or 'not smart enough' for considering leaving academia. I am also scared that if I leave academia now, that door is closed forever as in my area it is very hard to return. However, I do know that there are plenty of opportunities in industry for me too (haven't actually applied yet though). Am I being silly even considering this offer even though it goes against everything I thought up until now? Does anyone have any interesting thought on postdoc vs industry?","c_root_id_A":"heqxxbf","c_root_id_B":"heq5qp7","created_at_utc_A":1632937239,"created_at_utc_B":1632925815,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"One question worth asking, had you not been offered the postdoc would you be looking for one right now? If yes, is this postdoc actually a good fit and are there any real costs to doing it beyond a year or two of time?","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m just finishing my PhD and decided to take a job at a research institute as opposed to doing a postdoc. Deciding not to do a postdoc was harder and harder when I had some great potential supervisors reach out wanting to work with me. I think I felt the same as you, but I knew for my own sake I\u2019d be happier right now if I took a job. Even though the immediate flattery of ppl I look up to wanting to work with me made it tempting to do a post doc. I don\u2019t think going back to academia would be hard, if anything getting the experience in the industry might help if you did decide to do a postdoc later on or apply for teaching\/research jobs in the future","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11424.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"pxu8yg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Collaborator wants me to do a postdoc but I'm not sure... I'm in the final year of my PhD (Physics) and up until now had planned on moving to industry. I wasn't planning on looking for a postdoc position as I haven't really enjoyed my project and the whole process has really taken its toll on my mental health and self esteem. Out of the blue, one of my collaborators at another university emailed me asking if I would be interested in doing a postdoc with them. The postdoc would be in a similar field to my current research but the work would be more simulation based rather than 'real data'. This would require a lot of effort getting up to scratch as I have no experience with simulations plus I would have to move to another country. They have also invited me to give a seminar at their department - this is really scary to me as I have only given 10 minute talks at conferences and I always found the Q&A very tough. I struggle to think on the spot and feel my knowledge is lacking. I guess I am a little flattered that someone potentially wants to work with me and in a way I have been feeling like a failure or 'not smart enough' for considering leaving academia. I am also scared that if I leave academia now, that door is closed forever as in my area it is very hard to return. However, I do know that there are plenty of opportunities in industry for me too (haven't actually applied yet though). Am I being silly even considering this offer even though it goes against everything I thought up until now? Does anyone have any interesting thought on postdoc vs industry?","c_root_id_A":"heq5qp7","c_root_id_B":"heqzal5","created_at_utc_A":1632925815,"created_at_utc_B":1632937795,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m just finishing my PhD and decided to take a job at a research institute as opposed to doing a postdoc. Deciding not to do a postdoc was harder and harder when I had some great potential supervisors reach out wanting to work with me. I think I felt the same as you, but I knew for my own sake I\u2019d be happier right now if I took a job. Even though the immediate flattery of ppl I look up to wanting to work with me made it tempting to do a post doc. I don\u2019t think going back to academia would be hard, if anything getting the experience in the industry might help if you did decide to do a postdoc later on or apply for teaching\/research jobs in the future","human_ref_B":"Post-docs are shitty positions. In the post-doc I was in, more than half of those hired by the university went homeless. If a post-doc is your only means of income until something better comes along, or you just have your heart set on an academic career, then by all means, do a post-doc. If not, after you complete your PhD, get the fuck out of academia.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11980.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"pxu8yg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Collaborator wants me to do a postdoc but I'm not sure... I'm in the final year of my PhD (Physics) and up until now had planned on moving to industry. I wasn't planning on looking for a postdoc position as I haven't really enjoyed my project and the whole process has really taken its toll on my mental health and self esteem. Out of the blue, one of my collaborators at another university emailed me asking if I would be interested in doing a postdoc with them. The postdoc would be in a similar field to my current research but the work would be more simulation based rather than 'real data'. This would require a lot of effort getting up to scratch as I have no experience with simulations plus I would have to move to another country. They have also invited me to give a seminar at their department - this is really scary to me as I have only given 10 minute talks at conferences and I always found the Q&A very tough. I struggle to think on the spot and feel my knowledge is lacking. I guess I am a little flattered that someone potentially wants to work with me and in a way I have been feeling like a failure or 'not smart enough' for considering leaving academia. I am also scared that if I leave academia now, that door is closed forever as in my area it is very hard to return. However, I do know that there are plenty of opportunities in industry for me too (haven't actually applied yet though). Am I being silly even considering this offer even though it goes against everything I thought up until now? Does anyone have any interesting thought on postdoc vs industry?","c_root_id_A":"hetrgyz","c_root_id_B":"heq5qp7","created_at_utc_A":1632988435,"created_at_utc_B":1632925815,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"If you don't have plans to become a professor, simply don't do a postdoc. Doing a postdoc is an intermediate step towards getting a professorship, nothing else. If you didn't enjoy your PhD or if you didn't come out of your PhD thinking 'I want to figure this out (this=some unknown thing)' or 'I want to build this to do that', 'I have this rough idea that I could apply for funding for'... then I wouldn't gamble your valuable time doing a postdoc 'just to try'. Industry won't value it more than a PhD, on the contrary, it's generally frowned upon.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m just finishing my PhD and decided to take a job at a research institute as opposed to doing a postdoc. Deciding not to do a postdoc was harder and harder when I had some great potential supervisors reach out wanting to work with me. I think I felt the same as you, but I knew for my own sake I\u2019d be happier right now if I took a job. Even though the immediate flattery of ppl I look up to wanting to work with me made it tempting to do a post doc. I don\u2019t think going back to academia would be hard, if anything getting the experience in the industry might help if you did decide to do a postdoc later on or apply for teaching\/research jobs in the future","labels":1,"seconds_difference":62620.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"n7uchb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"30 minute Interview at a Community College for a TT Position Hi all, I applied for a TT position at a fantastic community college in my state. I just got an email that I have advanced to the next round (which is a 30 minute Q and A with the hiring committee). I am currently doing research\/writing up, so I am ABD but won't have a PhD in hand for maybe 2-3 years. I am nervous they will think that I will prioritize my research (humanities\/social science) over this position. For someone who has been through this, what kinds of questions were you asked? How did it go? How did you prepare? If you were on a hiring committee, what can I do to stand out or screw up? My dept\/advisor have not been helpful for this\u2014most students just go from postdoc to postdoc and \\*maybe\\* eventually land a TT position somewhere, or go into industry. Working at a CC is considered more unorthodox (but I am extremely excited about it), so any advice from someone who has been through this or on the other side would be incredible. Thank you so much!","c_root_id_A":"gxgnrlz","c_root_id_B":"gxj2j2a","created_at_utc_A":1620532804,"created_at_utc_B":1620589204,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm not at a CC but am an SLAC department chair. We've done preliminary interviews with a lot of ABD applicants over the years, though never anyone who isn't likely to finish by the end of the year in which we're hiring. We'd be looking to hear them talk primarily about pedagogy and specifically as relates to the field (and even the assigned courses). I'd also ask directly at some point, though, how they would plan to manage the pressure\/demands of completing their dissertation while also developing\/delivering a whole load of new courses. In response I'd want something that reassures me they have given that some thought, recognize the time demands of creating\/teaching new courses (and our very hands-on teaching culture), and understand that they will have *very little* time to work on the dissertation during the semesters. Now we would not hire someone into a TT position without reasonable assurance they would be defending by December of that year (i.e. by the end of the fall). I'd ask their committee chair\/advisor to confirm that when I did reference calls if it came to that point. But for a term position we do sometimes hire ABD folks for 1-2 year teaching jobs...in that case I'd again just be wanting some clear sign that they recognize we're hiring them to teach and that would have to be the #1 priority during the semester. In exchange we'd of course provide travel\/conference funds, research support, etc. in summer\/breaks (even for a term hire).","human_ref_B":"Did a science PhD and a post-doc and I've been currently applying and interviewing at community colleges, and got one offer so far and am at final interviews (with the community college president and a vice in a few). Questions have usually been: \\-Why do you want to come to our CC? \\-How would you address diversity\/inclusion\/equity (make sure you know the definition of each of these) to their population of students? (could be racial, could be economically disadvantaged, rural) \\-What is your experience teaching \\insert courses\\]? (so check their course catalog to know what exactly they do teach) \\-What is your familiarity with curriculum\/course development? \\-What is your familiarity with incorporating technology in class\/engaging students in class? \\-Which LMS (learning management systems) have you used before? \\-Have you taught online\/distance learning before? \\-How will your first day of teaching here go? How will your first meeting with an advisee go? \\-What is the role of the community college? OR How might you engage with the community? \\-Have you had experience advising students before? (hint, you can always say you mentored your kouhai or undergraduates) \\-Have you worked with high school students? (sometimes the community colleges have high school students) \\-You do know you won't be able to do research here right? (yes was an actual question) \\-How will you handle teaching, advising students, and faculty meetings and other deadlines? \\-Students come to community college with varying amounts of preparation, some students are fresh out of high school top 10% in their class, others are adults who have been working and out of school for years to decades, other students have no interest in the field and are just taking it for gen-ed, etc...how will you keep students engaged in class? \\-Have your elevator pitch about why you want to teach at our community college, or basically what makes you qualified to teach here and why should we hire you over someone else? \\-How did you handle a difficult situation with a colleague? \\-What would your references say about you? \\-What would your students say about you? \\-- Process 1st round interview with a panel 2nd round interview with teaching demo and questions \/ sometimes there's a writing\/essay prompt they want handwritten 3rd round interview with dean\/president\/ other leadership staff \\-- Tips - Just be relaxed and be yourself Know your own teaching philosophy and be excited about explaining it Keep things student success focused, you go into teaching because you care about student success, jot down ideas of things you would do to help students succeed both in the classroom but outside of the classroom Try to convey some genuine excitement and honesty about wanting to teach in a community college Try to explain how or why you think your Ph.D. is an asset for the position (maybe it has, for example, better informed you of examples you can use to enhance your teaching materials and class?) Know the best practices of teaching in your field, for example, which of the 226 ways of active learning are you familiar with and could incorporate in your teaching \\[-> [https:\/\/www.celt.iastate.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/CELT226activelearningtechniques.pdf \\] ​ hope thats helpful","labels":0,"seconds_difference":56400.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnyhgrj","c_root_id_B":"hny92p2","created_at_utc_A":1639117745,"created_at_utc_B":1639112850,"score_A":39,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"In talking to other grad students that enjoyability of grad school depends heavily on you PI and department culture. If it's good then it's a great experience. If it's really toxic then it can be a living hell. I am currently really loving my masters work and most of my fellow PhD students are enjoying their degrees.","human_ref_B":"Yeah, grad school was a great time of life for me. That was largely due to my professor understanding work\/life balance and being a great all around person. Ph.D. In chemistry btw","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4895.0,"score_ratio":1.6956521739} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny5cgo","c_root_id_B":"hnyhgrj","created_at_utc_A":1639110947,"created_at_utc_B":1639117745,"score_A":14,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"Did a PhD in Physics many years ago (23 to be precise). Loved it. It was the only time in my life I had complete control over my life. It was a challenge for sure but I got through. My post doc was the opposite as the PI was an obsessive control freak and that ended my academic career.","human_ref_B":"In talking to other grad students that enjoyability of grad school depends heavily on you PI and department culture. If it's good then it's a great experience. If it's really toxic then it can be a living hell. I am currently really loving my masters work and most of my fellow PhD students are enjoying their degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6798.0,"score_ratio":2.7857142857} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny4og0","c_root_id_B":"hnyhgrj","created_at_utc_A":1639110629,"created_at_utc_B":1639117745,"score_A":11,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"Does social science count? Because those were legitimately some of the best years of my life.","human_ref_B":"In talking to other grad students that enjoyability of grad school depends heavily on you PI and department culture. If it's good then it's a great experience. If it's really toxic then it can be a living hell. I am currently really loving my masters work and most of my fellow PhD students are enjoying their degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7116.0,"score_ratio":3.5454545455} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny6ocg","c_root_id_B":"hnyhgrj","created_at_utc_A":1639111594,"created_at_utc_B":1639117745,"score_A":6,"score_B":39,"human_ref_A":"Currently doing one biology and am loving it. Of course it a lot of work but it\u2019s a great time my advisor is amazing and my lab mates are all (mostly) great and extremely supportive","human_ref_B":"In talking to other grad students that enjoyability of grad school depends heavily on you PI and department culture. If it's good then it's a great experience. If it's really toxic then it can be a living hell. I am currently really loving my masters work and most of my fellow PhD students are enjoying their degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6151.0,"score_ratio":6.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny5cgo","c_root_id_B":"hny92p2","created_at_utc_A":1639110947,"created_at_utc_B":1639112850,"score_A":14,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"Did a PhD in Physics many years ago (23 to be precise). Loved it. It was the only time in my life I had complete control over my life. It was a challenge for sure but I got through. My post doc was the opposite as the PI was an obsessive control freak and that ended my academic career.","human_ref_B":"Yeah, grad school was a great time of life for me. That was largely due to my professor understanding work\/life balance and being a great all around person. Ph.D. In chemistry btw","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1903.0,"score_ratio":1.6428571429} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny4og0","c_root_id_B":"hny92p2","created_at_utc_A":1639110629,"created_at_utc_B":1639112850,"score_A":11,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"Does social science count? Because those were legitimately some of the best years of my life.","human_ref_B":"Yeah, grad school was a great time of life for me. That was largely due to my professor understanding work\/life balance and being a great all around person. Ph.D. In chemistry btw","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2221.0,"score_ratio":2.0909090909} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny92p2","c_root_id_B":"hny6ocg","created_at_utc_A":1639112850,"created_at_utc_B":1639111594,"score_A":23,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Yeah, grad school was a great time of life for me. That was largely due to my professor understanding work\/life balance and being a great all around person. Ph.D. In chemistry btw","human_ref_B":"Currently doing one biology and am loving it. Of course it a lot of work but it\u2019s a great time my advisor is amazing and my lab mates are all (mostly) great and extremely supportive","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1256.0,"score_ratio":3.8333333333} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnyjea4","c_root_id_B":"hny5cgo","created_at_utc_A":1639118983,"created_at_utc_B":1639110947,"score_A":20,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I had a positive PhD experience! Not every day, but overall (what job is ever positive every day?). BUT I knew what I wanted to do and knew I needed to have a PhD to do it AND I picked a supportive mentor. The mentor matters more than the project. Say this over and over until you believe it.","human_ref_B":"Did a PhD in Physics many years ago (23 to be precise). Loved it. It was the only time in my life I had complete control over my life. It was a challenge for sure but I got through. My post doc was the opposite as the PI was an obsessive control freak and that ended my academic career.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8036.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny4og0","c_root_id_B":"hnyjea4","created_at_utc_A":1639110629,"created_at_utc_B":1639118983,"score_A":11,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Does social science count? Because those were legitimately some of the best years of my life.","human_ref_B":"I had a positive PhD experience! Not every day, but overall (what job is ever positive every day?). BUT I knew what I wanted to do and knew I needed to have a PhD to do it AND I picked a supportive mentor. The mentor matters more than the project. Say this over and over until you believe it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8354.0,"score_ratio":1.8181818182} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny6ocg","c_root_id_B":"hnyjea4","created_at_utc_A":1639111594,"created_at_utc_B":1639118983,"score_A":6,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Currently doing one biology and am loving it. Of course it a lot of work but it\u2019s a great time my advisor is amazing and my lab mates are all (mostly) great and extremely supportive","human_ref_B":"I had a positive PhD experience! Not every day, but overall (what job is ever positive every day?). BUT I knew what I wanted to do and knew I needed to have a PhD to do it AND I picked a supportive mentor. The mentor matters more than the project. Say this over and over until you believe it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7389.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnyjea4","c_root_id_B":"hnyidwm","created_at_utc_A":1639118983,"created_at_utc_B":1639118333,"score_A":20,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I had a positive PhD experience! Not every day, but overall (what job is ever positive every day?). BUT I knew what I wanted to do and knew I needed to have a PhD to do it AND I picked a supportive mentor. The mentor matters more than the project. Say this over and over until you believe it.","human_ref_B":"My PhD is in clinical psychology. Grad school was fine. Not that different from college, honestly. It was work but so are most things worth doing. And now, I adore my job. I\u2019m in clinical research at an academic medical center, although I\u2019ve had a number of job offers from industry. I\u2019m surrounded by amazing, brilliant people and I get to do super cool work. Never once have I questioned the value of finishing my PhD.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":650.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hny5cgo","c_root_id_B":"hny4og0","created_at_utc_A":1639110947,"created_at_utc_B":1639110629,"score_A":14,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Did a PhD in Physics many years ago (23 to be precise). Loved it. It was the only time in my life I had complete control over my life. It was a challenge for sure but I got through. My post doc was the opposite as the PI was an obsessive control freak and that ended my academic career.","human_ref_B":"Does social science count? Because those were legitimately some of the best years of my life.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":318.0,"score_ratio":1.2727272727} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzqm7j","c_root_id_B":"hnyqpt3","created_at_utc_A":1639147943,"created_at_utc_B":1639124261,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"So I'm in a STEM field. To be entirely honest, I've loved my PhD, and I'm inches away from finishing. I have made some incredible friends, thoroughly enjoyed my research, and had some amazing opportunities for travel, etc. That's not to say that there haven't been some difficult parts, specifically dealing with multiple toxic postdocs and some substantial issues more recently with my advisor (which seem to be fixed now, I'm not going to go into details here, though I'd be happy to talk about it in a PM if you're curious). I'd agree with others' comments that your PhD experience will depend heavily on your advisor and departmental culture, though you can certainly try to make the best of any situation. To a lesser extent, how much you enjoy your research and the subject of your dissertation will also affect your experience.","human_ref_B":"I had a great time during my PhD (engineering). I moved abroad for it, so I got to travel around and see a new part of the world, learn a new language, make new friends, etc. I was in a country that pays PhDs as employees so I earned enough to be comfortable and had some savings at the end. I enjoyed the work, learned loads, and my supervisor was a good fit for me (quite hands off, but I was pretty independent so that worked well for both of us). I got expertise in an interesting area, got decent papers out and a little bit of funding in, and that landed me a really cool job I would otherwise not have been able to get. Of course not everything was perfect but overall, very positive. Most peoople who post up here do it because they want to vent. It totally makes sense, but you do get a very biased perspective.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":23682.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzgvrc","c_root_id_B":"hnzqm7j","created_at_utc_A":1639143354,"created_at_utc_B":1639147943,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Started my PhD at 32, Nearly finished 3rd year of PhD I can genuinely say that every other job I've ever had (I worked as a secondary\/high-school teacher and also data science consultant) has been more fun than this drudgery","human_ref_B":"So I'm in a STEM field. To be entirely honest, I've loved my PhD, and I'm inches away from finishing. I have made some incredible friends, thoroughly enjoyed my research, and had some amazing opportunities for travel, etc. That's not to say that there haven't been some difficult parts, specifically dealing with multiple toxic postdocs and some substantial issues more recently with my advisor (which seem to be fixed now, I'm not going to go into details here, though I'd be happy to talk about it in a PM if you're curious). I'd agree with others' comments that your PhD experience will depend heavily on your advisor and departmental culture, though you can certainly try to make the best of any situation. To a lesser extent, how much you enjoy your research and the subject of your dissertation will also affect your experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4589.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzl3x2","c_root_id_B":"hnzqm7j","created_at_utc_A":1639145428,"created_at_utc_B":1639147943,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I absolutely loved my PhD. I produced 9 first authored papers. I went to international conferences. Was recognized with prestigious awards. Published a book chapter and wrote 3 patents two of which were exclusively licensed to the industry who gave very generous funding to the university and myself. Engineering","human_ref_B":"So I'm in a STEM field. To be entirely honest, I've loved my PhD, and I'm inches away from finishing. I have made some incredible friends, thoroughly enjoyed my research, and had some amazing opportunities for travel, etc. That's not to say that there haven't been some difficult parts, specifically dealing with multiple toxic postdocs and some substantial issues more recently with my advisor (which seem to be fixed now, I'm not going to go into details here, though I'd be happy to talk about it in a PM if you're curious). I'd agree with others' comments that your PhD experience will depend heavily on your advisor and departmental culture, though you can certainly try to make the best of any situation. To a lesser extent, how much you enjoy your research and the subject of your dissertation will also affect your experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2515.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzdu4q","c_root_id_B":"hnzqm7j","created_at_utc_A":1639141711,"created_at_utc_B":1639147943,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I got my degree......so i guess? Work\/life was great, but I also didnt get paid shit....so thats net zero. I had to do 2 different dissertations, but the one that didnt work got me my job....so yay? Got published a bunch, but my i10 is only 6....eh? Academia is a hell-hole, and I dont quite have the qualifications to take an industry job...so its tough.","human_ref_B":"So I'm in a STEM field. To be entirely honest, I've loved my PhD, and I'm inches away from finishing. I have made some incredible friends, thoroughly enjoyed my research, and had some amazing opportunities for travel, etc. That's not to say that there haven't been some difficult parts, specifically dealing with multiple toxic postdocs and some substantial issues more recently with my advisor (which seem to be fixed now, I'm not going to go into details here, though I'd be happy to talk about it in a PM if you're curious). I'd agree with others' comments that your PhD experience will depend heavily on your advisor and departmental culture, though you can certainly try to make the best of any situation. To a lesser extent, how much you enjoy your research and the subject of your dissertation will also affect your experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6232.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzqm7j","c_root_id_B":"hnzfqeg","created_at_utc_A":1639147943,"created_at_utc_B":1639142753,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"So I'm in a STEM field. To be entirely honest, I've loved my PhD, and I'm inches away from finishing. I have made some incredible friends, thoroughly enjoyed my research, and had some amazing opportunities for travel, etc. That's not to say that there haven't been some difficult parts, specifically dealing with multiple toxic postdocs and some substantial issues more recently with my advisor (which seem to be fixed now, I'm not going to go into details here, though I'd be happy to talk about it in a PM if you're curious). I'd agree with others' comments that your PhD experience will depend heavily on your advisor and departmental culture, though you can certainly try to make the best of any situation. To a lesser extent, how much you enjoy your research and the subject of your dissertation will also affect your experience.","human_ref_B":"My PhD (mol bio) has been awesome. Obviously the work is hard but my advisor is really passionate, invested in his students but also understands boundaries. If you pick your advisor well and you love your research, grad school can be very positive!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5190.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzit8l","c_root_id_B":"hnzqm7j","created_at_utc_A":1639144323,"created_at_utc_B":1639147943,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I just started my PhD this semester and have been happy with the experience so far. I came from a particularly negative master's experience (e.g., overbearing advisor, harsh advisory committee members, topic I wasn't excited about, etc). I have a lot more freedom now as a PhD student and got to pick a project that I'm actually excited about. We'll see if my opinion changes in a few years when I'm almost done my PhD.","human_ref_B":"So I'm in a STEM field. To be entirely honest, I've loved my PhD, and I'm inches away from finishing. I have made some incredible friends, thoroughly enjoyed my research, and had some amazing opportunities for travel, etc. That's not to say that there haven't been some difficult parts, specifically dealing with multiple toxic postdocs and some substantial issues more recently with my advisor (which seem to be fixed now, I'm not going to go into details here, though I'd be happy to talk about it in a PM if you're curious). I'd agree with others' comments that your PhD experience will depend heavily on your advisor and departmental culture, though you can certainly try to make the best of any situation. To a lesser extent, how much you enjoy your research and the subject of your dissertation will also affect your experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3620.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnznrb7","c_root_id_B":"hnzqm7j","created_at_utc_A":1639146659,"created_at_utc_B":1639147943,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m only a few months into my PhD, but I\u2019ve enjoyed everything it has entailed even though outside of my PhD it\u2019s probably been the worst three months of my entire life. Thank god all three of my supervisors are incredibly understanding and give me any time I need.","human_ref_B":"So I'm in a STEM field. To be entirely honest, I've loved my PhD, and I'm inches away from finishing. I have made some incredible friends, thoroughly enjoyed my research, and had some amazing opportunities for travel, etc. That's not to say that there haven't been some difficult parts, specifically dealing with multiple toxic postdocs and some substantial issues more recently with my advisor (which seem to be fixed now, I'm not going to go into details here, though I'd be happy to talk about it in a PM if you're curious). I'd agree with others' comments that your PhD experience will depend heavily on your advisor and departmental culture, though you can certainly try to make the best of any situation. To a lesser extent, how much you enjoy your research and the subject of your dissertation will also affect your experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1284.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzdu4q","c_root_id_B":"hnzgvrc","created_at_utc_A":1639141711,"created_at_utc_B":1639143354,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I got my degree......so i guess? Work\/life was great, but I also didnt get paid shit....so thats net zero. I had to do 2 different dissertations, but the one that didnt work got me my job....so yay? Got published a bunch, but my i10 is only 6....eh? Academia is a hell-hole, and I dont quite have the qualifications to take an industry job...so its tough.","human_ref_B":"Started my PhD at 32, Nearly finished 3rd year of PhD I can genuinely say that every other job I've ever had (I worked as a secondary\/high-school teacher and also data science consultant) has been more fun than this drudgery","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1643.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzfqeg","c_root_id_B":"hnzgvrc","created_at_utc_A":1639142753,"created_at_utc_B":1639143354,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"My PhD (mol bio) has been awesome. Obviously the work is hard but my advisor is really passionate, invested in his students but also understands boundaries. If you pick your advisor well and you love your research, grad school can be very positive!","human_ref_B":"Started my PhD at 32, Nearly finished 3rd year of PhD I can genuinely say that every other job I've ever had (I worked as a secondary\/high-school teacher and also data science consultant) has been more fun than this drudgery","labels":0,"seconds_difference":601.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzl3x2","c_root_id_B":"ho1hde6","created_at_utc_A":1639145428,"created_at_utc_B":1639173119,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I absolutely loved my PhD. I produced 9 first authored papers. I went to international conferences. Was recognized with prestigious awards. Published a book chapter and wrote 3 patents two of which were exclusively licensed to the industry who gave very generous funding to the university and myself. Engineering","human_ref_B":"If you look at grad student surveys, typically 85% of students are satisfied or very satisfied with their grad school. About 8% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Percentages are about the same for their PI, w a large majority satisfied. Social media is a place for people to vent, so it is heavily biased to the negative. There are some very bad PIs and some toxic places, but most are good.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27691.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"ho1k22g","c_root_id_B":"hnzl3x2","created_at_utc_A":1639174205,"created_at_utc_B":1639145428,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Working for a few years before committing to an advanced degree is a good idea. While earning a living wage, you can figure out if you like the field as much as you expected as well as what degree would help you. Having an advanced degree is important to advancement in some fields, and not im others. At the same time, advancement may mean moving to administration or a branch you don't like as much. Getting an advanced degree is difficult, and your income is minimal. I loved my PhD program, but wish I had added a clinical degree. It would have given me more flexibility, a better and more consistent income, and better access to resources. Think hard.","human_ref_B":"I absolutely loved my PhD. I produced 9 first authored papers. I went to international conferences. Was recognized with prestigious awards. Published a book chapter and wrote 3 patents two of which were exclusively licensed to the industry who gave very generous funding to the university and myself. Engineering","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28777.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzdu4q","c_root_id_B":"ho1hde6","created_at_utc_A":1639141711,"created_at_utc_B":1639173119,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I got my degree......so i guess? Work\/life was great, but I also didnt get paid shit....so thats net zero. I had to do 2 different dissertations, but the one that didnt work got me my job....so yay? Got published a bunch, but my i10 is only 6....eh? Academia is a hell-hole, and I dont quite have the qualifications to take an industry job...so its tough.","human_ref_B":"If you look at grad student surveys, typically 85% of students are satisfied or very satisfied with their grad school. About 8% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Percentages are about the same for their PI, w a large majority satisfied. Social media is a place for people to vent, so it is heavily biased to the negative. There are some very bad PIs and some toxic places, but most are good.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":31408.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"ho1hde6","c_root_id_B":"hnzfqeg","created_at_utc_A":1639173119,"created_at_utc_B":1639142753,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"If you look at grad student surveys, typically 85% of students are satisfied or very satisfied with their grad school. About 8% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Percentages are about the same for their PI, w a large majority satisfied. Social media is a place for people to vent, so it is heavily biased to the negative. There are some very bad PIs and some toxic places, but most are good.","human_ref_B":"My PhD (mol bio) has been awesome. Obviously the work is hard but my advisor is really passionate, invested in his students but also understands boundaries. If you pick your advisor well and you love your research, grad school can be very positive!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":30366.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnzit8l","c_root_id_B":"ho1hde6","created_at_utc_A":1639144323,"created_at_utc_B":1639173119,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I just started my PhD this semester and have been happy with the experience so far. I came from a particularly negative master's experience (e.g., overbearing advisor, harsh advisory committee members, topic I wasn't excited about, etc). I have a lot more freedom now as a PhD student and got to pick a project that I'm actually excited about. We'll see if my opinion changes in a few years when I'm almost done my PhD.","human_ref_B":"If you look at grad student surveys, typically 85% of students are satisfied or very satisfied with their grad school. About 8% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Percentages are about the same for their PI, w a large majority satisfied. Social media is a place for people to vent, so it is heavily biased to the negative. There are some very bad PIs and some toxic places, but most are good.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":28796.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnznrb7","c_root_id_B":"ho1hde6","created_at_utc_A":1639146659,"created_at_utc_B":1639173119,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m only a few months into my PhD, but I\u2019ve enjoyed everything it has entailed even though outside of my PhD it\u2019s probably been the worst three months of my entire life. Thank god all three of my supervisors are incredibly understanding and give me any time I need.","human_ref_B":"If you look at grad student surveys, typically 85% of students are satisfied or very satisfied with their grad school. About 8% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Percentages are about the same for their PI, w a large majority satisfied. Social media is a place for people to vent, so it is heavily biased to the negative. There are some very bad PIs and some toxic places, but most are good.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26460.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"ho1k22g","c_root_id_B":"hnzdu4q","created_at_utc_A":1639174205,"created_at_utc_B":1639141711,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Working for a few years before committing to an advanced degree is a good idea. While earning a living wage, you can figure out if you like the field as much as you expected as well as what degree would help you. Having an advanced degree is important to advancement in some fields, and not im others. At the same time, advancement may mean moving to administration or a branch you don't like as much. Getting an advanced degree is difficult, and your income is minimal. I loved my PhD program, but wish I had added a clinical degree. It would have given me more flexibility, a better and more consistent income, and better access to resources. Think hard.","human_ref_B":"I got my degree......so i guess? Work\/life was great, but I also didnt get paid shit....so thats net zero. I had to do 2 different dissertations, but the one that didnt work got me my job....so yay? Got published a bunch, but my i10 is only 6....eh? Academia is a hell-hole, and I dont quite have the qualifications to take an industry job...so its tough.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32494.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"ho1k22g","c_root_id_B":"hnzfqeg","created_at_utc_A":1639174205,"created_at_utc_B":1639142753,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Working for a few years before committing to an advanced degree is a good idea. While earning a living wage, you can figure out if you like the field as much as you expected as well as what degree would help you. Having an advanced degree is important to advancement in some fields, and not im others. At the same time, advancement may mean moving to administration or a branch you don't like as much. Getting an advanced degree is difficult, and your income is minimal. I loved my PhD program, but wish I had added a clinical degree. It would have given me more flexibility, a better and more consistent income, and better access to resources. Think hard.","human_ref_B":"My PhD (mol bio) has been awesome. Obviously the work is hard but my advisor is really passionate, invested in his students but also understands boundaries. If you pick your advisor well and you love your research, grad school can be very positive!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":31452.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"ho1k22g","c_root_id_B":"hnzit8l","created_at_utc_A":1639174205,"created_at_utc_B":1639144323,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Working for a few years before committing to an advanced degree is a good idea. While earning a living wage, you can figure out if you like the field as much as you expected as well as what degree would help you. Having an advanced degree is important to advancement in some fields, and not im others. At the same time, advancement may mean moving to administration or a branch you don't like as much. Getting an advanced degree is difficult, and your income is minimal. I loved my PhD program, but wish I had added a clinical degree. It would have given me more flexibility, a better and more consistent income, and better access to resources. Think hard.","human_ref_B":"I just started my PhD this semester and have been happy with the experience so far. I came from a particularly negative master's experience (e.g., overbearing advisor, harsh advisory committee members, topic I wasn't excited about, etc). I have a lot more freedom now as a PhD student and got to pick a project that I'm actually excited about. We'll see if my opinion changes in a few years when I'm almost done my PhD.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29882.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"rd07p9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Anyone actually happy with their PhD experience? Bonus points if you're in a scientific discipline. I'm obtaining my Masters currently in ecology and have been entertaining the thought of obtaining a PhD. I just look at all of the jobs available in my area for a Masters degree and, while I love field work a lot more than lab work, all of these positions seem like they would lack intellectual stimulation. I do not directly know what I want to do for a career, though I have been entertaining the thought of becoming a professor or going into some sort of conservation research. I would like to work for (roughly, maybe longer) 2-3 years before pursuing a PhD, if that's what I end up deciding to do. However, I see so many posts on here that are overwhelmingly negative regarding PhD work. These experiences have been very illuminating to me in what to watch out for and what hardships I might experience. But I would love to also weigh what the benefits have been for people who are in the process of achieving their PhD or have already done so.","c_root_id_A":"hnznrb7","c_root_id_B":"ho1k22g","created_at_utc_A":1639146659,"created_at_utc_B":1639174205,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m only a few months into my PhD, but I\u2019ve enjoyed everything it has entailed even though outside of my PhD it\u2019s probably been the worst three months of my entire life. Thank god all three of my supervisors are incredibly understanding and give me any time I need.","human_ref_B":"Working for a few years before committing to an advanced degree is a good idea. While earning a living wage, you can figure out if you like the field as much as you expected as well as what degree would help you. Having an advanced degree is important to advancement in some fields, and not im others. At the same time, advancement may mean moving to administration or a branch you don't like as much. Getting an advanced degree is difficult, and your income is minimal. I loved my PhD program, but wish I had added a clinical degree. It would have given me more flexibility, a better and more consistent income, and better access to resources. Think hard.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27546.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ovyuwg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"What is something you wished you knew earlier in your PhD? Hi all! Currently in the first month of my PhD (humanities) and it got me thinking. As the title says: people who are currently finishing their PhD\/have finished their PhD already: what is something you wished you knew from the get-go of your academic position? Something you might have wanted to tell your younger self? Looking forward to your responses!","c_root_id_A":"h7clfna","c_root_id_B":"h7ecyib","created_at_utc_A":1627848228,"created_at_utc_B":1627882553,"score_A":17,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Also, its first and foremost a political game. get over it, get good at it.","human_ref_B":"Create a document for every single book and article you read, containing: * Author\/title\/publication info in proper bibliographic citation style (Chicago notes\/bibliography might be best) * A summary of the argument * Your critique of the argument * Salient quotations, including page numbers * If it's a book, include citation information for (or links to) any particularly insightful reviews\/critiques of that book. Keep all of these documents in a particular file, with subfiles if you think that will help you organize them. Not only will this help you tremendously when you are writing papers for your classes, but when you are studying for comps and writing your dissertation, this will be your most valuable file.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":34325.0,"score_ratio":1.1764705882} {"post_id":"ovyuwg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"What is something you wished you knew earlier in your PhD? Hi all! Currently in the first month of my PhD (humanities) and it got me thinking. As the title says: people who are currently finishing their PhD\/have finished their PhD already: what is something you wished you knew from the get-go of your academic position? Something you might have wanted to tell your younger self? Looking forward to your responses!","c_root_id_A":"h7ecyib","c_root_id_B":"h7dgs2d","created_at_utc_A":1627882553,"created_at_utc_B":1627863961,"score_A":20,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Create a document for every single book and article you read, containing: * Author\/title\/publication info in proper bibliographic citation style (Chicago notes\/bibliography might be best) * A summary of the argument * Your critique of the argument * Salient quotations, including page numbers * If it's a book, include citation information for (or links to) any particularly insightful reviews\/critiques of that book. Keep all of these documents in a particular file, with subfiles if you think that will help you organize them. Not only will this help you tremendously when you are writing papers for your classes, but when you are studying for comps and writing your dissertation, this will be your most valuable file.","human_ref_B":"1, don't do it. If you are doing it for the job, better career opportunities, pay, fame, whatever, don't do it. The only reason to stay is if you want to add just a tiny bit to science and you are willing to give years of your life to do so. Nothing else is worth the trade off, and there is no point going half in. It's the loneliest thing you can do. Be prepared. If you are not sure, don't walk, run. 2, forgive yourself. There may be days you don't shower, there will be days you don't sleep. Your immunity will dip with stress, you will probably require glasses if you don't yet and you will probably hurt your knees and back in the years ahead if you haven't already. So minimise the damage, exercise where you can, take care of your body, sleep and eat as well as you can. This is not a sprint and burn out is real. 3. Read an article every day. Just one. It gets you ready for writing and is like exercise for your brain, you'll be stronger for it by the time you need to write up 4. Keep a file of all the instructions you get, though it's better done at the start of post-grad, so you can revert back to things you've forgotten years later 5. Work on your thesis every day. No matter the occasion, even if you just read bits of it for an hour. It takes ages to find the thread again if you've lost it. 6. Forgive your supervisor. Sometimes you might not agree but they want you to finish, they are human and you are not their only priority. You are the expert on your thesis, more than anyone in the world, that's your responsibility now. If you don't know, learn. Don't miss appointments and always listen to advice kindly. You are new at this, they know the way 7. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time, it just has to be in. You will have countless revisions, don't get stuck. That should help a little. I could write a book about this, but I need to go finish my thesis first. May the odds be ever in your favour","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18592.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"ovyuwg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"What is something you wished you knew earlier in your PhD? Hi all! Currently in the first month of my PhD (humanities) and it got me thinking. As the title says: people who are currently finishing their PhD\/have finished their PhD already: what is something you wished you knew from the get-go of your academic position? Something you might have wanted to tell your younger self? Looking forward to your responses!","c_root_id_A":"h7ebi5v","c_root_id_B":"h7ecyib","created_at_utc_A":1627881481,"created_at_utc_B":1627882553,"score_A":4,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Have a Plan B and a Plan C.","human_ref_B":"Create a document for every single book and article you read, containing: * Author\/title\/publication info in proper bibliographic citation style (Chicago notes\/bibliography might be best) * A summary of the argument * Your critique of the argument * Salient quotations, including page numbers * If it's a book, include citation information for (or links to) any particularly insightful reviews\/critiques of that book. Keep all of these documents in a particular file, with subfiles if you think that will help you organize them. Not only will this help you tremendously when you are writing papers for your classes, but when you are studying for comps and writing your dissertation, this will be your most valuable file.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1072.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71fkq8","c_root_id_B":"h71ksnx","created_at_utc_A":1627614381,"created_at_utc_B":1627617188,"score_A":27,"score_B":43,"human_ref_A":"It can with tenure and seniority, but unfortunately that freed up time does not get filled with teaching and research. It gets filled up (and overtakes research time) with administrative work.","human_ref_B":"When I was a first year grad student we found a nice office with whiteboards to take over to work on homeworks etc. Well there was a prof, mid 60s, tenure who would show up once a month and take over the room and spread papers ALL OVER while working on one of his many grant proposals to NASA that never go funded. He'd been doing this for decades and decades. My thesis adviser almost never set foot in the lab, even though he was bran new and had just published a really good paper in his postdoc before getting the tenure track job. His job became conferences and grant writing to keep the lab funded. Eventually you just become a sort of logistics monkey commanding troops to do your research while you beg the government for more money to keep it going. It Never Ends Have fun.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2807.0,"score_ratio":1.5925925926} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71ksnx","c_root_id_B":"h713lk4","created_at_utc_A":1627617188,"created_at_utc_B":1627608442,"score_A":43,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"When I was a first year grad student we found a nice office with whiteboards to take over to work on homeworks etc. Well there was a prof, mid 60s, tenure who would show up once a month and take over the room and spread papers ALL OVER while working on one of his many grant proposals to NASA that never go funded. He'd been doing this for decades and decades. My thesis adviser almost never set foot in the lab, even though he was bran new and had just published a really good paper in his postdoc before getting the tenure track job. His job became conferences and grant writing to keep the lab funded. Eventually you just become a sort of logistics monkey commanding troops to do your research while you beg the government for more money to keep it going. It Never Ends Have fun.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019ve been thinking about writing a full post in defense of full-time contract faculty. I know it doesn\u2019t apply to every discipline or every school, but where I am, position-wise, is (as mentioned) full time contract faculty. I teach three classes a semester, work on one paper a year on whatever I want and however deep I want, and never write for grants. It helps that my field is mainly already-collected data though so there\u2019s that (spatial data science).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8746.0,"score_ratio":2.3888888889} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71ksnx","c_root_id_B":"h71hazk","created_at_utc_A":1627617188,"created_at_utc_B":1627615304,"score_A":43,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"When I was a first year grad student we found a nice office with whiteboards to take over to work on homeworks etc. Well there was a prof, mid 60s, tenure who would show up once a month and take over the room and spread papers ALL OVER while working on one of his many grant proposals to NASA that never go funded. He'd been doing this for decades and decades. My thesis adviser almost never set foot in the lab, even though he was bran new and had just published a really good paper in his postdoc before getting the tenure track job. His job became conferences and grant writing to keep the lab funded. Eventually you just become a sort of logistics monkey commanding troops to do your research while you beg the government for more money to keep it going. It Never Ends Have fun.","human_ref_B":"No grant writing me applying for funding is one of the fundamentals in academic careers","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1884.0,"score_ratio":8.6} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71ksnx","c_root_id_B":"h71foa4","created_at_utc_A":1627617188,"created_at_utc_B":1627614434,"score_A":43,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"When I was a first year grad student we found a nice office with whiteboards to take over to work on homeworks etc. Well there was a prof, mid 60s, tenure who would show up once a month and take over the room and spread papers ALL OVER while working on one of his many grant proposals to NASA that never go funded. He'd been doing this for decades and decades. My thesis adviser almost never set foot in the lab, even though he was bran new and had just published a really good paper in his postdoc before getting the tenure track job. His job became conferences and grant writing to keep the lab funded. Eventually you just become a sort of logistics monkey commanding troops to do your research while you beg the government for more money to keep it going. It Never Ends Have fun.","human_ref_B":"Omg. Writing one right now! It's 5 AM where I am and I haven't slept yet.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2754.0,"score_ratio":14.3333333333} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h713lk4","c_root_id_B":"h71fkq8","created_at_utc_A":1627608442,"created_at_utc_B":1627614381,"score_A":18,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019ve been thinking about writing a full post in defense of full-time contract faculty. I know it doesn\u2019t apply to every discipline or every school, but where I am, position-wise, is (as mentioned) full time contract faculty. I teach three classes a semester, work on one paper a year on whatever I want and however deep I want, and never write for grants. It helps that my field is mainly already-collected data though so there\u2019s that (spatial data science).","human_ref_B":"It can with tenure and seniority, but unfortunately that freed up time does not get filled with teaching and research. It gets filled up (and overtakes research time) with administrative work.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5939.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71l66w","c_root_id_B":"h71hazk","created_at_utc_A":1627617397,"created_at_utc_B":1627615304,"score_A":16,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"intellectual freedom!","human_ref_B":"No grant writing me applying for funding is one of the fundamentals in academic careers","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2093.0,"score_ratio":3.2} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71l66w","c_root_id_B":"h71foa4","created_at_utc_A":1627617397,"created_at_utc_B":1627614434,"score_A":16,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"intellectual freedom!","human_ref_B":"Omg. Writing one right now! It's 5 AM where I am and I haven't slept yet.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2963.0,"score_ratio":5.3333333333} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71q3dy","c_root_id_B":"h71hazk","created_at_utc_A":1627620260,"created_at_utc_B":1627615304,"score_A":8,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Get a faculty position at a regional university or liberal arts college and you may not have to ever write a grant again. That being said, your research changes when your funding mainly comes from small internal grants and your facilities do not allow you to be competitive for the big grants.","human_ref_B":"No grant writing me applying for funding is one of the fundamentals in academic careers","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4956.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71q3dy","c_root_id_B":"h71foa4","created_at_utc_A":1627620260,"created_at_utc_B":1627614434,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Get a faculty position at a regional university or liberal arts college and you may not have to ever write a grant again. That being said, your research changes when your funding mainly comes from small internal grants and your facilities do not allow you to be competitive for the big grants.","human_ref_B":"Omg. Writing one right now! It's 5 AM where I am and I haven't slept yet.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5826.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71v9nl","c_root_id_B":"h71hazk","created_at_utc_A":1627623734,"created_at_utc_B":1627615304,"score_A":7,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"So a different perspective: I come from a very highly ranked program and several of the professors there don't write any grants. One of them has a collaboration with a national lab that provides more money than he can spend, a couple have money coming from fortune 500 companies, and one has a \"continuing\" research project with some government agency (DoD?). None of them are low stress projects because maintaining the relationship and research productivity is super important, but they don't write grants. I suspect none of those situations are common outside of EE and CS, though.","human_ref_B":"No grant writing me applying for funding is one of the fundamentals in academic careers","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8430.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71foa4","c_root_id_B":"h71v9nl","created_at_utc_A":1627614434,"created_at_utc_B":1627623734,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Omg. Writing one right now! It's 5 AM where I am and I haven't slept yet.","human_ref_B":"So a different perspective: I come from a very highly ranked program and several of the professors there don't write any grants. One of them has a collaboration with a national lab that provides more money than he can spend, a couple have money coming from fortune 500 companies, and one has a \"continuing\" research project with some government agency (DoD?). None of them are low stress projects because maintaining the relationship and research productivity is super important, but they don't write grants. I suspect none of those situations are common outside of EE and CS, though.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9300.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71foa4","c_root_id_B":"h71hazk","created_at_utc_A":1627614434,"created_at_utc_B":1627615304,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Omg. Writing one right now! It's 5 AM where I am and I haven't slept yet.","human_ref_B":"No grant writing me applying for funding is one of the fundamentals in academic careers","labels":0,"seconds_difference":870.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71foa4","c_root_id_B":"h71zw76","created_at_utc_A":1627614434,"created_at_utc_B":1627627279,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Omg. Writing one right now! It's 5 AM where I am and I haven't slept yet.","human_ref_B":"I am a full Prof, running a STEM wet lab. The answer is no. It never, ever stops. Maybe at retirement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12845.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h71foa4","c_root_id_B":"h72l0za","created_at_utc_A":1627614434,"created_at_utc_B":1627644882,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Omg. Writing one right now! It's 5 AM where I am and I haven't slept yet.","human_ref_B":"Not for most people. Some exceptions: \\- Some researchers do eventually wind up in some sort of long-term funding relationship with some company (usually a big one, I see this happen most with the Apples and Facebooks of the world) where the company permanently funds their research so they don't have to spend their time seeking other funding sources. Typically the researchers is doing some sort of consulting or part-time employment for the big company as well, so it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. This does usually require some sort of conflict of interest oversight at the university so it's not perfectly frictionless, and wouldn't be allowed at all universities \\- Some researchers end up at an FFRDC (federally funded R&D center), where there's no grant-seeking because there's just one big chunk of government funding that runs the whole place forever. Those people aren't teaching, though, in my experience. \\- Some people run their labs on one huge grant that gets renewed every five years or so (typically, some kind of center grant). This is a real mixed bag; you end up getting three years or so of uninterrupted research, a year of absolute chaos while the one grant is being written, and a year of setup once the new grant is awarded and you have to actually prepare to do whatever new stuff you said you were going to do with the new money. And of course the renewals aren't guaranteed - I worked at one such lab that had been running for fifteen years off such a grant, and then when it wasn't renewed, it devastated the lab, a lot of people lost their jobs, everyone left worked their asses off scrambling for twenty new small grants. It was a real mess.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":30448.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h727ssq","c_root_id_B":"h72l0za","created_at_utc_A":1627633921,"created_at_utc_B":1627644882,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Not typically. There is some variation in the quantity, though, depending on the country and institute. Some places give their profs\/PIs some baseline operating funds, or funded\/subsidised access to technicians, while in other places you have to bring in grant funding even to cover your own salary. There's also variation in how PhDs get funded, which affects this: in some places you need to pay PhD students out of your grant funds (which requires you to apply for more grant funding) but in others, PhDs are paid out of some departmental or university-level fund which may be less onerous to apply for. I've seen grant writing \"pause\" for a while for people who got really big grants (ERC level), enough to run their group for a few years. Then they spend more time managing the group and doing admin to handle the funding requirements, but then have to swing back into grant writing well before that funding runs out if they want to maintain any consistency\/momentum.","human_ref_B":"Not for most people. Some exceptions: \\- Some researchers do eventually wind up in some sort of long-term funding relationship with some company (usually a big one, I see this happen most with the Apples and Facebooks of the world) where the company permanently funds their research so they don't have to spend their time seeking other funding sources. Typically the researchers is doing some sort of consulting or part-time employment for the big company as well, so it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. This does usually require some sort of conflict of interest oversight at the university so it's not perfectly frictionless, and wouldn't be allowed at all universities \\- Some researchers end up at an FFRDC (federally funded R&D center), where there's no grant-seeking because there's just one big chunk of government funding that runs the whole place forever. Those people aren't teaching, though, in my experience. \\- Some people run their labs on one huge grant that gets renewed every five years or so (typically, some kind of center grant). This is a real mixed bag; you end up getting three years or so of uninterrupted research, a year of absolute chaos while the one grant is being written, and a year of setup once the new grant is awarded and you have to actually prepare to do whatever new stuff you said you were going to do with the new money. And of course the renewals aren't guaranteed - I worked at one such lab that had been running for fifteen years off such a grant, and then when it wasn't renewed, it devastated the lab, a lot of people lost their jobs, everyone left worked their asses off scrambling for twenty new small grants. It was a real mess.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10961.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h72l0za","c_root_id_B":"h721838","created_at_utc_A":1627644882,"created_at_utc_B":1627628343,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Not for most people. Some exceptions: \\- Some researchers do eventually wind up in some sort of long-term funding relationship with some company (usually a big one, I see this happen most with the Apples and Facebooks of the world) where the company permanently funds their research so they don't have to spend their time seeking other funding sources. Typically the researchers is doing some sort of consulting or part-time employment for the big company as well, so it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. This does usually require some sort of conflict of interest oversight at the university so it's not perfectly frictionless, and wouldn't be allowed at all universities \\- Some researchers end up at an FFRDC (federally funded R&D center), where there's no grant-seeking because there's just one big chunk of government funding that runs the whole place forever. Those people aren't teaching, though, in my experience. \\- Some people run their labs on one huge grant that gets renewed every five years or so (typically, some kind of center grant). This is a real mixed bag; you end up getting three years or so of uninterrupted research, a year of absolute chaos while the one grant is being written, and a year of setup once the new grant is awarded and you have to actually prepare to do whatever new stuff you said you were going to do with the new money. And of course the renewals aren't guaranteed - I worked at one such lab that had been running for fifteen years off such a grant, and then when it wasn't renewed, it devastated the lab, a lot of people lost their jobs, everyone left worked their asses off scrambling for twenty new small grants. It was a real mess.","human_ref_B":"I think in the USA, if you teach at a CC then perhaps? Although I am not from the USA.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16539.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h727sd2","c_root_id_B":"h72l0za","created_at_utc_A":1627633910,"created_at_utc_B":1627644882,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"No","human_ref_B":"Not for most people. Some exceptions: \\- Some researchers do eventually wind up in some sort of long-term funding relationship with some company (usually a big one, I see this happen most with the Apples and Facebooks of the world) where the company permanently funds their research so they don't have to spend their time seeking other funding sources. Typically the researchers is doing some sort of consulting or part-time employment for the big company as well, so it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. This does usually require some sort of conflict of interest oversight at the university so it's not perfectly frictionless, and wouldn't be allowed at all universities \\- Some researchers end up at an FFRDC (federally funded R&D center), where there's no grant-seeking because there's just one big chunk of government funding that runs the whole place forever. Those people aren't teaching, though, in my experience. \\- Some people run their labs on one huge grant that gets renewed every five years or so (typically, some kind of center grant). This is a real mixed bag; you end up getting three years or so of uninterrupted research, a year of absolute chaos while the one grant is being written, and a year of setup once the new grant is awarded and you have to actually prepare to do whatever new stuff you said you were going to do with the new money. And of course the renewals aren't guaranteed - I worked at one such lab that had been running for fifteen years off such a grant, and then when it wasn't renewed, it devastated the lab, a lot of people lost their jobs, everyone left worked their asses off scrambling for twenty new small grants. It was a real mess.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10972.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h72l0za","c_root_id_B":"h72i7g4","created_at_utc_A":1627644882,"created_at_utc_B":1627642864,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Not for most people. Some exceptions: \\- Some researchers do eventually wind up in some sort of long-term funding relationship with some company (usually a big one, I see this happen most with the Apples and Facebooks of the world) where the company permanently funds their research so they don't have to spend their time seeking other funding sources. Typically the researchers is doing some sort of consulting or part-time employment for the big company as well, so it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. This does usually require some sort of conflict of interest oversight at the university so it's not perfectly frictionless, and wouldn't be allowed at all universities \\- Some researchers end up at an FFRDC (federally funded R&D center), where there's no grant-seeking because there's just one big chunk of government funding that runs the whole place forever. Those people aren't teaching, though, in my experience. \\- Some people run their labs on one huge grant that gets renewed every five years or so (typically, some kind of center grant). This is a real mixed bag; you end up getting three years or so of uninterrupted research, a year of absolute chaos while the one grant is being written, and a year of setup once the new grant is awarded and you have to actually prepare to do whatever new stuff you said you were going to do with the new money. And of course the renewals aren't guaranteed - I worked at one such lab that had been running for fifteen years off such a grant, and then when it wasn't renewed, it devastated the lab, a lot of people lost their jobs, everyone left worked their asses off scrambling for twenty new small grants. It was a real mess.","human_ref_B":"No :-\/","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2018.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h727ssq","c_root_id_B":"h721838","created_at_utc_A":1627633921,"created_at_utc_B":1627628343,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Not typically. There is some variation in the quantity, though, depending on the country and institute. Some places give their profs\/PIs some baseline operating funds, or funded\/subsidised access to technicians, while in other places you have to bring in grant funding even to cover your own salary. There's also variation in how PhDs get funded, which affects this: in some places you need to pay PhD students out of your grant funds (which requires you to apply for more grant funding) but in others, PhDs are paid out of some departmental or university-level fund which may be less onerous to apply for. I've seen grant writing \"pause\" for a while for people who got really big grants (ERC level), enough to run their group for a few years. Then they spend more time managing the group and doing admin to handle the funding requirements, but then have to swing back into grant writing well before that funding runs out if they want to maintain any consistency\/momentum.","human_ref_B":"I think in the USA, if you teach at a CC then perhaps? Although I am not from the USA.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5578.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h727sd2","c_root_id_B":"h727ssq","created_at_utc_A":1627633910,"created_at_utc_B":1627633921,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"No","human_ref_B":"Not typically. There is some variation in the quantity, though, depending on the country and institute. Some places give their profs\/PIs some baseline operating funds, or funded\/subsidised access to technicians, while in other places you have to bring in grant funding even to cover your own salary. There's also variation in how PhDs get funded, which affects this: in some places you need to pay PhD students out of your grant funds (which requires you to apply for more grant funding) but in others, PhDs are paid out of some departmental or university-level fund which may be less onerous to apply for. I've seen grant writing \"pause\" for a while for people who got really big grants (ERC level), enough to run their group for a few years. Then they spend more time managing the group and doing admin to handle the funding requirements, but then have to swing back into grant writing well before that funding runs out if they want to maintain any consistency\/momentum.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h721838","c_root_id_B":"h72zc90","created_at_utc_A":1627628343,"created_at_utc_B":1627652943,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think in the USA, if you teach at a CC then perhaps? Although I am not from the USA.","human_ref_B":"Yes, when you retire. Serious answer: no, from the university's point of view, the purpose of research is to bring in research funding, a big percentage of which then goes to the university. Your job as a researcher is to bring in grants. Discovering stuff and publishing it is good only because it means your future grant proposals are more likely to be successful. Sad but true.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":24600.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h727sd2","c_root_id_B":"h72zc90","created_at_utc_A":1627633910,"created_at_utc_B":1627652943,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"No","human_ref_B":"Yes, when you retire. Serious answer: no, from the university's point of view, the purpose of research is to bring in research funding, a big percentage of which then goes to the university. Your job as a researcher is to bring in grants. Discovering stuff and publishing it is good only because it means your future grant proposals are more likely to be successful. Sad but true.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19033.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h72i7g4","c_root_id_B":"h72zc90","created_at_utc_A":1627642864,"created_at_utc_B":1627652943,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"No :-\/","human_ref_B":"Yes, when you retire. Serious answer: no, from the university's point of view, the purpose of research is to bring in research funding, a big percentage of which then goes to the university. Your job as a researcher is to bring in grants. Discovering stuff and publishing it is good only because it means your future grant proposals are more likely to be successful. Sad but true.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10079.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h78lbrd","c_root_id_B":"h721838","created_at_utc_A":1627762547,"created_at_utc_B":1627628343,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Do pure mathematics.. no lab = no funding needed.","human_ref_B":"I think in the USA, if you teach at a CC then perhaps? Although I am not from the USA.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":134204.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h78lbrd","c_root_id_B":"h727sd2","created_at_utc_A":1627762547,"created_at_utc_B":1627633910,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Do pure mathematics.. no lab = no funding needed.","human_ref_B":"No","labels":1,"seconds_difference":128637.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h72i7g4","c_root_id_B":"h78lbrd","created_at_utc_A":1627642864,"created_at_utc_B":1627762547,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"No :-\/","human_ref_B":"Do pure mathematics.. no lab = no funding needed.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":119683.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h73enhn","c_root_id_B":"h78lbrd","created_at_utc_A":1627659696,"created_at_utc_B":1627762547,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Where I'm at, full professors have 50 % of the workload allocated to research. Tenured lecturers get 30 %, no grants needed in either case. However, different disciplines are different. In many disciplines in Social sciences and Humanities, the main cost of research is the salaries of individual researchers. In STEM, you may have to build a new Hadron Collider, where researcher salaries are chump change in the big scheme of things. So, some research can be done without external funding, some can't.","human_ref_B":"Do pure mathematics.. no lab = no funding needed.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":102851.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h73zoim","c_root_id_B":"h78lbrd","created_at_utc_A":1627668567,"created_at_utc_B":1627762547,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"And that's why I left academia. \ud83d\ude05","human_ref_B":"Do pure mathematics.. no lab = no funding needed.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":93980.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ouahe1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Does grant writing ever end? Tl;dr- will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants, and can just focus on research and teaching? Cognitive Science PhD student here, soon to be applying for post docs and\/or faculty positions. I\u2019ve been attending professional development events, chatting with alumni from my program, attending funding workshops at conferences etc. Before I started th PhD, I thought that once you were a professor then your job was mainly to teach and do research, and that\u2019s what a university hires and pays you to do. Since I\u2019ve been on my program, I\u2019ve found out that you need the be continuously applying for grants in order to fund your research. The grant award rate (for any funding body) is astoundingly low, the grant writing process is usually immensely time consuming, and you\u2019re almost always working on the next proposal. My question is\u2014will there ever come a time in your career when you stop needing to apply for grants? When you can just, say, teach and do research?","c_root_id_A":"h78lbrd","c_root_id_B":"h74is8h","created_at_utc_A":1627762547,"created_at_utc_B":1627676620,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Do pure mathematics.. no lab = no funding needed.","human_ref_B":"As a staff member in sponsored research... No. It doesn't. You're either applying for funds either through government agencies, foundations, or corporate sponsors. Especially if you want a summer paycheck. And if you do get funded you're also working on all of your reporting while applying for the next round. If you don't want to do research, either be a full time lecturer or find one of the very few professorships that don't require it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":85927.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"e1hmwv","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is adding a co-author in a paper submission to handle journal fees bad? (Computer Science) \\-After doing my bachelor thesis, which took about 4 months, my supervisor recommended that I should publish the paper. He recommended an open-access popular journal that we should submit to. That journal has fees of about a 1000$, and my supervisor said that he knew someone that can pay the fees and his name will be added second after my name and my supervisor's name will come third. I can pay the fees, it is not a big deal, but If someone else can handle it is it a bad thing? specially since this is my first paper. So should I resist?","c_root_id_A":"f8p6jr7","c_root_id_B":"f8p6wa8","created_at_utc_A":1574696493,"created_at_utc_B":1574696657,"score_A":153,"score_B":249,"human_ref_A":"That's flat out academic fraud. Don't do it, and look for a different journal. Your advisor is providing BAD advice. And you should report your advisor - this is beyond questionable.","human_ref_B":"That is completely unethical. Authorship is about intellectual contribution to the work. Selling authorship is totally wrong.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":164.0,"score_ratio":1.6274509804} {"post_id":"e1hmwv","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is adding a co-author in a paper submission to handle journal fees bad? (Computer Science) \\-After doing my bachelor thesis, which took about 4 months, my supervisor recommended that I should publish the paper. He recommended an open-access popular journal that we should submit to. That journal has fees of about a 1000$, and my supervisor said that he knew someone that can pay the fees and his name will be added second after my name and my supervisor's name will come third. I can pay the fees, it is not a big deal, but If someone else can handle it is it a bad thing? specially since this is my first paper. So should I resist?","c_root_id_A":"f8paf03","c_root_id_B":"f8pb9db","created_at_utc_A":1574698304,"created_at_utc_B":1574698693,"score_A":16,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"Don't submit to a journal that charges you to publish. Academics do the research, write the papers, referee the papers and serve as editors. All (maybe not the last one in some cases) without charge to the journal. If they wont publish your paper open access for free, find an alternative journal that will. Failing that find a journal that will publish your paper without open access.","human_ref_B":"Do not spend money with an open-access option. Post a \u201cpre print\u201d to arXiv. This costs nothing. Send the exact same document to a traditional journal for review. This should also cost nothing. Once the journal reviews are done, update the arXiv paper as appropriate. *Boom*. Your paper is accessible at zero cost to you, and the wider world. People cite the journal version but always have access to the arXiv version.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":389.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"e1hmwv","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is adding a co-author in a paper submission to handle journal fees bad? (Computer Science) \\-After doing my bachelor thesis, which took about 4 months, my supervisor recommended that I should publish the paper. He recommended an open-access popular journal that we should submit to. That journal has fees of about a 1000$, and my supervisor said that he knew someone that can pay the fees and his name will be added second after my name and my supervisor's name will come third. I can pay the fees, it is not a big deal, but If someone else can handle it is it a bad thing? specially since this is my first paper. So should I resist?","c_root_id_A":"f8p97en","c_root_id_B":"f8pb9db","created_at_utc_A":1574697739,"created_at_utc_B":1574698693,"score_A":9,"score_B":28,"human_ref_A":"Are you still a student? Is there a dean of your college or of research (often lumped in with grad college) who could be asked for the funds? Heck, even a department chair might be willing to fund it. It looks good for the institution to have you publish.","human_ref_B":"Do not spend money with an open-access option. Post a \u201cpre print\u201d to arXiv. This costs nothing. Send the exact same document to a traditional journal for review. This should also cost nothing. Once the journal reviews are done, update the arXiv paper as appropriate. *Boom*. Your paper is accessible at zero cost to you, and the wider world. People cite the journal version but always have access to the arXiv version.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":954.0,"score_ratio":3.1111111111} {"post_id":"e1hmwv","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is adding a co-author in a paper submission to handle journal fees bad? (Computer Science) \\-After doing my bachelor thesis, which took about 4 months, my supervisor recommended that I should publish the paper. He recommended an open-access popular journal that we should submit to. That journal has fees of about a 1000$, and my supervisor said that he knew someone that can pay the fees and his name will be added second after my name and my supervisor's name will come third. I can pay the fees, it is not a big deal, but If someone else can handle it is it a bad thing? specially since this is my first paper. So should I resist?","c_root_id_A":"f8pgf96","c_root_id_B":"f8p97en","created_at_utc_A":1574701149,"created_at_utc_B":1574697739,"score_A":11,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Have close look at the journal's author info, often there's a fee-waiver for people who don't have grant funding or university resources (although, I'm not in CS)","human_ref_B":"Are you still a student? Is there a dean of your college or of research (often lumped in with grad college) who could be asked for the funds? Heck, even a department chair might be willing to fund it. It looks good for the institution to have you publish.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3410.0,"score_ratio":1.2222222222} {"post_id":"e1hmwv","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is adding a co-author in a paper submission to handle journal fees bad? (Computer Science) \\-After doing my bachelor thesis, which took about 4 months, my supervisor recommended that I should publish the paper. He recommended an open-access popular journal that we should submit to. That journal has fees of about a 1000$, and my supervisor said that he knew someone that can pay the fees and his name will be added second after my name and my supervisor's name will come third. I can pay the fees, it is not a big deal, but If someone else can handle it is it a bad thing? specially since this is my first paper. So should I resist?","c_root_id_A":"f8paf03","c_root_id_B":"f8p97en","created_at_utc_A":1574698304,"created_at_utc_B":1574697739,"score_A":16,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Don't submit to a journal that charges you to publish. Academics do the research, write the papers, referee the papers and serve as editors. All (maybe not the last one in some cases) without charge to the journal. If they wont publish your paper open access for free, find an alternative journal that will. Failing that find a journal that will publish your paper without open access.","human_ref_B":"Are you still a student? Is there a dean of your college or of research (often lumped in with grad college) who could be asked for the funds? Heck, even a department chair might be willing to fund it. It looks good for the institution to have you publish.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":565.0,"score_ratio":1.7777777778} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxq1md1","c_root_id_B":"hxqi7an","created_at_utc_A":1645376819,"created_at_utc_B":1645383556,"score_A":4,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Well first of all thank you for the work you do. Im a PhD student and I would not be where I am today without the help of the lab tech in my lab. From what I see in my department the funding in many labs is difficult to hire on a career lab tech (someone who will stay for a long time instead of a student between a degree and a job etc) and in some cases I\u2019ve known PIs that had to fire their long time lab tech due to funding issues. I think post docs and students are funded through different means than a lab tech since that are focused still on a project vs management position. The tech in my lab sounds very much like you where she is extremely busy and has to divide her time between machine maintenance, running\/assisting with research projects, teaching students and ordering things for the lab. I\u2019m my department has a long term lab tech is pretty rare and I would say only about 30% of the labs have a tech. In other departments in my university though lab techs seem to be more plentiful. In my lab senior students tend to take over some aspects of her job by assisting in teaching other students and some lab management roles such as cleaning, waste removal etc. I think we could definitely use a second lab tech but also it\u2019s great for senior students to help with some of the responsibilities in the lab to gain that experience and assist with the lab techs duties. We do tend to have either some recent MSc grads that stick around a semester or two that take on \u201cresearch assistant\u201d positions that do help with this work but again it\u2019s difficult to secure a high level of funding to pay a full salary for multiple years. Not sure if this helps at all\u2026","human_ref_B":"MS we had a dept technician (probably didn't hurt he had a pilot's license), PhD was mostly long term post docs. Agree with u\/racinreaver to look at national labs. I hired a BS a couple years ago, plus hired 3 already this year (one BS, one MS, one PhD). That's just local, not including all the technicians at my field sites. More stable than an academic lab, great pay and benefits. Just have to be flexible and willing to do the boring work too.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6737.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxq25kj","c_root_id_B":"hxqi7an","created_at_utc_A":1645377034,"created_at_utc_B":1645383556,"score_A":5,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I am in CS so our 'labs' are a bit different than e.g. biology. At a research group level, we have one software developer in the role of forskningsingenj\u00f6r (research engineer). Other research groups in the department have a similar person.Anything related to budgets and personnel is handled either by my group's project manager or HR at the department level. At the department level, we have IT services that offer all sort of support and help; from developing solutions for teaching to running VMs and anything else we need for our experiments (in the CS sense). They also deal with equipment maintenance and purchasing. Of course, some groups, e.g. our robotics one, rely on them more than others, e.g. logic foundations. We have a separate person dedicated to safety programs and offices. It needs to be said that none of these people makes less money than our postdocs.","human_ref_B":"MS we had a dept technician (probably didn't hurt he had a pilot's license), PhD was mostly long term post docs. Agree with u\/racinreaver to look at national labs. I hired a BS a couple years ago, plus hired 3 already this year (one BS, one MS, one PhD). That's just local, not including all the technicians at my field sites. More stable than an academic lab, great pay and benefits. Just have to be flexible and willing to do the boring work too.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6522.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxq1md1","c_root_id_B":"hxr49c8","created_at_utc_A":1645376819,"created_at_utc_B":1645392860,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Well first of all thank you for the work you do. Im a PhD student and I would not be where I am today without the help of the lab tech in my lab. From what I see in my department the funding in many labs is difficult to hire on a career lab tech (someone who will stay for a long time instead of a student between a degree and a job etc) and in some cases I\u2019ve known PIs that had to fire their long time lab tech due to funding issues. I think post docs and students are funded through different means than a lab tech since that are focused still on a project vs management position. The tech in my lab sounds very much like you where she is extremely busy and has to divide her time between machine maintenance, running\/assisting with research projects, teaching students and ordering things for the lab. I\u2019m my department has a long term lab tech is pretty rare and I would say only about 30% of the labs have a tech. In other departments in my university though lab techs seem to be more plentiful. In my lab senior students tend to take over some aspects of her job by assisting in teaching other students and some lab management roles such as cleaning, waste removal etc. I think we could definitely use a second lab tech but also it\u2019s great for senior students to help with some of the responsibilities in the lab to gain that experience and assist with the lab techs duties. We do tend to have either some recent MSc grads that stick around a semester or two that take on \u201cresearch assistant\u201d positions that do help with this work but again it\u2019s difficult to secure a high level of funding to pay a full salary for multiple years. Not sure if this helps at all\u2026","human_ref_B":"Every lab I've been in (including my own) I have wished to have more support from techs and research managers. Only now though do I realize the costs involved, though still really want it and think it would free me up to do much better work. I didn't realize how expensive people were until running my own lab. Salaries suck, but I have to pay benefits on top of that. I usually can't put one staff all on one grant unless that is truly all they'd be working on, so need multiple grants to put them on, and then the stress of them running out and me having to let go of awesome people. Students and postdocs can get more institutional support when money is tight through training grants, fellowships, TAships, etc, and the dept is more likely to save me and float some money to get my student to graduation than they would for staff. Anyways, basically saying I 100% agree that techs are worth their weight in gold and can make a huge positive difference in how a lab is run, but I'm guessing it'll be mid-career before I can have the techs I want.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16041.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxq25kj","c_root_id_B":"hxr49c8","created_at_utc_A":1645377034,"created_at_utc_B":1645392860,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I am in CS so our 'labs' are a bit different than e.g. biology. At a research group level, we have one software developer in the role of forskningsingenj\u00f6r (research engineer). Other research groups in the department have a similar person.Anything related to budgets and personnel is handled either by my group's project manager or HR at the department level. At the department level, we have IT services that offer all sort of support and help; from developing solutions for teaching to running VMs and anything else we need for our experiments (in the CS sense). They also deal with equipment maintenance and purchasing. Of course, some groups, e.g. our robotics one, rely on them more than others, e.g. logic foundations. We have a separate person dedicated to safety programs and offices. It needs to be said that none of these people makes less money than our postdocs.","human_ref_B":"Every lab I've been in (including my own) I have wished to have more support from techs and research managers. Only now though do I realize the costs involved, though still really want it and think it would free me up to do much better work. I didn't realize how expensive people were until running my own lab. Salaries suck, but I have to pay benefits on top of that. I usually can't put one staff all on one grant unless that is truly all they'd be working on, so need multiple grants to put them on, and then the stress of them running out and me having to let go of awesome people. Students and postdocs can get more institutional support when money is tight through training grants, fellowships, TAships, etc, and the dept is more likely to save me and float some money to get my student to graduation than they would for staff. Anyways, basically saying I 100% agree that techs are worth their weight in gold and can make a huge positive difference in how a lab is run, but I'm guessing it'll be mid-career before I can have the techs I want.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15826.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxqo9tp","c_root_id_B":"hxr49c8","created_at_utc_A":1645386087,"created_at_utc_B":1645392860,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I'm in physics and we aren't constantly going through reagents, etc, so it's a bit different. Our lab is managed by our postdocs mainly, with senior grad students training\/supervising junior ones. We do have a building lab manager deals with utilities\/facilities, radiation protection, technical drafting, and purchasing for \\~10 labs but they don't have their own research program or help run experiments.","human_ref_B":"Every lab I've been in (including my own) I have wished to have more support from techs and research managers. Only now though do I realize the costs involved, though still really want it and think it would free me up to do much better work. I didn't realize how expensive people were until running my own lab. Salaries suck, but I have to pay benefits on top of that. I usually can't put one staff all on one grant unless that is truly all they'd be working on, so need multiple grants to put them on, and then the stress of them running out and me having to let go of awesome people. Students and postdocs can get more institutional support when money is tight through training grants, fellowships, TAships, etc, and the dept is more likely to save me and float some money to get my student to graduation than they would for staff. Anyways, basically saying I 100% agree that techs are worth their weight in gold and can make a huge positive difference in how a lab is run, but I'm guessing it'll be mid-career before I can have the techs I want.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6773.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxr49c8","c_root_id_B":"hxqrkw5","created_at_utc_A":1645392860,"created_at_utc_B":1645387483,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Every lab I've been in (including my own) I have wished to have more support from techs and research managers. Only now though do I realize the costs involved, though still really want it and think it would free me up to do much better work. I didn't realize how expensive people were until running my own lab. Salaries suck, but I have to pay benefits on top of that. I usually can't put one staff all on one grant unless that is truly all they'd be working on, so need multiple grants to put them on, and then the stress of them running out and me having to let go of awesome people. Students and postdocs can get more institutional support when money is tight through training grants, fellowships, TAships, etc, and the dept is more likely to save me and float some money to get my student to graduation than they would for staff. Anyways, basically saying I 100% agree that techs are worth their weight in gold and can make a huge positive difference in how a lab is run, but I'm guessing it'll be mid-career before I can have the techs I want.","human_ref_B":"Chemistry\/chemical biology lab, PI is planning to hire a technician soon but otherwise we are only temporary staff (post docs, phds and some master students). Things like managing waste, supplies and ordering are done in scheduled rotations, with a few more experienced lab members usually responsible for key tasks. One of our phd students jokes that he\u2019s basically the lab manager, but yeah. I\u2019m curious to see how the dynamic will change once we get an actual technician","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5377.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxqlm1s","c_root_id_B":"hxr49c8","created_at_utc_A":1645384977,"created_at_utc_B":1645392860,"score_A":3,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Yes, such positions are common in larger, well-funded labs. You also might be happier in an industry setting. Certainly, you deserve better pay!","human_ref_B":"Every lab I've been in (including my own) I have wished to have more support from techs and research managers. Only now though do I realize the costs involved, though still really want it and think it would free me up to do much better work. I didn't realize how expensive people were until running my own lab. Salaries suck, but I have to pay benefits on top of that. I usually can't put one staff all on one grant unless that is truly all they'd be working on, so need multiple grants to put them on, and then the stress of them running out and me having to let go of awesome people. Students and postdocs can get more institutional support when money is tight through training grants, fellowships, TAships, etc, and the dept is more likely to save me and float some money to get my student to graduation than they would for staff. Anyways, basically saying I 100% agree that techs are worth their weight in gold and can make a huge positive difference in how a lab is run, but I'm guessing it'll be mid-career before I can have the techs I want.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7883.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxr49c8","c_root_id_B":"hxqwjz7","created_at_utc_A":1645392860,"created_at_utc_B":1645389596,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Every lab I've been in (including my own) I have wished to have more support from techs and research managers. Only now though do I realize the costs involved, though still really want it and think it would free me up to do much better work. I didn't realize how expensive people were until running my own lab. Salaries suck, but I have to pay benefits on top of that. I usually can't put one staff all on one grant unless that is truly all they'd be working on, so need multiple grants to put them on, and then the stress of them running out and me having to let go of awesome people. Students and postdocs can get more institutional support when money is tight through training grants, fellowships, TAships, etc, and the dept is more likely to save me and float some money to get my student to graduation than they would for staff. Anyways, basically saying I 100% agree that techs are worth their weight in gold and can make a huge positive difference in how a lab is run, but I'm guessing it'll be mid-career before I can have the techs I want.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m in industry and my lab is totally fend for yourself. They think lab tech is demeaning so principal scientists waste their time washing dishes and filling sample vials and taking the trash out It all pays the same\u2026so the employees are fine, but my employer isn\u2019t being smart with its skilled labor\u2019s time","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3264.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxq25kj","c_root_id_B":"hxq1md1","created_at_utc_A":1645377034,"created_at_utc_B":1645376819,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I am in CS so our 'labs' are a bit different than e.g. biology. At a research group level, we have one software developer in the role of forskningsingenj\u00f6r (research engineer). Other research groups in the department have a similar person.Anything related to budgets and personnel is handled either by my group's project manager or HR at the department level. At the department level, we have IT services that offer all sort of support and help; from developing solutions for teaching to running VMs and anything else we need for our experiments (in the CS sense). They also deal with equipment maintenance and purchasing. Of course, some groups, e.g. our robotics one, rely on them more than others, e.g. logic foundations. We have a separate person dedicated to safety programs and offices. It needs to be said that none of these people makes less money than our postdocs.","human_ref_B":"Well first of all thank you for the work you do. Im a PhD student and I would not be where I am today without the help of the lab tech in my lab. From what I see in my department the funding in many labs is difficult to hire on a career lab tech (someone who will stay for a long time instead of a student between a degree and a job etc) and in some cases I\u2019ve known PIs that had to fire their long time lab tech due to funding issues. I think post docs and students are funded through different means than a lab tech since that are focused still on a project vs management position. The tech in my lab sounds very much like you where she is extremely busy and has to divide her time between machine maintenance, running\/assisting with research projects, teaching students and ordering things for the lab. I\u2019m my department has a long term lab tech is pretty rare and I would say only about 30% of the labs have a tech. In other departments in my university though lab techs seem to be more plentiful. In my lab senior students tend to take over some aspects of her job by assisting in teaching other students and some lab management roles such as cleaning, waste removal etc. I think we could definitely use a second lab tech but also it\u2019s great for senior students to help with some of the responsibilities in the lab to gain that experience and assist with the lab techs duties. We do tend to have either some recent MSc grads that stick around a semester or two that take on \u201cresearch assistant\u201d positions that do help with this work but again it\u2019s difficult to secure a high level of funding to pay a full salary for multiple years. Not sure if this helps at all\u2026","labels":1,"seconds_difference":215.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxqo9tp","c_root_id_B":"hxqlm1s","created_at_utc_A":1645386087,"created_at_utc_B":1645384977,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm in physics and we aren't constantly going through reagents, etc, so it's a bit different. Our lab is managed by our postdocs mainly, with senior grad students training\/supervising junior ones. We do have a building lab manager deals with utilities\/facilities, radiation protection, technical drafting, and purchasing for \\~10 labs but they don't have their own research program or help run experiments.","human_ref_B":"Yes, such positions are common in larger, well-funded labs. You also might be happier in an industry setting. Certainly, you deserve better pay!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1110.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxqrkw5","c_root_id_B":"hxslzwe","created_at_utc_A":1645387483,"created_at_utc_B":1645417879,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Chemistry\/chemical biology lab, PI is planning to hire a technician soon but otherwise we are only temporary staff (post docs, phds and some master students). Things like managing waste, supplies and ordering are done in scheduled rotations, with a few more experienced lab members usually responsible for key tasks. One of our phd students jokes that he\u2019s basically the lab manager, but yeah. I\u2019m curious to see how the dynamic will change once we get an actual technician","human_ref_B":"I was in a quite large STEM group with many (20 ish) of postdocs and grad students. There\u2019s no lab manager hired for operating our group, or there were another lab manager who\u2019s supposed to spend tiny amount on us but ended up with more than 20% of the time were taken. Then there\u2019s one day the part-time manager had enough and decided to let us go and fly solo. It become a nightmare for all of the lab members \u2014 no one deals with wastes, not sure who\u2019s in charge of lab supplies, clueless about how to maintain DI water pipelines. And the worse of all was that no one knows who should be doing what because there were just too many of us. A lab manager and a well-established lab maintenance plan is very important and it\u2019s totally worth it to hire a designated person to spend significant amounts of time on. Btw I saw a few replies mentioned it \u2014 lab management responsibilities should not be on a person already with heavy research works. Lab management is a job that requires frequent inquiries from other people and coordination. These tasked require short term attention and quick responses will be expected, which is opposite to research work \u2014 longer time concentration without distribution. So yeah, hire a new person for lab management.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":30396.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxqlm1s","c_root_id_B":"hxslzwe","created_at_utc_A":1645384977,"created_at_utc_B":1645417879,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes, such positions are common in larger, well-funded labs. You also might be happier in an industry setting. Certainly, you deserve better pay!","human_ref_B":"I was in a quite large STEM group with many (20 ish) of postdocs and grad students. There\u2019s no lab manager hired for operating our group, or there were another lab manager who\u2019s supposed to spend tiny amount on us but ended up with more than 20% of the time were taken. Then there\u2019s one day the part-time manager had enough and decided to let us go and fly solo. It become a nightmare for all of the lab members \u2014 no one deals with wastes, not sure who\u2019s in charge of lab supplies, clueless about how to maintain DI water pipelines. And the worse of all was that no one knows who should be doing what because there were just too many of us. A lab manager and a well-established lab maintenance plan is very important and it\u2019s totally worth it to hire a designated person to spend significant amounts of time on. Btw I saw a few replies mentioned it \u2014 lab management responsibilities should not be on a person already with heavy research works. Lab management is a job that requires frequent inquiries from other people and coordination. These tasked require short term attention and quick responses will be expected, which is opposite to research work \u2014 longer time concentration without distribution. So yeah, hire a new person for lab management.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":32902.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxslzwe","c_root_id_B":"hxqwjz7","created_at_utc_A":1645417879,"created_at_utc_B":1645389596,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I was in a quite large STEM group with many (20 ish) of postdocs and grad students. There\u2019s no lab manager hired for operating our group, or there were another lab manager who\u2019s supposed to spend tiny amount on us but ended up with more than 20% of the time were taken. Then there\u2019s one day the part-time manager had enough and decided to let us go and fly solo. It become a nightmare for all of the lab members \u2014 no one deals with wastes, not sure who\u2019s in charge of lab supplies, clueless about how to maintain DI water pipelines. And the worse of all was that no one knows who should be doing what because there were just too many of us. A lab manager and a well-established lab maintenance plan is very important and it\u2019s totally worth it to hire a designated person to spend significant amounts of time on. Btw I saw a few replies mentioned it \u2014 lab management responsibilities should not be on a person already with heavy research works. Lab management is a job that requires frequent inquiries from other people and coordination. These tasked require short term attention and quick responses will be expected, which is opposite to research work \u2014 longer time concentration without distribution. So yeah, hire a new person for lab management.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m in industry and my lab is totally fend for yourself. They think lab tech is demeaning so principal scientists waste their time washing dishes and filling sample vials and taking the trash out It all pays the same\u2026so the employees are fine, but my employer isn\u2019t being smart with its skilled labor\u2019s time","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28283.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sx5fi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.98,"history":"What kind of support staff do you have in the lab? I've been a research tech at the same institution for 16 years. I started right out of undergrad, not knowing whether I wanted to go to grad school. I later decided that no, I did not, but that's not relevant to my question. I'm happy as a research tech and plan to do this \"forever\". 7 years into my career, I transitioned from a core facility to a research lab, as I wanted to be more involved in actual research vs performing specialized services to researchers. The lab used to have 1-3 research techs, but now it's just one (me) doing it all. We have also increased lab members and technologies, etc. thereby increasing the need for additional support staff. My PI is very reluctant to hire additional support staff now. He says there's not enough money, yet he's always advertising for new postdocs and welcoming new grad students. He's also scared because those hires are not temporary, and we've been burned in the past by getting poor workers that looked good on paper. I know the lab needs more support, though, and I've communicated that many times to no avail. I am inundated, mostly doing managerial tasks now and squeezing in as much research as I can with any spare time. I frequently work non-stop, not taking lunch or breaks in an effort to leave \"on time\", and I'm just exhausted by it. As you guys know, the pay is very low as well ($39K). Now to get to my question. I've realized that I still want to be \"just\" a research tech. I'm highly motivated to assist with research, collect data, run experiments etc. I'm highly productive. All the managing takes away from this, and it could be a much more efficient and productive lab with those roles being fulfilled by 2 people. I'm considering looking for a lab that is already well managed and wants a good tech. Is that realistic, though? How many labs have this scenario? I see a lot of labs without managers, and in some cases without any research techs. What is your lab like? Do you have sufficient support staff, or are you ok without it? In the absence of a lab manager, who is managing? I'm talking about onboarding and offboarding personnel, managing the chem waste\/safety programs, stocking and ordering supplies, training people on lab techniques, fixing\/maintaining equipment, shipping\/receiving reagents, managing inventories, etc. I do all this in addition to individual and collaborative research projects. I'm just interested in what it's like elsewhere and if this desire of mine is too idealistic. PS this is my first time posting, I hope I got the flair right :D","c_root_id_A":"hxqwjz7","c_root_id_B":"hxstj2y","created_at_utc_A":1645389596,"created_at_utc_B":1645422210,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m in industry and my lab is totally fend for yourself. They think lab tech is demeaning so principal scientists waste their time washing dishes and filling sample vials and taking the trash out It all pays the same\u2026so the employees are fine, but my employer isn\u2019t being smart with its skilled labor\u2019s time","human_ref_B":"Just to note about something that many more junior people misunderstand - i.e. budget streams. In short, not all money is created equal. I can fairly easily get money for a post-doc through my Institute, but I have zero chance of ever getting a tech through the Institute. The techs I have are funded through soft money (i.e. through a grant). I have to work much harder to keep my techs (I personally think they are invaluable) than I do to fund a post-doc.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":32614.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"sjudab","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Presenting a poster at my first in-person conference. Any tips for networking or making the most out of this? Just very anxious. Basically the title. My work was selected for another conference in December 2019. I was very anxious and totally crippled by Imposter Syndrome and withdrew my abstract before they published their booklet. Then Covid happened. So this is my first big in-person conference, in the fifth year of my PhD. There are multiple subgroups, talks and workshops scheduled for each day and I\u2019ve scoured the events to pack my schedule with as many talks as I can attend. What else should I be doing? Is it okay to approach PIs if I find their talk interesting? Another student from my lab got her postdoc offer in a similar networking situation at a conference. I tend to get nervous and clam up with new people. So any tips or general advice on navigating conferences is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hvhhvug","c_root_id_B":"hvhhn7h","created_at_utc_A":1643929134,"created_at_utc_B":1643929039,"score_A":9,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"You are not an imposter, you are a PhD-student; you\u2019re there to learn, ask questions and explore. Even your poster\/talk is not meant to definitively answer anything at all; the best science doesn\u2019t necessary provide good answers, but rather good questions.","human_ref_B":"Have a read through the abstracts and list the ones that sound the most interesting to you. Find out who\u2019s presenting them and read a little bit into their backstory and previous work. Then when you come across them at the conference, you\u2019ll have some specifics to chat about. You can ask them what got them into XYZ, and that you\u2019re really interested in that kind of work. This will often land you an invite to visit their lab group. If not, you can always send a follow up email and say \u201cHey \u2014 it was so great to run into you at the conference. I\u2019d love to come do a presentation of my work to your lab group if that would interest you?\u201d. At the very least this will put you on the radar! And even if it only results in another presentation, it\u2019s a line for the CV that otherwise wouldn\u2019t be there.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":95.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"sjudab","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Presenting a poster at my first in-person conference. Any tips for networking or making the most out of this? Just very anxious. Basically the title. My work was selected for another conference in December 2019. I was very anxious and totally crippled by Imposter Syndrome and withdrew my abstract before they published their booklet. Then Covid happened. So this is my first big in-person conference, in the fifth year of my PhD. There are multiple subgroups, talks and workshops scheduled for each day and I\u2019ve scoured the events to pack my schedule with as many talks as I can attend. What else should I be doing? Is it okay to approach PIs if I find their talk interesting? Another student from my lab got her postdoc offer in a similar networking situation at a conference. I tend to get nervous and clam up with new people. So any tips or general advice on navigating conferences is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hvhqs9s","c_root_id_B":"hvhhn7h","created_at_utc_A":1643932787,"created_at_utc_B":1643929039,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The best networking at conferences happens during social functions. If there are receptions, then go to those. Your advisor likely knows people who would be good to talk to, so ask him\/her to introduce you to them. You can also email people before the conference begins and set up a meeting over coffee to chat.","human_ref_B":"Have a read through the abstracts and list the ones that sound the most interesting to you. Find out who\u2019s presenting them and read a little bit into their backstory and previous work. Then when you come across them at the conference, you\u2019ll have some specifics to chat about. You can ask them what got them into XYZ, and that you\u2019re really interested in that kind of work. This will often land you an invite to visit their lab group. If not, you can always send a follow up email and say \u201cHey \u2014 it was so great to run into you at the conference. I\u2019d love to come do a presentation of my work to your lab group if that would interest you?\u201d. At the very least this will put you on the radar! And even if it only results in another presentation, it\u2019s a line for the CV that otherwise wouldn\u2019t be there.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3748.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sjudab","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Presenting a poster at my first in-person conference. Any tips for networking or making the most out of this? Just very anxious. Basically the title. My work was selected for another conference in December 2019. I was very anxious and totally crippled by Imposter Syndrome and withdrew my abstract before they published their booklet. Then Covid happened. So this is my first big in-person conference, in the fifth year of my PhD. There are multiple subgroups, talks and workshops scheduled for each day and I\u2019ve scoured the events to pack my schedule with as many talks as I can attend. What else should I be doing? Is it okay to approach PIs if I find their talk interesting? Another student from my lab got her postdoc offer in a similar networking situation at a conference. I tend to get nervous and clam up with new people. So any tips or general advice on navigating conferences is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hvjml9u","c_root_id_B":"hvhhn7h","created_at_utc_A":1643969982,"created_at_utc_B":1643929039,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Try not to be passive during your poster presentation, if someone lingers at your poster start a conversation. Just start simple by asking if they're interested in your work, what work they're doing, where they're doing it, etc. Usually they're PhD students just like yourself, too anxious to ask questions. But starting a conversation also offers you the opportunity to just explain what you've done, rather than watching them read your poster (very few people will read things in detail...). And others seeing you explain your work may cause them to stop and listen as well. Another thing to avoid is to get too preoccupied with talking to a single person, be open to others around you if they're there, give them the opportunity to join in. Networking in general is not my strong suit either, but generally found that pretty much anyone is very willing to talk about their work!","human_ref_B":"Have a read through the abstracts and list the ones that sound the most interesting to you. Find out who\u2019s presenting them and read a little bit into their backstory and previous work. Then when you come across them at the conference, you\u2019ll have some specifics to chat about. You can ask them what got them into XYZ, and that you\u2019re really interested in that kind of work. This will often land you an invite to visit their lab group. If not, you can always send a follow up email and say \u201cHey \u2014 it was so great to run into you at the conference. I\u2019d love to come do a presentation of my work to your lab group if that would interest you?\u201d. At the very least this will put you on the radar! And even if it only results in another presentation, it\u2019s a line for the CV that otherwise wouldn\u2019t be there.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":40943.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sjudab","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Presenting a poster at my first in-person conference. Any tips for networking or making the most out of this? Just very anxious. Basically the title. My work was selected for another conference in December 2019. I was very anxious and totally crippled by Imposter Syndrome and withdrew my abstract before they published their booklet. Then Covid happened. So this is my first big in-person conference, in the fifth year of my PhD. There are multiple subgroups, talks and workshops scheduled for each day and I\u2019ve scoured the events to pack my schedule with as many talks as I can attend. What else should I be doing? Is it okay to approach PIs if I find their talk interesting? Another student from my lab got her postdoc offer in a similar networking situation at a conference. I tend to get nervous and clam up with new people. So any tips or general advice on navigating conferences is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hvjml9u","c_root_id_B":"hviaeuf","created_at_utc_A":1643969982,"created_at_utc_B":1643941333,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Try not to be passive during your poster presentation, if someone lingers at your poster start a conversation. Just start simple by asking if they're interested in your work, what work they're doing, where they're doing it, etc. Usually they're PhD students just like yourself, too anxious to ask questions. But starting a conversation also offers you the opportunity to just explain what you've done, rather than watching them read your poster (very few people will read things in detail...). And others seeing you explain your work may cause them to stop and listen as well. Another thing to avoid is to get too preoccupied with talking to a single person, be open to others around you if they're there, give them the opportunity to join in. Networking in general is not my strong suit either, but generally found that pretty much anyone is very willing to talk about their work!","human_ref_B":"So I don't have networking advice for conferences unfortunately, but I do have a very vivid memory of my first poster conference and an older man asking me some random and confusing questions. When I asked my research mentor what he was talking about, he told me that he didn't understand it either and that some old professors like to mess with students as some sort of strange power trip. So I guess that's my only advice, look out for the people who are trying to put you down under the guise of an academic discussion.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28649.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sjudab","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Presenting a poster at my first in-person conference. Any tips for networking or making the most out of this? Just very anxious. Basically the title. My work was selected for another conference in December 2019. I was very anxious and totally crippled by Imposter Syndrome and withdrew my abstract before they published their booklet. Then Covid happened. So this is my first big in-person conference, in the fifth year of my PhD. There are multiple subgroups, talks and workshops scheduled for each day and I\u2019ve scoured the events to pack my schedule with as many talks as I can attend. What else should I be doing? Is it okay to approach PIs if I find their talk interesting? Another student from my lab got her postdoc offer in a similar networking situation at a conference. I tend to get nervous and clam up with new people. So any tips or general advice on navigating conferences is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hvjml9u","c_root_id_B":"hvih5ue","created_at_utc_A":1643969982,"created_at_utc_B":1643944328,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Try not to be passive during your poster presentation, if someone lingers at your poster start a conversation. Just start simple by asking if they're interested in your work, what work they're doing, where they're doing it, etc. Usually they're PhD students just like yourself, too anxious to ask questions. But starting a conversation also offers you the opportunity to just explain what you've done, rather than watching them read your poster (very few people will read things in detail...). And others seeing you explain your work may cause them to stop and listen as well. Another thing to avoid is to get too preoccupied with talking to a single person, be open to others around you if they're there, give them the opportunity to join in. Networking in general is not my strong suit either, but generally found that pretty much anyone is very willing to talk about their work!","human_ref_B":"be formal in your explanation. talk to those around you during the poster\u2026. maybe that will also put you at ease (maybe give informal presentations to them as practice for more formal explanation). i would talk to those around me at talks or poster sessions. Ask for business cards \/ exchange contact information and contact them soon after the conference. if there\u2019s a chance for coffee, beer, lunch or dinner - those were the best opportunities for friendships and networking! my first conference i was hammered by a judge and a friend of my advisor\u2026. will never forget that tough questioning. if this happened to you - remain professional (and hopefully we don\u2019t treat others that way ourselves). good luck\u2026.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":25654.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"sjudab","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Presenting a poster at my first in-person conference. Any tips for networking or making the most out of this? Just very anxious. Basically the title. My work was selected for another conference in December 2019. I was very anxious and totally crippled by Imposter Syndrome and withdrew my abstract before they published their booklet. Then Covid happened. So this is my first big in-person conference, in the fifth year of my PhD. There are multiple subgroups, talks and workshops scheduled for each day and I\u2019ve scoured the events to pack my schedule with as many talks as I can attend. What else should I be doing? Is it okay to approach PIs if I find their talk interesting? Another student from my lab got her postdoc offer in a similar networking situation at a conference. I tend to get nervous and clam up with new people. So any tips or general advice on navigating conferences is appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"hvjml9u","c_root_id_B":"hvikeep","created_at_utc_A":1643969982,"created_at_utc_B":1643945817,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Try not to be passive during your poster presentation, if someone lingers at your poster start a conversation. Just start simple by asking if they're interested in your work, what work they're doing, where they're doing it, etc. Usually they're PhD students just like yourself, too anxious to ask questions. But starting a conversation also offers you the opportunity to just explain what you've done, rather than watching them read your poster (very few people will read things in detail...). And others seeing you explain your work may cause them to stop and listen as well. Another thing to avoid is to get too preoccupied with talking to a single person, be open to others around you if they're there, give them the opportunity to join in. Networking in general is not my strong suit either, but generally found that pretty much anyone is very willing to talk about their work!","human_ref_B":"Don\u2019t over think it, just do the poster and go with the flow the rest of the time","labels":1,"seconds_difference":24165.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgg42rx","c_root_id_B":"hgfri39","created_at_utc_A":1634100087,"created_at_utc_B":1634093331,"score_A":12,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I used the dictate feature in Microsoft word to draft parts of my dissertation, and then go back and edit it by typing.","human_ref_B":"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/HT208343 \u201cOn iPhone 6s or later, and iPad, you can use dictation without being connected to the Internet. Earlier models of iPhone and iPad require an Internet connection\u201d","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6756.0,"score_ratio":1.7142857143} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggtrex","c_root_id_B":"hgfri39","created_at_utc_A":1634120975,"created_at_utc_B":1634093331,"score_A":11,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Hey! So, I suffer from a similar problem and have found that the most useful dictation software thingies to use aren't necessarily the ones you find on a laptop e.g. Dragon, and certainly not the built-in Word dictation tool. Rather, I've had success using what are essentially automatic transcribing apps, mostly designed for journalists, which record an audio recording and transcribe as it goes. The one I use is called Otter, and it's available for free as a mobile app. Literally switch it on, press record and watch as your words fill up the screen. You can then email the file to yourself as a text file. Accuracy rate is around 90%, I'd say, and since it records the audio, you can easily go back and correct anything where the transcription is incorrect.","human_ref_B":"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/HT208343 \u201cOn iPhone 6s or later, and iPad, you can use dictation without being connected to the Internet. Earlier models of iPhone and iPad require an Internet connection\u201d","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27644.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggkneq","c_root_id_B":"hggtrex","created_at_utc_A":1634112866,"created_at_utc_B":1634120975,"score_A":6,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I have done, but tbh going back over to edit what it got wrong was much more frustrating than just typing it out myself. I used the microsoft dictation feature and also did a trial of one of the popular dictation apps, forget which.","human_ref_B":"Hey! So, I suffer from a similar problem and have found that the most useful dictation software thingies to use aren't necessarily the ones you find on a laptop e.g. Dragon, and certainly not the built-in Word dictation tool. Rather, I've had success using what are essentially automatic transcribing apps, mostly designed for journalists, which record an audio recording and transcribe as it goes. The one I use is called Otter, and it's available for free as a mobile app. Literally switch it on, press record and watch as your words fill up the screen. You can then email the file to yourself as a text file. Accuracy rate is around 90%, I'd say, and since it records the audio, you can easily go back and correct anything where the transcription is incorrect.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8109.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggss53","c_root_id_B":"hggtrex","created_at_utc_A":1634120238,"created_at_utc_B":1634120975,"score_A":3,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I had an injury and needed to use dictation for bits of one paper. It's dreadful for academic writing because coverage for scientific\/domain terms is really weak and punctuation is a huge pain. Obviously anything that requires Tex or fancy markup is basically impossible. I ended up spending a good 50% of my time correcting dictation errors, rephrasing sentences, and adding punctuation. This was true across every tool I tried. I think dictation is fine in an office job where you're emailing colleagues, but for published work it's slower than even the worst typing. Try getting yourself some typing-tutor software. It'll pay off far better to just learn to type.","human_ref_B":"Hey! So, I suffer from a similar problem and have found that the most useful dictation software thingies to use aren't necessarily the ones you find on a laptop e.g. Dragon, and certainly not the built-in Word dictation tool. Rather, I've had success using what are essentially automatic transcribing apps, mostly designed for journalists, which record an audio recording and transcribe as it goes. The one I use is called Otter, and it's available for free as a mobile app. Literally switch it on, press record and watch as your words fill up the screen. You can then email the file to yourself as a text file. Accuracy rate is around 90%, I'd say, and since it records the audio, you can easily go back and correct anything where the transcription is incorrect.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":737.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggl51v","c_root_id_B":"hggtrex","created_at_utc_A":1634113328,"created_at_utc_B":1634120975,"score_A":3,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I looked into it, but as I write about as fast as I think (not fast) it didn't make sense. Others have success with it, but you need to practice and teach the AI to get full use of it. Also, spoken language and written language differs. You would have to get used to talking like you write (or spend time editing it).","human_ref_B":"Hey! So, I suffer from a similar problem and have found that the most useful dictation software thingies to use aren't necessarily the ones you find on a laptop e.g. Dragon, and certainly not the built-in Word dictation tool. Rather, I've had success using what are essentially automatic transcribing apps, mostly designed for journalists, which record an audio recording and transcribe as it goes. The one I use is called Otter, and it's available for free as a mobile app. Literally switch it on, press record and watch as your words fill up the screen. You can then email the file to yourself as a text file. Accuracy rate is around 90%, I'd say, and since it records the audio, you can easily go back and correct anything where the transcription is incorrect.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7647.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgh3544","c_root_id_B":"hggss53","created_at_utc_A":1634127467,"created_at_utc_B":1634120238,"score_A":6,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I have a wrist problem and had to do something similar for a while (I'm in the medical sciences). It highly depends on which software you use and how good your mic is, otherwise it becomes frustrating very quickly. Dragon is the best I've found, because it can be loaded with specialty specific vocabulary. However, the dictation software in Google Docs is a close second. It's free and rather decent. The built in software for Windows is dead last - it's the worst and not worth the effort to train it imo. Regardless of what you use, I'd recommend giving it a solid week of a try because it takes a bit to get fast.","human_ref_B":"I had an injury and needed to use dictation for bits of one paper. It's dreadful for academic writing because coverage for scientific\/domain terms is really weak and punctuation is a huge pain. Obviously anything that requires Tex or fancy markup is basically impossible. I ended up spending a good 50% of my time correcting dictation errors, rephrasing sentences, and adding punctuation. This was true across every tool I tried. I think dictation is fine in an office job where you're emailing colleagues, but for published work it's slower than even the worst typing. Try getting yourself some typing-tutor software. It'll pay off far better to just learn to type.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7229.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggl51v","c_root_id_B":"hgh3544","created_at_utc_A":1634113328,"created_at_utc_B":1634127467,"score_A":3,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I looked into it, but as I write about as fast as I think (not fast) it didn't make sense. Others have success with it, but you need to practice and teach the AI to get full use of it. Also, spoken language and written language differs. You would have to get used to talking like you write (or spend time editing it).","human_ref_B":"I have a wrist problem and had to do something similar for a while (I'm in the medical sciences). It highly depends on which software you use and how good your mic is, otherwise it becomes frustrating very quickly. Dragon is the best I've found, because it can be loaded with specialty specific vocabulary. However, the dictation software in Google Docs is a close second. It's free and rather decent. The built in software for Windows is dead last - it's the worst and not worth the effort to train it imo. Regardless of what you use, I'd recommend giving it a solid week of a try because it takes a bit to get fast.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14139.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgh9vgn","c_root_id_B":"hggss53","created_at_utc_A":1634131069,"created_at_utc_B":1634120238,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I've used dragon for a lot of my writing. It tends to help me get unstuck because I can talk out what I want to say without losing the train of thought while my fingers try to catch up typing, plus I can pace around the room while I talk it out. Dragon has an educators version for relatively cheap. It can take a bit to get it to adjust to your voice but once it does it works great.","human_ref_B":"I had an injury and needed to use dictation for bits of one paper. It's dreadful for academic writing because coverage for scientific\/domain terms is really weak and punctuation is a huge pain. Obviously anything that requires Tex or fancy markup is basically impossible. I ended up spending a good 50% of my time correcting dictation errors, rephrasing sentences, and adding punctuation. This was true across every tool I tried. I think dictation is fine in an office job where you're emailing colleagues, but for published work it's slower than even the worst typing. Try getting yourself some typing-tutor software. It'll pay off far better to just learn to type.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10831.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgh9vgn","c_root_id_B":"hgi9skp","created_at_utc_A":1634131069,"created_at_utc_B":1634146103,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I've used dragon for a lot of my writing. It tends to help me get unstuck because I can talk out what I want to say without losing the train of thought while my fingers try to catch up typing, plus I can pace around the room while I talk it out. Dragon has an educators version for relatively cheap. It can take a bit to get it to adjust to your voice but once it does it works great.","human_ref_B":"I've been struggling with writer's block and writing anxiety the past few months. The dictation software on Microsoft office actually helped me get back into writing. It's helpful for drafting your thoughts but I found that I had to completely rewrite after the fact.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15034.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgh9vgn","c_root_id_B":"hgidt0m","created_at_utc_A":1634131069,"created_at_utc_B":1634147629,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I've used dragon for a lot of my writing. It tends to help me get unstuck because I can talk out what I want to say without losing the train of thought while my fingers try to catch up typing, plus I can pace around the room while I talk it out. Dragon has an educators version for relatively cheap. It can take a bit to get it to adjust to your voice but once it does it works great.","human_ref_B":"The best one out there for me was Dragon Dictate. It was quickly and easily trained up to your voice and words could be added easily too. I say *was* because they no longer make it for mac laptops or desktops. If you want to dictate into your phone have fun. It's still around for PC. The mac dictate is OK about the same as the Google Doc, slower than Dragon with more errors.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16560.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgh9vgn","c_root_id_B":"hggl51v","created_at_utc_A":1634131069,"created_at_utc_B":1634113328,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I've used dragon for a lot of my writing. It tends to help me get unstuck because I can talk out what I want to say without losing the train of thought while my fingers try to catch up typing, plus I can pace around the room while I talk it out. Dragon has an educators version for relatively cheap. It can take a bit to get it to adjust to your voice but once it does it works great.","human_ref_B":"I looked into it, but as I write about as fast as I think (not fast) it didn't make sense. Others have success with it, but you need to practice and teach the AI to get full use of it. Also, spoken language and written language differs. You would have to get used to talking like you write (or spend time editing it).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17741.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggss53","c_root_id_B":"hghxquv","created_at_utc_A":1634120238,"created_at_utc_B":1634141286,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I had an injury and needed to use dictation for bits of one paper. It's dreadful for academic writing because coverage for scientific\/domain terms is really weak and punctuation is a huge pain. Obviously anything that requires Tex or fancy markup is basically impossible. I ended up spending a good 50% of my time correcting dictation errors, rephrasing sentences, and adding punctuation. This was true across every tool I tried. I think dictation is fine in an office job where you're emailing colleagues, but for published work it's slower than even the worst typing. Try getting yourself some typing-tutor software. It'll pay off far better to just learn to type.","human_ref_B":"Dragon is amazing. I\u2019ve personally used it and I vouch for it. But i did not use it for academic context, mainly for commercial work. Dragon does have the downside of not being able to capture every single nuance of academic writing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":21048.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgi9skp","c_root_id_B":"hggss53","created_at_utc_A":1634146103,"created_at_utc_B":1634120238,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I've been struggling with writer's block and writing anxiety the past few months. The dictation software on Microsoft office actually helped me get back into writing. It's helpful for drafting your thoughts but I found that I had to completely rewrite after the fact.","human_ref_B":"I had an injury and needed to use dictation for bits of one paper. It's dreadful for academic writing because coverage for scientific\/domain terms is really weak and punctuation is a huge pain. Obviously anything that requires Tex or fancy markup is basically impossible. I ended up spending a good 50% of my time correcting dictation errors, rephrasing sentences, and adding punctuation. This was true across every tool I tried. I think dictation is fine in an office job where you're emailing colleagues, but for published work it's slower than even the worst typing. Try getting yourself some typing-tutor software. It'll pay off far better to just learn to type.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":25865.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgidt0m","c_root_id_B":"hggss53","created_at_utc_A":1634147629,"created_at_utc_B":1634120238,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The best one out there for me was Dragon Dictate. It was quickly and easily trained up to your voice and words could be added easily too. I say *was* because they no longer make it for mac laptops or desktops. If you want to dictate into your phone have fun. It's still around for PC. The mac dictate is OK about the same as the Google Doc, slower than Dragon with more errors.","human_ref_B":"I had an injury and needed to use dictation for bits of one paper. It's dreadful for academic writing because coverage for scientific\/domain terms is really weak and punctuation is a huge pain. Obviously anything that requires Tex or fancy markup is basically impossible. I ended up spending a good 50% of my time correcting dictation errors, rephrasing sentences, and adding punctuation. This was true across every tool I tried. I think dictation is fine in an office job where you're emailing colleagues, but for published work it's slower than even the worst typing. Try getting yourself some typing-tutor software. It'll pay off far better to just learn to type.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27391.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hghxquv","c_root_id_B":"hgi9skp","created_at_utc_A":1634141286,"created_at_utc_B":1634146103,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Dragon is amazing. I\u2019ve personally used it and I vouch for it. But i did not use it for academic context, mainly for commercial work. Dragon does have the downside of not being able to capture every single nuance of academic writing.","human_ref_B":"I've been struggling with writer's block and writing anxiety the past few months. The dictation software on Microsoft office actually helped me get back into writing. It's helpful for drafting your thoughts but I found that I had to completely rewrite after the fact.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4817.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgidt0m","c_root_id_B":"hghxquv","created_at_utc_A":1634147629,"created_at_utc_B":1634141286,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"The best one out there for me was Dragon Dictate. It was quickly and easily trained up to your voice and words could be added easily too. I say *was* because they no longer make it for mac laptops or desktops. If you want to dictate into your phone have fun. It's still around for PC. The mac dictate is OK about the same as the Google Doc, slower than Dragon with more errors.","human_ref_B":"Dragon is amazing. I\u2019ve personally used it and I vouch for it. But i did not use it for academic context, mainly for commercial work. Dragon does have the downside of not being able to capture every single nuance of academic writing.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6343.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggl51v","c_root_id_B":"hghxquv","created_at_utc_A":1634113328,"created_at_utc_B":1634141286,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I looked into it, but as I write about as fast as I think (not fast) it didn't make sense. Others have success with it, but you need to practice and teach the AI to get full use of it. Also, spoken language and written language differs. You would have to get used to talking like you write (or spend time editing it).","human_ref_B":"Dragon is amazing. I\u2019ve personally used it and I vouch for it. But i did not use it for academic context, mainly for commercial work. Dragon does have the downside of not being able to capture every single nuance of academic writing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":27958.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hghjb7n","c_root_id_B":"hghxquv","created_at_utc_A":1634135380,"created_at_utc_B":1634141286,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Microsoft word has a dictation feature. In a crunch, I use my phone's voice to text into an email to do it. I've had Dragon and the like, but they're overpriced with very little benefit over the inbuilt features of the two things I use.","human_ref_B":"Dragon is amazing. I\u2019ve personally used it and I vouch for it. But i did not use it for academic context, mainly for commercial work. Dragon does have the downside of not being able to capture every single nuance of academic writing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5906.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgi9skp","c_root_id_B":"hggl51v","created_at_utc_A":1634146103,"created_at_utc_B":1634113328,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I've been struggling with writer's block and writing anxiety the past few months. The dictation software on Microsoft office actually helped me get back into writing. It's helpful for drafting your thoughts but I found that I had to completely rewrite after the fact.","human_ref_B":"I looked into it, but as I write about as fast as I think (not fast) it didn't make sense. Others have success with it, but you need to practice and teach the AI to get full use of it. Also, spoken language and written language differs. You would have to get used to talking like you write (or spend time editing it).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":32775.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgi9skp","c_root_id_B":"hghjb7n","created_at_utc_A":1634146103,"created_at_utc_B":1634135380,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I've been struggling with writer's block and writing anxiety the past few months. The dictation software on Microsoft office actually helped me get back into writing. It's helpful for drafting your thoughts but I found that I had to completely rewrite after the fact.","human_ref_B":"Microsoft word has a dictation feature. In a crunch, I use my phone's voice to text into an email to do it. I've had Dragon and the like, but they're overpriced with very little benefit over the inbuilt features of the two things I use.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10723.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hggl51v","c_root_id_B":"hgidt0m","created_at_utc_A":1634113328,"created_at_utc_B":1634147629,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I looked into it, but as I write about as fast as I think (not fast) it didn't make sense. Others have success with it, but you need to practice and teach the AI to get full use of it. Also, spoken language and written language differs. You would have to get used to talking like you write (or spend time editing it).","human_ref_B":"The best one out there for me was Dragon Dictate. It was quickly and easily trained up to your voice and words could be added easily too. I say *was* because they no longer make it for mac laptops or desktops. If you want to dictate into your phone have fun. It's still around for PC. The mac dictate is OK about the same as the Google Doc, slower than Dragon with more errors.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":34301.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"q71fwq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'm in the social sciences if that matters. I'm considering experimenting with dictation software. I'm a slow typist and often feel like there is a block between my thoughts and how they come out when I type. Speaking my thoughts feels much more natural. Does anyone have experience using dictation software for academic writing? I'd be very interested in hearing your experience and what setup you use.","c_root_id_A":"hgidt0m","c_root_id_B":"hghjb7n","created_at_utc_A":1634147629,"created_at_utc_B":1634135380,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The best one out there for me was Dragon Dictate. It was quickly and easily trained up to your voice and words could be added easily too. I say *was* because they no longer make it for mac laptops or desktops. If you want to dictate into your phone have fun. It's still around for PC. The mac dictate is OK about the same as the Google Doc, slower than Dragon with more errors.","human_ref_B":"Microsoft word has a dictation feature. In a crunch, I use my phone's voice to text into an email to do it. I've had Dragon and the like, but they're overpriced with very little benefit over the inbuilt features of the two things I use.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12249.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65mrpg","c_root_id_B":"h65oxrf","created_at_utc_A":1626978413,"created_at_utc_B":1626979327,"score_A":7,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I did it. My PhD was funded, but I felt like I wanted to continue climbing in my career while pursuing the PhD. The first 2 years where I was heavily involved in course work was really hard, but after I finished my qualifying exams\/became a candidate, it wasn't too bad to work and plug away on my dissertation at the same time.","human_ref_B":"Yep. I was the primary wage earner and insurance carrier for my family. While I was offered a really nice fellowship package, it wasn't anywhere near enough to meet my household's needs, so I decided to keep working and just make it work. It worked. Mostly. I found coursework easier than candidacy\/dissertation because of external deadlines rather than self-imposed ones (I'm also ADHD, so ymmv on that...). Toward the end, I switched jobs to one that was more aligned with my research and academic work and that made a HUGE difference because my brain didn't have to switch focus and ways of working constantly anymore. For reference, I'm in the social sciences (no lab\/field work) and had a kid, a partner (who stayed home with said kid), a mortgage, both sets of our parents within three miles, and a job that was reasonably flexible schedule-wise but not at all aligned with my studies. My job also offered partial tuition reimbursement which helped offset my tuition costs but didn't cover them all. I was well into my career at that point and the tuition costs were easier to stomach than a massive pay cut and having to pay ridiculous premiums for insurance for my partner and kid. I will say there is a big difference between a program that is willing to accept students who are working full-time outside of the program and programs that embrace students who are working. Try to get a sense of this as you're considering applying.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":914.0,"score_ratio":3.8571428571} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65oxrf","c_root_id_B":"h65nm0y","created_at_utc_A":1626979327,"created_at_utc_B":1626978769,"score_A":27,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Yep. I was the primary wage earner and insurance carrier for my family. While I was offered a really nice fellowship package, it wasn't anywhere near enough to meet my household's needs, so I decided to keep working and just make it work. It worked. Mostly. I found coursework easier than candidacy\/dissertation because of external deadlines rather than self-imposed ones (I'm also ADHD, so ymmv on that...). Toward the end, I switched jobs to one that was more aligned with my research and academic work and that made a HUGE difference because my brain didn't have to switch focus and ways of working constantly anymore. For reference, I'm in the social sciences (no lab\/field work) and had a kid, a partner (who stayed home with said kid), a mortgage, both sets of our parents within three miles, and a job that was reasonably flexible schedule-wise but not at all aligned with my studies. My job also offered partial tuition reimbursement which helped offset my tuition costs but didn't cover them all. I was well into my career at that point and the tuition costs were easier to stomach than a massive pay cut and having to pay ridiculous premiums for insurance for my partner and kid. I will say there is a big difference between a program that is willing to accept students who are working full-time outside of the program and programs that embrace students who are working. Try to get a sense of this as you're considering applying.","human_ref_B":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":558.0,"score_ratio":13.5} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65mrpg","c_root_id_B":"h661lod","created_at_utc_A":1626978413,"created_at_utc_B":1626984854,"score_A":7,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"I did it. My PhD was funded, but I felt like I wanted to continue climbing in my career while pursuing the PhD. The first 2 years where I was heavily involved in course work was really hard, but after I finished my qualifying exams\/became a candidate, it wasn't too bad to work and plug away on my dissertation at the same time.","human_ref_B":"My husband currently is and...it\u2019s not going to well. Science\/med area PhD. He is full time working in the same field as his part time PhD topic, but not in the same research area. It\u2019s been quite hard for him to find time for his PhD \u2014 So much so that he is about to start his 7th year and hasn\u2019t published a first author paper. Take that as you will","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6441.0,"score_ratio":3.7142857143} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h661lod","c_root_id_B":"h65tho4","created_at_utc_A":1626984854,"created_at_utc_B":1626981292,"score_A":26,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"My husband currently is and...it\u2019s not going to well. Science\/med area PhD. He is full time working in the same field as his part time PhD topic, but not in the same research area. It\u2019s been quite hard for him to find time for his PhD \u2014 So much so that he is about to start his 7th year and hasn\u2019t published a first author paper. Take that as you will","human_ref_B":"What's your field, country, etc.? In many (most?) top STEM programs in the US, your funding package is conditional on limits on outside work during the semester. A desire to work full-time would either force you to fund yourself through the program (terrible idea) or specifically hunt for programs that would permit it, which is rather limiting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3562.0,"score_ratio":4.3333333333} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h661lod","c_root_id_B":"h65ppzi","created_at_utc_A":1626984854,"created_at_utc_B":1626979661,"score_A":26,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"My husband currently is and...it\u2019s not going to well. Science\/med area PhD. He is full time working in the same field as his part time PhD topic, but not in the same research area. It\u2019s been quite hard for him to find time for his PhD \u2014 So much so that he is about to start his 7th year and hasn\u2019t published a first author paper. Take that as you will","human_ref_B":"I will be and won't lie, I'm a little nervous about the workload. So I compromised and will just be doing part time classes to start with. And I've been working this job for the past year so it won't be a sudden change.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5193.0,"score_ratio":6.5} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65nm0y","c_root_id_B":"h661lod","created_at_utc_A":1626978769,"created_at_utc_B":1626984854,"score_A":2,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","human_ref_B":"My husband currently is and...it\u2019s not going to well. Science\/med area PhD. He is full time working in the same field as his part time PhD topic, but not in the same research area. It\u2019s been quite hard for him to find time for his PhD \u2014 So much so that he is about to start his 7th year and hasn\u2019t published a first author paper. Take that as you will","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6085.0,"score_ratio":13.0} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65tho4","c_root_id_B":"h65ppzi","created_at_utc_A":1626981292,"created_at_utc_B":1626979661,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"What's your field, country, etc.? In many (most?) top STEM programs in the US, your funding package is conditional on limits on outside work during the semester. A desire to work full-time would either force you to fund yourself through the program (terrible idea) or specifically hunt for programs that would permit it, which is rather limiting.","human_ref_B":"I will be and won't lie, I'm a little nervous about the workload. So I compromised and will just be doing part time classes to start with. And I've been working this job for the past year so it won't be a sudden change.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1631.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65nm0y","c_root_id_B":"h65tho4","created_at_utc_A":1626978769,"created_at_utc_B":1626981292,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","human_ref_B":"What's your field, country, etc.? In many (most?) top STEM programs in the US, your funding package is conditional on limits on outside work during the semester. A desire to work full-time would either force you to fund yourself through the program (terrible idea) or specifically hunt for programs that would permit it, which is rather limiting.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2523.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66qi8b","c_root_id_B":"h65ppzi","created_at_utc_A":1626996344,"created_at_utc_B":1626979661,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"My mom did. She\u2019s a single mom, two kids, and a teacher. She said it was tough, some days were much much harder than others but she\u2019s so proud and I\u2019m proud of her as well","human_ref_B":"I will be and won't lie, I'm a little nervous about the workload. So I compromised and will just be doing part time classes to start with. And I've been working this job for the past year so it won't be a sudden change.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":16683.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h668ij5","c_root_id_B":"h66qi8b","created_at_utc_A":1626987934,"created_at_utc_B":1626996344,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I was older & married, but yes I worked while getting my PhD. I worked for the university & the program I was getting my degree in so just stayed later- no kids at that point. Was pretty intense & took way longer than usual, but my boss, major professor, committee & department understood & supported me when needed.","human_ref_B":"My mom did. She\u2019s a single mom, two kids, and a teacher. She said it was tough, some days were much much harder than others but she\u2019s so proud and I\u2019m proud of her as well","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8410.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66qi8b","c_root_id_B":"h65nm0y","created_at_utc_A":1626996344,"created_at_utc_B":1626978769,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"My mom did. She\u2019s a single mom, two kids, and a teacher. She said it was tough, some days were much much harder than others but she\u2019s so proud and I\u2019m proud of her as well","human_ref_B":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17575.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66qi8b","c_root_id_B":"h664lie","created_at_utc_A":1626996344,"created_at_utc_B":1626986204,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"My mom did. She\u2019s a single mom, two kids, and a teacher. She said it was tough, some days were much much harder than others but she\u2019s so proud and I\u2019m proud of her as well","human_ref_B":"I did but my program was tailored to working students. It was \u201cexecutive style\u201d and classes met with intensives a few weekends a year. I am in a field that doesn\u2019t require lab work and my school did not fund the PhD students although they did encourage you to apply for pre doc funding after admission, I couldn\u2019t take the pay cut from my full time job. My program was doable but there were many late nights and more stress toward the end. I also got a lot of comments from professors who didn\u2019t think PhD students should work and was told by the program director I should probably drop out. But, I didn\u2019t, and I finished, and I wouldn\u2019t have changed a thing. Now, I ended up getting a job at a teaching institution, which I wanted. If I was looking to be more research focused I would have been better served to make those connections at school, get on more studies and maybe do a pre doc or post doc. It all depends on the program and your goals.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10140.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66j62h","c_root_id_B":"h66qi8b","created_at_utc_A":1626992755,"created_at_utc_B":1626996344,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"A PhD already *is* a full time job, plus. I spend more than a full time job\u2019s worth of time just doing my research activities. Once you add meetings, teaching obligations and classes, it\u2019s easily a full time job plus a part time job to get everything I need to done. This is to say, I wouldn\u2019t recommend anyone try to work outside of their PhD obligations.","human_ref_B":"My mom did. She\u2019s a single mom, two kids, and a teacher. She said it was tough, some days were much much harder than others but she\u2019s so proud and I\u2019m proud of her as well","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3589.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65ppzi","c_root_id_B":"h66t322","created_at_utc_A":1626979661,"created_at_utc_B":1626997900,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I will be and won't lie, I'm a little nervous about the workload. So I compromised and will just be doing part time classes to start with. And I've been working this job for the past year so it won't be a sudden change.","human_ref_B":"Worked full-time and additional extracurricular responsibilities during an Ed.D. Ed.D. programs can range in rigor, but this was a top tier program and can produce dissertations at the Ph.D. level. I say that so you can get a sense of how you may interpret my experience and how it may compare to a Ph.D. program. All that said, it\u2019s doable so long as you are very explicit about the time you can dedicate on a daily or weekly basis to stay current with readings and writing. I had daily time allotted. Some times I needed it and it was great when I didn\u2019t. And each weekend I had at least three hours of dedicated, uninterrupted work time. That\u2019s what worked for me. Others felt more comfortable just making time as they needed. Or would disappear for a weekend to get things done. But, either way, prepare for the workload and be consistent. It\u2019s doable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18239.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65nm0y","c_root_id_B":"h65ppzi","created_at_utc_A":1626978769,"created_at_utc_B":1626979661,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","human_ref_B":"I will be and won't lie, I'm a little nervous about the workload. So I compromised and will just be doing part time classes to start with. And I've been working this job for the past year so it won't be a sudden change.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":892.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66t322","c_root_id_B":"h668ij5","created_at_utc_A":1626997900,"created_at_utc_B":1626987934,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Worked full-time and additional extracurricular responsibilities during an Ed.D. Ed.D. programs can range in rigor, but this was a top tier program and can produce dissertations at the Ph.D. level. I say that so you can get a sense of how you may interpret my experience and how it may compare to a Ph.D. program. All that said, it\u2019s doable so long as you are very explicit about the time you can dedicate on a daily or weekly basis to stay current with readings and writing. I had daily time allotted. Some times I needed it and it was great when I didn\u2019t. And each weekend I had at least three hours of dedicated, uninterrupted work time. That\u2019s what worked for me. Others felt more comfortable just making time as they needed. Or would disappear for a weekend to get things done. But, either way, prepare for the workload and be consistent. It\u2019s doable.","human_ref_B":"I was older & married, but yes I worked while getting my PhD. I worked for the university & the program I was getting my degree in so just stayed later- no kids at that point. Was pretty intense & took way longer than usual, but my boss, major professor, committee & department understood & supported me when needed.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9966.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65nm0y","c_root_id_B":"h668ij5","created_at_utc_A":1626978769,"created_at_utc_B":1626987934,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","human_ref_B":"I was older & married, but yes I worked while getting my PhD. I worked for the university & the program I was getting my degree in so just stayed later- no kids at that point. Was pretty intense & took way longer than usual, but my boss, major professor, committee & department understood & supported me when needed.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9165.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h668ij5","c_root_id_B":"h664lie","created_at_utc_A":1626987934,"created_at_utc_B":1626986204,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I was older & married, but yes I worked while getting my PhD. I worked for the university & the program I was getting my degree in so just stayed later- no kids at that point. Was pretty intense & took way longer than usual, but my boss, major professor, committee & department understood & supported me when needed.","human_ref_B":"I did but my program was tailored to working students. It was \u201cexecutive style\u201d and classes met with intensives a few weekends a year. I am in a field that doesn\u2019t require lab work and my school did not fund the PhD students although they did encourage you to apply for pre doc funding after admission, I couldn\u2019t take the pay cut from my full time job. My program was doable but there were many late nights and more stress toward the end. I also got a lot of comments from professors who didn\u2019t think PhD students should work and was told by the program director I should probably drop out. But, I didn\u2019t, and I finished, and I wouldn\u2019t have changed a thing. Now, I ended up getting a job at a teaching institution, which I wanted. If I was looking to be more research focused I would have been better served to make those connections at school, get on more studies and maybe do a pre doc or post doc. It all depends on the program and your goals.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1730.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66t322","c_root_id_B":"h65nm0y","created_at_utc_A":1626997900,"created_at_utc_B":1626978769,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Worked full-time and additional extracurricular responsibilities during an Ed.D. Ed.D. programs can range in rigor, but this was a top tier program and can produce dissertations at the Ph.D. level. I say that so you can get a sense of how you may interpret my experience and how it may compare to a Ph.D. program. All that said, it\u2019s doable so long as you are very explicit about the time you can dedicate on a daily or weekly basis to stay current with readings and writing. I had daily time allotted. Some times I needed it and it was great when I didn\u2019t. And each weekend I had at least three hours of dedicated, uninterrupted work time. That\u2019s what worked for me. Others felt more comfortable just making time as they needed. Or would disappear for a weekend to get things done. But, either way, prepare for the workload and be consistent. It\u2019s doable.","human_ref_B":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19131.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66t322","c_root_id_B":"h664lie","created_at_utc_A":1626997900,"created_at_utc_B":1626986204,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Worked full-time and additional extracurricular responsibilities during an Ed.D. Ed.D. programs can range in rigor, but this was a top tier program and can produce dissertations at the Ph.D. level. I say that so you can get a sense of how you may interpret my experience and how it may compare to a Ph.D. program. All that said, it\u2019s doable so long as you are very explicit about the time you can dedicate on a daily or weekly basis to stay current with readings and writing. I had daily time allotted. Some times I needed it and it was great when I didn\u2019t. And each weekend I had at least three hours of dedicated, uninterrupted work time. That\u2019s what worked for me. Others felt more comfortable just making time as they needed. Or would disappear for a weekend to get things done. But, either way, prepare for the workload and be consistent. It\u2019s doable.","human_ref_B":"I did but my program was tailored to working students. It was \u201cexecutive style\u201d and classes met with intensives a few weekends a year. I am in a field that doesn\u2019t require lab work and my school did not fund the PhD students although they did encourage you to apply for pre doc funding after admission, I couldn\u2019t take the pay cut from my full time job. My program was doable but there were many late nights and more stress toward the end. I also got a lot of comments from professors who didn\u2019t think PhD students should work and was told by the program director I should probably drop out. But, I didn\u2019t, and I finished, and I wouldn\u2019t have changed a thing. Now, I ended up getting a job at a teaching institution, which I wanted. If I was looking to be more research focused I would have been better served to make those connections at school, get on more studies and maybe do a pre doc or post doc. It all depends on the program and your goals.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11696.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66j62h","c_root_id_B":"h66t322","created_at_utc_A":1626992755,"created_at_utc_B":1626997900,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"A PhD already *is* a full time job, plus. I spend more than a full time job\u2019s worth of time just doing my research activities. Once you add meetings, teaching obligations and classes, it\u2019s easily a full time job plus a part time job to get everything I need to done. This is to say, I wouldn\u2019t recommend anyone try to work outside of their PhD obligations.","human_ref_B":"Worked full-time and additional extracurricular responsibilities during an Ed.D. Ed.D. programs can range in rigor, but this was a top tier program and can produce dissertations at the Ph.D. level. I say that so you can get a sense of how you may interpret my experience and how it may compare to a Ph.D. program. All that said, it\u2019s doable so long as you are very explicit about the time you can dedicate on a daily or weekly basis to stay current with readings and writing. I had daily time allotted. Some times I needed it and it was great when I didn\u2019t. And each weekend I had at least three hours of dedicated, uninterrupted work time. That\u2019s what worked for me. Others felt more comfortable just making time as they needed. Or would disappear for a weekend to get things done. But, either way, prepare for the workload and be consistent. It\u2019s doable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5145.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65nm0y","c_root_id_B":"h664lie","created_at_utc_A":1626978769,"created_at_utc_B":1626986204,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","human_ref_B":"I did but my program was tailored to working students. It was \u201cexecutive style\u201d and classes met with intensives a few weekends a year. I am in a field that doesn\u2019t require lab work and my school did not fund the PhD students although they did encourage you to apply for pre doc funding after admission, I couldn\u2019t take the pay cut from my full time job. My program was doable but there were many late nights and more stress toward the end. I also got a lot of comments from professors who didn\u2019t think PhD students should work and was told by the program director I should probably drop out. But, I didn\u2019t, and I finished, and I wouldn\u2019t have changed a thing. Now, I ended up getting a job at a teaching institution, which I wanted. If I was looking to be more research focused I would have been better served to make those connections at school, get on more studies and maybe do a pre doc or post doc. It all depends on the program and your goals.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7435.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h65nm0y","c_root_id_B":"h66j62h","created_at_utc_A":1626978769,"created_at_utc_B":1626992755,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","human_ref_B":"A PhD already *is* a full time job, plus. I spend more than a full time job\u2019s worth of time just doing my research activities. Once you add meetings, teaching obligations and classes, it\u2019s easily a full time job plus a part time job to get everything I need to done. This is to say, I wouldn\u2019t recommend anyone try to work outside of their PhD obligations.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13986.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h685kmu","c_root_id_B":"h65nm0y","created_at_utc_A":1627027664,"created_at_utc_B":1626978769,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Don\u2019t do it. I know several people who have. They didn\u2019t really learn or become experts in their fields.","human_ref_B":"I worked part time throughout my (fully funded) PhD (humanities field). First, you need to be fully funded. I would say the only exceptions to this would be something like a PsyD or EdD program where most people aren't funded and also work a full time job along the way. I've never met someone outside of these two fields that worked full time during a PhD. Most universities will not allow it. Even working part time during your PhD can be a huge struggle, especially during the first two to three years (coursework and quals). Your time management skills will need to be very good, and you will need to be excellent at using your allotted work-time to get work done. If you're a procrastinator you will struggle. Also, most universities have policies about how many outside hours you are allowed to work.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":48895.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h66j62h","c_root_id_B":"h664lie","created_at_utc_A":1626992755,"created_at_utc_B":1626986204,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"A PhD already *is* a full time job, plus. I spend more than a full time job\u2019s worth of time just doing my research activities. Once you add meetings, teaching obligations and classes, it\u2019s easily a full time job plus a part time job to get everything I need to done. This is to say, I wouldn\u2019t recommend anyone try to work outside of their PhD obligations.","human_ref_B":"I did but my program was tailored to working students. It was \u201cexecutive style\u201d and classes met with intensives a few weekends a year. I am in a field that doesn\u2019t require lab work and my school did not fund the PhD students although they did encourage you to apply for pre doc funding after admission, I couldn\u2019t take the pay cut from my full time job. My program was doable but there were many late nights and more stress toward the end. I also got a lot of comments from professors who didn\u2019t think PhD students should work and was told by the program director I should probably drop out. But, I didn\u2019t, and I finished, and I wouldn\u2019t have changed a thing. Now, I ended up getting a job at a teaching institution, which I wanted. If I was looking to be more research focused I would have been better served to make those connections at school, get on more studies and maybe do a pre doc or post doc. It all depends on the program and your goals.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6551.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"opj8df","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Any of you worked full time while pursuing PHD at same time? How was it? Should I do it?","c_root_id_A":"h6763ue","c_root_id_B":"h685kmu","created_at_utc_A":1627004656,"created_at_utc_B":1627027664,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"The most I could handle was working 2 days a week while doing a full-time PhD. Even that I felt like research progress was slow and work-life balance was suffering so I dropped work after a year. Potentially full time work with a part time PhD could work, but something has to give. Either the quality of the research, the quality of your work, or the quality of your life.","human_ref_B":"Don\u2019t do it. I know several people who have. They didn\u2019t really learn or become experts in their fields.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23008.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"knyazs","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"How do academics plan out chaotic processes like learning & research? I've been trying and mostly failing to plan my own learning and research endeavors for a long time now. It's really frustrating and I wanted to know what people in the field like to do solve this problem given the inherent uncertainty in research & learning? I've tried planning very ambiguous time blocks in my day like \"figure out x\", or \"brainstorm ideas\" into \"implement ideas\". But this feels like lip service which doesn't really offer much in the way of benefit like planning should. I think I've had the most success after I've already had the 'aha' moments and I know clearly what I need to do to proceed. Especially for example once I have my findings and am just writing the paper. But for the actual creativity & learning parts it's still a big question mark more or less.","c_root_id_A":"gho0d1g","c_root_id_B":"gho27rk","created_at_utc_A":1609467349,"created_at_utc_B":1609468550,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"There are two types of plan: the one you intend to do, and the one you tell your supervisor about. In my experience, attempting to plan anything you haven't already done several times is time better spent doing the thing you're tying to plan. You can try to imagine how it'll go, what tools\/materials\/code\/books you'll need, how long it'll be till someone else wants the equipment; often that can help, but the first few times you do something all you can really plan for is how much time you're going to sit there doing it (and you'll usually be wrong). Rather than plan everything out, simply know you have these 'x, y, z' things to do, and pin down any that require other people to be\/not be there. The rest will just happen when they become convenient or pressing. (At least this works for me, I'm sure someone reading this will see this as their idea of Hell.) That said, do set aside regular time to read\/write papers or that really will never get done.","human_ref_B":"It really depends on your field - what you're trying to study or learn. What is your field? Different levels of education rely on different amounts of guidance from teachers. A novice in a new field or studying a new topic will often be at a loss with where to start because they don't know what's important (everything is new and important!) and how it is all connected. Professors are subject matter experts. So they know where to start and how things are connected so they can guide others. Who do you have who can guide you in the your field of interest? Are you a grad student? If so, look for a research methods class in your field. Research methods classes generally cover the research process, how to plan, conduct a literature review, and collect data. At least, this is the case for the humanities. STEM is probably different. At a more basic level, it helps if you define your problem or research question very clearly. Then construct a basic reading list. Start with surverys or histories of the field or meta-analyses of different studies to get a good overview. From there, you can narrow things down. Decide if you need to shift focus, add, or subtract. Time how long it takes you to do things. How quickly you read (pages per hour or articles per day). How do you take notes? As you read or after? How long does it take you to make it compile your notes? When you get to the writing phase, how many words per hour? How long does it take you to outline or edit? Monitor yourself. Try different things. And use those as estimates in planning for the future. For example: I read and annotate about 3 chapters\/articles per day and make notes on post-its. I write about 2-3,000 words per day for things like lit reviews when I'm pulling from multiple sources and also editing the prior day's writing. Based on my reading list and paper length, that will tell me how long a project will take. I can write 5,000+ words per day of original, reflective, or analytical work. I always leave a week between the final draft and the first major edit. Distance makes editing better. If I'm doing original research (interviews, focus groups, data analysis), I time tasks. An interview takes me 60 minutes, 3x that to transcribe, and 2x that to code and memo for analysis. How many interviews depends on the project, topic, and type of research. You have to work all these things out for yourself through trial and error and it will depend very much on your field and methods. Don't do it alone. Always talk to others. Ask out what works for them. Talk about your process. Learning and research works better when it's social. That's why colleges exist. It's a weird situation that many people now, even in colleges, perceive themselves as isolated. Fight that! Make learning social and collective. And remember - no plan ever survives contact with reality! Be flexible and keep learning how to learn. Good luck! Edits - typos.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1201.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"knyazs","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"How do academics plan out chaotic processes like learning & research? I've been trying and mostly failing to plan my own learning and research endeavors for a long time now. It's really frustrating and I wanted to know what people in the field like to do solve this problem given the inherent uncertainty in research & learning? I've tried planning very ambiguous time blocks in my day like \"figure out x\", or \"brainstorm ideas\" into \"implement ideas\". But this feels like lip service which doesn't really offer much in the way of benefit like planning should. I think I've had the most success after I've already had the 'aha' moments and I know clearly what I need to do to proceed. Especially for example once I have my findings and am just writing the paper. But for the actual creativity & learning parts it's still a big question mark more or less.","c_root_id_A":"gho0d1g","c_root_id_B":"ghocb1h","created_at_utc_A":1609467349,"created_at_utc_B":1609475572,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"There are two types of plan: the one you intend to do, and the one you tell your supervisor about. In my experience, attempting to plan anything you haven't already done several times is time better spent doing the thing you're tying to plan. You can try to imagine how it'll go, what tools\/materials\/code\/books you'll need, how long it'll be till someone else wants the equipment; often that can help, but the first few times you do something all you can really plan for is how much time you're going to sit there doing it (and you'll usually be wrong). Rather than plan everything out, simply know you have these 'x, y, z' things to do, and pin down any that require other people to be\/not be there. The rest will just happen when they become convenient or pressing. (At least this works for me, I'm sure someone reading this will see this as their idea of Hell.) That said, do set aside regular time to read\/write papers or that really will never get done.","human_ref_B":"I don't understand the \"chaotic\" reference. Research, at least in my experience, is a very ordered and methodical ordeal. You start with an end goal\/problem to be solved, divide the tasks to be done into smaller chunks. Execute the chunks as needed. Set proper deadlines for yourself so that you don't slack on achieving these chunks. The main issue is definitely asking the right questions to formulate problem statement and setting your end goal. This IMO can be a bit chaotic, as till you come up with something no one else has asked before, or a very different version of the question, you are \"stuck\". Good journaling, talking to your co-authors or advisors about ideas (half baked or not) and good rest can help with this step.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8223.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"tppmiv","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Insider info on choosing between candidates for faculty positions? I just completed a 2 day zoom interview for my dream position. I have never felt so good about an interview. I felt like I really connected with the people and demonstrated shared values and goals. I got along really well with everyone, including a lot of laughter and casual conversation. They seemed really interested in my research and teaching propositions. I got a lot of great feedback and positive comments, like \"that was such a thoughtful and well articulated response, I couldn't agree more\". During my exit interview I asked the chair how the department would feel about my proposed research projects and they said something like \"selfishly, I hope you work on project X that you mentioned, because I am really interested in it.\" At the end of it, I thought to myself, if I don't get this offer I will be really surprised. However, they interviewed 3 other people. So, now I am wondering, could one of them have had a more successful interview than me? Did the other 3 all have such great interviews? How will the committee choose? I would love to get any insight from those who have been on search committees in the past. How does it usually go when choosing a candidate? Is there usually 1 standout that wins unanimously, or is it common to be torn between a couple of candidates? I would imagine if you really liked all 3-4 candidates it would be a very tough decision. In my mind I feel like I must have been the best, but maybe the others are all thinking the same, and the committee will be hard pressed to choose the winner. Thanks a lot!","c_root_id_A":"i2cfxys","c_root_id_B":"i2clr6n","created_at_utc_A":1648407080,"created_at_utc_B":1648409567,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"It sounds like you did well but we often interview people who think they did great but did not. There are many other factors. Laughter and casual conversation mean they liked you as a person, not as a faculty member. It\u2019s good, but not what is most important. Someone else may have more or better publications so to answer your question of course it is possible that someone else had a better interview. But it sounds like you did well. Hang tight and wait for the news. Good luck. Almost everyone is surprised when they are not selected.","human_ref_B":"In the past, I\u2019ve been told that a good interview experience is the sign of good potential colleagues and a healthy department. It doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that you\u2019re the preferred candidate. This seems to resonate with interviews and offers I\u2019ve taken over the years.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2487.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"erma24i","c_root_id_B":"erm8wnf","created_at_utc_A":1561012124,"created_at_utc_B":1561010701,"score_A":49,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"If their sign off has switched, you can start calling them by their first name (or whatever they sign off as). It\u2019ll be more weird for you to switch than it will be for them - I\u2019m a tenured academic and still feel weird calling my undergrad advisor by his first name after all these years!","human_ref_B":"If I'm in your situation, I'll still address them with Dr.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1423.0,"score_ratio":9.8} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermg6hi","c_root_id_B":"ermegcu","created_at_utc_A":1561020880,"created_at_utc_B":1561018196,"score_A":32,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I always go by whatever senior people sign their emails with. And I expect my students to do the same. I am sure, they switched their e-mail signature to signal it is fine for you to call them by their first name.","human_ref_B":"I feel like if I add them on Facebook then I'll think about switching.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2684.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermg6hi","c_root_id_B":"erm8wnf","created_at_utc_A":1561020880,"created_at_utc_B":1561010701,"score_A":32,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I always go by whatever senior people sign their emails with. And I expect my students to do the same. I am sure, they switched their e-mail signature to signal it is fine for you to call them by their first name.","human_ref_B":"If I'm in your situation, I'll still address them with Dr.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10179.0,"score_ratio":6.4} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermfhh0","c_root_id_B":"ermg6hi","created_at_utc_A":1561019792,"created_at_utc_B":1561020880,"score_A":3,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"This is a toughie. I think you should let the prof take the lead. I say this because I have gotten diametrically opposing signals from former professors. one in particular wanted to keep things strictly formal and another seemed kind of hurt when I called him professor after running into him on the street.","human_ref_B":"I always go by whatever senior people sign their emails with. And I expect my students to do the same. I am sure, they switched their e-mail signature to signal it is fine for you to call them by their first name.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1088.0,"score_ratio":10.6666666667} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermg6hi","c_root_id_B":"ermfn9t","created_at_utc_A":1561020880,"created_at_utc_B":1561020043,"score_A":32,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I always go by whatever senior people sign their emails with. And I expect my students to do the same. I am sure, they switched their e-mail signature to signal it is fine for you to call them by their first name.","human_ref_B":"I never get why people worry about this, seriously would you care if you were them? I use the formal Dr. X the first time I email them, then after that I'll just use their first name, especially with my supervisor who you would have been much closer with. But again it really doesn't matter because I don't think anyone who's worth talking to would care about that.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":837.0,"score_ratio":10.6666666667} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermegcu","c_root_id_B":"erm8wnf","created_at_utc_A":1561018196,"created_at_utc_B":1561010701,"score_A":12,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I feel like if I add them on Facebook then I'll think about switching.","human_ref_B":"If I'm in your situation, I'll still address them with Dr.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7495.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"erm8wnf","c_root_id_B":"ermlw17","created_at_utc_A":1561010701,"created_at_utc_B":1561029218,"score_A":5,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"If I'm in your situation, I'll still address them with Dr.","human_ref_B":"Auuugh, I wish I knew. I'm doing my PhD in France, at the same university where I did my master's degree (at which point I was wholly formal with any staff), and so not only do I have to deal with titles, first vs last name, but also the whole *tu* vs *vous* thing. Hello nightmare of convoluted sentences that avoid 2nd person pronouns as much as possible.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18517.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermh5l5","c_root_id_B":"ermlw17","created_at_utc_A":1561022436,"created_at_utc_B":1561029218,"score_A":5,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I never thought that this was a thing? From day one I call my professors by first name, without prof. or dr. and I think they would be offended if I did, because it would seem more distant. But this depends per country\/culture I think.","human_ref_B":"Auuugh, I wish I knew. I'm doing my PhD in France, at the same university where I did my master's degree (at which point I was wholly formal with any staff), and so not only do I have to deal with titles, first vs last name, but also the whole *tu* vs *vous* thing. Hello nightmare of convoluted sentences that avoid 2nd person pronouns as much as possible.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6782.0,"score_ratio":2.2} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermlw17","c_root_id_B":"ermfhh0","created_at_utc_A":1561029218,"created_at_utc_B":1561019792,"score_A":11,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Auuugh, I wish I knew. I'm doing my PhD in France, at the same university where I did my master's degree (at which point I was wholly formal with any staff), and so not only do I have to deal with titles, first vs last name, but also the whole *tu* vs *vous* thing. Hello nightmare of convoluted sentences that avoid 2nd person pronouns as much as possible.","human_ref_B":"This is a toughie. I think you should let the prof take the lead. I say this because I have gotten diametrically opposing signals from former professors. one in particular wanted to keep things strictly formal and another seemed kind of hurt when I called him professor after running into him on the street.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9426.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermgv5o","c_root_id_B":"ermlw17","created_at_utc_A":1561021977,"created_at_utc_B":1561029218,"score_A":4,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"This is so strange to me. At my uni we always address our professors by their first name with no \"Dr\". I'd say you're fine to address them by their first name.","human_ref_B":"Auuugh, I wish I knew. I'm doing my PhD in France, at the same university where I did my master's degree (at which point I was wholly formal with any staff), and so not only do I have to deal with titles, first vs last name, but also the whole *tu* vs *vous* thing. Hello nightmare of convoluted sentences that avoid 2nd person pronouns as much as possible.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7241.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermfn9t","c_root_id_B":"ermlw17","created_at_utc_A":1561020043,"created_at_utc_B":1561029218,"score_A":3,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"I never get why people worry about this, seriously would you care if you were them? I use the formal Dr. X the first time I email them, then after that I'll just use their first name, especially with my supervisor who you would have been much closer with. But again it really doesn't matter because I don't think anyone who's worth talking to would care about that.","human_ref_B":"Auuugh, I wish I knew. I'm doing my PhD in France, at the same university where I did my master's degree (at which point I was wholly formal with any staff), and so not only do I have to deal with titles, first vs last name, but also the whole *tu* vs *vous* thing. Hello nightmare of convoluted sentences that avoid 2nd person pronouns as much as possible.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9175.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermh5l5","c_root_id_B":"ermfhh0","created_at_utc_A":1561022436,"created_at_utc_B":1561019792,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I never thought that this was a thing? From day one I call my professors by first name, without prof. or dr. and I think they would be offended if I did, because it would seem more distant. But this depends per country\/culture I think.","human_ref_B":"This is a toughie. I think you should let the prof take the lead. I say this because I have gotten diametrically opposing signals from former professors. one in particular wanted to keep things strictly formal and another seemed kind of hurt when I called him professor after running into him on the street.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2644.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermgv5o","c_root_id_B":"ermh5l5","created_at_utc_A":1561021977,"created_at_utc_B":1561022436,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"This is so strange to me. At my uni we always address our professors by their first name with no \"Dr\". I'd say you're fine to address them by their first name.","human_ref_B":"I never thought that this was a thing? From day one I call my professors by first name, without prof. or dr. and I think they would be offended if I did, because it would seem more distant. But this depends per country\/culture I think.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":459.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermh5l5","c_root_id_B":"ermfn9t","created_at_utc_A":1561022436,"created_at_utc_B":1561020043,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I never thought that this was a thing? From day one I call my professors by first name, without prof. or dr. and I think they would be offended if I did, because it would seem more distant. But this depends per country\/culture I think.","human_ref_B":"I never get why people worry about this, seriously would you care if you were them? I use the formal Dr. X the first time I email them, then after that I'll just use their first name, especially with my supervisor who you would have been much closer with. But again it really doesn't matter because I don't think anyone who's worth talking to would care about that.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2393.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermfhh0","c_root_id_B":"ermgv5o","created_at_utc_A":1561019792,"created_at_utc_B":1561021977,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"This is a toughie. I think you should let the prof take the lead. I say this because I have gotten diametrically opposing signals from former professors. one in particular wanted to keep things strictly formal and another seemed kind of hurt when I called him professor after running into him on the street.","human_ref_B":"This is so strange to me. At my uni we always address our professors by their first name with no \"Dr\". I'd say you're fine to address them by their first name.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2185.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"c2saxq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.95,"history":"Is it weird to switch from formal to informal in addressing a past professor? During my undergrad, I became relatively close to two professors. Each served as a thesis advisor for my degree theses; has written numerous recommendations for fellowships, grad programs and jobs on my behalf; and has had me write recommendations for awards and professorships they were going for. I graduated four years ago but I've maintained somewhat steady contact with both professors (1-2 times a year). I have ALWAYS used \"Dr. XXX\" when writing or talking to them, both in undergrad and in past communications. However, I've noticed they have both begun signing off on their emails with their first names (something they never did before). Should I continue to use \"Dr.\" as a sign of respect or are they signaling me that we're past the strict student-professor relationship now?","c_root_id_A":"ermfn9t","c_root_id_B":"ermgv5o","created_at_utc_A":1561020043,"created_at_utc_B":1561021977,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I never get why people worry about this, seriously would you care if you were them? I use the formal Dr. X the first time I email them, then after that I'll just use their first name, especially with my supervisor who you would have been much closer with. But again it really doesn't matter because I don't think anyone who's worth talking to would care about that.","human_ref_B":"This is so strange to me. At my uni we always address our professors by their first name with no \"Dr\". I'd say you're fine to address them by their first name.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1934.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"8k4hb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"What consequences are there for removing participants from a study and how does it affect the results? I'm new to all this, excuse my ignorance. Does it just affect the validity of the research? Does it bring the researchers motives into question? Does it skew the data a certain way?","c_root_id_A":"dz4qzeq","c_root_id_B":"dz4po6l","created_at_utc_A":1526567402,"created_at_utc_B":1526566115,"score_A":9,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I mean, the questions are always \"why did you do this\" and \"do the results change if you didn't\".","human_ref_B":"You better have a damn good reason for doing so.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1287.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"8k4hb8","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"What consequences are there for removing participants from a study and how does it affect the results? I'm new to all this, excuse my ignorance. Does it just affect the validity of the research? Does it bring the researchers motives into question? Does it skew the data a certain way?","c_root_id_A":"dz4po6l","c_root_id_B":"dz58mu3","created_at_utc_A":1526566115,"created_at_utc_B":1526583119,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"You better have a damn good reason for doing so.","human_ref_B":"Yes, it certainly biases your results. Those participants might share common characteristics that reduces the validity and applicability of your research. Also, if you've performed a power calculation to work out your sample size and haven't sufficiently accounted for participant attrition, you study might end up being under\\-powered and your results invalidated.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17004.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"mca4br","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"My boss hates my writing Hi! I am a postdoc and I have a lot of current problems in my present lab. However, the one that puzzled me and exasperated me the most is that my boss HATES my writing. I know I am by no means a perfect writer and I know my first drafts suck, but it's the first time in my academic career I've encountered so much resistance towards my writing. I even had reviewers praise the conciseness and clarity of one of my conference abstracts! My Ph.D. supervisor was a great mentor and gave good feedback, but none of them invalidated my writing. However, my current boss basically invalidates my writing. She told me that I write like an undergrad and she changes everything I write. I have enough self-esteem and impostor syndrome problems as is, but this is really getting me. I think I am going to quit. Not sure what to do. I don't want to write another paper anymore... What should I do?","c_root_id_A":"gs2ekt1","c_root_id_B":"gs2ffvs","created_at_utc_A":1616604145,"created_at_utc_B":1616604506,"score_A":9,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"A writer can always improve. Do her edits have merit? Are you paying attention to the types of changes she\u2019s making? Maybe she\u2019s just delivering her critique in a shitty way.","human_ref_B":"Have you sought help from your university's writing center or any other resources that could help you improve your writing? If you are sending them truly \"first drafts,\" I highly recommend you stop doing that since you acknowledge that they are always bad. Write a draft, leave it for at least a day, then go back and edit it with fresh eyes. I also recommend trying to find a way to not take the edits so personally. I used to go beet red and get defensive and on the verge of tears when I got substantial edits back to my writing, because I went so long in school without any serious critiques (so many students are truly awful at writing, so my \"good enough\" writing was rubber stamped). But my first boss post-masters, who was very good at writing and very liberal and straight-forward with edits, told me to view her edits as wanting the publication to be the best it could be. She framed writing as a practice and my writing abilities as dynamic and pliable (rather than a static quality or personal trait). She helped me see that her edits were an investment in my skills and that improving my writing was a tactic for improving future publications, and that helped me see feedback as helpful rather than threatening.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":361.0,"score_ratio":1.5555555556} {"post_id":"mca4br","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"My boss hates my writing Hi! I am a postdoc and I have a lot of current problems in my present lab. However, the one that puzzled me and exasperated me the most is that my boss HATES my writing. I know I am by no means a perfect writer and I know my first drafts suck, but it's the first time in my academic career I've encountered so much resistance towards my writing. I even had reviewers praise the conciseness and clarity of one of my conference abstracts! My Ph.D. supervisor was a great mentor and gave good feedback, but none of them invalidated my writing. However, my current boss basically invalidates my writing. She told me that I write like an undergrad and she changes everything I write. I have enough self-esteem and impostor syndrome problems as is, but this is really getting me. I think I am going to quit. Not sure what to do. I don't want to write another paper anymore... What should I do?","c_root_id_A":"gs2klcx","c_root_id_B":"gs2mgzw","created_at_utc_A":1616606676,"created_at_utc_B":1616607470,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Have you read some of her previous work? What do you think about her writing style compared to yours? Also, it sounds like your PI may be a micromanager...? If the problems outweigh the positives in your current lab, perhaps you can consider looking for another lab.","human_ref_B":"From what you describe here, there is no reason to believe there is anything won't with your writing. You may simply have a different style from hers, and she only wants writing in her style to represent her work. I teach writing and still often struggle not to correct writing styles that are very different from my own as \"wrong.\" Different isn't necessarily wrong (though it can be inappropriate for the material, setting, or purpose). Assume this is the case and don't worry too much. Mimic her style when you write for this boss, if only to minimize headaches, and keep your own style otherwise. If you want a fresh set of neutral eyes, you can DM me and I can take a look to offer a writing professor's opinion, but since no one else has ever criticized your writing before now, I imagine it's only stylistic differences.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":794.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"sgvrcd","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"How to do a literature review if there is no literature published on the area? I am a geology student and I am trying to do a literature review. The problem is that the study area is very small and there is no literature published on it. My master's guide is the first person to work on this previously unexplored area. His earlier masters' students have worked in this area but I think I can't use their thesis as a reference in my paper. Can someone please help me out here? If someone has published a paper on a novel work can you link it here? It might help me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"huywjea","c_root_id_B":"huywjo1","created_at_utc_A":1643616035,"created_at_utc_B":1643616040,"score_A":12,"score_B":68,"human_ref_A":"I have, but in a different field. I think it helps to draw bigger circles around your problem. Or think about it like that: your work sits in a ven diagram of a broader field, methods, theories \u2026 write about those.","human_ref_B":"Your literature review should explain the gap in the existing field that your project will fill. Is there literature in surrounding areas that you can discuss? You need to set the scene for the reader and explain why they should care about your project. For example, you might be doing a project on a new technique for basket weaving that saves hundreds of hours. Your lit review should talk about basket weaving in general, then narrow down to the various techniques of basket weaving (i.e. what's been done before). You can then talk about the fact that no-one has done research on your specific technique yet, and then explain your project.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"sgvrcd","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"How to do a literature review if there is no literature published on the area? I am a geology student and I am trying to do a literature review. The problem is that the study area is very small and there is no literature published on it. My master's guide is the first person to work on this previously unexplored area. His earlier masters' students have worked in this area but I think I can't use their thesis as a reference in my paper. Can someone please help me out here? If someone has published a paper on a novel work can you link it here? It might help me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"huzdyvn","c_root_id_B":"huzha8l","created_at_utc_A":1643629723,"created_at_utc_B":1643631896,"score_A":6,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"A completed and archived master\u2019s thesis is something you can use and cite, absolutely. As someone else mentioned, a lit review \u201csets the stage\u201d for supporting science\/studies around your topic and you then make the case for your bit of proposed research that fills in the gaps.","human_ref_B":"Hello fellow geologist. Part of a literature review is putting even novel subjects or locations into context with existing literature. The best way is to think about it is in terms of relevant process. If your \"study area\" is a field area, it's not surprising that there might not be anything published on some hyper specific location (there are lots of spots out there with basically no published work), so the key is to focus on the process(es) that are important in that area and that your study would investigate. For example, if you're studying some specific little section of a river, the lit review shouldn't be searching for things about that river specifically, but the thing you're hoping to study in that river (sediment transport? erosion? bedform migration? etc). Even if your \"study area\" is not a physical location, but itself a process, but some super niche process that has not seen much work, it will be nested within some other set of related processes. Sticking with the river example, if you're studying some super unique type of erosion that appears to only happen in one location (probably not a realistic example, but you get the idea), your lit review would be focused on erosion processes more broadly to put what you're studying in context (i.e., how do things normally work compared to the weird things happening in your case). Approaching things from the process perspective at the broadest sense is a valuable lesson to learn in the geosciences, as typically the community of people who will care about a hyper specific place or niche sub-process is extremely small, so to maximize the usefulness of what you're doing, you need to think about how it is connected to much bigger processes (that more people care about). If you get high enough up the chain where you've meaningfully connected what you're studying to a topic covered in an intro geology textbook, then you've probably arrived.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2173.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"sgvrcd","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"How to do a literature review if there is no literature published on the area? I am a geology student and I am trying to do a literature review. The problem is that the study area is very small and there is no literature published on it. My master's guide is the first person to work on this previously unexplored area. His earlier masters' students have worked in this area but I think I can't use their thesis as a reference in my paper. Can someone please help me out here? If someone has published a paper on a novel work can you link it here? It might help me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"huywuee","c_root_id_B":"huzha8l","created_at_utc_A":1643616259,"created_at_utc_B":1643631896,"score_A":4,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I'd be surprised if the previous students you mentioned didn't publish. Is there a reason they haven't?","human_ref_B":"Hello fellow geologist. Part of a literature review is putting even novel subjects or locations into context with existing literature. The best way is to think about it is in terms of relevant process. If your \"study area\" is a field area, it's not surprising that there might not be anything published on some hyper specific location (there are lots of spots out there with basically no published work), so the key is to focus on the process(es) that are important in that area and that your study would investigate. For example, if you're studying some specific little section of a river, the lit review shouldn't be searching for things about that river specifically, but the thing you're hoping to study in that river (sediment transport? erosion? bedform migration? etc). Even if your \"study area\" is not a physical location, but itself a process, but some super niche process that has not seen much work, it will be nested within some other set of related processes. Sticking with the river example, if you're studying some super unique type of erosion that appears to only happen in one location (probably not a realistic example, but you get the idea), your lit review would be focused on erosion processes more broadly to put what you're studying in context (i.e., how do things normally work compared to the weird things happening in your case). Approaching things from the process perspective at the broadest sense is a valuable lesson to learn in the geosciences, as typically the community of people who will care about a hyper specific place or niche sub-process is extremely small, so to maximize the usefulness of what you're doing, you need to think about how it is connected to much bigger processes (that more people care about). If you get high enough up the chain where you've meaningfully connected what you're studying to a topic covered in an intro geology textbook, then you've probably arrived.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15637.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"sgvrcd","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"How to do a literature review if there is no literature published on the area? I am a geology student and I am trying to do a literature review. The problem is that the study area is very small and there is no literature published on it. My master's guide is the first person to work on this previously unexplored area. His earlier masters' students have worked in this area but I think I can't use their thesis as a reference in my paper. Can someone please help me out here? If someone has published a paper on a novel work can you link it here? It might help me. Thank you in advance!","c_root_id_A":"huzdyvn","c_root_id_B":"huywuee","created_at_utc_A":1643629723,"created_at_utc_B":1643616259,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"A completed and archived master\u2019s thesis is something you can use and cite, absolutely. As someone else mentioned, a lit review \u201csets the stage\u201d for supporting science\/studies around your topic and you then make the case for your bit of proposed research that fills in the gaps.","human_ref_B":"I'd be surprised if the previous students you mentioned didn't publish. Is there a reason they haven't?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13464.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezeuyu7","c_root_id_B":"ezew7bi","created_at_utc_A":1567869176,"created_at_utc_B":1567869616,"score_A":6,"score_B":22,"human_ref_A":"I haven\u2019t personally experienced this but a member of my old lab group was transitioning and she would apply with her given name but present, introduce and use business cards with her chosen name. She had publications in the past and wanted to make sure she was recognized for them so she chose to submit with her given name. She would relate it back to someone using their \u2018english\u2019 name at a conference instead of a given name but she was definitely nervous the first time she used her chosen name! I\u2019m not sure that helps at all but I hope you figure something out that works for you!","human_ref_B":"It sounds like you are worried about the conference part and not necessarily the travel part. When submitting to a conference, they usually only ask basic information. There's usually no verification of identity. The name you submit with will be used for your conference badge. This might vary by field, but I've been to dozens of conferences and have never had to show my passport or license to the conference registration desk. Even if they wanted some sort of ID verification, you could use your work ID which I'm guessing is updated.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":440.0,"score_ratio":3.6666666667} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezgenr8","c_root_id_B":"ezeuyu7","created_at_utc_A":1567895773,"created_at_utc_B":1567869176,"score_A":9,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Plenty of people publish\/present academically under a name different from their legal name (maiden name, nickname, middle name, anglicized name...etc). I've never seen anyone asked to present any form of ID to register for a conference. Just apply with your preferred name. Especially if your last name is the same the chances of anyone even noticing, much less caring about, any discrepancy is miniscule. This is one of those things that is actually not unique to trans people at all, so it might help to feel less anxious about it if you decouple the name issue from any concerns you have related to transphobia, and remember that lots of people change names for all kinds of reasons. I speak from some experience here as a trans person myself.","human_ref_B":"I haven\u2019t personally experienced this but a member of my old lab group was transitioning and she would apply with her given name but present, introduce and use business cards with her chosen name. She had publications in the past and wanted to make sure she was recognized for them so she chose to submit with her given name. She would relate it back to someone using their \u2018english\u2019 name at a conference instead of a given name but she was definitely nervous the first time she used her chosen name! I\u2019m not sure that helps at all but I hope you figure something out that works for you!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":26597.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezgenr8","c_root_id_B":"ezg43mf","created_at_utc_A":1567895773,"created_at_utc_B":1567890948,"score_A":9,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Plenty of people publish\/present academically under a name different from their legal name (maiden name, nickname, middle name, anglicized name...etc). I've never seen anyone asked to present any form of ID to register for a conference. Just apply with your preferred name. Especially if your last name is the same the chances of anyone even noticing, much less caring about, any discrepancy is miniscule. This is one of those things that is actually not unique to trans people at all, so it might help to feel less anxious about it if you decouple the name issue from any concerns you have related to transphobia, and remember that lots of people change names for all kinds of reasons. I speak from some experience here as a trans person myself.","human_ref_B":"Plenty of people apply under a non legal name. I publish and attend conferences under a nickname. Nobody will care or check who you are at the conference! Just apply with your preferred name.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4825.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezgenr8","c_root_id_B":"ezfgtu3","created_at_utc_A":1567895773,"created_at_utc_B":1567877511,"score_A":9,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Plenty of people publish\/present academically under a name different from their legal name (maiden name, nickname, middle name, anglicized name...etc). I've never seen anyone asked to present any form of ID to register for a conference. Just apply with your preferred name. Especially if your last name is the same the chances of anyone even noticing, much less caring about, any discrepancy is miniscule. This is one of those things that is actually not unique to trans people at all, so it might help to feel less anxious about it if you decouple the name issue from any concerns you have related to transphobia, and remember that lots of people change names for all kinds of reasons. I speak from some experience here as a trans person myself.","human_ref_B":"Do you need to apply for visa or some such? I've never been asked for identification at a conference. I could register using any name I like. In fact, I use a different spelling of my name for publishing and visiting conferences to make it easier for people to read. I know that one of my Chinese-Canadian colleagues used his legal name for registering at a conference because he thought they wouldn't let him in otherwise, but honestly, I don't think they ever ask for ID.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":18262.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezfrszu","c_root_id_B":"ezgenr8","created_at_utc_A":1567882569,"created_at_utc_B":1567895773,"score_A":2,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"The border people won't know what name you registered for the conference under (and for ones I've been involved in, you could register under whatever name you like), and the conference people won't know what name you travelled under. The only time these might need to match is if you need a letter of confirmation of attendance for your visa or home institution, in which case it's just a matter of a conversation with someone on the organising committee. Conference organisers are human and will hopefully understand!","human_ref_B":"Plenty of people publish\/present academically under a name different from their legal name (maiden name, nickname, middle name, anglicized name...etc). I've never seen anyone asked to present any form of ID to register for a conference. Just apply with your preferred name. Especially if your last name is the same the chances of anyone even noticing, much less caring about, any discrepancy is miniscule. This is one of those things that is actually not unique to trans people at all, so it might help to feel less anxious about it if you decouple the name issue from any concerns you have related to transphobia, and remember that lots of people change names for all kinds of reasons. I speak from some experience here as a trans person myself.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13204.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezg43mf","c_root_id_B":"ezeuyu7","created_at_utc_A":1567890948,"created_at_utc_B":1567869176,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Plenty of people apply under a non legal name. I publish and attend conferences under a nickname. Nobody will care or check who you are at the conference! Just apply with your preferred name.","human_ref_B":"I haven\u2019t personally experienced this but a member of my old lab group was transitioning and she would apply with her given name but present, introduce and use business cards with her chosen name. She had publications in the past and wanted to make sure she was recognized for them so she chose to submit with her given name. She would relate it back to someone using their \u2018english\u2019 name at a conference instead of a given name but she was definitely nervous the first time she used her chosen name! I\u2019m not sure that helps at all but I hope you figure something out that works for you!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21772.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezfgtu3","c_root_id_B":"ezg43mf","created_at_utc_A":1567877511,"created_at_utc_B":1567890948,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Do you need to apply for visa or some such? I've never been asked for identification at a conference. I could register using any name I like. In fact, I use a different spelling of my name for publishing and visiting conferences to make it easier for people to read. I know that one of my Chinese-Canadian colleagues used his legal name for registering at a conference because he thought they wouldn't let him in otherwise, but honestly, I don't think they ever ask for ID.","human_ref_B":"Plenty of people apply under a non legal name. I publish and attend conferences under a nickname. Nobody will care or check who you are at the conference! Just apply with your preferred name.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13437.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"d0wtan","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.81,"history":"Attending conferences under one's preferred (not legal) name? So, I'm currently in the process of applying to attend a workshop at a conference. This in itself isn't a problem - the issue is that this will my first time applying to anything after coming out as transgender. ​ I am out at my institute and all the people in my doctoral college are familiar with my correct name\/pronouns, and I would feel very uncomfortable crawling back into the closet to attend a conference, but I have not been able to change all my documents (including my passport, my records at past institutions, and my official records at my current institution). ​ I'm not exactly keen on outing myself in my application (although, anyone who meets me can clock me at this point, as I am early in my transition), and I don't want to seem somehow, I don't know, attention-seeking by noting it on my cover page or something, but I don't know what else I can do without there being inconsistencies should anyone try to look me up or something (also, seeing that the conference is in a country in which I do not live, I am somewhat nervous about attending a professional engagement under a name that doesn't match my passport. ​ So...has anyone else been in this situation? How would you approach this? I really have no idea if there's some sort of standard practice for this sort of thing, and I don't know anyone who will have any more insight than I do on the matter. ​ Thanks in advance!","c_root_id_A":"ezfrszu","c_root_id_B":"ezg43mf","created_at_utc_A":1567882569,"created_at_utc_B":1567890948,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"The border people won't know what name you registered for the conference under (and for ones I've been involved in, you could register under whatever name you like), and the conference people won't know what name you travelled under. The only time these might need to match is if you need a letter of confirmation of attendance for your visa or home institution, in which case it's just a matter of a conversation with someone on the organising committee. Conference organisers are human and will hopefully understand!","human_ref_B":"Plenty of people apply under a non legal name. I publish and attend conferences under a nickname. Nobody will care or check who you are at the conference! Just apply with your preferred name.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8379.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbgvpcc","c_root_id_B":"dbgvtaz","created_at_utc_A":1482337831,"created_at_utc_B":1482337968,"score_A":9,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"This depends on your financial circumstances, field, career plans, earning potential, whether you have funded alternatives, etc.","human_ref_B":"I know a lot of people who paid for elite master's degrees. In many cases they were in professional schools where almost nobody is funded (law, medicine, divinity, business, etc.). So keep in mind the \"nobody should pay ever\" advice is coming from people in research fields who aren't recognizing the common practice of professional schools. I also know people who have paid for elite masters in the humanities and social sciences, generally with the hope of increasing their chances of being funded in a high-ranked Ph.D. program later, or because they want to do multiple degrees (i.e. an MBA then a Ph.D. in business ethics, for example). I don't have enough data to suggest much about the efficacy of that strategy, other than to say I know a number of people who pulled it off. Generally speaking even these non-funded programs will offer financial aid, including grants and work study, though that depends on the field....I've had students of mine go that route and end up paying well under half the sticker price for an elite masters, so it may be worth applying for financial aid and seeing what happens when the awards are given.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":137.0,"score_ratio":2.7777777778} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbgvpcc","c_root_id_B":"dbh8e7o","created_at_utc_A":1482337831,"created_at_utc_B":1482353045,"score_A":9,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"This depends on your financial circumstances, field, career plans, earning potential, whether you have funded alternatives, etc.","human_ref_B":"I think the \"no one should pay for graduate school\" thing is much more applicable to doctoral degrees. I think it's much more common for people to have to put out some cash for Master's degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15214.0,"score_ratio":1.2222222222} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbh4pt1","c_root_id_B":"dbh8e7o","created_at_utc_A":1482348654,"created_at_utc_B":1482353045,"score_A":8,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"As someone with a harvard MS trying to get into PhD programs, I can tell you that I don't think its worth it. Honestly it feels like a huge waste of money, but not time. I managed to get a lot of extra research experience that makes me more competitive, but I probably could have just worked as a lab tech for two years and gotten the same level of experience without the extreme amount of debt.","human_ref_B":"I think the \"no one should pay for graduate school\" thing is much more applicable to doctoral degrees. I think it's much more common for people to have to put out some cash for Master's degrees.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4391.0,"score_ratio":1.375} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbh8e7o","c_root_id_B":"dbh38o9","created_at_utc_A":1482353045,"created_at_utc_B":1482346885,"score_A":11,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think the \"no one should pay for graduate school\" thing is much more applicable to doctoral degrees. I think it's much more common for people to have to put out some cash for Master's degrees.","human_ref_B":"For an MPhil? Unlikely. What is your prospective career with that degree? If you can't think of a job that immediately requires that degree, or have some contacts who can assure you a job, I would suggest looking elsewhere. 1 year MA's are not highly regarded, no matter the institution, because they are typically exam-out degrees.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6160.0,"score_ratio":5.5} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbh38o9","c_root_id_B":"dbh4pt1","created_at_utc_A":1482346885,"created_at_utc_B":1482348654,"score_A":2,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"For an MPhil? Unlikely. What is your prospective career with that degree? If you can't think of a job that immediately requires that degree, or have some contacts who can assure you a job, I would suggest looking elsewhere. 1 year MA's are not highly regarded, no matter the institution, because they are typically exam-out degrees.","human_ref_B":"As someone with a harvard MS trying to get into PhD programs, I can tell you that I don't think its worth it. Honestly it feels like a huge waste of money, but not time. I managed to get a lot of extra research experience that makes me more competitive, but I probably could have just worked as a lab tech for two years and gotten the same level of experience without the extreme amount of debt.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1769.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbi4g3k","c_root_id_B":"dbh38o9","created_at_utc_A":1482411669,"created_at_utc_B":1482346885,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I lecture on an MPhil course in Cambridge, and we get that question a lot. I'm assuming that you come from the US - please correct if I am wrong - although the advice would be similar if you come from any other non-EU country. Masters-level courses are huge cash cows for universities. They are expensive, and there are few sponsors who will pay your way (Gates in Cambridge, Rhodes in Oxford are two - but very competitive). However, you will get unequalled opportunities to interact with world-leading researchers, and (certainly in my field), it's not difficult to convert to a PhD program if they like you. As others have said, it depends really how much money you have, how happy to are to go into debt, how much you think you will benefit from the year, and how willing you are to work at getting as much out of the year as you can (there's no point having access to great academics if you don't use that access). The course will give you great opportunities, but there is a cost - the question is how much do you really want those opportunities, and how willing are you to pay the price.","human_ref_B":"For an MPhil? Unlikely. What is your prospective career with that degree? If you can't think of a job that immediately requires that degree, or have some contacts who can assure you a job, I would suggest looking elsewhere. 1 year MA's are not highly regarded, no matter the institution, because they are typically exam-out degrees.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":64784.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbhernl","c_root_id_B":"dbi4g3k","created_at_utc_A":1482361035,"created_at_utc_B":1482411669,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I considered taking an offer to Oxford for a 2-year MPhil, but had to make the hard decision to turn it down in favour of a funding package from a university in my home country. It was really hard, but I do feel good about the lack of debt, and am hoping for better opportunities once PhD applications come around.","human_ref_B":"I lecture on an MPhil course in Cambridge, and we get that question a lot. I'm assuming that you come from the US - please correct if I am wrong - although the advice would be similar if you come from any other non-EU country. Masters-level courses are huge cash cows for universities. They are expensive, and there are few sponsors who will pay your way (Gates in Cambridge, Rhodes in Oxford are two - but very competitive). However, you will get unequalled opportunities to interact with world-leading researchers, and (certainly in my field), it's not difficult to convert to a PhD program if they like you. As others have said, it depends really how much money you have, how happy to are to go into debt, how much you think you will benefit from the year, and how willing you are to work at getting as much out of the year as you can (there's no point having access to great academics if you don't use that access). The course will give you great opportunities, but there is a cost - the question is how much do you really want those opportunities, and how willing are you to pay the price.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":50634.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"5jklpx","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is it worth paying for a masters at Cambridge? Basically what the title says. I know paying to go to graduate school isn't generally sensible, but does that equation change for schools like Cambridge, Stanford, or Harvard? I'm specifically looking at a 1 year MPhil degree.","c_root_id_A":"dbi4g3k","c_root_id_B":"dbhetpv","created_at_utc_A":1482411669,"created_at_utc_B":1482361113,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I lecture on an MPhil course in Cambridge, and we get that question a lot. I'm assuming that you come from the US - please correct if I am wrong - although the advice would be similar if you come from any other non-EU country. Masters-level courses are huge cash cows for universities. They are expensive, and there are few sponsors who will pay your way (Gates in Cambridge, Rhodes in Oxford are two - but very competitive). However, you will get unequalled opportunities to interact with world-leading researchers, and (certainly in my field), it's not difficult to convert to a PhD program if they like you. As others have said, it depends really how much money you have, how happy to are to go into debt, how much you think you will benefit from the year, and how willing you are to work at getting as much out of the year as you can (there's no point having access to great academics if you don't use that access). The course will give you great opportunities, but there is a cost - the question is how much do you really want those opportunities, and how willing are you to pay the price.","human_ref_B":"You didn't specify the field you're looking at, but I'm in a small Humanities field here in the US (went straight into fully funded PhD from undergrad). There a couple funded masters programs in my field and those are MUCH preferable to paying for any program yourself. I also know several people that were disappointed specifically by an MPhil program (just a lot of research on your own without real help from the professors there--a huge change from undergrad, where your professors are typically pretty involved in your research\/class work). Unfortunately, the high-ranked UK schools are known to accept many international students (at least in my field) because the international fees they receive from these students are much, much higher than what a UK citizen would pay. That said, the professors there are often experts, and resources can be excellent. I think ultimately it comes down to the opportunities in your field. If there is a funded masters program at a decent school, go there instead. If you can get a fellowship or other funding for the MPhil, do that. Just be cautious before you pay your way through an expensive Humanities degree.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":50556.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"keaip0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"TT Faculty searches volume of apps during COVID? People that are on committees this year, especially in STEM, are there less applicants than in previous years? I notice that some job postings come up so late in the game that it's really easy to miss them. In fact, a few days before the supposed deadline, one university faculty didn't even have the job ad up. I would think this would ultimately result in less applicants than in normal years. Also, I'd guess that some might hold out on applying this year, and wait for next year (if they are in a position to do so). What's your experiences?","c_root_id_A":"gg1kpxe","c_root_id_B":"gg1qffy","created_at_utc_A":1608136027,"created_at_utc_B":1608138779,"score_A":13,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"If they post something very close to the deadline, they may be doing a search where they already have the preferred candidate. Sometimes this is done because immigration procedures are a pain in the you know what. We did a search earlier this year (not in stem), we had many incredibly qualified applicants.","human_ref_B":"Someone collected data from the top 10 programs, and they collectively have 1\/3rd fewer candidates on the market this year (people are delaying if they can - though no one knows if next year will be better or worse). But job postings are down much more than that, so it's still unpleasant. Even teaching positions are getting hundreds of applications.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2752.0,"score_ratio":1.3846153846} {"post_id":"keaip0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.99,"history":"TT Faculty searches volume of apps during COVID? People that are on committees this year, especially in STEM, are there less applicants than in previous years? I notice that some job postings come up so late in the game that it's really easy to miss them. In fact, a few days before the supposed deadline, one university faculty didn't even have the job ad up. I would think this would ultimately result in less applicants than in normal years. Also, I'd guess that some might hold out on applying this year, and wait for next year (if they are in a position to do so). What's your experiences?","c_root_id_A":"gg1le7i","c_root_id_B":"gg1qffy","created_at_utc_A":1608136355,"created_at_utc_B":1608138779,"score_A":11,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m chair of a psychology search and we had fewer applicants than last year (and definitely fewer than expected). It was initially confusing to me but now I think it makes sense because most of ours were not from other academic jobs but were straight out of a postdoc\/grad school. I\u2019m guessing fewer people are willing to leave their jobs, fewer jobs are advertised, and more people are staying ABD since they\u2019re not bringing in as many grad students this year either.","human_ref_B":"Someone collected data from the top 10 programs, and they collectively have 1\/3rd fewer candidates on the market this year (people are delaying if they can - though no one knows if next year will be better or worse). But job postings are down much more than that, so it's still unpleasant. Even teaching positions are getting hundreds of applications.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2424.0,"score_ratio":1.6363636364} {"post_id":"34kzwg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"My PI has me do all of their reviews for journals. Can I list myself as an ad-hoc reviewer? I know it's common practice to farm it out to a grad student, but I write up the whole thing and handle the rest of it. Is there a way to communicate this on my CV?","c_root_id_A":"cqvssvj","c_root_id_B":"cqwbpfh","created_at_utc_A":1430543366,"created_at_utc_B":1430597978,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Sketchy as shit.","human_ref_B":"Wow. The things people do in some fields amaze me. This would be considered an absolutely unethical breach of professional conduct in my field(s). Putting you name on someone else's work is straight up dishonest. Is this actually common practice in STEM fields? Or just a bad example of a lazy PI? I've written dozens of reviews over my career and many of my close friends have served as book review editors for major journals in my fields. In no case would *any* of them expect (or accept!) a review to be written by anyone other than the person who they solicited to write the review in the first place.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":54612.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"34kzwg","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"My PI has me do all of their reviews for journals. Can I list myself as an ad-hoc reviewer? I know it's common practice to farm it out to a grad student, but I write up the whole thing and handle the rest of it. Is there a way to communicate this on my CV?","c_root_id_A":"cqwbpfh","c_root_id_B":"cqw9imw","created_at_utc_A":1430597978,"created_at_utc_B":1430593539,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Wow. The things people do in some fields amaze me. This would be considered an absolutely unethical breach of professional conduct in my field(s). Putting you name on someone else's work is straight up dishonest. Is this actually common practice in STEM fields? Or just a bad example of a lazy PI? I've written dozens of reviews over my career and many of my close friends have served as book review editors for major journals in my fields. In no case would *any* of them expect (or accept!) a review to be written by anyone other than the person who they solicited to write the review in the first place.","human_ref_B":"No, you can not add this activity to your CV unless the journal contacted you directly to perform the review.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4439.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"6b23o0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Why is publishing negative results so frowned upon? Is it not useful for others to know what does *not* work, given that the research process has already been performed by somebody?","c_root_id_A":"dhjg28w","c_root_id_B":"dhjt3ja","created_at_utc_A":1494760796,"created_at_utc_B":1494783202,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm having trouble just now getting a paper in because the results my student got were not what we were intending to happen. We tried to make something and got something else, and we've been able to rationalise it a bit, but the reviewers think this is a negative and keep rejecting.","human_ref_B":"It really depends on the type of negative result and the specific field. Let's say you do an experiment and the experiment just doesn't work. In the biosciences specifically, this is a huge problem because biological systems can be finicky and because reagents may have quality issues. For example, if you do an immuno but the antibodies aren't high-quality, your result may be uninterpretable. The results are just not relevant at all to the question asked, and you'll know this from positive and negative controls. In many cases, you'll also have to optimize protocols for your system. Let's say, for example, that you're using CRISPR to knock out a gene of interest and then you want to know the downstream effects on cell biology. You'll need to try a number of CRISPR probes. Then you'll need to optimize your injection protocol. Then you'll need to optimize your screening protocol. Then and only then can you do a full experiment and interpret your results. Many of those optimization steps will not themselves be publishable on their own unless you write a separate paper on the optimization process. In some cases, the results of a study may not be statistically significant, but for whatever reason the study is not statistically powered enough to actually expect significance. For example, let's say you're doing a clinical trial and you have higher than expected discontinuation or failure for follow-up rate. So, as a result, you have a very limited (and biased) dataset to analyze, which is just not well-powered enough to really interpret. It is really, really important to understand that statistical significance alone is just a measure of how likely it is you're making a type I error, whereas you need to calculate statistical power to gauge type II error. If you have a dataset where the response variable has high variance or predictable confounds but you've got a small dataset (e.g. 10 cases), you're not going to have enough data to account for all degrees of freedom. These data might be useful if combined with others into a metaanalysis, but they also might not. As a result, it is difficult to justify taking the time to publish them. Finally, building off of that, in many cases, failure to find statistical significance does not always mean that the experimental hypothesis is false. In my anecdotal experience, a large proportion of \"non-significant\" results are actually just statistically underpowered (in some cases, there are as few as 3-4 independent observations from which the test statistic is being calculated). This is, in my experience, worse than p-hacking. P-hacking generally is about fine differences in how null distributions of a test-statistic are calculated in order to get a stat beneath an arbitrary probability of type I error. In any of these cases, the type I error is low in every analysis, but it may not be below an arbitrary threshold. In cases of underpowered statistics, however, the statistical power (i.e. the ability for an experimental design to even capture differences between treatments) is never even calculated, let alone addressed as a real concern. This of course is field-specific. A lot of the outcry about \"negative results\" comes from data scientists, who assume you can have large enough datasets that power shouldn't be a problem and that the statistical test is where the science happens. As a bench scientist, I can tell you that quantification is great and useful, but that most meaningful differences are readily apparent before quantification and long before the stats are run. An experiment that fails will also be readily apparent and is often not worth quantifying let alone analyzing, and definitely is not worth publishing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22406.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"6b23o0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Why is publishing negative results so frowned upon? Is it not useful for others to know what does *not* work, given that the research process has already been performed by somebody?","c_root_id_A":"dhjt3ja","c_root_id_B":"dhjocqj","created_at_utc_A":1494783202,"created_at_utc_B":1494776649,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It really depends on the type of negative result and the specific field. Let's say you do an experiment and the experiment just doesn't work. In the biosciences specifically, this is a huge problem because biological systems can be finicky and because reagents may have quality issues. For example, if you do an immuno but the antibodies aren't high-quality, your result may be uninterpretable. The results are just not relevant at all to the question asked, and you'll know this from positive and negative controls. In many cases, you'll also have to optimize protocols for your system. Let's say, for example, that you're using CRISPR to knock out a gene of interest and then you want to know the downstream effects on cell biology. You'll need to try a number of CRISPR probes. Then you'll need to optimize your injection protocol. Then you'll need to optimize your screening protocol. Then and only then can you do a full experiment and interpret your results. Many of those optimization steps will not themselves be publishable on their own unless you write a separate paper on the optimization process. In some cases, the results of a study may not be statistically significant, but for whatever reason the study is not statistically powered enough to actually expect significance. For example, let's say you're doing a clinical trial and you have higher than expected discontinuation or failure for follow-up rate. So, as a result, you have a very limited (and biased) dataset to analyze, which is just not well-powered enough to really interpret. It is really, really important to understand that statistical significance alone is just a measure of how likely it is you're making a type I error, whereas you need to calculate statistical power to gauge type II error. If you have a dataset where the response variable has high variance or predictable confounds but you've got a small dataset (e.g. 10 cases), you're not going to have enough data to account for all degrees of freedom. These data might be useful if combined with others into a metaanalysis, but they also might not. As a result, it is difficult to justify taking the time to publish them. Finally, building off of that, in many cases, failure to find statistical significance does not always mean that the experimental hypothesis is false. In my anecdotal experience, a large proportion of \"non-significant\" results are actually just statistically underpowered (in some cases, there are as few as 3-4 independent observations from which the test statistic is being calculated). This is, in my experience, worse than p-hacking. P-hacking generally is about fine differences in how null distributions of a test-statistic are calculated in order to get a stat beneath an arbitrary probability of type I error. In any of these cases, the type I error is low in every analysis, but it may not be below an arbitrary threshold. In cases of underpowered statistics, however, the statistical power (i.e. the ability for an experimental design to even capture differences between treatments) is never even calculated, let alone addressed as a real concern. This of course is field-specific. A lot of the outcry about \"negative results\" comes from data scientists, who assume you can have large enough datasets that power shouldn't be a problem and that the statistical test is where the science happens. As a bench scientist, I can tell you that quantification is great and useful, but that most meaningful differences are readily apparent before quantification and long before the stats are run. An experiment that fails will also be readily apparent and is often not worth quantifying let alone analyzing, and definitely is not worth publishing.","human_ref_B":"It isn't frowned upon, it just isn't seen as \"interesting\" by editors. Aim for an open access type journal, though, and it is a perfectly valid research note.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6553.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"az4yek","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"Want to go back to college after dropping out with horrible GPA Let's get straight to the point: I dropped out of college after two semesters with a 0.944 GPA. I was not forced to leave by the school (they would have let me try and fix my score at the very least), but I knew at the time that I would be wasting my time and money trying to keep going. Frankly, I was depressed. Also, I may have unmedicated ADHD-PI. Now, I am working at Wal-Mart and I really don't want to be working there anymore. I want to get a job as a Programmer or Game developer. I know how to program - I taught myself how back in middle school\/high school. Is there a way I might be able to get back into college?","c_root_id_A":"ei5h3sg","c_root_id_B":"ei5hqtr","created_at_utc_A":1552153282,"created_at_utc_B":1552153742,"score_A":8,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"Colleges may have what's called \"academic amnesty\" where they will disregard your past GPA after enough time away, or for certain circumstances. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to even stay in a major. I would suggest looking into it, and ask the registrar at your local college about it. Other readmission programs expect you to first demonstrate solid performance at a community college for at least two semester, so enrolling in those classes and earning As and Bs can help. Again, speak with the registrar to ask about readmission.","human_ref_B":"Dude I just did this. In high school I was a stoner that barely graduated, and I went to college for a year and only finished 2 classes. Dropped out to join the military. When it was time to go back to school my GPA was below a 1.0. So i went to a community college and found out about a probation period, if I completed a year without failing classes they would not count my former bad grades against my new GPA. I basically spent 2 years knocking out every \"Intro to______\" course and every math and english course I could ever need. Got my GPA up to 3.5, transferred to a state university and graduated a year and a half later (this past December). There is no shame in going to community college to get your GPA right. And if you transfer to a different school the bad grades don't follow you, just the credits. So your GPA starts over fresh. To be honest I felt I got more out of my community college classes anyway; small class size, more professor interaction. **Edit: to add on to what another poster said, I too am preparing for further education. Sometimes all we need to get into a good academic flow is a break from schooling. Your experience might be much more positive after spending a couple years on the grind.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":460.0,"score_ratio":3.375} {"post_id":"az4yek","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.87,"history":"Want to go back to college after dropping out with horrible GPA Let's get straight to the point: I dropped out of college after two semesters with a 0.944 GPA. I was not forced to leave by the school (they would have let me try and fix my score at the very least), but I knew at the time that I would be wasting my time and money trying to keep going. Frankly, I was depressed. Also, I may have unmedicated ADHD-PI. Now, I am working at Wal-Mart and I really don't want to be working there anymore. I want to get a job as a Programmer or Game developer. I know how to program - I taught myself how back in middle school\/high school. Is there a way I might be able to get back into college?","c_root_id_A":"ei5h3sg","c_root_id_B":"ei5lu3z","created_at_utc_A":1552153282,"created_at_utc_B":1552156680,"score_A":8,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Colleges may have what's called \"academic amnesty\" where they will disregard your past GPA after enough time away, or for certain circumstances. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to even stay in a major. I would suggest looking into it, and ask the registrar at your local college about it. Other readmission programs expect you to first demonstrate solid performance at a community college for at least two semester, so enrolling in those classes and earning As and Bs can help. Again, speak with the registrar to ask about readmission.","human_ref_B":"Get all of our mental health issues fully, stably addressed first. Make sure you're diagnosed appropriately and if you go on meds that they are working for you. If you have unresolved issues going back to school could trigger them again and you'd be right back to where you started. Once you're officially stable then go to a community college that you know has transferable credits to a larger institution. Make sure you're taking the appropriate credits to eventually transfer so if you'd like to transfer you can.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3398.0,"score_ratio":1.125} {"post_id":"kcodx3","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Thinking about getting a PhD to make a career shift Hi all. So title says it all: I need a change and am thinking about going into academia. I\u2019m currently an attorney but I just can\u2019t do it anymore. I\u2019ve always loved writing and reading and classes based on literary analysis. Basically I loved school. I want to teach and learn and all the good stuff. Obviously I\u2019ve done law school and the attorney thing for a few years, so it\u2019s not like I can\u2019t handle hard work. Anyone out there get a PhD after being out of school to a few years or making a career shift? Is there anything I should do to be more prepared and make myself the best candidate I can? I\u2019ve always had excellent grades and went to a top law school so my academic credentials are fine. I was thinking of maybe auditing some classes or even taking for credit some classes to give myself a stronger foundation and get back into school mode. My BA was in history and political science, so not english. I want to make sure I\u2019m prepared as best I can be. I don\u2019t know anyone with a PhD (except one person becoming a psychologist so a bit different) so I\u2019m going in blind. All I know is I can\u2019t be an attorney anymore and am willing to do literally anything to finally have a career I don\u2019t hate. I spent too many years doing what I thought I was supposed to and I\u2019d like to start studying my passions. Any tips or advice on either getting a PhD generally or applying after being out of school for a while would be super helpful. I\u2019m planning on applying for Fall 2022.","c_root_id_A":"gfs3vpa","c_root_id_B":"gfru26m","created_at_utc_A":1607919908,"created_at_utc_B":1607914304,"score_A":25,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s likely going to be better to pivot your law degree into something you want to do. Tenured professor with a criminal justice PhD here. Many CJ departments hire JDs to teach legal skills classes to undergrads. At some institutions, those jobs are tenure-track. Look for legal studies programs. You should know: COVID has utterly destroyed the academic job market. And, you\u2019d be looking at a pay cut in the neighborhood of 50-70%, depending on geography and what sort of law you\u2019re practicing.","human_ref_B":"You haven\u2019t mentioned yet what you would do with the PhD? Do you want to be a writer? Teach? I think that is something you\u2019ll need to work out before you apply, with that knowledge that the market is absolutely flooded with English phds so career-wise it would be bleak. Have you considered getting an MA first to see if you really want to make a career of this? I think that would also probably make you a more desirable PhD candidate down the line","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5604.0,"score_ratio":3.5714285714} {"post_id":"kcodx3","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Thinking about getting a PhD to make a career shift Hi all. So title says it all: I need a change and am thinking about going into academia. I\u2019m currently an attorney but I just can\u2019t do it anymore. I\u2019ve always loved writing and reading and classes based on literary analysis. Basically I loved school. I want to teach and learn and all the good stuff. Obviously I\u2019ve done law school and the attorney thing for a few years, so it\u2019s not like I can\u2019t handle hard work. Anyone out there get a PhD after being out of school to a few years or making a career shift? Is there anything I should do to be more prepared and make myself the best candidate I can? I\u2019ve always had excellent grades and went to a top law school so my academic credentials are fine. I was thinking of maybe auditing some classes or even taking for credit some classes to give myself a stronger foundation and get back into school mode. My BA was in history and political science, so not english. I want to make sure I\u2019m prepared as best I can be. I don\u2019t know anyone with a PhD (except one person becoming a psychologist so a bit different) so I\u2019m going in blind. All I know is I can\u2019t be an attorney anymore and am willing to do literally anything to finally have a career I don\u2019t hate. I spent too many years doing what I thought I was supposed to and I\u2019d like to start studying my passions. Any tips or advice on either getting a PhD generally or applying after being out of school for a while would be super helpful. I\u2019m planning on applying for Fall 2022.","c_root_id_A":"gfs3vpa","c_root_id_B":"gfs28yo","created_at_utc_A":1607919908,"created_at_utc_B":1607918934,"score_A":25,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"It\u2019s likely going to be better to pivot your law degree into something you want to do. Tenured professor with a criminal justice PhD here. Many CJ departments hire JDs to teach legal skills classes to undergrads. At some institutions, those jobs are tenure-track. Look for legal studies programs. You should know: COVID has utterly destroyed the academic job market. And, you\u2019d be looking at a pay cut in the neighborhood of 50-70%, depending on geography and what sort of law you\u2019re practicing.","human_ref_B":"It\u2019s always hard because a PhD takes 4+ years. So I can\u2019t tell you what it will look like when you\u2019re done. Right now the market for humanities has never been more bleak. Literature jobs have been scarce for decades. I\u2019m in rhet\/comp. There were about seven hundred tenure track jobs in that field in 2016\/2017 when I was on the market. With pandemic, there are fewer than 200. There\u2019s a dip in the population of young people that will take us through 2030. Please disregard this bleak outlook if you are not in the US.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":974.0,"score_ratio":4.1666666667} {"post_id":"kcodx3","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Thinking about getting a PhD to make a career shift Hi all. So title says it all: I need a change and am thinking about going into academia. I\u2019m currently an attorney but I just can\u2019t do it anymore. I\u2019ve always loved writing and reading and classes based on literary analysis. Basically I loved school. I want to teach and learn and all the good stuff. Obviously I\u2019ve done law school and the attorney thing for a few years, so it\u2019s not like I can\u2019t handle hard work. Anyone out there get a PhD after being out of school to a few years or making a career shift? Is there anything I should do to be more prepared and make myself the best candidate I can? I\u2019ve always had excellent grades and went to a top law school so my academic credentials are fine. I was thinking of maybe auditing some classes or even taking for credit some classes to give myself a stronger foundation and get back into school mode. My BA was in history and political science, so not english. I want to make sure I\u2019m prepared as best I can be. I don\u2019t know anyone with a PhD (except one person becoming a psychologist so a bit different) so I\u2019m going in blind. All I know is I can\u2019t be an attorney anymore and am willing to do literally anything to finally have a career I don\u2019t hate. I spent too many years doing what I thought I was supposed to and I\u2019d like to start studying my passions. Any tips or advice on either getting a PhD generally or applying after being out of school for a while would be super helpful. I\u2019m planning on applying for Fall 2022.","c_root_id_A":"gfsa8tb","c_root_id_B":"gfru26m","created_at_utc_A":1607924174,"created_at_utc_B":1607914304,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Generally liking to read and do literary analysis and kind of wanting to teach are not great reasons to go into a PhD program. I could go into great detail about why, but here's the practical stuff. The real reason not to get a PhD in English is that *you're not likely to get a job in academia the end.* The job market is abysmal--even worse now than it was when I left academia 6 years ago, and it was bad then. The year I started graduate school, there were roughly 1600 jobs posted in my broad field (English). The year I finished, there were 1100. In 2018-2019 there were 849. COVID has only made the situation worse, and very few cash-strapped states are going to be pouring money into their university systems. Seriously, look at the data on the MLA jobs list. You could cut your hours at the job you hate and read novels with your spare time, and you will still likely be saving yourself more money than you would if you went into a PhD program. Here's the good news! There are lots of other ways to build careers that involve reading, writing, and teaching. Start writing novels in your spare time. Write blistering critiques of the law as a profession on your blog. Spend a little time in training and then teach at a private high school. Teach a LSAT course. Consider other avenues. Is there any kind of nonprofit work you might enjoy? I left academia to work for a nonprofit, and it has been a fantastic experience. ​ And if you think your current job is bad for your mental health, some studies have been showing that depression and anxiety rates among graduate students have been at crisis levels for some time.","human_ref_B":"You haven\u2019t mentioned yet what you would do with the PhD? Do you want to be a writer? Teach? I think that is something you\u2019ll need to work out before you apply, with that knowledge that the market is absolutely flooded with English phds so career-wise it would be bleak. Have you considered getting an MA first to see if you really want to make a career of this? I think that would also probably make you a more desirable PhD candidate down the line","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9870.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"kcodx3","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Thinking about getting a PhD to make a career shift Hi all. So title says it all: I need a change and am thinking about going into academia. I\u2019m currently an attorney but I just can\u2019t do it anymore. I\u2019ve always loved writing and reading and classes based on literary analysis. Basically I loved school. I want to teach and learn and all the good stuff. Obviously I\u2019ve done law school and the attorney thing for a few years, so it\u2019s not like I can\u2019t handle hard work. Anyone out there get a PhD after being out of school to a few years or making a career shift? Is there anything I should do to be more prepared and make myself the best candidate I can? I\u2019ve always had excellent grades and went to a top law school so my academic credentials are fine. I was thinking of maybe auditing some classes or even taking for credit some classes to give myself a stronger foundation and get back into school mode. My BA was in history and political science, so not english. I want to make sure I\u2019m prepared as best I can be. I don\u2019t know anyone with a PhD (except one person becoming a psychologist so a bit different) so I\u2019m going in blind. All I know is I can\u2019t be an attorney anymore and am willing to do literally anything to finally have a career I don\u2019t hate. I spent too many years doing what I thought I was supposed to and I\u2019d like to start studying my passions. Any tips or advice on either getting a PhD generally or applying after being out of school for a while would be super helpful. I\u2019m planning on applying for Fall 2022.","c_root_id_A":"gfsa8tb","c_root_id_B":"gfs28yo","created_at_utc_A":1607924174,"created_at_utc_B":1607918934,"score_A":10,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Generally liking to read and do literary analysis and kind of wanting to teach are not great reasons to go into a PhD program. I could go into great detail about why, but here's the practical stuff. The real reason not to get a PhD in English is that *you're not likely to get a job in academia the end.* The job market is abysmal--even worse now than it was when I left academia 6 years ago, and it was bad then. The year I started graduate school, there were roughly 1600 jobs posted in my broad field (English). The year I finished, there were 1100. In 2018-2019 there were 849. COVID has only made the situation worse, and very few cash-strapped states are going to be pouring money into their university systems. Seriously, look at the data on the MLA jobs list. You could cut your hours at the job you hate and read novels with your spare time, and you will still likely be saving yourself more money than you would if you went into a PhD program. Here's the good news! There are lots of other ways to build careers that involve reading, writing, and teaching. Start writing novels in your spare time. Write blistering critiques of the law as a profession on your blog. Spend a little time in training and then teach at a private high school. Teach a LSAT course. Consider other avenues. Is there any kind of nonprofit work you might enjoy? I left academia to work for a nonprofit, and it has been a fantastic experience. ​ And if you think your current job is bad for your mental health, some studies have been showing that depression and anxiety rates among graduate students have been at crisis levels for some time.","human_ref_B":"It\u2019s always hard because a PhD takes 4+ years. So I can\u2019t tell you what it will look like when you\u2019re done. Right now the market for humanities has never been more bleak. Literature jobs have been scarce for decades. I\u2019m in rhet\/comp. There were about seven hundred tenure track jobs in that field in 2016\/2017 when I was on the market. With pandemic, there are fewer than 200. There\u2019s a dip in the population of young people that will take us through 2030. Please disregard this bleak outlook if you are not in the US.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5240.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kcodx3","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Thinking about getting a PhD to make a career shift Hi all. So title says it all: I need a change and am thinking about going into academia. I\u2019m currently an attorney but I just can\u2019t do it anymore. I\u2019ve always loved writing and reading and classes based on literary analysis. Basically I loved school. I want to teach and learn and all the good stuff. Obviously I\u2019ve done law school and the attorney thing for a few years, so it\u2019s not like I can\u2019t handle hard work. Anyone out there get a PhD after being out of school to a few years or making a career shift? Is there anything I should do to be more prepared and make myself the best candidate I can? I\u2019ve always had excellent grades and went to a top law school so my academic credentials are fine. I was thinking of maybe auditing some classes or even taking for credit some classes to give myself a stronger foundation and get back into school mode. My BA was in history and political science, so not english. I want to make sure I\u2019m prepared as best I can be. I don\u2019t know anyone with a PhD (except one person becoming a psychologist so a bit different) so I\u2019m going in blind. All I know is I can\u2019t be an attorney anymore and am willing to do literally anything to finally have a career I don\u2019t hate. I spent too many years doing what I thought I was supposed to and I\u2019d like to start studying my passions. Any tips or advice on either getting a PhD generally or applying after being out of school for a while would be super helpful. I\u2019m planning on applying for Fall 2022.","c_root_id_A":"gfsc2gi","c_root_id_B":"gfslm42","created_at_utc_A":1607925567,"created_at_utc_B":1607934118,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"You won't get paid shit, and it will take many years. Do something else.","human_ref_B":"Academia is undergoing a major contraction right now and it will continue for the next ~20 years (hopefully it stabilizes after that). Universities are slashing a quarter of their faculty, hiring freezes are in effect, and secondary sports at even rich schools like Stanford are getting axed permanently. And this isn\u2019t just COVID-19. Coronavirus accelerated a trend that was already ongoing due to the looming Demographic Cliff. Unless there is a second baby boom soon I don\u2019t expect the job market in academia to improve in my lifetime, and the situation is especially acute in the humanities. I recommend indulging your love of literature in other ways.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8551.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kcodx3","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Thinking about getting a PhD to make a career shift Hi all. So title says it all: I need a change and am thinking about going into academia. I\u2019m currently an attorney but I just can\u2019t do it anymore. I\u2019ve always loved writing and reading and classes based on literary analysis. Basically I loved school. I want to teach and learn and all the good stuff. Obviously I\u2019ve done law school and the attorney thing for a few years, so it\u2019s not like I can\u2019t handle hard work. Anyone out there get a PhD after being out of school to a few years or making a career shift? Is there anything I should do to be more prepared and make myself the best candidate I can? I\u2019ve always had excellent grades and went to a top law school so my academic credentials are fine. I was thinking of maybe auditing some classes or even taking for credit some classes to give myself a stronger foundation and get back into school mode. My BA was in history and political science, so not english. I want to make sure I\u2019m prepared as best I can be. I don\u2019t know anyone with a PhD (except one person becoming a psychologist so a bit different) so I\u2019m going in blind. All I know is I can\u2019t be an attorney anymore and am willing to do literally anything to finally have a career I don\u2019t hate. I spent too many years doing what I thought I was supposed to and I\u2019d like to start studying my passions. Any tips or advice on either getting a PhD generally or applying after being out of school for a while would be super helpful. I\u2019m planning on applying for Fall 2022.","c_root_id_A":"gfslm42","c_root_id_B":"gfshkvw","created_at_utc_A":1607934118,"created_at_utc_B":1607930284,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Academia is undergoing a major contraction right now and it will continue for the next ~20 years (hopefully it stabilizes after that). Universities are slashing a quarter of their faculty, hiring freezes are in effect, and secondary sports at even rich schools like Stanford are getting axed permanently. And this isn\u2019t just COVID-19. Coronavirus accelerated a trend that was already ongoing due to the looming Demographic Cliff. Unless there is a second baby boom soon I don\u2019t expect the job market in academia to improve in my lifetime, and the situation is especially acute in the humanities. I recommend indulging your love of literature in other ways.","human_ref_B":"PhD as a career switch is certainly a thing, though I would say normally people tend to stay in the same field. Teaching as a goal is great, but to be honest you really shouldn't do it if teaching is the *only* thing you want to do with the degree. I've been chided by my advisors for being open to industry and academic jobs from the start, but I just tell them that I'm being realistic about my options. I'm in economics, so there's plenty outside of academia for us, but your mileage may vary with different liberal arts fields. Since it sounds like you like English, you'll be pleased to know that there are non-academic writers out there with PhDs; off the top of my head, I know the columnist\/podcast host Virginia Heffernan has an English PhD. My recommendation would be to check out placement records at some schools you're considering to see where they go. If they're not posted publicly, you should feel free to email the department admin and ask. If the school doesn't want to share placement info with you, it's a bad sign.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3834.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"kcodx3","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"Thinking about getting a PhD to make a career shift Hi all. So title says it all: I need a change and am thinking about going into academia. I\u2019m currently an attorney but I just can\u2019t do it anymore. I\u2019ve always loved writing and reading and classes based on literary analysis. Basically I loved school. I want to teach and learn and all the good stuff. Obviously I\u2019ve done law school and the attorney thing for a few years, so it\u2019s not like I can\u2019t handle hard work. Anyone out there get a PhD after being out of school to a few years or making a career shift? Is there anything I should do to be more prepared and make myself the best candidate I can? I\u2019ve always had excellent grades and went to a top law school so my academic credentials are fine. I was thinking of maybe auditing some classes or even taking for credit some classes to give myself a stronger foundation and get back into school mode. My BA was in history and political science, so not english. I want to make sure I\u2019m prepared as best I can be. I don\u2019t know anyone with a PhD (except one person becoming a psychologist so a bit different) so I\u2019m going in blind. All I know is I can\u2019t be an attorney anymore and am willing to do literally anything to finally have a career I don\u2019t hate. I spent too many years doing what I thought I was supposed to and I\u2019d like to start studying my passions. Any tips or advice on either getting a PhD generally or applying after being out of school for a while would be super helpful. I\u2019m planning on applying for Fall 2022.","c_root_id_A":"gfuexx4","c_root_id_B":"gfshkvw","created_at_utc_A":1607975809,"created_at_utc_B":1607930284,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Hi, OP! I just joined reddit for the first time a few months ago and have never posted before, but I totally related to your post--it described exactly where I was and how I felt two years ago, when I was in big law and absolutely miserable. I haven't started a PhD yet, but based on my experience going back to grad school as a pivot from big law, I will share some of my thoughts and advice that I think would have been helpful for me to know back when I was preparing to shift career tracks, too. The story leading up to this is a bit dramatic and convoluted, but basically the day before my 30th birthday was my last day in big law; the following week I packed up my life in NYC and moved to Chicago to start an MA program. First, I would encourage you to follow your heart and go for what you truly feel passionate about instead of thinking too much too soon about what is the most practical path to take. A lot of us lawyers tend to go down this path because we are pursuing practicality to begin with, and I see too many of my peers unhappy and uninspired with where they end up. From what you have written it seems like you will be in a relatively comfortable living situation even after losing the big law paycheck, so you are actually in the best position to take a risk and chase your dreams and the *best* possible outcome rather than tempering your own aspirations based on what you think makes the most realistic sense. The past year in my MA was the most intellectually enriching and fulfilling of my higher-ed experience to date (4 years undergrad, 2 years abroad for intensive language and cultural study, 3 years law school, and 1 year after law school conducting research abroad), and I do not regret a single moment of it. Second, if you did not write a senior honors thesis in college with professors whose scholarship is recognized in the R1 university circuit and who are willing to write you strong recommendation letters, or you have not otherwise kept up with the latest in academic scholarship in your areas of interest on your own, I think you should seriously consider applying to MA programs in the fields you are interested in. Partially due to other disruptions in my personal and professional life but also partially due to my own ignorance, I thought I could apply to PhD programs in political science and get in *somewhere*: I graduated from a top-3 law school with good grades, a plethora of campus leadership activities and honors, and strong recommendation letters from prominent law school faculty as well as my college political science professors. But I did not end up getting into any of the PhD programs I applied to and was only waitlisted or had my application referred to the MA pool. Based on what I learned from this past year in the MA and trying to diagnose what happened, here are several things I did wrong: * Statement of Purpose: because I had been out of school and the political theory field for so long, I was not abreast of recent research trends and up-to-date scholarship. Also, I had not taken a methodology course in undergrad (I didn't even know this was a thing), so I was not able to articulate my own research interests and direction in the manner expected of a serious PhD candidate. I did try to read up on my own while preparing to apply the first time around, but my 100+ hr\/week schedule with no weekends did not allow me to do so as thoroughly as I needed. Also, a lot of the academic publications (journal articles, monographs) I wanted to read were prohibitively expensive without institutional access\/credentials! By enrolling in an MA program, you will be able to explore and take advantage of courses, access to professors as well as academic resources such as the library and graduate advisors to best position yourself to apply for the PhD. For me, my research interests actually shifted greatly upon reentering academia and learning what is out there these days, so the PhD programs on my list radically shifted, too. * Recommendation Letters: Ideally, you will want to receive recommendation letters from tenured or tenure track faculty in the exact disciplinary\/thematic field in which you are seeking admission. OP, if you are coming from a political science and history background and are now interested in the literary fields as well, think critically about the professors who will be providing you letters and whether their own *scholarship* (not just the amazing things they have to say about your scholarly potential) will be understood and appreciated by the faculty on the admissions committees for the programs to which you are applying. This is important because often professors will be most convinced and assured by letters coming from other professors whose research and training matches or at least parallels their own. I was advised that my recommendation letters from law school faculty, despite their plethora of law journal publications and gravitas within the legal field, were not necessarily the strongest for political science PhD recommendation purposes, especially in light of the weaknesses in my statement of purpose as noted above. My college professors also did not anticipate that this would be the case, as I went to a small liberal arts college without a graduate program; back in their day, their letters may have been enough, but these professors (including one JD who clerked for a year and then went on to the PhD) do not review graduate applications so they were probably not aware of how much the market has changed with regards to PhD admissions since they themselves were graduate students. * Writing Sample: my strongest and most recent writing sample was written as a law article rather than a work of political theory. This did not help my application in light of the weaknesses noted above, as it did not give enough evidence to a *political theory* audience of my scholarly potential in *their* field. An MA, again, would provide you with the space to write a paper or thesis within the conventions and using the terms of art within your target discipline. It will also allow you to further explore and dive deeper into your own interests and better articulate to yourself what it is you want to do. In the process of writing and researching my own MA project, my interests actually grew in super unexpected and interesting ways and, as noted above, impacted the way in which I am approaching my PhD applications this time around. I should note that all of this advice assumes that you are aiming for the top tier graduate institutions and not to just get into *a* program. From what I have been hearing about the academic market and what I see here about your own trajectory thus far, I think my instinct is right, but to be clear, less competitive institutions and faculties may be a bit more lenient regarding the standards I have tried to outline above based on my own experience. COVID of course has exacerbated the risks of preparing for an already-dismal academic job market, but it (along with all the other craziness in my life the years leading up to my jump) has also taught me that despite our best efforts to plan for the future, a lot of things are also simply out of our hands. I decided to start my thirties making purposeful choices towards living a life without regretting *that which I did not do* for fear of failure, uncertainty, etc., and OP, honestly, we are incredibly lucky to have law degrees and big law experience that can translate into a job somewhere, somehow, if all else fails. I don't know what's in store for me next year, and I will not say that, especially with COVID, I was not free of certain anxieties or fears about the future after making the jump, but on balance I am so much happier and so much more inspired and excited for what might come and what could be compared to how I felt waking up each morning dreading reading my emails and all the work and fire drills that were waiting for me in my inbox. Best of all, I no longer feel like a failure to myself despite the image of success I might have given off to others with different interests, passions, and priorities than I have. There is, of course, so much more to say, but for now I hope these rambling (but honest!) thoughts are helpful to you as you think about your own plan and next steps. Also, congratulations on thinking more creatively and expansively about your own life path and career direction! I know how hard it is to think against the grain when so many of your peers are following a more conventional path to success and are excelling at it, and how pivoting can seem scary and like a step back. But based on how carefully and thoroughly you are approaching your own decision (unlike me two years ago!), I have faith that you will make the right decision for you at the right time :)","human_ref_B":"PhD as a career switch is certainly a thing, though I would say normally people tend to stay in the same field. Teaching as a goal is great, but to be honest you really shouldn't do it if teaching is the *only* thing you want to do with the degree. I've been chided by my advisors for being open to industry and academic jobs from the start, but I just tell them that I'm being realistic about my options. I'm in economics, so there's plenty outside of academia for us, but your mileage may vary with different liberal arts fields. Since it sounds like you like English, you'll be pleased to know that there are non-academic writers out there with PhDs; off the top of my head, I know the columnist\/podcast host Virginia Heffernan has an English PhD. My recommendation would be to check out placement records at some schools you're considering to see where they go. If they're not posted publicly, you should feel free to email the department admin and ask. If the school doesn't want to share placement info with you, it's a bad sign.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":45525.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"e8m7t9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"Is it annoying to ask the same person for a letter of recommendation too many times? If a student asks you for a letter of recommendation every couple of years, would this become annoying? How long does it take to brush off the old letter and send it to a new college? I've had this teacher help me with my Master's application, a Ph.D. application, and now an application to a new Ph.D. program. In the past, I think I might have also asked for one another a couple of times as well.","c_root_id_A":"fadp8fa","c_root_id_B":"fadiqef","created_at_utc_A":1575982020,"created_at_utc_B":1575973738,"score_A":14,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Every couple of years is not the slightest bit annoying. How long does it take to brush it off? Ten minutes, maybe? It depends on whether the college has a rat's maze of an online upload system. Most of the time it's not bad.","human_ref_B":"Depends a lot on your relationship with said person at the time. Also, keep in mind that a pre-master's letter may not be as valuable later in your path, up to date letters are typically better when possible.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8282.0,"score_ratio":1.5555555556} {"post_id":"4iuem9","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"UK academics: are you joining the strike over pay? UCU has a announced a 2-day strike at UK universities at the end of this month. Though I very much agree with their sentiment (protesting a pay offer that is, yet again, below inflation), I'm not sure how effective a strike will be as it seems to hurt the strikers themselves more than anyone else (having to catch up on work over the weekend, short courses that have be cancelled and refunded etc). Academics who have been around longer: do universities actually take note of strikes and are you striking in two weeks?","c_root_id_A":"d318xwt","c_root_id_B":"d318t5l","created_at_utc_A":1462972988,"created_at_utc_B":1462972758,"score_A":7,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I'm not striking. My university actually does match the rate of inflation, but even if it didn't, while I agree with the principle, you're quite right that it only really hurts the strikers. Strikes work well for fields like manufacturing, because a 2 day strike means things which would've been made simply aren't, and the company loses money, potentially threatening contracts etc. The company's net loss is large, but the net loss to the workers is relatively small. The university, however, doesn't actually lose 2 days of work from me; I'd have just as much work to do after the strike, and would inevitably end up catching up on it over time. Ultimately, I'd end up doing the work I would've done anyway, but for free because I lost the two days of pay I would've otherwise taken home for doing it. While the net loss to the staff is relatively small, the net loss to the university is almost zero. I don't object to losing pay to make things better by any means, but short strikes for academic staff have always felt pointless to me.","human_ref_B":"Doing a strike once the term is over makes it pretty hard to tell that we're striking. I will never cross a picket line, so I'm just going to work from home.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":230.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"u4os4y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Applying for job during tenure review process \u2014 bad idea? Posting from my burner because I\u2019m pretty sure my chair is a Reddit lurker. tldr: I\u2019m about to start tenure review process but am annoyed about being underpaid. Is now a bad time to get a competing offer to leverage a raise? I\u2019m a TT AP at an R1 in STEM. I am preparing my tenure packet currently and chair\/everyone has assured me it should go through no problem. I like my job and department but I\u2019ve felt for a long time that I\u2019m underpaid. I\u2019ve brought this up every year at my annual review and the chairs have generally been good about giving small raises (above cost of living but not dramatically so). Last year I low key threatened to get a competing offer and the chair gave me a slightly higher raise. But I still feel I\u2019m underpaid because: 1.\tWe recently hired someone in my area and they\u2019re great, but are making 20-25% more than me. Our research output is comparable while my teaching\/service is considerably more than theirs given teaching relief etc. 2.\tWe are a soft money school and I am funded literally 99% on external grants while also teaching more than required and supervising\/funding the largest number of students in the department. So it\u2019s not like the department even foots the bill for my salary (I\u2019m well below NIH salary cap). 3.\tI have recently helped negotiate academic salaries for two mentees that are *higher than my current salary*. One of those position was not even tenure track. So I\u2019m just a bit peeved. I found a job at a comparable university for a comparable position that I am contemplating applying for. As I said, I like my job and don\u2019t want to leave but I also want to be paid competitively. I feel the only way to achieve that is by getting a competing offer. My question is: is now, while my tenure packet is being reviewed, a really bad time to do that? Any perspective from people who have been through the retention process would be appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"i4x0cyt","c_root_id_B":"i4x757e","created_at_utc_A":1650079970,"created_at_utc_B":1650083838,"score_A":9,"score_B":46,"human_ref_A":"No experience, but can't you just get tenure and then get competing offer after?","human_ref_B":"The year you go up for tenure is typically the best time to be testing out the job market as well, as a fallback option if you fail to secure tenure, and as a bargaining chip if you do get tenure but wish to renegotiate your salary. You're on a 90% soft money position that is massively underpaid, what is the big deal if you do piss off your promotion and tenure committee?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3868.0,"score_ratio":5.1111111111} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3kpsy","c_root_id_B":"ed3jvfy","created_at_utc_A":1546459901,"created_at_utc_B":1546459285,"score_A":102,"score_B":30,"human_ref_A":"People seem to have very different opinions about this and opinions range between \"inappropriate\" and \"mandatory\". There was a thread about the same topic recently (but faculty-level application): https:\/\/old.reddit.com\/r\/AskAcademia\/comments\/9v2bq9\/ft_faculty_would_you_apply_for_other_jobs_on_your\/?st=jqfm5eal&sh=f754b68d The general rule that I learned is that you should use your institution's letterhead for official business related to that institution (that's Germany, chemistry). Job applications are not official business related to your institution, but rather your own personal business, so you should use your personal letterhead instead. Keep in mind, though, that whether you use your institution's letterhead or not most likely won't be the deciding factor in whether you get the job or not, so don't fret about it too much.","human_ref_B":"When I followed that advice and luckily got accepted on one of my first jobs after PhD, my head of department later commented on how weird it was for my letter to have a letterhead, seeing that officially I was a student and not a faculty member. Thankfully she ignored it and put it down to naivety. This was Australia, social science. So yeah, I'd say the advice was either discipline or region specific. Why not just follow the herd practice of your discipline\/peers?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":616.0,"score_ratio":3.4} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3jm59","c_root_id_B":"ed3kpsy","created_at_utc_A":1546459098,"created_at_utc_B":1546459901,"score_A":4,"score_B":102,"human_ref_A":"Yes. Always use university letterheads, no matter the discipline.","human_ref_B":"People seem to have very different opinions about this and opinions range between \"inappropriate\" and \"mandatory\". There was a thread about the same topic recently (but faculty-level application): https:\/\/old.reddit.com\/r\/AskAcademia\/comments\/9v2bq9\/ft_faculty_would_you_apply_for_other_jobs_on_your\/?st=jqfm5eal&sh=f754b68d The general rule that I learned is that you should use your institution's letterhead for official business related to that institution (that's Germany, chemistry). Job applications are not official business related to your institution, but rather your own personal business, so you should use your personal letterhead instead. Keep in mind, though, that whether you use your institution's letterhead or not most likely won't be the deciding factor in whether you get the job or not, so don't fret about it too much.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":803.0,"score_ratio":25.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3kpsy","c_root_id_B":"ed3k3yu","created_at_utc_A":1546459901,"created_at_utc_B":1546459459,"score_A":102,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"People seem to have very different opinions about this and opinions range between \"inappropriate\" and \"mandatory\". There was a thread about the same topic recently (but faculty-level application): https:\/\/old.reddit.com\/r\/AskAcademia\/comments\/9v2bq9\/ft_faculty_would_you_apply_for_other_jobs_on_your\/?st=jqfm5eal&sh=f754b68d The general rule that I learned is that you should use your institution's letterhead for official business related to that institution (that's Germany, chemistry). Job applications are not official business related to your institution, but rather your own personal business, so you should use your personal letterhead instead. Keep in mind, though, that whether you use your institution's letterhead or not most likely won't be the deciding factor in whether you get the job or not, so don't fret about it too much.","human_ref_B":"Yes, absolutely!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":442.0,"score_ratio":34.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3jvfy","c_root_id_B":"ed3jm59","created_at_utc_A":1546459285,"created_at_utc_B":1546459098,"score_A":30,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"When I followed that advice and luckily got accepted on one of my first jobs after PhD, my head of department later commented on how weird it was for my letter to have a letterhead, seeing that officially I was a student and not a faculty member. Thankfully she ignored it and put it down to naivety. This was Australia, social science. So yeah, I'd say the advice was either discipline or region specific. Why not just follow the herd practice of your discipline\/peers?","human_ref_B":"Yes. Always use university letterheads, no matter the discipline.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":187.0,"score_ratio":7.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3ml1q","c_root_id_B":"ed3jm59","created_at_utc_A":1546461245,"created_at_utc_B":1546459098,"score_A":24,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Based off the answers here, for the US, YES, for Germany or Australia, NO. I'm in the US and used letterhead for job applications as a PhD student and eve for a year after I graduated. If in doubt, ask your advisor. It was completely normal in my department. It is official business because you are applying to those jobs as an official part of your current university.","human_ref_B":"Yes. Always use university letterheads, no matter the discipline.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2147.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3ma4g","c_root_id_B":"ed3ml1q","created_at_utc_A":1546461026,"created_at_utc_B":1546461245,"score_A":4,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"wow ! cover letters that not on a letter head are bad ?I am truly sad that such an arbitrary thing is part of the system. Might as well say, the cover letter sucks because one dint write it while certain stars are not aligned. That said, at my institute (in germany) its considered pretty weird if I were to use my institutes letter head\/envelope for personal reasons (job applications etc). I guess its a regional thing. Since Dr.Kelsky is operating in the US, it could be that its an American thing.","human_ref_B":"Based off the answers here, for the US, YES, for Germany or Australia, NO. I'm in the US and used letterhead for job applications as a PhD student and eve for a year after I graduated. If in doubt, ask your advisor. It was completely normal in my department. It is official business because you are applying to those jobs as an official part of your current university.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":219.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3k3yu","c_root_id_B":"ed3ml1q","created_at_utc_A":1546459459,"created_at_utc_B":1546461245,"score_A":3,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Yes, absolutely!","human_ref_B":"Based off the answers here, for the US, YES, for Germany or Australia, NO. I'm in the US and used letterhead for job applications as a PhD student and eve for a year after I graduated. If in doubt, ask your advisor. It was completely normal in my department. It is official business because you are applying to those jobs as an official part of your current university.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1786.0,"score_ratio":8.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3m8hf","c_root_id_B":"ed3ml1q","created_at_utc_A":1546460992,"created_at_utc_B":1546461245,"score_A":2,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"Based off the answers here, for the US, YES, for Germany or Australia, NO. I'm in the US and used letterhead for job applications as a PhD student and eve for a year after I graduated. If in doubt, ask your advisor. It was completely normal in my department. It is official business because you are applying to those jobs as an official part of your current university.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":253.0,"score_ratio":12.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3yo8g","c_root_id_B":"ed412ep","created_at_utc_A":1546469077,"created_at_utc_B":1546470810,"score_A":8,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I haven't been on a ton of search committees but when I have letterhead isn't even a tie-breaker on whether someone gets an interview or not. This just doesn't come up.","human_ref_B":"Yes if you are applying for jobs in academia where pedigree may matter (e.g., postdocs, TT professors) . Generally no for industry and other positions. My rule of thumb: Are you submitting long CV or 1 page resume? Edit: this is for US only. Not sure about other countries.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1733.0,"score_ratio":1.125} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3jm59","c_root_id_B":"ed412ep","created_at_utc_A":1546459098,"created_at_utc_B":1546470810,"score_A":4,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Yes. Always use university letterheads, no matter the discipline.","human_ref_B":"Yes if you are applying for jobs in academia where pedigree may matter (e.g., postdocs, TT professors) . Generally no for industry and other positions. My rule of thumb: Are you submitting long CV or 1 page resume? Edit: this is for US only. Not sure about other countries.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11712.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3ma4g","c_root_id_B":"ed412ep","created_at_utc_A":1546461026,"created_at_utc_B":1546470810,"score_A":4,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"wow ! cover letters that not on a letter head are bad ?I am truly sad that such an arbitrary thing is part of the system. Might as well say, the cover letter sucks because one dint write it while certain stars are not aligned. That said, at my institute (in germany) its considered pretty weird if I were to use my institutes letter head\/envelope for personal reasons (job applications etc). I guess its a regional thing. Since Dr.Kelsky is operating in the US, it could be that its an American thing.","human_ref_B":"Yes if you are applying for jobs in academia where pedigree may matter (e.g., postdocs, TT professors) . Generally no for industry and other positions. My rule of thumb: Are you submitting long CV or 1 page resume? Edit: this is for US only. Not sure about other countries.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9784.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed412ep","c_root_id_B":"ed3nyp1","created_at_utc_A":1546470810,"created_at_utc_B":1546462226,"score_A":9,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes if you are applying for jobs in academia where pedigree may matter (e.g., postdocs, TT professors) . Generally no for industry and other positions. My rule of thumb: Are you submitting long CV or 1 page resume? Edit: this is for US only. Not sure about other countries.","human_ref_B":"Someone made a LaTeX template of my institution's letterhead and posted it on their blog. No one batted an eye at it, and I've not gotten in trouble for using it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8584.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed400ud","c_root_id_B":"ed412ep","created_at_utc_A":1546470011,"created_at_utc_B":1546470810,"score_A":3,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"My experience is no for the United States. I do agree with people who say it's not a big deal either way. Letters of reference should be on letterhead, of course.","human_ref_B":"Yes if you are applying for jobs in academia where pedigree may matter (e.g., postdocs, TT professors) . Generally no for industry and other positions. My rule of thumb: Are you submitting long CV or 1 page resume? Edit: this is for US only. Not sure about other countries.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":799.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3k3yu","c_root_id_B":"ed412ep","created_at_utc_A":1546459459,"created_at_utc_B":1546470810,"score_A":3,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Yes, absolutely!","human_ref_B":"Yes if you are applying for jobs in academia where pedigree may matter (e.g., postdocs, TT professors) . Generally no for industry and other positions. My rule of thumb: Are you submitting long CV or 1 page resume? Edit: this is for US only. Not sure about other countries.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11351.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed412ep","c_root_id_B":"ed3m8hf","created_at_utc_A":1546470810,"created_at_utc_B":1546460992,"score_A":9,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Yes if you are applying for jobs in academia where pedigree may matter (e.g., postdocs, TT professors) . Generally no for industry and other positions. My rule of thumb: Are you submitting long CV or 1 page resume? Edit: this is for US only. Not sure about other countries.","human_ref_B":"Yes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9818.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3yo8g","c_root_id_B":"ed3jm59","created_at_utc_A":1546469077,"created_at_utc_B":1546459098,"score_A":8,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I haven't been on a ton of search committees but when I have letterhead isn't even a tie-breaker on whether someone gets an interview or not. This just doesn't come up.","human_ref_B":"Yes. Always use university letterheads, no matter the discipline.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9979.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3ma4g","c_root_id_B":"ed3yo8g","created_at_utc_A":1546461026,"created_at_utc_B":1546469077,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"wow ! cover letters that not on a letter head are bad ?I am truly sad that such an arbitrary thing is part of the system. Might as well say, the cover letter sucks because one dint write it while certain stars are not aligned. That said, at my institute (in germany) its considered pretty weird if I were to use my institutes letter head\/envelope for personal reasons (job applications etc). I guess its a regional thing. Since Dr.Kelsky is operating in the US, it could be that its an American thing.","human_ref_B":"I haven't been on a ton of search committees but when I have letterhead isn't even a tie-breaker on whether someone gets an interview or not. This just doesn't come up.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8051.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3yo8g","c_root_id_B":"ed3nyp1","created_at_utc_A":1546469077,"created_at_utc_B":1546462226,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I haven't been on a ton of search committees but when I have letterhead isn't even a tie-breaker on whether someone gets an interview or not. This just doesn't come up.","human_ref_B":"Someone made a LaTeX template of my institution's letterhead and posted it on their blog. No one batted an eye at it, and I've not gotten in trouble for using it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6851.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3yo8g","c_root_id_B":"ed3k3yu","created_at_utc_A":1546469077,"created_at_utc_B":1546459459,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I haven't been on a ton of search committees but when I have letterhead isn't even a tie-breaker on whether someone gets an interview or not. This just doesn't come up.","human_ref_B":"Yes, absolutely!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9618.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3yo8g","c_root_id_B":"ed3m8hf","created_at_utc_A":1546469077,"created_at_utc_B":1546460992,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I haven't been on a ton of search committees but when I have letterhead isn't even a tie-breaker on whether someone gets an interview or not. This just doesn't come up.","human_ref_B":"Yes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8085.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3nyp1","c_root_id_B":"ed47uqo","created_at_utc_A":1546462226,"created_at_utc_B":1546476201,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Someone made a LaTeX template of my institution's letterhead and posted it on their blog. No one batted an eye at it, and I've not gotten in trouble for using it.","human_ref_B":"I'm seeing a lot of \"if in the US, definitely yes,\" but I don't agree. I graduated from and now work at another biomedical research institution, and they are very particular about who can use letterhead and for what. A grad student would not be allowed to use it (I didn't and got a postdoc with no trouble), but tenure track faculty candidates can. There are also loads of branding rules regarding how logos can be used (resolution, size, placement, size relative to other logos), so just be sure to get permission and a letterhead file directly from your institution rather than making one of your own.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13975.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed47uqo","c_root_id_B":"ed400ud","created_at_utc_A":1546476201,"created_at_utc_B":1546470011,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm seeing a lot of \"if in the US, definitely yes,\" but I don't agree. I graduated from and now work at another biomedical research institution, and they are very particular about who can use letterhead and for what. A grad student would not be allowed to use it (I didn't and got a postdoc with no trouble), but tenure track faculty candidates can. There are also loads of branding rules regarding how logos can be used (resolution, size, placement, size relative to other logos), so just be sure to get permission and a letterhead file directly from your institution rather than making one of your own.","human_ref_B":"My experience is no for the United States. I do agree with people who say it's not a big deal either way. Letters of reference should be on letterhead, of course.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6190.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3k3yu","c_root_id_B":"ed47uqo","created_at_utc_A":1546459459,"created_at_utc_B":1546476201,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes, absolutely!","human_ref_B":"I'm seeing a lot of \"if in the US, definitely yes,\" but I don't agree. I graduated from and now work at another biomedical research institution, and they are very particular about who can use letterhead and for what. A grad student would not be allowed to use it (I didn't and got a postdoc with no trouble), but tenure track faculty candidates can. There are also loads of branding rules regarding how logos can be used (resolution, size, placement, size relative to other logos), so just be sure to get permission and a letterhead file directly from your institution rather than making one of your own.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16742.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3m8hf","c_root_id_B":"ed47uqo","created_at_utc_A":1546460992,"created_at_utc_B":1546476201,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"I'm seeing a lot of \"if in the US, definitely yes,\" but I don't agree. I graduated from and now work at another biomedical research institution, and they are very particular about who can use letterhead and for what. A grad student would not be allowed to use it (I didn't and got a postdoc with no trouble), but tenure track faculty candidates can. There are also loads of branding rules regarding how logos can be used (resolution, size, placement, size relative to other logos), so just be sure to get permission and a letterhead file directly from your institution rather than making one of your own.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15209.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed42qxz","c_root_id_B":"ed47uqo","created_at_utc_A":1546472134,"created_at_utc_B":1546476201,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I'm a computer science professor in the U.S. I agree with those who say that letterhead is for official university business, and a job search is personal business. So no, don't use letterhead. OTOH, I've also been on several search committees. And speaking as someone who might make a recommendation about hiring you: we don't care whether you use university letterhead -- or whether your resume is on fancy paper, or any of that stuff. We don't care the slightest, tiniest bit. We probably won't even notice.","human_ref_B":"I'm seeing a lot of \"if in the US, definitely yes,\" but I don't agree. I graduated from and now work at another biomedical research institution, and they are very particular about who can use letterhead and for what. A grad student would not be allowed to use it (I didn't and got a postdoc with no trouble), but tenure track faculty candidates can. There are also loads of branding rules regarding how logos can be used (resolution, size, placement, size relative to other logos), so just be sure to get permission and a letterhead file directly from your institution rather than making one of your own.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4067.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed47uqo","c_root_id_B":"ed451ed","created_at_utc_A":1546476201,"created_at_utc_B":1546473944,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm seeing a lot of \"if in the US, definitely yes,\" but I don't agree. I graduated from and now work at another biomedical research institution, and they are very particular about who can use letterhead and for what. A grad student would not be allowed to use it (I didn't and got a postdoc with no trouble), but tenure track faculty candidates can. There are also loads of branding rules regarding how logos can be used (resolution, size, placement, size relative to other logos), so just be sure to get permission and a letterhead file directly from your institution rather than making one of your own.","human_ref_B":"In my experience (math, US), no one would notice or care either way.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2257.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3nyp1","c_root_id_B":"ed4avfn","created_at_utc_A":1546462226,"created_at_utc_B":1546478696,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Someone made a LaTeX template of my institution's letterhead and posted it on their blog. No one batted an eye at it, and I've not gotten in trouble for using it.","human_ref_B":"Probably depends on location\/discipling. For the committees that I have been on (engineering\/USA) no one really cares what is in the cover letter past confirming that the candidate can write in professional english. Letterhead would have zero impact on the outcome as long as the letter itself looks professional.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16470.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed400ud","c_root_id_B":"ed4avfn","created_at_utc_A":1546470011,"created_at_utc_B":1546478696,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"My experience is no for the United States. I do agree with people who say it's not a big deal either way. Letters of reference should be on letterhead, of course.","human_ref_B":"Probably depends on location\/discipling. For the committees that I have been on (engineering\/USA) no one really cares what is in the cover letter past confirming that the candidate can write in professional english. Letterhead would have zero impact on the outcome as long as the letter itself looks professional.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8685.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3k3yu","c_root_id_B":"ed4avfn","created_at_utc_A":1546459459,"created_at_utc_B":1546478696,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes, absolutely!","human_ref_B":"Probably depends on location\/discipling. For the committees that I have been on (engineering\/USA) no one really cares what is in the cover letter past confirming that the candidate can write in professional english. Letterhead would have zero impact on the outcome as long as the letter itself looks professional.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19237.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3m8hf","c_root_id_B":"ed4avfn","created_at_utc_A":1546460992,"created_at_utc_B":1546478696,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"Probably depends on location\/discipling. For the committees that I have been on (engineering\/USA) no one really cares what is in the cover letter past confirming that the candidate can write in professional english. Letterhead would have zero impact on the outcome as long as the letter itself looks professional.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17704.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed42qxz","c_root_id_B":"ed4avfn","created_at_utc_A":1546472134,"created_at_utc_B":1546478696,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I'm a computer science professor in the U.S. I agree with those who say that letterhead is for official university business, and a job search is personal business. So no, don't use letterhead. OTOH, I've also been on several search committees. And speaking as someone who might make a recommendation about hiring you: we don't care whether you use university letterhead -- or whether your resume is on fancy paper, or any of that stuff. We don't care the slightest, tiniest bit. We probably won't even notice.","human_ref_B":"Probably depends on location\/discipling. For the committees that I have been on (engineering\/USA) no one really cares what is in the cover letter past confirming that the candidate can write in professional english. Letterhead would have zero impact on the outcome as long as the letter itself looks professional.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6562.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed451ed","c_root_id_B":"ed4avfn","created_at_utc_A":1546473944,"created_at_utc_B":1546478696,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"In my experience (math, US), no one would notice or care either way.","human_ref_B":"Probably depends on location\/discipling. For the committees that I have been on (engineering\/USA) no one really cares what is in the cover letter past confirming that the candidate can write in professional english. Letterhead would have zero impact on the outcome as long as the letter itself looks professional.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4752.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3ma4g","c_root_id_B":"ed3k3yu","created_at_utc_A":1546461026,"created_at_utc_B":1546459459,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"wow ! cover letters that not on a letter head are bad ?I am truly sad that such an arbitrary thing is part of the system. Might as well say, the cover letter sucks because one dint write it while certain stars are not aligned. That said, at my institute (in germany) its considered pretty weird if I were to use my institutes letter head\/envelope for personal reasons (job applications etc). I guess its a regional thing. Since Dr.Kelsky is operating in the US, it could be that its an American thing.","human_ref_B":"Yes, absolutely!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1567.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3m8hf","c_root_id_B":"ed3ma4g","created_at_utc_A":1546460992,"created_at_utc_B":1546461026,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"wow ! cover letters that not on a letter head are bad ?I am truly sad that such an arbitrary thing is part of the system. Might as well say, the cover letter sucks because one dint write it while certain stars are not aligned. That said, at my institute (in germany) its considered pretty weird if I were to use my institutes letter head\/envelope for personal reasons (job applications etc). I guess its a regional thing. Since Dr.Kelsky is operating in the US, it could be that its an American thing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":34.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3m8hf","c_root_id_B":"ed3nyp1","created_at_utc_A":1546460992,"created_at_utc_B":1546462226,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"Someone made a LaTeX template of my institution's letterhead and posted it on their blog. No one batted an eye at it, and I've not gotten in trouble for using it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1234.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed400ud","c_root_id_B":"ed3m8hf","created_at_utc_A":1546470011,"created_at_utc_B":1546460992,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"My experience is no for the United States. I do agree with people who say it's not a big deal either way. Letters of reference should be on letterhead, of course.","human_ref_B":"Yes.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9019.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3m8hf","c_root_id_B":"ed4d6h3","created_at_utc_A":1546460992,"created_at_utc_B":1546480612,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"You're doing yourself a disservice not putting it on letterhead. Use the letterhead.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19620.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed42qxz","c_root_id_B":"ed4d6h3","created_at_utc_A":1546472134,"created_at_utc_B":1546480612,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm a computer science professor in the U.S. I agree with those who say that letterhead is for official university business, and a job search is personal business. So no, don't use letterhead. OTOH, I've also been on several search committees. And speaking as someone who might make a recommendation about hiring you: we don't care whether you use university letterhead -- or whether your resume is on fancy paper, or any of that stuff. We don't care the slightest, tiniest bit. We probably won't even notice.","human_ref_B":"You're doing yourself a disservice not putting it on letterhead. Use the letterhead.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8478.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed4d6h3","c_root_id_B":"ed451ed","created_at_utc_A":1546480612,"created_at_utc_B":1546473944,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"You're doing yourself a disservice not putting it on letterhead. Use the letterhead.","human_ref_B":"In my experience (math, US), no one would notice or care either way.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6668.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed3m8hf","c_root_id_B":"ed4h6yl","created_at_utc_A":1546460992,"created_at_utc_B":1546483955,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yes.","human_ref_B":"Yes, for the US at least, you should use letterhead. I've read several thousand academic job applications over the years and 95% of them are on letterhead, including virtually all of those from graduate students. When I was a grad student there were boxes of letterhead in the office specifically for that purpose. If you don't have access, however, it's fairly easy to make your own semi-official looking university letterhead by copying or scanning your university logo and using a nice font for the rest. Nobody will notice or care, since we end up reading hundreds of files and only glance at the paper (or the PDF) in the process anyway. What does stand out, however, is the *lack* of letterhead.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22963.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed42qxz","c_root_id_B":"ed4h6yl","created_at_utc_A":1546472134,"created_at_utc_B":1546483955,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm a computer science professor in the U.S. I agree with those who say that letterhead is for official university business, and a job search is personal business. So no, don't use letterhead. OTOH, I've also been on several search committees. And speaking as someone who might make a recommendation about hiring you: we don't care whether you use university letterhead -- or whether your resume is on fancy paper, or any of that stuff. We don't care the slightest, tiniest bit. We probably won't even notice.","human_ref_B":"Yes, for the US at least, you should use letterhead. I've read several thousand academic job applications over the years and 95% of them are on letterhead, including virtually all of those from graduate students. When I was a grad student there were boxes of letterhead in the office specifically for that purpose. If you don't have access, however, it's fairly easy to make your own semi-official looking university letterhead by copying or scanning your university logo and using a nice font for the rest. Nobody will notice or care, since we end up reading hundreds of files and only glance at the paper (or the PDF) in the process anyway. What does stand out, however, is the *lack* of letterhead.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11821.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"abww5y","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"As a current Ph.D.\u200b candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? According to Dr. Karen Kelsky, \"Your letter must be on letterhead if you have a current academic affiliation of any kind. This is not negotiable.\" As a current Ph.D. candidate\u200b should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? Is it discipline specific? ​ http:\/\/theprofessorisin.com\/2016\/08\/26\/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks\/","c_root_id_A":"ed451ed","c_root_id_B":"ed4h6yl","created_at_utc_A":1546473944,"created_at_utc_B":1546483955,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"In my experience (math, US), no one would notice or care either way.","human_ref_B":"Yes, for the US at least, you should use letterhead. I've read several thousand academic job applications over the years and 95% of them are on letterhead, including virtually all of those from graduate students. When I was a grad student there were boxes of letterhead in the office specifically for that purpose. If you don't have access, however, it's fairly easy to make your own semi-official looking university letterhead by copying or scanning your university logo and using a nice font for the rest. Nobody will notice or care, since we end up reading hundreds of files and only glance at the paper (or the PDF) in the process anyway. What does stand out, however, is the *lack* of letterhead.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10011.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"4f8ng2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"What is your research paper writing routine? Do you write certain parts before jumping into experimentation, etc.? If you wrote a proposal to fund the research, do you use some of that text in the paper (e.g., intro, background, methods)? Do you spend much time notetaking and outlining, or do you jump into writing drafts right away? It would be great to see lots of replies to compare writing approaches.","c_root_id_A":"d26tq9y","c_root_id_B":"d26tzqk","created_at_utc_A":1460932566,"created_at_utc_B":1460933003,"score_A":7,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I write the methods as I do the experiments so that part is done and ready to go. When all the experiments are done, I make all the figures and then put them in an order that makes sense. Then I write the results. Then Discussion\/Conclusions. Intro, then abstract come last for me. I re-use as much as possible from previous writing (grants, progress reports, etc) for the intro.","human_ref_B":"Here is the route I usually take, but everybody approaches papers differently. I am a computer scientist so that also probably makes a difference. 1. Put in all section and sub-section headings. Maybe sub-sub-section headings too. 2. Put in figures and tables, or placeholders for figures and tables. I overestimate how many I am going to want and will end up cutting a few in the end. 3. Describe the data and analysis (or materials and methods whatever you want to call it), or main bits of the proofs or whatever the meat of the paper is. 4. Abstract, this usually works as a mini version of the intro. 5. Introduction\/Discussion in no particular order. Sometimes Future work is in it's own section sometimes it's in the discussion. I like to have a 'Caveats and Threats to Validity' subsection in the discussion. You can specifically use it to head off reviewer complaints. 6. Related Work. Though a fair amount of work has been done gathering related papers before I sit down to start writing the paper. Sometimes I put this right after the intro if I am trying to highlight the novelty\/contrast to previous work. Otherwise, I'll put it before the discussion if this is more incremental. 7. Conclusion.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":437.0,"score_ratio":2.7142857143} {"post_id":"4f8ng2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"What is your research paper writing routine? Do you write certain parts before jumping into experimentation, etc.? If you wrote a proposal to fund the research, do you use some of that text in the paper (e.g., intro, background, methods)? Do you spend much time notetaking and outlining, or do you jump into writing drafts right away? It would be great to see lots of replies to compare writing approaches.","c_root_id_A":"d27c4vr","c_root_id_B":"d270d60","created_at_utc_A":1460972740,"created_at_utc_B":1460943666,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm an anthropology MA. This is my second MA and by far the hardest program I've ever done, purely because of outrageous deadlines. I'm in the middle of research paper season! My routine is as follows: 1. Spend days worrying about my topic. If it's free choice there is less anxiety but on my course now they give you the questions. Yippee. 2. Make judicious effort to go somewhere I can actually write. 3. Think really hard about the question. 4. Actually sit down and write, usually I outline the headings and construct a solid outline, which is then later altered but thats fine, it's just so I have some direction. 5. Take a day off. Cry. Procrastinate. 6. Collect as many sources as possible. Because I'm often writing 3-4 essays at the same time I print off my articles otherwise, due to sheer volume of reading, I get confused. This means my print quota is gone very soon. I spend a lot of money on printing. 7. Write like there's no ma\u00f1ana. I try and put on at least 1000 words a day but I like to do more if possible. I know that I'll revise it over and over so I like to have lots of choices for wording. 8. More crying, more procrastination. 10. PROOFREAD. This is the hardest part for me. I usually send it off to friends as well to double check. Even so I always end up with at least one grammatical error that my professors call me out on. 9. Somehow I manage to finish, by the grace of whatever deity is out there. Basically I'm in the middle of exam season and I hate everything. For the sake of my own sanity I've been doing one day on one day off of library work. It's been working out for me but they're due in two weeks and I'm starting to feel the panic. All three are halfway written and structured so it's not so bad.","human_ref_B":"The best advise I've heard is to start writing your paper right away, before you even ran any experiments or as you are starting to run them. Personally, I blog about whatever I am working on, and often parts of that writing end up in the paper or at least greatly inform how the paper is structured or what follow up work or clarifications focus on.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29074.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"4f8ng2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"What is your research paper writing routine? Do you write certain parts before jumping into experimentation, etc.? If you wrote a proposal to fund the research, do you use some of that text in the paper (e.g., intro, background, methods)? Do you spend much time notetaking and outlining, or do you jump into writing drafts right away? It would be great to see lots of replies to compare writing approaches.","c_root_id_A":"d27c4vr","c_root_id_B":"d27bdvt","created_at_utc_A":1460972740,"created_at_utc_B":1460969700,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm an anthropology MA. This is my second MA and by far the hardest program I've ever done, purely because of outrageous deadlines. I'm in the middle of research paper season! My routine is as follows: 1. Spend days worrying about my topic. If it's free choice there is less anxiety but on my course now they give you the questions. Yippee. 2. Make judicious effort to go somewhere I can actually write. 3. Think really hard about the question. 4. Actually sit down and write, usually I outline the headings and construct a solid outline, which is then later altered but thats fine, it's just so I have some direction. 5. Take a day off. Cry. Procrastinate. 6. Collect as many sources as possible. Because I'm often writing 3-4 essays at the same time I print off my articles otherwise, due to sheer volume of reading, I get confused. This means my print quota is gone very soon. I spend a lot of money on printing. 7. Write like there's no ma\u00f1ana. I try and put on at least 1000 words a day but I like to do more if possible. I know that I'll revise it over and over so I like to have lots of choices for wording. 8. More crying, more procrastination. 10. PROOFREAD. This is the hardest part for me. I usually send it off to friends as well to double check. Even so I always end up with at least one grammatical error that my professors call me out on. 9. Somehow I manage to finish, by the grace of whatever deity is out there. Basically I'm in the middle of exam season and I hate everything. For the sake of my own sanity I've been doing one day on one day off of library work. It's been working out for me but they're due in two weeks and I'm starting to feel the panic. All three are halfway written and structured so it's not so bad.","human_ref_B":"Sometimes if I'm in a bit of a flump with a paper I'll write it out with no references, just saying what I need to say, and then buffing it up with actual details from papers later.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3040.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"4f8ng2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"What is your research paper writing routine? Do you write certain parts before jumping into experimentation, etc.? If you wrote a proposal to fund the research, do you use some of that text in the paper (e.g., intro, background, methods)? Do you spend much time notetaking and outlining, or do you jump into writing drafts right away? It would be great to see lots of replies to compare writing approaches.","c_root_id_A":"d27wtmt","c_root_id_B":"d270d60","created_at_utc_A":1461008360,"created_at_utc_B":1460943666,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Here's my process for the one I am currently writing: 1) Open up all the files 2) Browse Reddit 3) Look for that leftover bag of jelly beans from Easter 4) Eat jelly beans while skimming files 5) Write a sentence 6) Erase sentence and eat jelly beans 7) Browse AskAcademia while eating jelly beans 8) Notice it's sunny and nice outside 9) Say, \"Hey pup, want to go for a walk?\" 10) Type this answer. Hit \"save.\" Take dog for a walk.","human_ref_B":"The best advise I've heard is to start writing your paper right away, before you even ran any experiments or as you are starting to run them. Personally, I blog about whatever I am working on, and often parts of that writing end up in the paper or at least greatly inform how the paper is structured or what follow up work or clarifications focus on.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":64694.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"4f8ng2","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"What is your research paper writing routine? Do you write certain parts before jumping into experimentation, etc.? If you wrote a proposal to fund the research, do you use some of that text in the paper (e.g., intro, background, methods)? Do you spend much time notetaking and outlining, or do you jump into writing drafts right away? It would be great to see lots of replies to compare writing approaches.","c_root_id_A":"d27bdvt","c_root_id_B":"d27wtmt","created_at_utc_A":1460969700,"created_at_utc_B":1461008360,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Sometimes if I'm in a bit of a flump with a paper I'll write it out with no references, just saying what I need to say, and then buffing it up with actual details from papers later.","human_ref_B":"Here's my process for the one I am currently writing: 1) Open up all the files 2) Browse Reddit 3) Look for that leftover bag of jelly beans from Easter 4) Eat jelly beans while skimming files 5) Write a sentence 6) Erase sentence and eat jelly beans 7) Browse AskAcademia while eating jelly beans 8) Notice it's sunny and nice outside 9) Say, \"Hey pup, want to go for a walk?\" 10) Type this answer. Hit \"save.\" Take dog for a walk.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":38660.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"84fy8e","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"Have any of you ended up settling permanently in a non tenure-track position? What do you like or regret about it? I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering settling in a non-tenure track faculty path as a career. Currently I'm a non-TT assistant professor at a large university attached to a large institute, and my contract is indefinite term as long as I have funding (which comes from the institute, and I am PI on grants on behalf of the institute). It's in an area where my family and I like living in, pay is great, and I really like my working environment. I've been here for about 5 years and if all goes well over the next two years, I might be bumped up in rank to an associate prof, but still non-TT. The reason why I'm asking is that I have applied for TT-positions over the years, and I've even gotten a handful of offers. But honestly, the offers I got weren't ones that I could get behind because while some aspects were better than my current position (mainly a chance at tenure), holistically I felt like they were worse. Either I found out after interviewing that it was a really bad fit, or my family decided after touring that we couldn't see ourselves living there, or the working environment was toxic, or flat out I'd have to give up doing the things I'm interested in at work. At this point, I am currently convinced that the TT-positions that I'm capable of getting with my record (which is solid, but I'm not and will never be any sort of star) will only be at places which would be holistically worse than my current one, and I'm not competitive enough for the TT-positions at places that might be holistically better. I'm leaning towards just riding out my current position until I can't do so anymore. I know it won't be as prestigious or respected or whatever, but I don't care much about that. But at the same time, I only know one person who managed to make an entire career out of being a non-tenure track faculty, so due to the lack of sample size I do wonder if what I'm leaning towards will end up being a terrible idea. So I just wanted to ask if there are any of you out there who ended up settling in a non-TT faculty position and what your experiences are, any tips to watch out for, and whether you think doing so is a good or bad idea. For reference, I'm in a STEM field where industry is an option, albeit I do prefer my current position.","c_root_id_A":"dvprlg2","c_root_id_B":"dvpfban","created_at_utc_A":1521073088,"created_at_utc_B":1521061021,"score_A":43,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I am non-TT at an R1 and was offered a TT job at another school. My school offered to match and make my job TT, but I'd have to start the clock at zero. I said no. I came to academia late and don't have a lot of respect for most of my colleagues. They are so full of themselves and their main goal is to protect their little ivory tower. It's rarely about the students. Most of them really don't know how hard people in non-academia work and they can't meet a deadline to save their lives. So I said no, to both offers. I couldn't imagine having to be on MORE committees and go to MORE events, plus the pressure to publish. I didn't think I could take sucking up to these peacocks for another seven years. I'm too old for that shit. I stayed on as a non-TT. I get all the benefits of tenure except that I'll never make full professor or a named chair and I'll never be chair or faculty senate present and that's fine by me. My contract automatically renews. I make less, but I'm fine with my salary. I like the teaching. I'm good at it. I care about the students and want them to do well. That's not something that's really respected at R1 schools, but I can live with it.","human_ref_B":"I'm in a non-tenure track teaching position but with some stability and a pretty nice salary. My husband is on tenure-track and we both just got too tired of the job market and didn't want to live apart, so I'm going to stay in it, and I'm happy as can be!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12067.0,"score_ratio":2.15} {"post_id":"84fy8e","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"Have any of you ended up settling permanently in a non tenure-track position? What do you like or regret about it? I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering settling in a non-tenure track faculty path as a career. Currently I'm a non-TT assistant professor at a large university attached to a large institute, and my contract is indefinite term as long as I have funding (which comes from the institute, and I am PI on grants on behalf of the institute). It's in an area where my family and I like living in, pay is great, and I really like my working environment. I've been here for about 5 years and if all goes well over the next two years, I might be bumped up in rank to an associate prof, but still non-TT. The reason why I'm asking is that I have applied for TT-positions over the years, and I've even gotten a handful of offers. But honestly, the offers I got weren't ones that I could get behind because while some aspects were better than my current position (mainly a chance at tenure), holistically I felt like they were worse. Either I found out after interviewing that it was a really bad fit, or my family decided after touring that we couldn't see ourselves living there, or the working environment was toxic, or flat out I'd have to give up doing the things I'm interested in at work. At this point, I am currently convinced that the TT-positions that I'm capable of getting with my record (which is solid, but I'm not and will never be any sort of star) will only be at places which would be holistically worse than my current one, and I'm not competitive enough for the TT-positions at places that might be holistically better. I'm leaning towards just riding out my current position until I can't do so anymore. I know it won't be as prestigious or respected or whatever, but I don't care much about that. But at the same time, I only know one person who managed to make an entire career out of being a non-tenure track faculty, so due to the lack of sample size I do wonder if what I'm leaning towards will end up being a terrible idea. So I just wanted to ask if there are any of you out there who ended up settling in a non-TT faculty position and what your experiences are, any tips to watch out for, and whether you think doing so is a good or bad idea. For reference, I'm in a STEM field where industry is an option, albeit I do prefer my current position.","c_root_id_A":"dvpokot","c_root_id_B":"dvprlg2","created_at_utc_A":1521069900,"created_at_utc_B":1521073088,"score_A":12,"score_B":43,"human_ref_A":"I really like reading this thread. I've just been accepted to masters programs and am planning on the academic track. It's nice to see\/hear people talking about being happy in their roles rather than the constant \"there are no jobs, everything is awful\" I see a lot. Also, while not me, my dad has been an instructor and advisor at a University for 15 years now. He has been super happy in that role and turned down opportunities\/chose not to pursue tenure there. The payoff was just not worth the extra work and hours to him. His department has been wonderful when he had health crises and super flexible in his work structure when he needed it, so it's not like they treat him worse or anything either.","human_ref_B":"I am non-TT at an R1 and was offered a TT job at another school. My school offered to match and make my job TT, but I'd have to start the clock at zero. I said no. I came to academia late and don't have a lot of respect for most of my colleagues. They are so full of themselves and their main goal is to protect their little ivory tower. It's rarely about the students. Most of them really don't know how hard people in non-academia work and they can't meet a deadline to save their lives. So I said no, to both offers. I couldn't imagine having to be on MORE committees and go to MORE events, plus the pressure to publish. I didn't think I could take sucking up to these peacocks for another seven years. I'm too old for that shit. I stayed on as a non-TT. I get all the benefits of tenure except that I'll never make full professor or a named chair and I'll never be chair or faculty senate present and that's fine by me. My contract automatically renews. I make less, but I'm fine with my salary. I like the teaching. I'm good at it. I care about the students and want them to do well. That's not something that's really respected at R1 schools, but I can live with it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3188.0,"score_ratio":3.5833333333} {"post_id":"84fy8e","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"Have any of you ended up settling permanently in a non tenure-track position? What do you like or regret about it? I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering settling in a non-tenure track faculty path as a career. Currently I'm a non-TT assistant professor at a large university attached to a large institute, and my contract is indefinite term as long as I have funding (which comes from the institute, and I am PI on grants on behalf of the institute). It's in an area where my family and I like living in, pay is great, and I really like my working environment. I've been here for about 5 years and if all goes well over the next two years, I might be bumped up in rank to an associate prof, but still non-TT. The reason why I'm asking is that I have applied for TT-positions over the years, and I've even gotten a handful of offers. But honestly, the offers I got weren't ones that I could get behind because while some aspects were better than my current position (mainly a chance at tenure), holistically I felt like they were worse. Either I found out after interviewing that it was a really bad fit, or my family decided after touring that we couldn't see ourselves living there, or the working environment was toxic, or flat out I'd have to give up doing the things I'm interested in at work. At this point, I am currently convinced that the TT-positions that I'm capable of getting with my record (which is solid, but I'm not and will never be any sort of star) will only be at places which would be holistically worse than my current one, and I'm not competitive enough for the TT-positions at places that might be holistically better. I'm leaning towards just riding out my current position until I can't do so anymore. I know it won't be as prestigious or respected or whatever, but I don't care much about that. But at the same time, I only know one person who managed to make an entire career out of being a non-tenure track faculty, so due to the lack of sample size I do wonder if what I'm leaning towards will end up being a terrible idea. So I just wanted to ask if there are any of you out there who ended up settling in a non-TT faculty position and what your experiences are, any tips to watch out for, and whether you think doing so is a good or bad idea. For reference, I'm in a STEM field where industry is an option, albeit I do prefer my current position.","c_root_id_A":"dvpnely","c_root_id_B":"dvprlg2","created_at_utc_A":1521068698,"created_at_utc_B":1521073088,"score_A":8,"score_B":43,"human_ref_A":"You know, I have deconstructed the whole \"tenure track\" thing and I think just a full-time position is like getting the golden ticket these days. I am in a technically \"tenure track\" position but (it's a long story) my institution views tenure differently - it doesn't come with associate professor promotion\/it's separate and it doesn't secure your position. It is almost just an \"honor\" rather than a sign of security. Lots of professors at my institution don't go up for tenure because it is a massive paperwork process and doesn't result in much of a salary bump, but rather often just bumps up your service requirements. I also have spoken to friends who have tenure but are not spared from being let go due to budget issues or the main perk we all associate with tenure. Some friends need tenure to be taken seriously in their profession or to even be able to serve on national committees. So it's different for everyone. I think we have TT positions up on a pedestal, but once you shake them down and you it's not the panacea you once thought, you can be happier with your current position. I admit I don't love to tell friends I'm not tenured when they ask because there is a stigma to not being tenured, but now that I've had that conversation several times, I just don't care anymore. So I say, if you're happy, celebrate that and try not to be swayed by the narrative that says to be a legit professor you should be tenured. :)","human_ref_B":"I am non-TT at an R1 and was offered a TT job at another school. My school offered to match and make my job TT, but I'd have to start the clock at zero. I said no. I came to academia late and don't have a lot of respect for most of my colleagues. They are so full of themselves and their main goal is to protect their little ivory tower. It's rarely about the students. Most of them really don't know how hard people in non-academia work and they can't meet a deadline to save their lives. So I said no, to both offers. I couldn't imagine having to be on MORE committees and go to MORE events, plus the pressure to publish. I didn't think I could take sucking up to these peacocks for another seven years. I'm too old for that shit. I stayed on as a non-TT. I get all the benefits of tenure except that I'll never make full professor or a named chair and I'll never be chair or faculty senate present and that's fine by me. My contract automatically renews. I make less, but I'm fine with my salary. I like the teaching. I'm good at it. I care about the students and want them to do well. That's not something that's really respected at R1 schools, but I can live with it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4390.0,"score_ratio":5.375} {"post_id":"84fy8e","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"Have any of you ended up settling permanently in a non tenure-track position? What do you like or regret about it? I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering settling in a non-tenure track faculty path as a career. Currently I'm a non-TT assistant professor at a large university attached to a large institute, and my contract is indefinite term as long as I have funding (which comes from the institute, and I am PI on grants on behalf of the institute). It's in an area where my family and I like living in, pay is great, and I really like my working environment. I've been here for about 5 years and if all goes well over the next two years, I might be bumped up in rank to an associate prof, but still non-TT. The reason why I'm asking is that I have applied for TT-positions over the years, and I've even gotten a handful of offers. But honestly, the offers I got weren't ones that I could get behind because while some aspects were better than my current position (mainly a chance at tenure), holistically I felt like they were worse. Either I found out after interviewing that it was a really bad fit, or my family decided after touring that we couldn't see ourselves living there, or the working environment was toxic, or flat out I'd have to give up doing the things I'm interested in at work. At this point, I am currently convinced that the TT-positions that I'm capable of getting with my record (which is solid, but I'm not and will never be any sort of star) will only be at places which would be holistically worse than my current one, and I'm not competitive enough for the TT-positions at places that might be holistically better. I'm leaning towards just riding out my current position until I can't do so anymore. I know it won't be as prestigious or respected or whatever, but I don't care much about that. But at the same time, I only know one person who managed to make an entire career out of being a non-tenure track faculty, so due to the lack of sample size I do wonder if what I'm leaning towards will end up being a terrible idea. So I just wanted to ask if there are any of you out there who ended up settling in a non-TT faculty position and what your experiences are, any tips to watch out for, and whether you think doing so is a good or bad idea. For reference, I'm in a STEM field where industry is an option, albeit I do prefer my current position.","c_root_id_A":"dvpokot","c_root_id_B":"dvpnely","created_at_utc_A":1521069900,"created_at_utc_B":1521068698,"score_A":12,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I really like reading this thread. I've just been accepted to masters programs and am planning on the academic track. It's nice to see\/hear people talking about being happy in their roles rather than the constant \"there are no jobs, everything is awful\" I see a lot. Also, while not me, my dad has been an instructor and advisor at a University for 15 years now. He has been super happy in that role and turned down opportunities\/chose not to pursue tenure there. The payoff was just not worth the extra work and hours to him. His department has been wonderful when he had health crises and super flexible in his work structure when he needed it, so it's not like they treat him worse or anything either.","human_ref_B":"You know, I have deconstructed the whole \"tenure track\" thing and I think just a full-time position is like getting the golden ticket these days. I am in a technically \"tenure track\" position but (it's a long story) my institution views tenure differently - it doesn't come with associate professor promotion\/it's separate and it doesn't secure your position. It is almost just an \"honor\" rather than a sign of security. Lots of professors at my institution don't go up for tenure because it is a massive paperwork process and doesn't result in much of a salary bump, but rather often just bumps up your service requirements. I also have spoken to friends who have tenure but are not spared from being let go due to budget issues or the main perk we all associate with tenure. Some friends need tenure to be taken seriously in their profession or to even be able to serve on national committees. So it's different for everyone. I think we have TT positions up on a pedestal, but once you shake them down and you it's not the panacea you once thought, you can be happier with your current position. I admit I don't love to tell friends I'm not tenured when they ask because there is a stigma to not being tenured, but now that I've had that conversation several times, I just don't care anymore. So I say, if you're happy, celebrate that and try not to be swayed by the narrative that says to be a legit professor you should be tenured. :)","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1202.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eirl1sv","c_root_id_B":"eirjoj3","created_at_utc_A":1552865061,"created_at_utc_B":1552863983,"score_A":61,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Average day: 6-7: Wake up. Decide if it\u2019s actually worth it to physically get up. 7: Get up. 8: Arrive at campus. Realize I forgot my coffee. Regret everything. 8-10: Answer emails, prep for class, and hold office hours. 10-12: Class. 12-1: Lunch. And manuscript\/grant writing. 1-3: Meetings if I have them. Research time if I don\u2019t. Probably just end up doing the grading I\u2019ve put off. 3: Contemplate leaving early to get to the gym before the rush. 3-5: Research tasks and prep for tomorrow\u2019s stuff. 5: Go home and forget that I wanted to go to the gym. 5:30-6: Play with pets. 6-6:55: Decide what to eat for dinner. 6:55-7: Just Ramen again. 7-9: Netflix or read research papers. Probably Netflix. 9-?: Browse reddit until I fall asleep.","human_ref_B":"I always liked to keep a pretty standard schedule 8-6 daily. Working from home wasn't working for me so I made sure to get into work and be at my desk. I broke down every part of my projects and logged them into my outlook calendar. This was shared with my supervisors so they wouldn't drag me into meeting when I had shit planned. What I quickly learnt was making sure I had enough uninterrupted time to allow me to finish what I needed to. That may be a 6 hour lab day or working through an analysis of data, either way making sure I wasn't dragged into pointless meetings was very important.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1078.0,"score_ratio":20.3333333333} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eirjoj3","c_root_id_B":"eirnk3g","created_at_utc_A":1552863983,"created_at_utc_B":1552867077,"score_A":3,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"I always liked to keep a pretty standard schedule 8-6 daily. Working from home wasn't working for me so I made sure to get into work and be at my desk. I broke down every part of my projects and logged them into my outlook calendar. This was shared with my supervisors so they wouldn't drag me into meeting when I had shit planned. What I quickly learnt was making sure I had enough uninterrupted time to allow me to finish what I needed to. That may be a 6 hour lab day or working through an analysis of data, either way making sure I wasn't dragged into pointless meetings was very important.","human_ref_B":"I try to keep a pretty standard 8-5 though I do tend to work on weekends: 5am-6am -Yoga at home and with YouTube practices 6am-7:15am -Get Dressed -Do my hair and makeup 8am-12:00 pm -Attend Large Lecture -Teach my Sections -Read for Class -Write whatever needs to be written All my heavy duty work and teaching responsibilities are done during this time 12:00-1:30 -A very long lunch and my office hours twice a week. 1:30-4:30 I get really lazy after lunch and I\u2019m usually at home by this time. So I tend to do low maintenance work which include: -Answering Emails -Grading -Editing and finishing touches on completed work -Reviewing my planner. 4:30\/5:00 -Cook some dinner! Usually enough for the night and for lunch the next day. 5:00-7:00 -Enjoy *something*- That something can be movies, tv shows or video games. Seriously, if I don\u2019t pre plan what I do during my down time, I end up just scrolling Instagram and Reddit for 2-3 hours. 7:00 Start cleaning up. -Shower everyday -Wipe the counters, sweep the floors, and Sanitize my desk everyday -Put away the dishes and run the dish washer every other day -Do and fold laundry once a week -Vacuum once a week -Clean the sinks and tubs every two weeks 9:00 In bed, but watching YouTube till I fall asleep On the weekends I\u2019ll work from 10:00am - 1:00pm. Though I don\u2019t always honor it. This is only my first year though and what isn\u2019t mentioned is my mom calling every 3-4 hours. Edit: formatting","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3094.0,"score_ratio":5.3333333333} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eis43g8","c_root_id_B":"eis214t","created_at_utc_A":1552881430,"created_at_utc_B":1552879451,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"9:00-- Wake up 9:00-12:00-- Watch youtube videos 12:00-1:00-- Get food 1:00-2:00-- Answer emails 2:00-11:00-- Read or write 11:00-1:00--Hobby related stuff or talk with SO","human_ref_B":"5:30am wake up 5:30-6:30am Shower, feed my cats, makeup, get dressed, make coffee, pack lunch 6:30-7:00 wake up my SO, make breakfast 7:00-7:40am Eat breakfast, watch TV with SO 7:40am Go to school From 8am to 5pm, some days until 7 or 8pm, I'm running research participants, going to classes, seeing clients, going to a ton of meetings. I get to sneak in lunches and sometimes dinners. If I come home before 7, I make dinner, eat it, relax, do reddit and watch youtube videos on house decorations till like 9:30. Then, I do homework or whatever needs to be done by the next morning. Try to go to sleep by 10... recently it's been 11 or 12. ​ ​","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1979.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eirjoj3","c_root_id_B":"eis43g8","created_at_utc_A":1552863983,"created_at_utc_B":1552881430,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I always liked to keep a pretty standard schedule 8-6 daily. Working from home wasn't working for me so I made sure to get into work and be at my desk. I broke down every part of my projects and logged them into my outlook calendar. This was shared with my supervisors so they wouldn't drag me into meeting when I had shit planned. What I quickly learnt was making sure I had enough uninterrupted time to allow me to finish what I needed to. That may be a 6 hour lab day or working through an analysis of data, either way making sure I wasn't dragged into pointless meetings was very important.","human_ref_B":"9:00-- Wake up 9:00-12:00-- Watch youtube videos 12:00-1:00-- Get food 1:00-2:00-- Answer emails 2:00-11:00-- Read or write 11:00-1:00--Hobby related stuff or talk with SO","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17447.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eirxvm7","c_root_id_B":"eis43g8","created_at_utc_A":1552875753,"created_at_utc_B":1552881430,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Location and field? i.e. a US PhD in Geology has very different 'lab' expectations than a German PhD in Biochemistry. Might also just be your advisor. I have ~3 meetings a week. Some of the older students have more (i.e. more small group meetings with the PI). One small group with my advisor, one big lab meeting, and at least one informal small group meeting with people on my project. It's not unusual for the small group (or even big lab meetings) to be canceled due to travel or something, though. Since I'm in the first couple years of a US PhD program, there's a fair amount of time spent in classes- no classes one weekday, but anywhere from 1.5 to 6 hours on other days. Otherwise, I'm normally in lab from ~9:30 to 6. Even within our lab, there are some people doing hardcore system building and biology, who show up everyday (sometimes with extra weekend time). Others do computational modeling work, or have a co-advisor, and normally aren't around.","human_ref_B":"9:00-- Wake up 9:00-12:00-- Watch youtube videos 12:00-1:00-- Get food 1:00-2:00-- Answer emails 2:00-11:00-- Read or write 11:00-1:00--Hobby related stuff or talk with SO","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5677.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eis43g8","c_root_id_B":"eirzicy","created_at_utc_A":1552881430,"created_at_utc_B":1552877183,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"9:00-- Wake up 9:00-12:00-- Watch youtube videos 12:00-1:00-- Get food 1:00-2:00-- Answer emails 2:00-11:00-- Read or write 11:00-1:00--Hobby related stuff or talk with SO","human_ref_B":"It really is going to vary by program. I know people in chemistry PhD programs who have to schedule personal vacation around experiment timing because they need to be in the lab. But I\u2019m working on a PhD in sociology, am in my third year, and go to campus for maybe 10 hours a week on average this semester. I\u2019m done coursework, so I go in for weekly lab meetings for one research group, a class I\u2019m sitting in on when I am interested in the subject matter once a week, and then maybe 1-2 other meetings on campus depending on what is going on with my other collaboratory projects. My research supervisor doesn\u2019t make her students work in the office because she is rarely actually on campus herself, and instead we log our hours for her online so she can keep track of us. My actual advisor is very hands off and kind of lets me do what I want.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4247.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eis214t","c_root_id_B":"eirxvm7","created_at_utc_A":1552879451,"created_at_utc_B":1552875753,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"5:30am wake up 5:30-6:30am Shower, feed my cats, makeup, get dressed, make coffee, pack lunch 6:30-7:00 wake up my SO, make breakfast 7:00-7:40am Eat breakfast, watch TV with SO 7:40am Go to school From 8am to 5pm, some days until 7 or 8pm, I'm running research participants, going to classes, seeing clients, going to a ton of meetings. I get to sneak in lunches and sometimes dinners. If I come home before 7, I make dinner, eat it, relax, do reddit and watch youtube videos on house decorations till like 9:30. Then, I do homework or whatever needs to be done by the next morning. Try to go to sleep by 10... recently it's been 11 or 12. ​ ​","human_ref_B":"Location and field? i.e. a US PhD in Geology has very different 'lab' expectations than a German PhD in Biochemistry. Might also just be your advisor. I have ~3 meetings a week. Some of the older students have more (i.e. more small group meetings with the PI). One small group with my advisor, one big lab meeting, and at least one informal small group meeting with people on my project. It's not unusual for the small group (or even big lab meetings) to be canceled due to travel or something, though. Since I'm in the first couple years of a US PhD program, there's a fair amount of time spent in classes- no classes one weekday, but anywhere from 1.5 to 6 hours on other days. Otherwise, I'm normally in lab from ~9:30 to 6. Even within our lab, there are some people doing hardcore system building and biology, who show up everyday (sometimes with extra weekend time). Others do computational modeling work, or have a co-advisor, and normally aren't around.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3698.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eirzicy","c_root_id_B":"eis214t","created_at_utc_A":1552877183,"created_at_utc_B":1552879451,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It really is going to vary by program. I know people in chemistry PhD programs who have to schedule personal vacation around experiment timing because they need to be in the lab. But I\u2019m working on a PhD in sociology, am in my third year, and go to campus for maybe 10 hours a week on average this semester. I\u2019m done coursework, so I go in for weekly lab meetings for one research group, a class I\u2019m sitting in on when I am interested in the subject matter once a week, and then maybe 1-2 other meetings on campus depending on what is going on with my other collaboratory projects. My research supervisor doesn\u2019t make her students work in the office because she is rarely actually on campus herself, and instead we log our hours for her online so she can keep track of us. My actual advisor is very hands off and kind of lets me do what I want.","human_ref_B":"5:30am wake up 5:30-6:30am Shower, feed my cats, makeup, get dressed, make coffee, pack lunch 6:30-7:00 wake up my SO, make breakfast 7:00-7:40am Eat breakfast, watch TV with SO 7:40am Go to school From 8am to 5pm, some days until 7 or 8pm, I'm running research participants, going to classes, seeing clients, going to a ton of meetings. I get to sneak in lunches and sometimes dinners. If I come home before 7, I make dinner, eat it, relax, do reddit and watch youtube videos on house decorations till like 9:30. Then, I do homework or whatever needs to be done by the next morning. Try to go to sleep by 10... recently it's been 11 or 12. ​ ​","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2268.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eirxvm7","c_root_id_B":"eis7t8e","created_at_utc_A":1552875753,"created_at_utc_B":1552885380,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Location and field? i.e. a US PhD in Geology has very different 'lab' expectations than a German PhD in Biochemistry. Might also just be your advisor. I have ~3 meetings a week. Some of the older students have more (i.e. more small group meetings with the PI). One small group with my advisor, one big lab meeting, and at least one informal small group meeting with people on my project. It's not unusual for the small group (or even big lab meetings) to be canceled due to travel or something, though. Since I'm in the first couple years of a US PhD program, there's a fair amount of time spent in classes- no classes one weekday, but anywhere from 1.5 to 6 hours on other days. Otherwise, I'm normally in lab from ~9:30 to 6. Even within our lab, there are some people doing hardcore system building and biology, who show up everyday (sometimes with extra weekend time). Others do computational modeling work, or have a co-advisor, and normally aren't around.","human_ref_B":"On a good day: 8:30 - Wake up 9:30 - Get on bus to campus (about 45min) 10:15 - Start working 1:00 or so: Get a quick takeout from the food carts near campus and work while eating 5:30 or so - Go home 6:15-8 or so - Video games or books or whatever 8 - 10ish or so - Read some journal papers that I plan to use for work the next day 10-1ish - Video games or books or whatever, then bed That's idealized though, there's not really any such thing as a \"normal\" or \"typical\" day, it varies so much.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9627.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"b2ai74","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"PhD students: What does your day to day look like? I just started a PhD program (two weeks ago), and the day to day is a little different than I expected. I know a few other people who have recently started PhDs, and they've been working from home half the time and mostly working their own hours. They're on their own in their respective offices too (aside from supervisors). My experience is different. Working from home isn't done, and the schedule is pretty strict. I work in an office with about ten other students. Everyday I have multiple meetings. Overall it just seems way closer to a corporate work environment than academia. I'm just curious what other people do on a daily basis. As a side note, this isn't just how my first few months will be. It's been made clear that this is how the next 3 years will go.","c_root_id_A":"eis7t8e","c_root_id_B":"eirzicy","created_at_utc_A":1552885380,"created_at_utc_B":1552877183,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"On a good day: 8:30 - Wake up 9:30 - Get on bus to campus (about 45min) 10:15 - Start working 1:00 or so: Get a quick takeout from the food carts near campus and work while eating 5:30 or so - Go home 6:15-8 or so - Video games or books or whatever 8 - 10ish or so - Read some journal papers that I plan to use for work the next day 10-1ish - Video games or books or whatever, then bed That's idealized though, there's not really any such thing as a \"normal\" or \"typical\" day, it varies so much.","human_ref_B":"It really is going to vary by program. I know people in chemistry PhD programs who have to schedule personal vacation around experiment timing because they need to be in the lab. But I\u2019m working on a PhD in sociology, am in my third year, and go to campus for maybe 10 hours a week on average this semester. I\u2019m done coursework, so I go in for weekly lab meetings for one research group, a class I\u2019m sitting in on when I am interested in the subject matter once a week, and then maybe 1-2 other meetings on campus depending on what is going on with my other collaboratory projects. My research supervisor doesn\u2019t make her students work in the office because she is rarely actually on campus herself, and instead we log our hours for her online so she can keep track of us. My actual advisor is very hands off and kind of lets me do what I want.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8197.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvgl5n","c_root_id_B":"ezv99de","created_at_utc_A":1568177374,"created_at_utc_B":1568170635,"score_A":95,"score_B":91,"human_ref_A":"Colleague raised her hand to second approval of the minutes from the last three-hour meeting. An assistant interrupted the second to insist that said colleague would not be eligible to approve the minutes because, four months prior, she left said meeting 10 minutes early.","human_ref_B":"So, this goes back to my last full semester as a grad student (humanities). I've been adjunct enrolled (aka, a placeholder instead of classes if you only have your thesis left) for about three semesters now because life went to hell. I was president of the graduate council for my major. One of my VPs (I beat her out for president) had never really liked me to begin with, and I had mentioned that I was going to have to push back finishing my thesis for at least an extra semester. She smugly said, \"Oh, you're not finishing on time? I would've thought you would.\" Little did she know I was going back and forth to our state's capital for tests all semester because it was a large possibilty that I was gonna need open heart surgery (I did end up my valve repaired the following August). Let me tell you, it was so worth it to say to her \"actually, my health hasn't been the greatest. I might have to have open heart as early as this summer.\" The look on her face when I said that? It may be petty, but after dealing with her attitude it was so satisfying to watch her face crumble and for her to frantically back peddle her way out of that mess.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6739.0,"score_ratio":1.043956044} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvdo7s","c_root_id_B":"ezvgl5n","created_at_utc_A":1568174456,"created_at_utc_B":1568177374,"score_A":79,"score_B":95,"human_ref_A":"For my undergrad thesis (which for my university was a course with usually about 5-6 other students overseen by a professor), my advising professor insisted that students double space after full stops\/semicolons\/commas, which is actually a typographical error for polyspace fonts like Times New Roman (But many people learned it as a rule because they learned to type on typewriters, which use a monospace font \u2014 and then passed this \u2018rule\u2019 down to others). He said he would mark down students who didn\u2019t double space, so I had to go through my 40-page paper and fix all the spacing to suit him. After the end of the semester, once final grades were turned in, I emailed him the Chicago Manual of Style\u2019s website saying not to double space after punctuation, with a note that he \u2018might find it interesting.\u2019","human_ref_B":"Colleague raised her hand to second approval of the minutes from the last three-hour meeting. An assistant interrupted the second to insist that said colleague would not be eligible to approve the minutes because, four months prior, she left said meeting 10 minutes early.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2918.0,"score_ratio":1.2025316456} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvba4j","c_root_id_B":"ezvgl5n","created_at_utc_A":1568172326,"created_at_utc_B":1568177374,"score_A":73,"score_B":95,"human_ref_A":"Was told to hear a student conduct case and decide if student should be suspended. I decided no, it was too severe. Get an email from legal affairs at 9am the next day asking why I didn't suspend the student. I provide my reasoning, go over how our conduct code says to give educational punishments, etc. Chief legal officer (a cabinet position) tells me I need to redo the case and suspend the student. Back and forth for an hour. I finally tell him I will send the student a letter saying \"you're suspended\" in the chief legal officer's name since it is apparent that is his decision and not mine. He sends me back saying I'll hear from the Dean of Students and I'm not allowed to sign anything in his name.","human_ref_B":"Colleague raised her hand to second approval of the minutes from the last three-hour meeting. An assistant interrupted the second to insist that said colleague would not be eligible to approve the minutes because, four months prior, she left said meeting 10 minutes early.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5048.0,"score_ratio":1.301369863} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvgl5n","c_root_id_B":"ezvd15o","created_at_utc_A":1568177374,"created_at_utc_B":1568173870,"score_A":95,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"Colleague raised her hand to second approval of the minutes from the last three-hour meeting. An assistant interrupted the second to insist that said colleague would not be eligible to approve the minutes because, four months prior, she left said meeting 10 minutes early.","human_ref_B":"I once TAd for a lecturer in our department as a grad student. When I went on the market I asked this person to write a short blurb for my teaching portfolio\/evaluations. They refused saying that I \"didn't do enough to deserve it\" (I did). All I wanted was two sentences that said I was an effective grader. I was furious. I ended up landing a TT job my first time out (yes, mild humble brag but let me enjoy it). I made a point making this known to the lecturer. It was...satisfying. The more they refused to say \"good job\" the better I felt. I guess this is a story of pettiness for both of us lol.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3504.0,"score_ratio":2.0212765957} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvgl5n","c_root_id_B":"ezv5h2p","created_at_utc_A":1568177374,"created_at_utc_B":1568167682,"score_A":95,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"Colleague raised her hand to second approval of the minutes from the last three-hour meeting. An assistant interrupted the second to insist that said colleague would not be eligible to approve the minutes because, four months prior, she left said meeting 10 minutes early.","human_ref_B":"I recently asked someone giving a report on a service committee what sort of research they had to support their proposed policies. The topic was appropriate punishment levels to deter academic dishonesty.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9692.0,"score_ratio":2.7941176471} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvd7hf","c_root_id_B":"ezvgl5n","created_at_utc_A":1568174031,"created_at_utc_B":1568177374,"score_A":25,"score_B":95,"human_ref_A":"\"IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS.\"","human_ref_B":"Colleague raised her hand to second approval of the minutes from the last three-hour meeting. An assistant interrupted the second to insist that said colleague would not be eligible to approve the minutes because, four months prior, she left said meeting 10 minutes early.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3343.0,"score_ratio":3.8} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvgl5n","c_root_id_B":"ezvdejo","created_at_utc_A":1568177374,"created_at_utc_B":1568174214,"score_A":95,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Colleague raised her hand to second approval of the minutes from the last three-hour meeting. An assistant interrupted the second to insist that said colleague would not be eligible to approve the minutes because, four months prior, she left said meeting 10 minutes early.","human_ref_B":"I had someone a couple of years junior to me beg me for notes and tuition. They got nasty when I couldn't oblige. Turned over the correspondence to my supervisor, whose class this was for.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3160.0,"score_ratio":6.7857142857} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezv5h2p","c_root_id_B":"ezv99de","created_at_utc_A":1568167682,"created_at_utc_B":1568170635,"score_A":34,"score_B":91,"human_ref_A":"I recently asked someone giving a report on a service committee what sort of research they had to support their proposed policies. The topic was appropriate punishment levels to deter academic dishonesty.","human_ref_B":"So, this goes back to my last full semester as a grad student (humanities). I've been adjunct enrolled (aka, a placeholder instead of classes if you only have your thesis left) for about three semesters now because life went to hell. I was president of the graduate council for my major. One of my VPs (I beat her out for president) had never really liked me to begin with, and I had mentioned that I was going to have to push back finishing my thesis for at least an extra semester. She smugly said, \"Oh, you're not finishing on time? I would've thought you would.\" Little did she know I was going back and forth to our state's capital for tests all semester because it was a large possibilty that I was gonna need open heart surgery (I did end up my valve repaired the following August). Let me tell you, it was so worth it to say to her \"actually, my health hasn't been the greatest. I might have to have open heart as early as this summer.\" The look on her face when I said that? It may be petty, but after dealing with her attitude it was so satisfying to watch her face crumble and for her to frantically back peddle her way out of that mess.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2953.0,"score_ratio":2.6764705882} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvba4j","c_root_id_B":"ezvdo7s","created_at_utc_A":1568172326,"created_at_utc_B":1568174456,"score_A":73,"score_B":79,"human_ref_A":"Was told to hear a student conduct case and decide if student should be suspended. I decided no, it was too severe. Get an email from legal affairs at 9am the next day asking why I didn't suspend the student. I provide my reasoning, go over how our conduct code says to give educational punishments, etc. Chief legal officer (a cabinet position) tells me I need to redo the case and suspend the student. Back and forth for an hour. I finally tell him I will send the student a letter saying \"you're suspended\" in the chief legal officer's name since it is apparent that is his decision and not mine. He sends me back saying I'll hear from the Dean of Students and I'm not allowed to sign anything in his name.","human_ref_B":"For my undergrad thesis (which for my university was a course with usually about 5-6 other students overseen by a professor), my advising professor insisted that students double space after full stops\/semicolons\/commas, which is actually a typographical error for polyspace fonts like Times New Roman (But many people learned it as a rule because they learned to type on typewriters, which use a monospace font \u2014 and then passed this \u2018rule\u2019 down to others). He said he would mark down students who didn\u2019t double space, so I had to go through my 40-page paper and fix all the spacing to suit him. After the end of the semester, once final grades were turned in, I emailed him the Chicago Manual of Style\u2019s website saying not to double space after punctuation, with a note that he \u2018might find it interesting.\u2019","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2130.0,"score_ratio":1.0821917808} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvdo7s","c_root_id_B":"ezvd15o","created_at_utc_A":1568174456,"created_at_utc_B":1568173870,"score_A":79,"score_B":47,"human_ref_A":"For my undergrad thesis (which for my university was a course with usually about 5-6 other students overseen by a professor), my advising professor insisted that students double space after full stops\/semicolons\/commas, which is actually a typographical error for polyspace fonts like Times New Roman (But many people learned it as a rule because they learned to type on typewriters, which use a monospace font \u2014 and then passed this \u2018rule\u2019 down to others). He said he would mark down students who didn\u2019t double space, so I had to go through my 40-page paper and fix all the spacing to suit him. After the end of the semester, once final grades were turned in, I emailed him the Chicago Manual of Style\u2019s website saying not to double space after punctuation, with a note that he \u2018might find it interesting.\u2019","human_ref_B":"I once TAd for a lecturer in our department as a grad student. When I went on the market I asked this person to write a short blurb for my teaching portfolio\/evaluations. They refused saying that I \"didn't do enough to deserve it\" (I did). All I wanted was two sentences that said I was an effective grader. I was furious. I ended up landing a TT job my first time out (yes, mild humble brag but let me enjoy it). I made a point making this known to the lecturer. It was...satisfying. The more they refused to say \"good job\" the better I felt. I guess this is a story of pettiness for both of us lol.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":586.0,"score_ratio":1.6808510638} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezv5h2p","c_root_id_B":"ezvdo7s","created_at_utc_A":1568167682,"created_at_utc_B":1568174456,"score_A":34,"score_B":79,"human_ref_A":"I recently asked someone giving a report on a service committee what sort of research they had to support their proposed policies. The topic was appropriate punishment levels to deter academic dishonesty.","human_ref_B":"For my undergrad thesis (which for my university was a course with usually about 5-6 other students overseen by a professor), my advising professor insisted that students double space after full stops\/semicolons\/commas, which is actually a typographical error for polyspace fonts like Times New Roman (But many people learned it as a rule because they learned to type on typewriters, which use a monospace font \u2014 and then passed this \u2018rule\u2019 down to others). He said he would mark down students who didn\u2019t double space, so I had to go through my 40-page paper and fix all the spacing to suit him. After the end of the semester, once final grades were turned in, I emailed him the Chicago Manual of Style\u2019s website saying not to double space after punctuation, with a note that he \u2018might find it interesting.\u2019","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6774.0,"score_ratio":2.3235294118} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvdo7s","c_root_id_B":"ezvd7hf","created_at_utc_A":1568174456,"created_at_utc_B":1568174031,"score_A":79,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"For my undergrad thesis (which for my university was a course with usually about 5-6 other students overseen by a professor), my advising professor insisted that students double space after full stops\/semicolons\/commas, which is actually a typographical error for polyspace fonts like Times New Roman (But many people learned it as a rule because they learned to type on typewriters, which use a monospace font \u2014 and then passed this \u2018rule\u2019 down to others). He said he would mark down students who didn\u2019t double space, so I had to go through my 40-page paper and fix all the spacing to suit him. After the end of the semester, once final grades were turned in, I emailed him the Chicago Manual of Style\u2019s website saying not to double space after punctuation, with a note that he \u2018might find it interesting.\u2019","human_ref_B":"\"IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":425.0,"score_ratio":3.16} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvdo7s","c_root_id_B":"ezvdejo","created_at_utc_A":1568174456,"created_at_utc_B":1568174214,"score_A":79,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"For my undergrad thesis (which for my university was a course with usually about 5-6 other students overseen by a professor), my advising professor insisted that students double space after full stops\/semicolons\/commas, which is actually a typographical error for polyspace fonts like Times New Roman (But many people learned it as a rule because they learned to type on typewriters, which use a monospace font \u2014 and then passed this \u2018rule\u2019 down to others). He said he would mark down students who didn\u2019t double space, so I had to go through my 40-page paper and fix all the spacing to suit him. After the end of the semester, once final grades were turned in, I emailed him the Chicago Manual of Style\u2019s website saying not to double space after punctuation, with a note that he \u2018might find it interesting.\u2019","human_ref_B":"I had someone a couple of years junior to me beg me for notes and tuition. They got nasty when I couldn't oblige. Turned over the correspondence to my supervisor, whose class this was for.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":242.0,"score_ratio":5.6428571429} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvba4j","c_root_id_B":"ezv5h2p","created_at_utc_A":1568172326,"created_at_utc_B":1568167682,"score_A":73,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"Was told to hear a student conduct case and decide if student should be suspended. I decided no, it was too severe. Get an email from legal affairs at 9am the next day asking why I didn't suspend the student. I provide my reasoning, go over how our conduct code says to give educational punishments, etc. Chief legal officer (a cabinet position) tells me I need to redo the case and suspend the student. Back and forth for an hour. I finally tell him I will send the student a letter saying \"you're suspended\" in the chief legal officer's name since it is apparent that is his decision and not mine. He sends me back saying I'll hear from the Dean of Students and I'm not allowed to sign anything in his name.","human_ref_B":"I recently asked someone giving a report on a service committee what sort of research they had to support their proposed policies. The topic was appropriate punishment levels to deter academic dishonesty.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4644.0,"score_ratio":2.1470588235} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvd15o","c_root_id_B":"ezv5h2p","created_at_utc_A":1568173870,"created_at_utc_B":1568167682,"score_A":47,"score_B":34,"human_ref_A":"I once TAd for a lecturer in our department as a grad student. When I went on the market I asked this person to write a short blurb for my teaching portfolio\/evaluations. They refused saying that I \"didn't do enough to deserve it\" (I did). All I wanted was two sentences that said I was an effective grader. I was furious. I ended up landing a TT job my first time out (yes, mild humble brag but let me enjoy it). I made a point making this known to the lecturer. It was...satisfying. The more they refused to say \"good job\" the better I felt. I guess this is a story of pettiness for both of us lol.","human_ref_B":"I recently asked someone giving a report on a service committee what sort of research they had to support their proposed policies. The topic was appropriate punishment levels to deter academic dishonesty.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6188.0,"score_ratio":1.3823529412} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezv5h2p","c_root_id_B":"ezvzho8","created_at_utc_A":1568167682,"created_at_utc_B":1568203360,"score_A":34,"score_B":46,"human_ref_A":"I recently asked someone giving a report on a service committee what sort of research they had to support their proposed policies. The topic was appropriate punishment levels to deter academic dishonesty.","human_ref_B":"I basically took a year off from doing anything productive for my degree a few years ago to push for a grad employees union. This entailed work I didn\u2019t realize at the outset would be so consuming and stressful. In the week leading up to our vote, the dean went around to each department urging strongly that students come to a meeting where he would tell them the reasons unions are bad for universities. I got myself invited by friends I had made in each department while canvassing and basically debated the dean every day for a week - sometimes twice a day. He hated my guts, but the vote ended up passing. Two weeks later, I was given an award by our student government for outstanding leadership and presented a plaque on stage by the very same dean","labels":0,"seconds_difference":35678.0,"score_ratio":1.3529411765} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvd7hf","c_root_id_B":"ezvzho8","created_at_utc_A":1568174031,"created_at_utc_B":1568203360,"score_A":25,"score_B":46,"human_ref_A":"\"IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS.\"","human_ref_B":"I basically took a year off from doing anything productive for my degree a few years ago to push for a grad employees union. This entailed work I didn\u2019t realize at the outset would be so consuming and stressful. In the week leading up to our vote, the dean went around to each department urging strongly that students come to a meeting where he would tell them the reasons unions are bad for universities. I got myself invited by friends I had made in each department while canvassing and basically debated the dean every day for a week - sometimes twice a day. He hated my guts, but the vote ended up passing. Two weeks later, I was given an award by our student government for outstanding leadership and presented a plaque on stage by the very same dean","labels":0,"seconds_difference":29329.0,"score_ratio":1.84} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvzho8","c_root_id_B":"ezvzamy","created_at_utc_A":1568203360,"created_at_utc_B":1568203169,"score_A":46,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I basically took a year off from doing anything productive for my degree a few years ago to push for a grad employees union. This entailed work I didn\u2019t realize at the outset would be so consuming and stressful. In the week leading up to our vote, the dean went around to each department urging strongly that students come to a meeting where he would tell them the reasons unions are bad for universities. I got myself invited by friends I had made in each department while canvassing and basically debated the dean every day for a week - sometimes twice a day. He hated my guts, but the vote ended up passing. Two weeks later, I was given an award by our student government for outstanding leadership and presented a plaque on stage by the very same dean","human_ref_B":"Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said \u201cI survived another meeting that could have been an email\u201d. Every. Single. Meeting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":191.0,"score_ratio":1.7037037037} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvzho8","c_root_id_B":"ezvz7ls","created_at_utc_A":1568203360,"created_at_utc_B":1568203090,"score_A":46,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I basically took a year off from doing anything productive for my degree a few years ago to push for a grad employees union. This entailed work I didn\u2019t realize at the outset would be so consuming and stressful. In the week leading up to our vote, the dean went around to each department urging strongly that students come to a meeting where he would tell them the reasons unions are bad for universities. I got myself invited by friends I had made in each department while canvassing and basically debated the dean every day for a week - sometimes twice a day. He hated my guts, but the vote ended up passing. Two weeks later, I was given an award by our student government for outstanding leadership and presented a plaque on stage by the very same dean","human_ref_B":"I had a group project where the other member didn't do anything, so I spelt his name wring in the paper and the presentation.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":270.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvdejo","c_root_id_B":"ezvzho8","created_at_utc_A":1568174214,"created_at_utc_B":1568203360,"score_A":14,"score_B":46,"human_ref_A":"I had someone a couple of years junior to me beg me for notes and tuition. They got nasty when I couldn't oblige. Turned over the correspondence to my supervisor, whose class this was for.","human_ref_B":"I basically took a year off from doing anything productive for my degree a few years ago to push for a grad employees union. This entailed work I didn\u2019t realize at the outset would be so consuming and stressful. In the week leading up to our vote, the dean went around to each department urging strongly that students come to a meeting where he would tell them the reasons unions are bad for universities. I got myself invited by friends I had made in each department while canvassing and basically debated the dean every day for a week - sometimes twice a day. He hated my guts, but the vote ended up passing. Two weeks later, I was given an award by our student government for outstanding leadership and presented a plaque on stage by the very same dean","labels":0,"seconds_difference":29146.0,"score_ratio":3.2857142857} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvokeb","c_root_id_B":"ezvzho8","created_at_utc_A":1568187893,"created_at_utc_B":1568203360,"score_A":9,"score_B":46,"human_ref_A":"Every faculty meeting","human_ref_B":"I basically took a year off from doing anything productive for my degree a few years ago to push for a grad employees union. This entailed work I didn\u2019t realize at the outset would be so consuming and stressful. In the week leading up to our vote, the dean went around to each department urging strongly that students come to a meeting where he would tell them the reasons unions are bad for universities. I got myself invited by friends I had made in each department while canvassing and basically debated the dean every day for a week - sometimes twice a day. He hated my guts, but the vote ended up passing. Two weeks later, I was given an award by our student government for outstanding leadership and presented a plaque on stage by the very same dean","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15467.0,"score_ratio":5.1111111111} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvqhzk","c_root_id_B":"ezvzho8","created_at_utc_A":1568191121,"created_at_utc_B":1568203360,"score_A":6,"score_B":46,"human_ref_A":"I had an oral exam in Physics coming up after this happend btw. Our professor disliked phones very much. Nothing weird about that. I have been warned months prior to this by our professor because I was on my phone, no biggie. My mistake. It's impolite to be on your phone during a lesson which I understood. I actually find Physics interesting and I enjoyed most lessons and was eager to learn more. I almost always did my assignments and extra work. I wanted an A. During one of our final classes of the year, the entire class was just talking, the professor wasn't lecturing anything. They were setting dates for tests if anyone wanted to fix their grade. People who had their grade set were on their phone... nothing weird. Except I was the only one called out. Out of everyone. To make things worse, the professor called out my style (she specifically mentioned my Dr Martens and Iron Maiden shirt I wore that day) and commented on my dyed ginger hair. She said very \"nicely\" she doesn't have anything against it, why bring it up then? Her comments made me feel awful. She continued to comment my attitude towards work, my personality and how I don't deserve an A. She did this for another 10 mins before finishing. I didn't want to continue it so I just apologised. She gave me a B. :) TLDR : Professor didn't like me or my choice of clothing \/ style and gave me a lower grade.","human_ref_B":"I basically took a year off from doing anything productive for my degree a few years ago to push for a grad employees union. This entailed work I didn\u2019t realize at the outset would be so consuming and stressful. In the week leading up to our vote, the dean went around to each department urging strongly that students come to a meeting where he would tell them the reasons unions are bad for universities. I got myself invited by friends I had made in each department while canvassing and basically debated the dean every day for a week - sometimes twice a day. He hated my guts, but the vote ended up passing. Two weeks later, I was given an award by our student government for outstanding leadership and presented a plaque on stage by the very same dean","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12239.0,"score_ratio":7.6666666667} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezw4a2t","c_root_id_B":"ezvd7hf","created_at_utc_A":1568207494,"created_at_utc_B":1568174031,"score_A":31,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"Had to create a throwaway account for this. Two of my colleagues (M\/F) started seeing each other on the side. The guy was a more senior member of the department, the woman was more junior than me...oh and was\/ is still married. On more than one of their secret rendezvous occasions, I would get drunk texted very inappropriate pictures of the two of them. I kept my mouth shut b\/c as a junior person I wasn't risking the backlash of saying anything. I watched the woman (who again, was more junior) get promoted over me, get special priveledges, get a title change so that she could make more money, etc. I very bitterly watched. Finally, a student of the woman went to her and complained about a test grade. She said she stood by all her grading decisions and wasn't going to entertain the possibility of a re-grade. So the student went to the coodinator...the guy. He said \"I trust her grading decisions and I am not even going to look at your test.\" So the student filed a complaint with the department saying that they were not getting a fair shot since woman\/man were obviously seeing each other, and would back each other up on anything. In the end, the department asked the two of them to keep it more discrete, but that there was no formal policy against it. However, they did not want anyone in our professional society to know about it b\/c the guy was going for a high leadership position in said national organization. I managed to get a new (still junior) job and got the hell out of there. Sometime later the guy asked me for a favor (to make him an invited speaker in my session) so that he could look better for the leadership position. I said no. He pushed back and said he could ruin my academic career by badmouthing me and making sure I never found a TT position. I texted him one of the drunken pictures. He's never contacted me again.","human_ref_B":"\"IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":33463.0,"score_ratio":1.24} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvzamy","c_root_id_B":"ezw4a2t","created_at_utc_A":1568203169,"created_at_utc_B":1568207494,"score_A":27,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said \u201cI survived another meeting that could have been an email\u201d. Every. Single. Meeting.","human_ref_B":"Had to create a throwaway account for this. Two of my colleagues (M\/F) started seeing each other on the side. The guy was a more senior member of the department, the woman was more junior than me...oh and was\/ is still married. On more than one of their secret rendezvous occasions, I would get drunk texted very inappropriate pictures of the two of them. I kept my mouth shut b\/c as a junior person I wasn't risking the backlash of saying anything. I watched the woman (who again, was more junior) get promoted over me, get special priveledges, get a title change so that she could make more money, etc. I very bitterly watched. Finally, a student of the woman went to her and complained about a test grade. She said she stood by all her grading decisions and wasn't going to entertain the possibility of a re-grade. So the student went to the coodinator...the guy. He said \"I trust her grading decisions and I am not even going to look at your test.\" So the student filed a complaint with the department saying that they were not getting a fair shot since woman\/man were obviously seeing each other, and would back each other up on anything. In the end, the department asked the two of them to keep it more discrete, but that there was no formal policy against it. However, they did not want anyone in our professional society to know about it b\/c the guy was going for a high leadership position in said national organization. I managed to get a new (still junior) job and got the hell out of there. Sometime later the guy asked me for a favor (to make him an invited speaker in my session) so that he could look better for the leadership position. I said no. He pushed back and said he could ruin my academic career by badmouthing me and making sure I never found a TT position. I texted him one of the drunken pictures. He's never contacted me again.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4325.0,"score_ratio":1.1481481481} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvz7ls","c_root_id_B":"ezw4a2t","created_at_utc_A":1568203090,"created_at_utc_B":1568207494,"score_A":23,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"I had a group project where the other member didn't do anything, so I spelt his name wring in the paper and the presentation.","human_ref_B":"Had to create a throwaway account for this. Two of my colleagues (M\/F) started seeing each other on the side. The guy was a more senior member of the department, the woman was more junior than me...oh and was\/ is still married. On more than one of their secret rendezvous occasions, I would get drunk texted very inappropriate pictures of the two of them. I kept my mouth shut b\/c as a junior person I wasn't risking the backlash of saying anything. I watched the woman (who again, was more junior) get promoted over me, get special priveledges, get a title change so that she could make more money, etc. I very bitterly watched. Finally, a student of the woman went to her and complained about a test grade. She said she stood by all her grading decisions and wasn't going to entertain the possibility of a re-grade. So the student went to the coodinator...the guy. He said \"I trust her grading decisions and I am not even going to look at your test.\" So the student filed a complaint with the department saying that they were not getting a fair shot since woman\/man were obviously seeing each other, and would back each other up on anything. In the end, the department asked the two of them to keep it more discrete, but that there was no formal policy against it. However, they did not want anyone in our professional society to know about it b\/c the guy was going for a high leadership position in said national organization. I managed to get a new (still junior) job and got the hell out of there. Sometime later the guy asked me for a favor (to make him an invited speaker in my session) so that he could look better for the leadership position. I said no. He pushed back and said he could ruin my academic career by badmouthing me and making sure I never found a TT position. I texted him one of the drunken pictures. He's never contacted me again.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4404.0,"score_ratio":1.347826087} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezw4a2t","c_root_id_B":"ezvdejo","created_at_utc_A":1568207494,"created_at_utc_B":1568174214,"score_A":31,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"Had to create a throwaway account for this. Two of my colleagues (M\/F) started seeing each other on the side. The guy was a more senior member of the department, the woman was more junior than me...oh and was\/ is still married. On more than one of their secret rendezvous occasions, I would get drunk texted very inappropriate pictures of the two of them. I kept my mouth shut b\/c as a junior person I wasn't risking the backlash of saying anything. I watched the woman (who again, was more junior) get promoted over me, get special priveledges, get a title change so that she could make more money, etc. I very bitterly watched. Finally, a student of the woman went to her and complained about a test grade. She said she stood by all her grading decisions and wasn't going to entertain the possibility of a re-grade. So the student went to the coodinator...the guy. He said \"I trust her grading decisions and I am not even going to look at your test.\" So the student filed a complaint with the department saying that they were not getting a fair shot since woman\/man were obviously seeing each other, and would back each other up on anything. In the end, the department asked the two of them to keep it more discrete, but that there was no formal policy against it. However, they did not want anyone in our professional society to know about it b\/c the guy was going for a high leadership position in said national organization. I managed to get a new (still junior) job and got the hell out of there. Sometime later the guy asked me for a favor (to make him an invited speaker in my session) so that he could look better for the leadership position. I said no. He pushed back and said he could ruin my academic career by badmouthing me and making sure I never found a TT position. I texted him one of the drunken pictures. He's never contacted me again.","human_ref_B":"I had someone a couple of years junior to me beg me for notes and tuition. They got nasty when I couldn't oblige. Turned over the correspondence to my supervisor, whose class this was for.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":33280.0,"score_ratio":2.2142857143} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvokeb","c_root_id_B":"ezw4a2t","created_at_utc_A":1568187893,"created_at_utc_B":1568207494,"score_A":9,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"Every faculty meeting","human_ref_B":"Had to create a throwaway account for this. Two of my colleagues (M\/F) started seeing each other on the side. The guy was a more senior member of the department, the woman was more junior than me...oh and was\/ is still married. On more than one of their secret rendezvous occasions, I would get drunk texted very inappropriate pictures of the two of them. I kept my mouth shut b\/c as a junior person I wasn't risking the backlash of saying anything. I watched the woman (who again, was more junior) get promoted over me, get special priveledges, get a title change so that she could make more money, etc. I very bitterly watched. Finally, a student of the woman went to her and complained about a test grade. She said she stood by all her grading decisions and wasn't going to entertain the possibility of a re-grade. So the student went to the coodinator...the guy. He said \"I trust her grading decisions and I am not even going to look at your test.\" So the student filed a complaint with the department saying that they were not getting a fair shot since woman\/man were obviously seeing each other, and would back each other up on anything. In the end, the department asked the two of them to keep it more discrete, but that there was no formal policy against it. However, they did not want anyone in our professional society to know about it b\/c the guy was going for a high leadership position in said national organization. I managed to get a new (still junior) job and got the hell out of there. Sometime later the guy asked me for a favor (to make him an invited speaker in my session) so that he could look better for the leadership position. I said no. He pushed back and said he could ruin my academic career by badmouthing me and making sure I never found a TT position. I texted him one of the drunken pictures. He's never contacted me again.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19601.0,"score_ratio":3.4444444444} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvqhzk","c_root_id_B":"ezw4a2t","created_at_utc_A":1568191121,"created_at_utc_B":1568207494,"score_A":6,"score_B":31,"human_ref_A":"I had an oral exam in Physics coming up after this happend btw. Our professor disliked phones very much. Nothing weird about that. I have been warned months prior to this by our professor because I was on my phone, no biggie. My mistake. It's impolite to be on your phone during a lesson which I understood. I actually find Physics interesting and I enjoyed most lessons and was eager to learn more. I almost always did my assignments and extra work. I wanted an A. During one of our final classes of the year, the entire class was just talking, the professor wasn't lecturing anything. They were setting dates for tests if anyone wanted to fix their grade. People who had their grade set were on their phone... nothing weird. Except I was the only one called out. Out of everyone. To make things worse, the professor called out my style (she specifically mentioned my Dr Martens and Iron Maiden shirt I wore that day) and commented on my dyed ginger hair. She said very \"nicely\" she doesn't have anything against it, why bring it up then? Her comments made me feel awful. She continued to comment my attitude towards work, my personality and how I don't deserve an A. She did this for another 10 mins before finishing. I didn't want to continue it so I just apologised. She gave me a B. :) TLDR : Professor didn't like me or my choice of clothing \/ style and gave me a lower grade.","human_ref_B":"Had to create a throwaway account for this. Two of my colleagues (M\/F) started seeing each other on the side. The guy was a more senior member of the department, the woman was more junior than me...oh and was\/ is still married. On more than one of their secret rendezvous occasions, I would get drunk texted very inappropriate pictures of the two of them. I kept my mouth shut b\/c as a junior person I wasn't risking the backlash of saying anything. I watched the woman (who again, was more junior) get promoted over me, get special priveledges, get a title change so that she could make more money, etc. I very bitterly watched. Finally, a student of the woman went to her and complained about a test grade. She said she stood by all her grading decisions and wasn't going to entertain the possibility of a re-grade. So the student went to the coodinator...the guy. He said \"I trust her grading decisions and I am not even going to look at your test.\" So the student filed a complaint with the department saying that they were not getting a fair shot since woman\/man were obviously seeing each other, and would back each other up on anything. In the end, the department asked the two of them to keep it more discrete, but that there was no formal policy against it. However, they did not want anyone in our professional society to know about it b\/c the guy was going for a high leadership position in said national organization. I managed to get a new (still junior) job and got the hell out of there. Sometime later the guy asked me for a favor (to make him an invited speaker in my session) so that he could look better for the leadership position. I said no. He pushed back and said he could ruin my academic career by badmouthing me and making sure I never found a TT position. I texted him one of the drunken pictures. He's never contacted me again.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16373.0,"score_ratio":5.1666666667} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvzamy","c_root_id_B":"ezvd7hf","created_at_utc_A":1568203169,"created_at_utc_B":1568174031,"score_A":27,"score_B":25,"human_ref_A":"Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said \u201cI survived another meeting that could have been an email\u201d. Every. Single. Meeting.","human_ref_B":"\"IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS.\"","labels":1,"seconds_difference":29138.0,"score_ratio":1.08} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvz7ls","c_root_id_B":"ezvzamy","created_at_utc_A":1568203090,"created_at_utc_B":1568203169,"score_A":23,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I had a group project where the other member didn't do anything, so I spelt his name wring in the paper and the presentation.","human_ref_B":"Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said \u201cI survived another meeting that could have been an email\u201d. Every. Single. Meeting.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":79.0,"score_ratio":1.1739130435} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvdejo","c_root_id_B":"ezvzamy","created_at_utc_A":1568174214,"created_at_utc_B":1568203169,"score_A":14,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I had someone a couple of years junior to me beg me for notes and tuition. They got nasty when I couldn't oblige. Turned over the correspondence to my supervisor, whose class this was for.","human_ref_B":"Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said \u201cI survived another meeting that could have been an email\u201d. Every. Single. Meeting.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":28955.0,"score_ratio":1.9285714286} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvzamy","c_root_id_B":"ezvokeb","created_at_utc_A":1568203169,"created_at_utc_B":1568187893,"score_A":27,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said \u201cI survived another meeting that could have been an email\u201d. Every. Single. Meeting.","human_ref_B":"Every faculty meeting","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15276.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvqhzk","c_root_id_B":"ezvzamy","created_at_utc_A":1568191121,"created_at_utc_B":1568203169,"score_A":6,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I had an oral exam in Physics coming up after this happend btw. Our professor disliked phones very much. Nothing weird about that. I have been warned months prior to this by our professor because I was on my phone, no biggie. My mistake. It's impolite to be on your phone during a lesson which I understood. I actually find Physics interesting and I enjoyed most lessons and was eager to learn more. I almost always did my assignments and extra work. I wanted an A. During one of our final classes of the year, the entire class was just talking, the professor wasn't lecturing anything. They were setting dates for tests if anyone wanted to fix their grade. People who had their grade set were on their phone... nothing weird. Except I was the only one called out. Out of everyone. To make things worse, the professor called out my style (she specifically mentioned my Dr Martens and Iron Maiden shirt I wore that day) and commented on my dyed ginger hair. She said very \"nicely\" she doesn't have anything against it, why bring it up then? Her comments made me feel awful. She continued to comment my attitude towards work, my personality and how I don't deserve an A. She did this for another 10 mins before finishing. I didn't want to continue it so I just apologised. She gave me a B. :) TLDR : Professor didn't like me or my choice of clothing \/ style and gave me a lower grade.","human_ref_B":"Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said \u201cI survived another meeting that could have been an email\u201d. Every. Single. Meeting.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12048.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvz7ls","c_root_id_B":"ezvdejo","created_at_utc_A":1568203090,"created_at_utc_B":1568174214,"score_A":23,"score_B":14,"human_ref_A":"I had a group project where the other member didn't do anything, so I spelt his name wring in the paper and the presentation.","human_ref_B":"I had someone a couple of years junior to me beg me for notes and tuition. They got nasty when I couldn't oblige. Turned over the correspondence to my supervisor, whose class this was for.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":28876.0,"score_ratio":1.6428571429} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvokeb","c_root_id_B":"ezvz7ls","created_at_utc_A":1568187893,"created_at_utc_B":1568203090,"score_A":9,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"Every faculty meeting","human_ref_B":"I had a group project where the other member didn't do anything, so I spelt his name wring in the paper and the presentation.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15197.0,"score_ratio":2.5555555556} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezvqhzk","c_root_id_B":"ezvz7ls","created_at_utc_A":1568191121,"created_at_utc_B":1568203090,"score_A":6,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I had an oral exam in Physics coming up after this happend btw. Our professor disliked phones very much. Nothing weird about that. I have been warned months prior to this by our professor because I was on my phone, no biggie. My mistake. It's impolite to be on your phone during a lesson which I understood. I actually find Physics interesting and I enjoyed most lessons and was eager to learn more. I almost always did my assignments and extra work. I wanted an A. During one of our final classes of the year, the entire class was just talking, the professor wasn't lecturing anything. They were setting dates for tests if anyone wanted to fix their grade. People who had their grade set were on their phone... nothing weird. Except I was the only one called out. Out of everyone. To make things worse, the professor called out my style (she specifically mentioned my Dr Martens and Iron Maiden shirt I wore that day) and commented on my dyed ginger hair. She said very \"nicely\" she doesn't have anything against it, why bring it up then? Her comments made me feel awful. She continued to comment my attitude towards work, my personality and how I don't deserve an A. She did this for another 10 mins before finishing. I didn't want to continue it so I just apologised. She gave me a B. :) TLDR : Professor didn't like me or my choice of clothing \/ style and gave me a lower grade.","human_ref_B":"I had a group project where the other member didn't do anything, so I spelt his name wring in the paper and the presentation.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11969.0,"score_ratio":3.8333333333} {"post_id":"d2hkeo","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details.","c_root_id_A":"ezw8s7c","c_root_id_B":"ezvqhzk","created_at_utc_A":1568210885,"created_at_utc_B":1568191121,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I helped get a teacher with tenure removed from the school. I dropped out of college for a year due to the way a professor ran a 100 level 1 credit hour \"Intro to Psychology\" as a major class. Professor required 8+ pages of perfectly APA formatted research paper each week(mind you for a 1 c.h. class). Each of the papers were out of 10 points and i got -14 points on one and it was explained to me that every error was -1 point(lost 3 points due to having a space where there shouldn't have been in 3 different in text cations). The professor had 6-8 T.A.'s for his class of 30 students so he wouldn't have to do any real work. He sat in front of the class and bragged about how he had tenure and was untouchable unless he sexually assaulted a student or the like. Also that he had come from a more prestigious university to come teach at ours and we should feel lucky to be his students. He decided to lecture us on what Italics was for 20 minutes with accompanying power point presentation because \"apparently some of you can't understand this simple concept\", rather than explaining the nuances of when different formatting is needed\/required in citations. The stress of the class on top of everything else I had going on caused my major depressive disorder to go from managed with medication to being catatonic and couldn't get out of bed in the morning. (Yes it was my responsibility to take care of myself, and I failed to reach out to resources to help myself when this happened etc). I dropped out and worked in a residential treatment center for dually diagnosed youth for a year. I had to re-apply for the university and have a meeting with the Dean of the school of science to re-enroll. When I met with the dean he was super chill and asked me about what I was going to do differently this time and how I was going to avoid the issues that had caused me to drop out. As I was describing how I was going to avoid the pitfalls that caused me to be unsuccessful he got a concerned look on his face, and asked which professor I was talking about when i was describing the behavior of the professor. When I told him he said that I was not the only student who have had issues with this professor but if I was willing to give him an on the record written statement of my experiences, and his abuse of department resources (seriously 1 TA per 4-5 students?), he would be \"Very appreciative\". I was happy when I noticed that the teacher no longer worked at the university, despite having tenure.","human_ref_B":"I had an oral exam in Physics coming up after this happend btw. Our professor disliked phones very much. Nothing weird about that. I have been warned months prior to this by our professor because I was on my phone, no biggie. My mistake. It's impolite to be on your phone during a lesson which I understood. I actually find Physics interesting and I enjoyed most lessons and was eager to learn more. I almost always did my assignments and extra work. I wanted an A. During one of our final classes of the year, the entire class was just talking, the professor wasn't lecturing anything. They were setting dates for tests if anyone wanted to fix their grade. People who had their grade set were on their phone... nothing weird. Except I was the only one called out. Out of everyone. To make things worse, the professor called out my style (she specifically mentioned my Dr Martens and Iron Maiden shirt I wore that day) and commented on my dyed ginger hair. She said very \"nicely\" she doesn't have anything against it, why bring it up then? Her comments made me feel awful. She continued to comment my attitude towards work, my personality and how I don't deserve an A. She did this for another 10 mins before finishing. I didn't want to continue it so I just apologised. She gave me a B. :) TLDR : Professor didn't like me or my choice of clothing \/ style and gave me a lower grade.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19764.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"8z2790","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"How do people decide the length of their postdoc? A PhD program requires a student to do all his\/her experiments and write a thesis about the interpretation over some years. Generally, this requirement is independent of what you want to do with the degree. How does that change for postdocs? I understand for a long-term academic career, one would want to develop his\/her own research program and justify it through publications. What if you realize it\u2019s really not for you? Should you just start applying for relevant industry jobs immediately, potentially with nothing to show from the postdoc? Or should you tough it out and get a paper from the postdoc. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re not that deep into the postdoc yet, like maybe ~1 year into it. My field is biochemistry.","c_root_id_A":"e2fwrwb","c_root_id_B":"e2g4kee","created_at_utc_A":1531681979,"created_at_utc_B":1531689677,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"My advice is apply immediately. Worst case scenario is that you don\u2019t get a different job and stay a post doc for longer, which is identical to the situation you\u2019re currently in. Just keep applying until you get what you want.","human_ref_B":"Definitely an interesting question and having been a postdoc until recently and seen a spectrum during grad school and post, I'll touch on what I've seen (coming from a bioengineering\/biomed field). 1) Indefinite. Some big name labs have a lot of funding and not everyone is \"tied\" to specific funding. Yes, people work on projects and get paid from specific budget allocations, but sometimes the finances might a be a little more fluid than you realize and people bounce around. One round of funding ends, someone might get shuffled to another project. Being kept around like this obviously requires someone being useful, i.e. bringing in more grant funding, publishing papers, or potentially just being really good a specific technique. Why would people stay? It's a cushy life (aside from the pay). 2) Fixed contract. This is probably more common that a postdoc is hired for a specific project (with a set amount of funding). You have x years, the PI or the postdoc should be applying to more funding during this funding window for the next round of funding pending \"promising results\". I think that's why you see a lot of people having multiple post docs these days - not every piece of science will workout or necessarily have a solid deliverable - and if you're staying in academia, that's nearly a death sentence. 3) Whenever you want. The postdoc experience is really a test to see whether you want to really pursue an academia career. Let's say you aren't going to pursue academia (which is the path I took), I would say start looking AT jobs immediately, but be decisive about applying. See what's out there and how you think you and your skillset might synergize with a particular setting. Be ready to apply when necessary, but I would say be honest with your PI about what you're thinking (assuming you don't have a toxic or unsupportive PI...). Talk about expectations for how to \"finish up\" if you're definitely ready to go ASAP. Best case, your PI is supportive and helps you out, you get some publications out, and you don't burn a bridge. Worst case (assuming you free yourself from the lab), you do burn the bridge, no publications, but are out free and doing something that you may enjoy doing more. Worst worst case - stuck in the lab for eternity, but I think if you're serious about jumping the academic ship, you can make that happen with enough effort. You can leave whenever you want, but it's really a strategic decision about how you want to line up what's next and balancing how good\/bad things currently are in the lab. geralt922 is definitely right about the sunk cost fallacy. One issue is with the papers though. Aside from academia, papers are a sign of productivity (how accurate a metric this is clearly up for debate however). At my company, I've interviewed a lot of people, and those with longer postdocs and few to none publications threw up a red flag. I think no publications within a year is reasonable, but the longer you wait and have no deliverables, the worse it looks to potential employers.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7698.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"gp1meq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Shutdown and lack of motivation and interest I'm a 3.5 year postdoc. The first couple weeks of the shutdown I was not motivated to do anything. I thought it was burn out from lab, but it's been 2 months and I'm still feeling pretty awful. I've been working on my manuscript because my PI keeps asking about it, but I'm pretty disinterested. Research labs at my university are supposed to open June 1 and I've been dreading going back to lab. The uncertainty of possibly closing down again if\/when the next wave of the virus hits later this year is also weighing heavily on my mind. When I asked my PI what the plan was when we shutdown, he said \"We won't\" (we did three days later) and when I asked what happens if\/when we shut down again later this year, he said \"We won't.\" The lack of a lab plan stresses me out. I can't tell if my indifference is due to my lack of interest in this lab or in science in general. Has anyone else at the postdoc (or higher) level felt a lack of motivation and\/or general lack of interest in doing science lately? And do you feel the pandemic has given you perspective about whether or not you want to do science?","c_root_id_A":"frjclpt","c_root_id_B":"frji1p7","created_at_utc_A":1590227438,"created_at_utc_B":1590233382,"score_A":11,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"It is tough. I for example am posting here, instead of editing the manuscript open in another window. But I will go back and edit a few more paragraphs after posting this. Or maybe just one paragraph. Or a few lines. But either way I will be a bit more ahead, and a bit nearer to my objective. Do that enough times and I will be done. But sitting in my bedroom does NOT give me the same rush as sitting in my lab surrounded by activity. Bear with it, do what you can. It does also help to occassionally take a break - as in I will not work for the next three days, then I will get back onto it. There is a different mentality to taking a clear break and not feeling that you should be doing something all the time - and not doing it.","human_ref_B":"I feel dissociated. I'm also a postdoc, and I'm isolated in a different country to my lab, and even with weekly zoom meetings I feel like the whole postdoc was a dream. Pretty hard to be motivated on my research when it feels so abstract, and my isolation life is tangible and real.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5944.0,"score_ratio":1.5454545455} {"post_id":"gp1meq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Shutdown and lack of motivation and interest I'm a 3.5 year postdoc. The first couple weeks of the shutdown I was not motivated to do anything. I thought it was burn out from lab, but it's been 2 months and I'm still feeling pretty awful. I've been working on my manuscript because my PI keeps asking about it, but I'm pretty disinterested. Research labs at my university are supposed to open June 1 and I've been dreading going back to lab. The uncertainty of possibly closing down again if\/when the next wave of the virus hits later this year is also weighing heavily on my mind. When I asked my PI what the plan was when we shutdown, he said \"We won't\" (we did three days later) and when I asked what happens if\/when we shut down again later this year, he said \"We won't.\" The lack of a lab plan stresses me out. I can't tell if my indifference is due to my lack of interest in this lab or in science in general. Has anyone else at the postdoc (or higher) level felt a lack of motivation and\/or general lack of interest in doing science lately? And do you feel the pandemic has given you perspective about whether or not you want to do science?","c_root_id_A":"frkfnqq","c_root_id_B":"frkd970","created_at_utc_A":1590255532,"created_at_utc_B":1590254219,"score_A":10,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Yeah, I'm about a year into my postdoc and I feel shitty and unmotivated too. It really, really doesn't help that the job market is even worse now than it was before. A big part of me feels like \"what's the point?\" I was trying to tell myself I'm doing it for the sake of science, but I just got back a rejection and one of the reviewers was super harsh. So now I feel like even that's pointless. Furthermore, as a grad student, I noticed most of the grad students were stressed and often depressed. I chocked that up to low pay, low power, etc. But the postdocs here are also stressed out and depressed. And my PIs seem the same way, despite being full professors at a top university. I get that any job is going to come with stressors but they seem especially potent in academia, maybe because for many of us the job is our life.","human_ref_B":"Are you me? I finished my PhD a few months ago, and was planning to use the past few months to wrap up experimental work and get a few manuscripts together before travelling overseas to start a postdoc. I'd be travelling from a country which has largely avoided the coronavirus (Australia) to one of the hotspots in the US (MD). I enjoyed my PhD and the lab and supervisor that I did my PhD in, but it was clear that five years was enough, and it was time to move on, so I was looking forward to starting my postdoc. I was feeling burned out, frankly a bit sick of my PhD project and needed a change, which is not an uncommon feeling at the end of your PhD. I spent most of January and February preparing my thesis, wrapping up some experimental work, and attending a few conferences. In mid-January, I hear about COVID-19 and think nothing of it. By early March I think 'well, I guess if this blows up I might have to delay my move for a few weeks.' By late March, we were locked out of the lab. April and May were spent in 'lockdown' although I should say the our 'lockdown' was much less intense than that in Europe and much of the US (any lockdown where you can get a takeaway coffee is not a real lockdown). I spent most of the lockdown period finishing up a few manuscripts under review and doing assorted bits of data analysis that I had put off doing. But honestly, I was not very productive, felt guilt from that (spent way too much time on Reddit and playing computer games), which I partially attribute to burnout. I don't feel too bad, as nobody I know was anywhere close to 100% productive during this time. If anything, it's shown me that I actually enjoy lab work, and it creates a lot of variety in what I do, which is what I enjoy the most about being a researcher. I was burned out from my PhD, and my usual burnout 'circle-breaker' (international travel) was obviously off the cards. The worst thing though, is being stuck in purgatory. I'd planned the past 6-12 months of my life around finishing my PhD in early 2020, and starting a postdoc soon after. I was looking forward to the international move, to reuniting with friends in the US, and starting in a new field distinct from what I've done during my PhD. That's all been taken away. I have faith (and it really is just faith) that it will happen eventually - by the end of the year, and this will just be a 3-6 month period that will be a forgettable blur. My PhD supervisor is happy to keep paying me for now, and my postdoc supervisor in the US is happy to wait - although I'm not sure that she appreciates how long it could be, given how strict Australia's border restrictions are, and how badly the US has botched their response to COVID-19 (in other words, I'm acutely aware that I could find myself on the job market after all in the post-pandemic recession). Given the indefinite nature of the current situation, it does feel like being stuck in purgatory. I could be starting in three months, nine months, or never. It makes it difficult to plan how I should approach lab work (should I be starting new projects?) and also generally makes for an uncertain, anxious, shitty situation. The fact that I composed a wall of text, instead of doing some fairly trivial data analysis that would have taken half an hour, says it all really ;).","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1313.0,"score_ratio":1.4285714286} {"post_id":"gp1meq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"Shutdown and lack of motivation and interest I'm a 3.5 year postdoc. The first couple weeks of the shutdown I was not motivated to do anything. I thought it was burn out from lab, but it's been 2 months and I'm still feeling pretty awful. I've been working on my manuscript because my PI keeps asking about it, but I'm pretty disinterested. Research labs at my university are supposed to open June 1 and I've been dreading going back to lab. The uncertainty of possibly closing down again if\/when the next wave of the virus hits later this year is also weighing heavily on my mind. When I asked my PI what the plan was when we shutdown, he said \"We won't\" (we did three days later) and when I asked what happens if\/when we shut down again later this year, he said \"We won't.\" The lack of a lab plan stresses me out. I can't tell if my indifference is due to my lack of interest in this lab or in science in general. Has anyone else at the postdoc (or higher) level felt a lack of motivation and\/or general lack of interest in doing science lately? And do you feel the pandemic has given you perspective about whether or not you want to do science?","c_root_id_A":"frr61t9","c_root_id_B":"frtgoyj","created_at_utc_A":1590399389,"created_at_utc_B":1590449970,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"For me it's been huuuuge mood swings. I was truly worried because I've never experienced anything like that before. I had some days crouching on the couch already at 7 p.m. without any strength in my body, and others when I would work untill midnight with a \"we'll make it, and I'm kicking asses with my new discoveries\" attitude. In the first month I was super-anxious and had a bit of panic but I forced myself to work a lot just to distract myself, and to study a new topic and I was super productive actually. But near the end of the 2nd one I had less panic attacks but I was less productive and the mood swings I mentioned before started again. Now in my country we've reopened a bit, I can do sports again and I can go to my hospital once or twice a week which helped a lot but.. I can't focus at all now, and I'm super worried about what will happen. I had bought what I was missing to restart my musical project (outside work) but\u2026 I can't find the strength. It's hard...","human_ref_B":"To be honest with you, I've been in the science field for 12 years now. With 12 years of experience under my belt, I've considered myself to be a scientist. Not gonna lie to you, what you are feeling now is what I had felt in 2018 till current (so it didn't take the pandemic for me to realize). You are right and I agree with you, I occasionally felt a social disconnect with others. It's a lonely job. Not only the loneliness, but the salary was awful and you are constantly working. You take work home and you work all day. I call that the \"slave work\" of academia. When something succeeds, it is your mentor who gets the credit and not you. You are only among the \"underlings\" of the published paper. In addition to that, respect and personal growth. It's hard to acquire those in an academic environment. So to top lack of respect and personal growth to loneliness, secondary credibility, slave working hours, and low pay ---> leads to low decline in motivation and lack of focus. And I started out as being a motivated science enthusiast too. But, recently, this lack of motivation is taken toll and affecting my daily life too. It might be the burnout, but you could also be tired of dealing with the factors I mentioned as well. Oh and I took a 2 months break from science too. It didn't help me rejuvenate! Like you, I am feeling lost in my situation as well. I tried a different career too (it wasn't as exciting as science is).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":50581.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"99wewq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"[France] Why are French University rankings so low? I am in the middle of applying for a PhD position at a University in France. The project looks good and the supervisor appears to publish frequently. But I can't get past the university being so lowly ranked in university rankings. Now normally I would take no real notice of this, but it is super low, not appearing in the Shanghai top 500, and somewhere between 800-1000 in QS. The laboratory seems to be part of a university which is then divided into 3 universities which is divided into departments which is divided into laboratories and I have no idea if the project is part of the university or the laboratory. This appears to be consistent with all the universities in France. They also all appear rather low in any rankings. Are French universities just bad, or are they not playing the rankings system? I really like the project but if it's from an institution that that holds no weight in the academic world, then it seems a waste of time.","c_root_id_A":"e4qzelm","c_root_id_B":"e4r44ks","created_at_utc_A":1535113896,"created_at_utc_B":1535119065,"score_A":10,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"Universities have traditionally been scattered with each specializing in a particular field. Also research is done sometimes almost out of universities entirely, in CNRS centers. Recently they started aggregating everyone as in the PSL group, so that PSL has equal weight wrt the big US campuses that top the list. So I would say it is not relevant (yet) but they are working on it, for good or bad. I am not sure the megauniversity is the way to go, or whether the publish or perish model should be incentivized. But though my university was nowhere near the top ranking globally, it has an excellent reputation in my field and was in the ranking by field, somewhere in the top 20. So I would look more at these rankings. And also generally not worry too much about them.","human_ref_B":"isn't there's a known bias towards english speaking institution in these rankings?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5169.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"99wewq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"[France] Why are French University rankings so low? I am in the middle of applying for a PhD position at a University in France. The project looks good and the supervisor appears to publish frequently. But I can't get past the university being so lowly ranked in university rankings. Now normally I would take no real notice of this, but it is super low, not appearing in the Shanghai top 500, and somewhere between 800-1000 in QS. The laboratory seems to be part of a university which is then divided into 3 universities which is divided into departments which is divided into laboratories and I have no idea if the project is part of the university or the laboratory. This appears to be consistent with all the universities in France. They also all appear rather low in any rankings. Are French universities just bad, or are they not playing the rankings system? I really like the project but if it's from an institution that that holds no weight in the academic world, then it seems a waste of time.","c_root_id_A":"e4stm68","c_root_id_B":"e4rr6gw","created_at_utc_A":1535183315,"created_at_utc_B":1535138734,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"The metrics to calculate those rankings are skewed towards Anglo-Saxon universities. for instance, many rankings focus on English-language citations, they don't take into account research centers, etc. The rankings should be taken with a big grain of salt.","human_ref_B":"This is something I've wondered too. We get LOTS of French students and postdocs in Quebec Universities.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":44581.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4nsm0","c_root_id_B":"ea4qt92","created_at_utc_A":1542751163,"created_at_utc_B":1542753690,"score_A":41,"score_B":64,"human_ref_A":"Making something of your life and inspire others the way this professor inspired you. Pay it forward.","human_ref_B":"A nice letter or card. I have a file of letters from past students mentioning the impact I had, and it\u2019s one of the most helpful things in the world for staving off depression. Most days you just hear from unhappy students, and it often feels like you aren\u2019t making a difference. Notes from students telling me I did make a difference is a concrete way to keep going.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2527.0,"score_ratio":1.5609756098} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4qt92","c_root_id_B":"ea4qp20","created_at_utc_A":1542753690,"created_at_utc_B":1542753589,"score_A":64,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"A nice letter or card. I have a file of letters from past students mentioning the impact I had, and it\u2019s one of the most helpful things in the world for staving off depression. Most days you just hear from unhappy students, and it often feels like you aren\u2019t making a difference. Notes from students telling me I did make a difference is a concrete way to keep going.","human_ref_B":"i would actually err on a smaller gift than a larger gift because many professors want to maintain a boundary of strict professionalism and may feel guilty\/embarrassed to take something expensive from a student he knows will be indebted to the university for thousands of dollars...i would stick to something personal rather than expensive....it would be more meaningful to him because it signifies that he actually reached a student... ​ you might spend a little more if he's your graduate advisor, with whom you have a much closer bond than as a student in a class....i gave my MS advisor a bag of york peppermint patties ($5) because i used to see him with a bag of it open all the time, handing them out to students who would come in for office hours....he told me i didn't have to get the candy for him, but took it anyway...years later, i gave my PhD advisors hand-carved wooden spoons ($20) made by a local guy using wood collected at my study site..they seemed to like it","labels":1,"seconds_difference":101.0,"score_ratio":6.4} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4stpz","c_root_id_B":"ea4skin","created_at_utc_A":1542755463,"created_at_utc_B":1542755231,"score_A":38,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"A handwritten note telling him what you said here. These kinds of things keep us going. We can't accept gifts.","human_ref_B":"From a post a couple of months ago asking the same thing: The gifts I like the most are small trinkets that I can place in my office, related to your culture, hometown, hobbies, etc. I have a Chinese jade, a Japanese temple replica and a Chilean Selknam in my office, all gifts from students. I love them and remember the students fondly.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":232.0,"score_ratio":2.2352941176} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4qp20","c_root_id_B":"ea4stpz","created_at_utc_A":1542753589,"created_at_utc_B":1542755463,"score_A":10,"score_B":38,"human_ref_A":"i would actually err on a smaller gift than a larger gift because many professors want to maintain a boundary of strict professionalism and may feel guilty\/embarrassed to take something expensive from a student he knows will be indebted to the university for thousands of dollars...i would stick to something personal rather than expensive....it would be more meaningful to him because it signifies that he actually reached a student... ​ you might spend a little more if he's your graduate advisor, with whom you have a much closer bond than as a student in a class....i gave my MS advisor a bag of york peppermint patties ($5) because i used to see him with a bag of it open all the time, handing them out to students who would come in for office hours....he told me i didn't have to get the candy for him, but took it anyway...years later, i gave my PhD advisors hand-carved wooden spoons ($20) made by a local guy using wood collected at my study site..they seemed to like it","human_ref_B":"A handwritten note telling him what you said here. These kinds of things keep us going. We can't accept gifts.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1874.0,"score_ratio":3.8} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4skin","c_root_id_B":"ea4qp20","created_at_utc_A":1542755231,"created_at_utc_B":1542753589,"score_A":17,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"From a post a couple of months ago asking the same thing: The gifts I like the most are small trinkets that I can place in my office, related to your culture, hometown, hobbies, etc. I have a Chinese jade, a Japanese temple replica and a Chilean Selknam in my office, all gifts from students. I love them and remember the students fondly.","human_ref_B":"i would actually err on a smaller gift than a larger gift because many professors want to maintain a boundary of strict professionalism and may feel guilty\/embarrassed to take something expensive from a student he knows will be indebted to the university for thousands of dollars...i would stick to something personal rather than expensive....it would be more meaningful to him because it signifies that he actually reached a student... ​ you might spend a little more if he's your graduate advisor, with whom you have a much closer bond than as a student in a class....i gave my MS advisor a bag of york peppermint patties ($5) because i used to see him with a bag of it open all the time, handing them out to students who would come in for office hours....he told me i didn't have to get the candy for him, but took it anyway...years later, i gave my PhD advisors hand-carved wooden spoons ($20) made by a local guy using wood collected at my study site..they seemed to like it","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1642.0,"score_ratio":1.7} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4z1m2","c_root_id_B":"ea4qp20","created_at_utc_A":1542761426,"created_at_utc_B":1542753589,"score_A":15,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I once had a student give me a Costco-size box of granola bars. I had never eaten one at work so it wasn't because he thought I *loved* them. ​ I ended up giving them away but I still remember that student!","human_ref_B":"i would actually err on a smaller gift than a larger gift because many professors want to maintain a boundary of strict professionalism and may feel guilty\/embarrassed to take something expensive from a student he knows will be indebted to the university for thousands of dollars...i would stick to something personal rather than expensive....it would be more meaningful to him because it signifies that he actually reached a student... ​ you might spend a little more if he's your graduate advisor, with whom you have a much closer bond than as a student in a class....i gave my MS advisor a bag of york peppermint patties ($5) because i used to see him with a bag of it open all the time, handing them out to students who would come in for office hours....he told me i didn't have to get the candy for him, but took it anyway...years later, i gave my PhD advisors hand-carved wooden spoons ($20) made by a local guy using wood collected at my study site..they seemed to like it","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7837.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4z1m2","c_root_id_B":"ea4t0b0","created_at_utc_A":1542761426,"created_at_utc_B":1542755631,"score_A":15,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I once had a student give me a Costco-size box of granola bars. I had never eaten one at work so it wasn't because he thought I *loved* them. ​ I ended up giving them away but I still remember that student!","human_ref_B":"The most memorable gifts I've received have been little mementos from a student's home area (thus far, it has been all international students who gave gifts). I've received a box of tea, a little wall hanging of a Chinese warrior princess\/goddess of some sort, a Chinese fan, and some candy from the student's country.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5795.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4vcda","c_root_id_B":"ea4z1m2","created_at_utc_A":1542757811,"created_at_utc_B":1542761426,"score_A":5,"score_B":15,"human_ref_A":"I don\u2019t know if my professors liked this but I made home made soap for them. It was a simple casual gift which said thanks but didn\u2019t imply that I wanted something in return.","human_ref_B":"I once had a student give me a Costco-size box of granola bars. I had never eaten one at work so it wasn't because he thought I *loved* them. ​ I ended up giving them away but I still remember that student!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3615.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4t0b0","c_root_id_B":"ea4zctb","created_at_utc_A":1542755631,"created_at_utc_B":1542761730,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"The most memorable gifts I've received have been little mementos from a student's home area (thus far, it has been all international students who gave gifts). I've received a box of tea, a little wall hanging of a Chinese warrior princess\/goddess of some sort, a Chinese fan, and some candy from the student's country.","human_ref_B":"A card is a great gift. At my last job I kept every single thank you card I received displayed on a shelf in my office. It was a wonderful reminder on hard days!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6099.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea4vcda","c_root_id_B":"ea4zctb","created_at_utc_A":1542757811,"created_at_utc_B":1542761730,"score_A":5,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I don\u2019t know if my professors liked this but I made home made soap for them. It was a simple casual gift which said thanks but didn\u2019t imply that I wanted something in return.","human_ref_B":"A card is a great gift. At my last job I kept every single thank you card I received displayed on a shelf in my office. It was a wonderful reminder on hard days!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3919.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"9ywtok","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.89,"history":"Appropriate gift for a professor? Just curious here. I had a professor that was an absolute life changer. Took every class I could, needed or not. He has been hinting that he is completely done with teaching, which is a damn shame. I would like to do something for him or give him a gift to show my appreciation. I have NO idea what is appropriate. I don't want to seem like a suckup, or a stalker. But I really feel I owe it to the guy to show serious gratitude.","c_root_id_A":"ea55wki","c_root_id_B":"ea5cqdu","created_at_utc_A":1542768152,"created_at_utc_B":1542775443,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"A handwritten card. That\u2019s the best.","human_ref_B":"The note thing is helpful for a couple reasons. When I'm on the market, those go in with the classroom evaluations for 'evidence of teaching effectiveness.' It's way better than dry survey results.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7291.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"5wbp8o","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.85,"history":"When is too soon to start contacting potential grad school advisors? I'm a junior undergraduate student, and I'm planning on pursuing a PhD after I graduate next year. There's a PI who is doing research that I'm interested in and related to the research that I'm doing in the lab I'm currently working at. He also went to grad school with the PI of my lab and they have published several papers together from grad school (but nothing since about 2006), so I know they know each other personally. Would it be too soon to start contacting this person? I was thinking maybe there would be some way to start to establish a relationship with him without directly asking about working in his lab (especially since I haven't even applied \/ gotten accepted yet). Are there other sorts of questions that I could ask him that would indicate interest without being too forward?","c_root_id_A":"de9aqcd","c_root_id_B":"de98e1t","created_at_utc_A":1488158862,"created_at_utc_B":1488155614,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Mileages may vary, but please be aware that a lot of the faculty get daily emails from \"prospective applicants\" asking them to look at their CVs and fund their studies. A lot of them prefer not to deal with trying to figure out which of the emails come from applicants *really* interested in their work, and which come from people out on a fishing expedition. A lot of people I know (including myself) have a rule that cold-call emails get a response only if the applicant has already been admitted to the Ph.D. program. If you want to contact a professor from a different university, about working with them, I suggest two tracks. One - try meeting them at a conference, and discuss this in person. Two: talk to your advisor right now and ask for an informal introduction (\"Dear Bob, I have a student in my lab who is very interested in your research area, would you be able to find some time to talk to him\/her about it?\") A third possibility is a cold call email asking a legitimate question about their work (or asking for a copy of a paper). Basically, anything that suggests to the professor you are contacting that you are emailing them personally, rather than every single person in the department asking for funding.","human_ref_B":"See if the professor you're interested in doesn't have an REU over the summer. That way you can do research with him as a preview to what you might be facing in the future. Plus you get to build your resume and establish the connection you want.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3248.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clglzii","c_root_id_B":"clgm8fu","created_at_utc_A":1413992003,"created_at_utc_B":1413992468,"score_A":3,"score_B":26,"human_ref_A":"My lab mates are all non-native speakers except for myself and one other native English speaker. They always ask us to review their work for language\/grammar etc before submitting.","human_ref_B":"If it impedes understanding, as in you cannot verify the meat of the paper, I think it's critical to bring it up. I have seen papers that had errors that were not detected in the first round due to their poor writing. Othersise, if it's <10 errors, I usually just write them in my review and let it pass. If it's more than 10, I just write a throwawy general comment on improving the quality of presentation (grammar, punctuation). I usually shy away fro saying native English speaker, mainly because it can come off as condescending, and also because the author may actually be one [writing =\/= speaking].","labels":0,"seconds_difference":465.0,"score_ratio":8.6666666667} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgnmcp","c_root_id_B":"clgmauj","created_at_utc_A":1413995043,"created_at_utc_B":1413992593,"score_A":19,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"There is a chance that the person who wrote it is just a bad writer and not a non-native English speaker, so I don't say anything in my comments about a native English speaker needing to edit the paper. I do, however, routinely make comments along the lines of \"there are a substantial number of grammatical and spelling errors that make the manuscript difficult to understand and should be fixed\". If there are a few edits, I'll just mark them myself. But as others have said the reviewer is not the copy editor.","human_ref_B":"It's not. If the journal is published in English, and the authors are failing to communicate properly because of a language barrier, then this is something they need to accomplish before sending the paper out for review. I've dealt with this same problem before, and turned papers away because of how poor the English was. It's not your job as a reviewer to fix their grammar.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2450.0,"score_ratio":4.75} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgmq5r","c_root_id_B":"clgnmcp","created_at_utc_A":1413993389,"created_at_utc_B":1413995043,"score_A":3,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I think this is potentially an example of peer review mission creep. Your job is to review the quality of the research. If the writing is so poor that you can't do so, then tell the editor or simply recommend rejection on those grounds. If, on the other hand, you can do your job and are just annoyed, let it go. There's a reason that the journal press hires copy editors. Let them do their job. Besides, the press is making more than enough money as a result of your free labor. You're absolutely necessary to the process for your academic expertise. But someone else who's getting paid to do so can take care of the grammar and style. At least that's my two cents.","human_ref_B":"There is a chance that the person who wrote it is just a bad writer and not a non-native English speaker, so I don't say anything in my comments about a native English speaker needing to edit the paper. I do, however, routinely make comments along the lines of \"there are a substantial number of grammatical and spelling errors that make the manuscript difficult to understand and should be fixed\". If there are a few edits, I'll just mark them myself. But as others have said the reviewer is not the copy editor.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1654.0,"score_ratio":6.3333333333} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clglzii","c_root_id_B":"clgnmcp","created_at_utc_A":1413992003,"created_at_utc_B":1413995043,"score_A":3,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"My lab mates are all non-native speakers except for myself and one other native English speaker. They always ask us to review their work for language\/grammar etc before submitting.","human_ref_B":"There is a chance that the person who wrote it is just a bad writer and not a non-native English speaker, so I don't say anything in my comments about a native English speaker needing to edit the paper. I do, however, routinely make comments along the lines of \"there are a substantial number of grammatical and spelling errors that make the manuscript difficult to understand and should be fixed\". If there are a few edits, I'll just mark them myself. But as others have said the reviewer is not the copy editor.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3040.0,"score_ratio":6.3333333333} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgn0b0","c_root_id_B":"clgnmcp","created_at_utc_A":1413993912,"created_at_utc_B":1413995043,"score_A":2,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I do not think so. I had come across several papers I believe pertain to my current research problem, but they were of no use because I could barely understand the paper due to poor grammar.","human_ref_B":"There is a chance that the person who wrote it is just a bad writer and not a non-native English speaker, so I don't say anything in my comments about a native English speaker needing to edit the paper. I do, however, routinely make comments along the lines of \"there are a substantial number of grammatical and spelling errors that make the manuscript difficult to understand and should be fixed\". If there are a few edits, I'll just mark them myself. But as others have said the reviewer is not the copy editor.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1131.0,"score_ratio":9.5} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgmauj","c_root_id_B":"clgrrs8","created_at_utc_A":1413992593,"created_at_utc_B":1414002388,"score_A":4,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"It's not. If the journal is published in English, and the authors are failing to communicate properly because of a language barrier, then this is something they need to accomplish before sending the paper out for review. I've dealt with this same problem before, and turned papers away because of how poor the English was. It's not your job as a reviewer to fix their grammar.","human_ref_B":"Journal editor here. We get many international submissions, most of them of very poor quality. We will send out manuscripts with language issues, but only if we think its ideas have a chance of surviving the peer review process. If the English is so bad that we can't understand the point, we will simply reject it. If it receives positive reviews, we will often request that the author revise the paper and have a native speaker proofread it before we will formally accept it. So no, it's not jerky to suggest a native speaker review the submission, but the editor is likely already aware of the problem so a very brief note should suffice.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9795.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgrrs8","c_root_id_B":"clgmq5r","created_at_utc_A":1414002388,"created_at_utc_B":1413993389,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Journal editor here. We get many international submissions, most of them of very poor quality. We will send out manuscripts with language issues, but only if we think its ideas have a chance of surviving the peer review process. If the English is so bad that we can't understand the point, we will simply reject it. If it receives positive reviews, we will often request that the author revise the paper and have a native speaker proofread it before we will formally accept it. So no, it's not jerky to suggest a native speaker review the submission, but the editor is likely already aware of the problem so a very brief note should suffice.","human_ref_B":"I think this is potentially an example of peer review mission creep. Your job is to review the quality of the research. If the writing is so poor that you can't do so, then tell the editor or simply recommend rejection on those grounds. If, on the other hand, you can do your job and are just annoyed, let it go. There's a reason that the journal press hires copy editors. Let them do their job. Besides, the press is making more than enough money as a result of your free labor. You're absolutely necessary to the process for your academic expertise. But someone else who's getting paid to do so can take care of the grammar and style. At least that's my two cents.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8999.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgrrs8","c_root_id_B":"clglzii","created_at_utc_A":1414002388,"created_at_utc_B":1413992003,"score_A":8,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Journal editor here. We get many international submissions, most of them of very poor quality. We will send out manuscripts with language issues, but only if we think its ideas have a chance of surviving the peer review process. If the English is so bad that we can't understand the point, we will simply reject it. If it receives positive reviews, we will often request that the author revise the paper and have a native speaker proofread it before we will formally accept it. So no, it's not jerky to suggest a native speaker review the submission, but the editor is likely already aware of the problem so a very brief note should suffice.","human_ref_B":"My lab mates are all non-native speakers except for myself and one other native English speaker. They always ask us to review their work for language\/grammar etc before submitting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10385.0,"score_ratio":2.6666666667} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgrrs8","c_root_id_B":"clgn0b0","created_at_utc_A":1414002388,"created_at_utc_B":1413993912,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Journal editor here. We get many international submissions, most of them of very poor quality. We will send out manuscripts with language issues, but only if we think its ideas have a chance of surviving the peer review process. If the English is so bad that we can't understand the point, we will simply reject it. If it receives positive reviews, we will often request that the author revise the paper and have a native speaker proofread it before we will formally accept it. So no, it's not jerky to suggest a native speaker review the submission, but the editor is likely already aware of the problem so a very brief note should suffice.","human_ref_B":"I do not think so. I had come across several papers I believe pertain to my current research problem, but they were of no use because I could barely understand the paper due to poor grammar.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8476.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgqu26","c_root_id_B":"clgrrs8","created_at_utc_A":1414000747,"created_at_utc_B":1414002388,"score_A":2,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"Our writing center is primarily a resource for undergrads, but they have one consultant dedicated to graduate students. I'm not sure if this is a common service or not.","human_ref_B":"Journal editor here. We get many international submissions, most of them of very poor quality. We will send out manuscripts with language issues, but only if we think its ideas have a chance of surviving the peer review process. If the English is so bad that we can't understand the point, we will simply reject it. If it receives positive reviews, we will often request that the author revise the paper and have a native speaker proofread it before we will formally accept it. So no, it's not jerky to suggest a native speaker review the submission, but the editor is likely already aware of the problem so a very brief note should suffice.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1641.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"2k005h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.84,"history":"Is it douchey to suggest that a native English speaker review a manuscript prior to journal submission? I'm refereeing a manuscript for a chemistry journal, and it is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, among other issues. The journal is not a top-tier, but is pretty highly regarded. I've had similar issues before while reviewing, so now I want to hear what you think: am I a jerk for suggesting that an English speaker review manuscripts before submitting to a journal that is printed in English?","c_root_id_A":"clgmauj","c_root_id_B":"clglzii","created_at_utc_A":1413992593,"created_at_utc_B":1413992003,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It's not. If the journal is published in English, and the authors are failing to communicate properly because of a language barrier, then this is something they need to accomplish before sending the paper out for review. I've dealt with this same problem before, and turned papers away because of how poor the English was. It's not your job as a reviewer to fix their grammar.","human_ref_B":"My lab mates are all non-native speakers except for myself and one other native English speaker. They always ask us to review their work for language\/grammar etc before submitting.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":590.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"tyx9ud","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Non-academic careers with History PhD Are there any members here with a PhD in History who chose not to pursue a conventional TT track job in academia and instead took up a job that requires doing research and pays well? I can think of museums but my guess is that unless one planned that during graduate school and took a minor in Museum Studies, it might require one to re-enroll in a Museum Studies program *after their PhD* for a career change. Are there other careers that requires research skills and doing historical research but does not involve a teaching component? I would love to hear more about such alternatives.","c_root_id_A":"i3vxevk","c_root_id_B":"i3vo4oj","created_at_utc_A":1649417171,"created_at_utc_B":1649410569,"score_A":25,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"You need an MA in Museum Studies to do museum work. A history PhD does not prepare nor qualify you. Same thing for archival or library work- you need a specialized MA (MLIS). A history PhD prepares you for writing and research, so you can feasibly go into any field that requires that. But 6+ years to get that experience is NOT worth it. The only reason to get a History PhD is to be a professor. But there are no jobs. Long story short, don\u2019t get a history PhD unless you are a glutton for punishment or a trust fund baby. Sincerely, History PhD","human_ref_B":"I know about 10 people who got their PhDs in History some 20 years ago. None of them work in History today. Some went into Political science, International relations etc., but one went into NGO work, one is an archivist, IIRC. ​ >History\u2019s self-consciousness is often cited as a distinctive quality of the discipline. This involves, for me, a critical, sceptical approach to enquiry -- alert to differences of perspective, to gaps, ambiguities and agendas -- and also an awareness of the influences on our own practice. It is a quality highlighted by scholars advocating history\u2019s importance in contemporary life, the case being that critical historical thinking is a valuable resource for the informed exercise of agency, whether as a decision-maker at the highest levels or as an individual citizen. (Green, 2016, p. 97) Green, A. (2016), *History, policy and public purpose: Historians and historical thinking in government*. Palgrave Pivot.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6602.0,"score_ratio":2.7777777778} {"post_id":"s8bomk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Advice: How to prepare for PhD? Hey! Commencing Humanities PhD student here, based in Australia (for context RE the type of program I\u2019m doing). Uni starts next month. My supervisor emailed last week to say that if I wanted to get started on dissertation work early, I could start ahead of time by putting together a bibliography (that I\u2019ll keep adding to of course), and have another look at the 2500-word thesis proposal I sent in with my course application and see whether I would like to make some revisions. All good advice. Keen to start ahead because I would like to hit the ground running and make progress. My question is \u2014 how do I start? I can see that there are some changes that could be made to the outline I proposed, and I have a good grasp of the field, but how do I know where to begin with these two tasks? 80,000 words is a lot of sources worth and a lot of planning (which is fine), but it made me think of asking \u2014 what are some practical tips \/ advice you received (or wished you had received) at the beginning of your PhD journey?","c_root_id_A":"htftnp9","c_root_id_B":"htfjgq8","created_at_utc_A":1642671100,"created_at_utc_B":1642663296,"score_A":8,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I'm also doing my PhD in humanities in Australia. It doesn't ultimately matter much for the advice I'll provide, but I hope it's useful to you anyway. 1. Do not start with your introduction. It's going to change as your thesis changes and you'll probably end up rewriting the whole intro. 2. Start with the Lit Review or one of your main chapters. I found starting with the literature review was useful for me because I was able to use it to become intimately familiar with the theories I am using. 3. End Note is your friend. You're going to be dealing with hundreds, maybe even thousands of references. For an idea, my thesis is 95,000 words and I have nearly 1,000 references. 4. Find a way to organise your notes. I use OneNote. Basically I screen grab parts of articles\/books that are useful later on and make a page for it on my OneNote folder. Being organised is critical to being successful. Don't wait until your 6th chapter like I did to start getting organised systematically. Haha. Best of luck!","human_ref_B":"I know this is not what you want to hear right now - and my MAIN piece of advice is of course to get excited for the amazing intellectual journey you are about to take - but I feel like it needs to be said, especially given your field: You need to start thinking about funding, timing, and the job market almost from Day 1. If universities that employ humanities scholars still even exist by the time you finish, it will be a miracle. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it because the world needs more people who know how to think deeply, but you'll want be sure that you are never too far from the heteronomous pole of your field and are constantly improving your effort in make your work significant to others who are at least willing to pay you a living wage for your knowledge.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7804.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"s8bomk","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"Advice: How to prepare for PhD? Hey! Commencing Humanities PhD student here, based in Australia (for context RE the type of program I\u2019m doing). Uni starts next month. My supervisor emailed last week to say that if I wanted to get started on dissertation work early, I could start ahead of time by putting together a bibliography (that I\u2019ll keep adding to of course), and have another look at the 2500-word thesis proposal I sent in with my course application and see whether I would like to make some revisions. All good advice. Keen to start ahead because I would like to hit the ground running and make progress. My question is \u2014 how do I start? I can see that there are some changes that could be made to the outline I proposed, and I have a good grasp of the field, but how do I know where to begin with these two tasks? 80,000 words is a lot of sources worth and a lot of planning (which is fine), but it made me think of asking \u2014 what are some practical tips \/ advice you received (or wished you had received) at the beginning of your PhD journey?","c_root_id_A":"htg6rt3","c_root_id_B":"htgrrbq","created_at_utc_A":1642680890,"created_at_utc_B":1642691182,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"practice reading. Hopefully you read quite a bit already but especially at the beginning of a phd reading, and potentially quite dense, dry academic texts are going to be your life, plus reading as an academic is quite different from any other kind of reading and its often the biggest single weakness I encounter with grad students, and the hardest to remedy (because the only real solution is practice)","human_ref_B":"If you're starting next month, the best advice I have for you is to try your best to relax! There is no problem with starting work a bit early, but don't overwork yourself right before the semester begins, as you'll burn out very quickly. I completely understand that you want to get a head start with your work, but be very careful with this! If you are to start early, like many others have already suggested, keep yourself organized, and don't do what I do which is to have notes everywhere and not in one place where you can easily keep track of everything. I've used notion in the past for lots of things, and am trying to implement it into keeping my research organized as well. Best of luck though!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":10292.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"77s4sc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"The Overqualified Student, the Underqualified Teacher, and the wrong guy doing the work I am a student at a California public community college, enrolled in a radio production class. I also have 8 years of experience in audio engineering, including working on the radio. I'm technically a sophomore at this school, but enrolled at multiple schools to finish my degree quickly. I have a strange situation. My teacher was a lawyer that wrote for radio and TV for 10 years. He held no other positions in radio, just wrote law articles for radio. He holds neither a 4 or 6 year degree in any type of communications or technology. Here's the problem, though. Since I've been in his classes, he hasn't taught one modicum of radio. The first radio class, I was taught by another student, and since then, the teacher has been having me teach the class. Literally. I arrive twice a week with a 2 hour lecture, I keep all our equipment in working order, teach people how to use the equipment, speak and write for radio, edit audio together, and I teach following a textbook. I also scheduled the programming. Meanwhile, my teacher claims to be an \"executive producer,\" but when I pressured him to describe a single thing he does, he could not deliver an answer. I have to continue to take classes from this teacher in order to get my certificate from the school. But I get threatened with a failing grade if I tell the teacher I would rather just be a student. Also, the other students simply will not learn anything if I don't teach. I've already talked to the dean and vice president of the college, and nothing has happened. So, what should I do, if anything? I actually do like to teach, but I'm frustrated being an unpaid worker doing the professor's job.","c_root_id_A":"doohgq5","c_root_id_B":"dooepdd","created_at_utc_A":1508593364,"created_at_utc_B":1508588071,"score_A":20,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"This is outrageous, as the \"professor\" is hardly that at all. If you can't get any reasonable response from the department chair, dean, and president, make it public (via the local paper) and walk away. This is a sham, pure and simple, and everyone involved in the class is being exploited except the guy who is doing the exploitation (the fake professor) and his enablers. This is really unfathomable in my world of higher ed. As a department chair I evaulate my faculty colleagues teaching every semester, and if something this crazy was going on I would have heard about it the second day from other students in the class, then taken action. Sadly, many CCs are underresourced and do at times end up hiring \"faculty\" who can't really do the work-- those people should either be trained or fired though, not allowed to put students in a position like OPs. I'm sorry you've had this experience OP. Please understand this is not in any way reflective of normal standards in higher education.","human_ref_B":">Meanwhile, my teacher claims to be an \"executive producer,\" but when I pressured him to describe a single thing he does, he could not deliver an answer. I'm not a lawyer, and I have no background in entertainment, but this pretty much exactly matches my understanding of many \"producers\" in the industry. But yeah your experience stretches my concept of reality. For a professor to be like this is bad enough, but for the dean and VP to be complacent over it is even more unbelievable. I echo the recommendation to seek \/r\/legaladvice (real legal advice and online versions). Alternatively, you could look into whoever gives your college its credentials (the state's Board of Regents or some other accrediting organization). You could contact them, or use the threat to do so the next time you get blown off by the VP of the college.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5293.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"77s4sc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"The Overqualified Student, the Underqualified Teacher, and the wrong guy doing the work I am a student at a California public community college, enrolled in a radio production class. I also have 8 years of experience in audio engineering, including working on the radio. I'm technically a sophomore at this school, but enrolled at multiple schools to finish my degree quickly. I have a strange situation. My teacher was a lawyer that wrote for radio and TV for 10 years. He held no other positions in radio, just wrote law articles for radio. He holds neither a 4 or 6 year degree in any type of communications or technology. Here's the problem, though. Since I've been in his classes, he hasn't taught one modicum of radio. The first radio class, I was taught by another student, and since then, the teacher has been having me teach the class. Literally. I arrive twice a week with a 2 hour lecture, I keep all our equipment in working order, teach people how to use the equipment, speak and write for radio, edit audio together, and I teach following a textbook. I also scheduled the programming. Meanwhile, my teacher claims to be an \"executive producer,\" but when I pressured him to describe a single thing he does, he could not deliver an answer. I have to continue to take classes from this teacher in order to get my certificate from the school. But I get threatened with a failing grade if I tell the teacher I would rather just be a student. Also, the other students simply will not learn anything if I don't teach. I've already talked to the dean and vice president of the college, and nothing has happened. So, what should I do, if anything? I actually do like to teach, but I'm frustrated being an unpaid worker doing the professor's job.","c_root_id_A":"doog88z","c_root_id_B":"doohgq5","created_at_utc_A":1508591175,"created_at_utc_B":1508593364,"score_A":7,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Talk to the dean of the department. If no action is taken, skip straight to the President's Office. Bare minimum, you should be getting credit for teaching the course.","human_ref_B":"This is outrageous, as the \"professor\" is hardly that at all. If you can't get any reasonable response from the department chair, dean, and president, make it public (via the local paper) and walk away. This is a sham, pure and simple, and everyone involved in the class is being exploited except the guy who is doing the exploitation (the fake professor) and his enablers. This is really unfathomable in my world of higher ed. As a department chair I evaulate my faculty colleagues teaching every semester, and if something this crazy was going on I would have heard about it the second day from other students in the class, then taken action. Sadly, many CCs are underresourced and do at times end up hiring \"faculty\" who can't really do the work-- those people should either be trained or fired though, not allowed to put students in a position like OPs. I'm sorry you've had this experience OP. Please understand this is not in any way reflective of normal standards in higher education.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2189.0,"score_ratio":2.8571428571} {"post_id":"77s4sc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"The Overqualified Student, the Underqualified Teacher, and the wrong guy doing the work I am a student at a California public community college, enrolled in a radio production class. I also have 8 years of experience in audio engineering, including working on the radio. I'm technically a sophomore at this school, but enrolled at multiple schools to finish my degree quickly. I have a strange situation. My teacher was a lawyer that wrote for radio and TV for 10 years. He held no other positions in radio, just wrote law articles for radio. He holds neither a 4 or 6 year degree in any type of communications or technology. Here's the problem, though. Since I've been in his classes, he hasn't taught one modicum of radio. The first radio class, I was taught by another student, and since then, the teacher has been having me teach the class. Literally. I arrive twice a week with a 2 hour lecture, I keep all our equipment in working order, teach people how to use the equipment, speak and write for radio, edit audio together, and I teach following a textbook. I also scheduled the programming. Meanwhile, my teacher claims to be an \"executive producer,\" but when I pressured him to describe a single thing he does, he could not deliver an answer. I have to continue to take classes from this teacher in order to get my certificate from the school. But I get threatened with a failing grade if I tell the teacher I would rather just be a student. Also, the other students simply will not learn anything if I don't teach. I've already talked to the dean and vice president of the college, and nothing has happened. So, what should I do, if anything? I actually do like to teach, but I'm frustrated being an unpaid worker doing the professor's job.","c_root_id_A":"dooepdd","c_root_id_B":"doos4s8","created_at_utc_A":1508588071,"created_at_utc_B":1508607954,"score_A":8,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":">Meanwhile, my teacher claims to be an \"executive producer,\" but when I pressured him to describe a single thing he does, he could not deliver an answer. I'm not a lawyer, and I have no background in entertainment, but this pretty much exactly matches my understanding of many \"producers\" in the industry. But yeah your experience stretches my concept of reality. For a professor to be like this is bad enough, but for the dean and VP to be complacent over it is even more unbelievable. I echo the recommendation to seek \/r\/legaladvice (real legal advice and online versions). Alternatively, you could look into whoever gives your college its credentials (the state's Board of Regents or some other accrediting organization). You could contact them, or use the threat to do so the next time you get blown off by the VP of the college.","human_ref_B":"Well. Pretty easy. You are a student. You are doing extra work other students are not. If you don't do it, you fail. If other students don't do it, they do NOT fail. Do not make it a unqualified teacher issue. Make it the descrimantion issue that it is. Tell the Dean this. Document unfair burdens on you. Tell them you will contact a lawyer. Odds are, this instructor is an adjunct. So they're not too invested in keeping them around. You will lose if you argue qualifications. You will win if you argue discrimination. Do it, not for you, but for the continued shit education this instructor will give the untold numbers of students. Students that will be ill prepared for their upcoming careers, having wasted their finite time.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":19883.0,"score_ratio":1.625} {"post_id":"77s4sc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"The Overqualified Student, the Underqualified Teacher, and the wrong guy doing the work I am a student at a California public community college, enrolled in a radio production class. I also have 8 years of experience in audio engineering, including working on the radio. I'm technically a sophomore at this school, but enrolled at multiple schools to finish my degree quickly. I have a strange situation. My teacher was a lawyer that wrote for radio and TV for 10 years. He held no other positions in radio, just wrote law articles for radio. He holds neither a 4 or 6 year degree in any type of communications or technology. Here's the problem, though. Since I've been in his classes, he hasn't taught one modicum of radio. The first radio class, I was taught by another student, and since then, the teacher has been having me teach the class. Literally. I arrive twice a week with a 2 hour lecture, I keep all our equipment in working order, teach people how to use the equipment, speak and write for radio, edit audio together, and I teach following a textbook. I also scheduled the programming. Meanwhile, my teacher claims to be an \"executive producer,\" but when I pressured him to describe a single thing he does, he could not deliver an answer. I have to continue to take classes from this teacher in order to get my certificate from the school. But I get threatened with a failing grade if I tell the teacher I would rather just be a student. Also, the other students simply will not learn anything if I don't teach. I've already talked to the dean and vice president of the college, and nothing has happened. So, what should I do, if anything? I actually do like to teach, but I'm frustrated being an unpaid worker doing the professor's job.","c_root_id_A":"doog88z","c_root_id_B":"doos4s8","created_at_utc_A":1508591175,"created_at_utc_B":1508607954,"score_A":7,"score_B":13,"human_ref_A":"Talk to the dean of the department. If no action is taken, skip straight to the President's Office. Bare minimum, you should be getting credit for teaching the course.","human_ref_B":"Well. Pretty easy. You are a student. You are doing extra work other students are not. If you don't do it, you fail. If other students don't do it, they do NOT fail. Do not make it a unqualified teacher issue. Make it the descrimantion issue that it is. Tell the Dean this. Document unfair burdens on you. Tell them you will contact a lawyer. Odds are, this instructor is an adjunct. So they're not too invested in keeping them around. You will lose if you argue qualifications. You will win if you argue discrimination. Do it, not for you, but for the continued shit education this instructor will give the untold numbers of students. Students that will be ill prepared for their upcoming careers, having wasted their finite time.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16779.0,"score_ratio":1.8571428571} {"post_id":"aacxnd","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.94,"history":"How to interpret reference letter where the candidate's name changes halfway through? This is the first time I've come across this. I'm reviewing application materials and, while reading a candidate's reference letters, I notice it changes from the proper name (\"Jim\") to a completely other one (\"Bob\") half way through. Ex: \"Jim places in the top whatever percent of my class\" followed by \"Bob's PhD thesis topic is on the subject of Y, and has yielded X first-authored publications. Bob has presented extensively and I consider him an excellent communicator\" and so on. It goes on like that for half the letter, with a dozen times the wrong name being used. Did the prof copy and paste the same paragraph and got sloppy swapping out the names? Did he forget who he was writing a reference letter for half-way through? Should I read anything into this level of sloppiness, indicating a lack of interest in the professor's student's continued success, or do I just chalk it up to distraction? Would you contact the individual in person?","c_root_id_A":"ecr9nkp","c_root_id_B":"ecr3lo5","created_at_utc_A":1546030973,"created_at_utc_B":1546027264,"score_A":8,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I recycle letters. My first and last paragraph is almost word for word, but the middle paragraph is always personalized to the student. ​ Is this a case of a first name\/middle name switch. Legal name is Jim, but nickname is Bob? I have done that on a letter before. I used her given name, but realized in one place I used her chosen name (middle name) after submission :\\\\","human_ref_B":"Oh man, I did this once in a letter for an undergrad and didn\u2019t realize until I went back to the letter to edit it for something new. I had used some text from a different letter, and even edited it, but was in the midst of writing a huge batch of letters (that time of year) and just didn\u2019t catch the mistake. I felt terrible and certainly hope they didn\u2019t hold it against the student!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3709.0,"score_ratio":1.6} {"post_id":"4vrfi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.78,"history":"Can I submit exactly same abstract in two different conferences ? I don't know they will accept me or not. Also I may be selected to both of them. Or none of them so I decided to send same to both the conferences happening in two different parts of the world and with two different themes. Edit 1: just sent one and thinking to send same to the other conference too :)","c_root_id_A":"d60skjd","c_root_id_B":"d612etm","created_at_utc_A":1470127579,"created_at_utc_B":1470149656,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"You can. In my team, we tend to submit abstracts to one regional or national conference, and an international conference (or to one more focused on methodology, and one more on the results). Before you do this, check the abstract submission guidelines for the conferences - some have rules against submitting something already published or in consideration somewhere else, but they will explicitly state this.","human_ref_B":"Usually conferences have published rules for encore abstract submissions. If the meetings are happening very close to each other in time there usually isn't an issue. If both submission dates are that close to each other I doubt there will be an issue, but as others have said, check the website.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22077.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"4vrfi5","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.78,"history":"Can I submit exactly same abstract in two different conferences ? I don't know they will accept me or not. Also I may be selected to both of them. Or none of them so I decided to send same to both the conferences happening in two different parts of the world and with two different themes. Edit 1: just sent one and thinking to send same to the other conference too :)","c_root_id_A":"d612etm","c_root_id_B":"d60wywt","created_at_utc_A":1470149656,"created_at_utc_B":1470140676,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Usually conferences have published rules for encore abstract submissions. If the meetings are happening very close to each other in time there usually isn't an issue. If both submission dates are that close to each other I doubt there will be an issue, but as others have said, check the website.","human_ref_B":"It is generally common and accepted, as it is a sensible thing to do. However, check the conference rules, some don't allow it","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8980.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqkq8","c_root_id_B":"i3lqq7m","created_at_utc_A":1649235700,"created_at_utc_B":1649235832,"score_A":8,"score_B":103,"human_ref_A":"If you search \u201cTom Rocks Maths\u201d on youtube, he is an Oxford mathematician and has many tattoo\u2019s!","human_ref_B":"In my experience, there are lots of tattooed grad students and faculty. I don\u2019t think it would be an issue. There will be times you are going to want to\u2026minimize their visibility (conferences, job interviews, etc) Don\u2019t get a swastika on your neck\/face\/arm. Actually just don\u2019t get a swastika tattoo.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":132.0,"score_ratio":12.875} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqq7m","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkxl","created_at_utc_A":1649235832,"created_at_utc_B":1649235706,"score_A":103,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"In my experience, there are lots of tattooed grad students and faculty. I don\u2019t think it would be an issue. There will be times you are going to want to\u2026minimize their visibility (conferences, job interviews, etc) Don\u2019t get a swastika on your neck\/face\/arm. Actually just don\u2019t get a swastika tattoo.","human_ref_B":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":126.0,"score_ratio":51.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lrb1k","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkq8","created_at_utc_A":1649236339,"created_at_utc_B":1649235700,"score_A":32,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I'm a uni lecturer with visible tattoos and piercings. No one has ever said a thing.","human_ref_B":"If you search \u201cTom Rocks Maths\u201d on youtube, he is an Oxford mathematician and has many tattoo\u2019s!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":639.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqkxl","c_root_id_B":"i3lrb1k","created_at_utc_A":1649235706,"created_at_utc_B":1649236339,"score_A":2,"score_B":32,"human_ref_A":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","human_ref_B":"I'm a uni lecturer with visible tattoos and piercings. No one has ever said a thing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":633.0,"score_ratio":16.0} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3maimx","c_root_id_B":"i3lx6dz","created_at_utc_A":1649249146,"created_at_utc_B":1649241114,"score_A":23,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m amazed how often this and related questions comes up on Reddit. I\u2019m an old dude and have never seen anyone make even a small comment about tattoos, piercings, or dyed hair. No one cares. It\u2019s not even considered edgy.","human_ref_B":"Social science grad student, 3rd year. Nose piercing, septum piercing but I flip this one up and hide it, and industrial bar. Hair cut short so you can see the bar but I'm growing out my hair now. I have a few smaller tattoos scattered up and down my left arms, a bigger piece on my other forearm, and small pieces on both my wrists. Got a new half sleeve scheduled for May. I haven't noticed any other grad students this tatted or pierced in my department. However, no one has made any comments or ever made me feel out of place. I mostly wear long sleeves or cardigans (because I'm always cold) so I'm covered 80% of the time. The few times tatts are visible, I've seen people notice but it's never been negative or even awkward. I truly don't think anyone cares as long as it's not a face\/neck\/hand tattoo.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8032.0,"score_ratio":1.2105263158} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lrplk","c_root_id_B":"i3maimx","created_at_utc_A":1649236688,"created_at_utc_B":1649249146,"score_A":12,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I'm a Theatre and New Studies professor, so take this with a grain of salt, but I have a ton of visible ink, including on my hands and neck. I'm tenured and promoted. I've also served as director of a program and will be department chair next semester. Perhaps my tattoos would prevent me from an administrative position, but I would never want to leave teaching anyway, so I'm not stressed!","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m amazed how often this and related questions comes up on Reddit. I\u2019m an old dude and have never seen anyone make even a small comment about tattoos, piercings, or dyed hair. No one cares. It\u2019s not even considered edgy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":12458.0,"score_ratio":1.9166666667} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3maimx","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkq8","created_at_utc_A":1649249146,"created_at_utc_B":1649235700,"score_A":23,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m amazed how often this and related questions comes up on Reddit. I\u2019m an old dude and have never seen anyone make even a small comment about tattoos, piercings, or dyed hair. No one cares. It\u2019s not even considered edgy.","human_ref_B":"If you search \u201cTom Rocks Maths\u201d on youtube, he is an Oxford mathematician and has many tattoo\u2019s!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13446.0,"score_ratio":2.875} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3maimx","c_root_id_B":"i3lxqgx","created_at_utc_A":1649249146,"created_at_utc_B":1649241528,"score_A":23,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m amazed how often this and related questions comes up on Reddit. I\u2019m an old dude and have never seen anyone make even a small comment about tattoos, piercings, or dyed hair. No one cares. It\u2019s not even considered edgy.","human_ref_B":"I think medical anthro tends to be a bit more conservative with these things as a reflection of the populations they work with. And it's not that they personally won't accept your appearance but that they'll be concerned that the people you're collecting data from won't accept your appearance. Or you end up at a good place studying chill populations and no one cares. Could go either way I guess.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7618.0,"score_ratio":3.2857142857} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lvee6","c_root_id_B":"i3maimx","created_at_utc_A":1649239744,"created_at_utc_B":1649249146,"score_A":5,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I have visible tats, piercings, and brandings. I've been lecturing for a few years and its never once come up as an issue and it's a good conversation starter with the students. Edit: I teach social sciences if that is relevant.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m amazed how often this and related questions comes up on Reddit. I\u2019m an old dude and have never seen anyone make even a small comment about tattoos, piercings, or dyed hair. No one cares. It\u2019s not even considered edgy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9402.0,"score_ratio":4.6} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lxcwv","c_root_id_B":"i3maimx","created_at_utc_A":1649241248,"created_at_utc_B":1649249146,"score_A":3,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I don't care, you get loads of alternative types in academia","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m amazed how often this and related questions comes up on Reddit. I\u2019m an old dude and have never seen anyone make even a small comment about tattoos, piercings, or dyed hair. No one cares. It\u2019s not even considered edgy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7898.0,"score_ratio":7.6666666667} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqkxl","c_root_id_B":"i3maimx","created_at_utc_A":1649235706,"created_at_utc_B":1649249146,"score_A":2,"score_B":23,"human_ref_A":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m amazed how often this and related questions comes up on Reddit. I\u2019m an old dude and have never seen anyone make even a small comment about tattoos, piercings, or dyed hair. No one cares. It\u2019s not even considered edgy.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13440.0,"score_ratio":11.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lrplk","c_root_id_B":"i3lx6dz","created_at_utc_A":1649236688,"created_at_utc_B":1649241114,"score_A":12,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"I'm a Theatre and New Studies professor, so take this with a grain of salt, but I have a ton of visible ink, including on my hands and neck. I'm tenured and promoted. I've also served as director of a program and will be department chair next semester. Perhaps my tattoos would prevent me from an administrative position, but I would never want to leave teaching anyway, so I'm not stressed!","human_ref_B":"Social science grad student, 3rd year. Nose piercing, septum piercing but I flip this one up and hide it, and industrial bar. Hair cut short so you can see the bar but I'm growing out my hair now. I have a few smaller tattoos scattered up and down my left arms, a bigger piece on my other forearm, and small pieces on both my wrists. Got a new half sleeve scheduled for May. I haven't noticed any other grad students this tatted or pierced in my department. However, no one has made any comments or ever made me feel out of place. I mostly wear long sleeves or cardigans (because I'm always cold) so I'm covered 80% of the time. The few times tatts are visible, I've seen people notice but it's never been negative or even awkward. I truly don't think anyone cares as long as it's not a face\/neck\/hand tattoo.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4426.0,"score_ratio":1.5833333333} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqkq8","c_root_id_B":"i3lx6dz","created_at_utc_A":1649235700,"created_at_utc_B":1649241114,"score_A":8,"score_B":19,"human_ref_A":"If you search \u201cTom Rocks Maths\u201d on youtube, he is an Oxford mathematician and has many tattoo\u2019s!","human_ref_B":"Social science grad student, 3rd year. Nose piercing, septum piercing but I flip this one up and hide it, and industrial bar. Hair cut short so you can see the bar but I'm growing out my hair now. I have a few smaller tattoos scattered up and down my left arms, a bigger piece on my other forearm, and small pieces on both my wrists. Got a new half sleeve scheduled for May. I haven't noticed any other grad students this tatted or pierced in my department. However, no one has made any comments or ever made me feel out of place. I mostly wear long sleeves or cardigans (because I'm always cold) so I'm covered 80% of the time. The few times tatts are visible, I've seen people notice but it's never been negative or even awkward. I truly don't think anyone cares as long as it's not a face\/neck\/hand tattoo.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5414.0,"score_ratio":2.375} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lx6dz","c_root_id_B":"i3lvee6","created_at_utc_A":1649241114,"created_at_utc_B":1649239744,"score_A":19,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Social science grad student, 3rd year. Nose piercing, septum piercing but I flip this one up and hide it, and industrial bar. Hair cut short so you can see the bar but I'm growing out my hair now. I have a few smaller tattoos scattered up and down my left arms, a bigger piece on my other forearm, and small pieces on both my wrists. Got a new half sleeve scheduled for May. I haven't noticed any other grad students this tatted or pierced in my department. However, no one has made any comments or ever made me feel out of place. I mostly wear long sleeves or cardigans (because I'm always cold) so I'm covered 80% of the time. The few times tatts are visible, I've seen people notice but it's never been negative or even awkward. I truly don't think anyone cares as long as it's not a face\/neck\/hand tattoo.","human_ref_B":"I have visible tats, piercings, and brandings. I've been lecturing for a few years and its never once come up as an issue and it's a good conversation starter with the students. Edit: I teach social sciences if that is relevant.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1370.0,"score_ratio":3.8} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lx6dz","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkxl","created_at_utc_A":1649241114,"created_at_utc_B":1649235706,"score_A":19,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Social science grad student, 3rd year. Nose piercing, septum piercing but I flip this one up and hide it, and industrial bar. Hair cut short so you can see the bar but I'm growing out my hair now. I have a few smaller tattoos scattered up and down my left arms, a bigger piece on my other forearm, and small pieces on both my wrists. Got a new half sleeve scheduled for May. I haven't noticed any other grad students this tatted or pierced in my department. However, no one has made any comments or ever made me feel out of place. I mostly wear long sleeves or cardigans (because I'm always cold) so I'm covered 80% of the time. The few times tatts are visible, I've seen people notice but it's never been negative or even awkward. I truly don't think anyone cares as long as it's not a face\/neck\/hand tattoo.","human_ref_B":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5408.0,"score_ratio":9.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqkq8","c_root_id_B":"i3lrplk","created_at_utc_A":1649235700,"created_at_utc_B":1649236688,"score_A":8,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"If you search \u201cTom Rocks Maths\u201d on youtube, he is an Oxford mathematician and has many tattoo\u2019s!","human_ref_B":"I'm a Theatre and New Studies professor, so take this with a grain of salt, but I have a ton of visible ink, including on my hands and neck. I'm tenured and promoted. I've also served as director of a program and will be department chair next semester. Perhaps my tattoos would prevent me from an administrative position, but I would never want to leave teaching anyway, so I'm not stressed!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":988.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lrplk","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkxl","created_at_utc_A":1649236688,"created_at_utc_B":1649235706,"score_A":12,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm a Theatre and New Studies professor, so take this with a grain of salt, but I have a ton of visible ink, including on my hands and neck. I'm tenured and promoted. I've also served as director of a program and will be department chair next semester. Perhaps my tattoos would prevent me from an administrative position, but I would never want to leave teaching anyway, so I'm not stressed!","human_ref_B":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":982.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lxqgx","c_root_id_B":"i3lvee6","created_at_utc_A":1649241528,"created_at_utc_B":1649239744,"score_A":7,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I think medical anthro tends to be a bit more conservative with these things as a reflection of the populations they work with. And it's not that they personally won't accept your appearance but that they'll be concerned that the people you're collecting data from won't accept your appearance. Or you end up at a good place studying chill populations and no one cares. Could go either way I guess.","human_ref_B":"I have visible tats, piercings, and brandings. I've been lecturing for a few years and its never once come up as an issue and it's a good conversation starter with the students. Edit: I teach social sciences if that is relevant.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1784.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lxcwv","c_root_id_B":"i3lxqgx","created_at_utc_A":1649241248,"created_at_utc_B":1649241528,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I don't care, you get loads of alternative types in academia","human_ref_B":"I think medical anthro tends to be a bit more conservative with these things as a reflection of the populations they work with. And it's not that they personally won't accept your appearance but that they'll be concerned that the people you're collecting data from won't accept your appearance. Or you end up at a good place studying chill populations and no one cares. Could go either way I guess.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":280.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqkxl","c_root_id_B":"i3lxqgx","created_at_utc_A":1649235706,"created_at_utc_B":1649241528,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","human_ref_B":"I think medical anthro tends to be a bit more conservative with these things as a reflection of the populations they work with. And it's not that they personally won't accept your appearance but that they'll be concerned that the people you're collecting data from won't accept your appearance. Or you end up at a good place studying chill populations and no one cares. Could go either way I guess.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5822.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lqkxl","c_root_id_B":"i3lvee6","created_at_utc_A":1649235706,"created_at_utc_B":1649239744,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","human_ref_B":"I have visible tats, piercings, and brandings. I've been lecturing for a few years and its never once come up as an issue and it's a good conversation starter with the students. Edit: I teach social sciences if that is relevant.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4038.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3lxcwv","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkxl","created_at_utc_A":1649241248,"created_at_utc_B":1649235706,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I don't care, you get loads of alternative types in academia","human_ref_B":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5542.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3mp86c","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkxl","created_at_utc_A":1649255549,"created_at_utc_B":1649235706,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I have a bunch of tattoos and it\u2019s only been a problem one time when I met with the then DGS and I was freaking out about finding out I wasn\u2019t allowed to have an external job and no clue how I was going to get an apartment and she said \u201chave you considered covering your tattoos when you visit these places?\u201d And I said \u201cYou\u2019re misunderstanding. People like me. The problem isn\u2019t me, it\u2019s that I can\u2019t show them I can afford to live there.\u201d In hindsight this was a HUGE basket of red flags. The department is really conservative and I generally hate it. All of that is to say\u2014tattoos should it be a problem. If they are, I still not a YOU problem. And if there is evidence that someone has a problem with them\u2014exit stage left. There\u2019s plenty of spaces where it is not an issue because it is 2022, and tattoos don\u2019t carry a stigma\u2014certain people just project someone who f their own weird shit for various reasons.","human_ref_B":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":19843.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3oi6m1","c_root_id_B":"i3lqkxl","created_at_utc_A":1649279955,"created_at_utc_B":1649235706,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"While there is probably a line I haven't noticed anyone caring. Your research and ability to bring in money is more important.","human_ref_B":"I have tattoos, I had an earring and I have completed my PhD without any issue. Now I eventually removed my earring for the reason that it doesn't look very professional to me, and my tattoo is on the upper part of my arm. I say that while I do not agree with this, it does send a message, whether we like it or not.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":44249.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"txhjhz","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.74,"history":"Tattoos in academia? Hi all! I am curious about visible tattoos when working in academia. I am going to start my PhD in the fall (anthropology) and I have a few visible tattoos (fairly small ones on my wrists). I am planning on some larger pieces in the next year, but am hesitant about placement because I'm unsure how it will be received in the workplace. I am planning on a large botanical piece, perhaps as an arm sleeve, but if that will be frowned upon, I want to plan accordingly! Any help or experience with this is greatly appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"i3mry9h","c_root_id_B":"i3oi6m1","created_at_utc_A":1649256639,"created_at_utc_B":1649279955,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"there is a history professor named Gannon or Gannan in des moines iowa area that is all tattoed up too I work in IT at a university and have a tattooed wedding ring and one on my shoulder that shows through my white dress shirts and no one has complained... someone on my PhD committee had an evil eye tattooed on her forearm.... it stared at me during my defense! hahaha","human_ref_B":"While there is probably a line I haven't noticed anyone caring. Your research and ability to bring in money is more important.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23316.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"5q774h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What's the best way to mentor an undergraduate who is doing an honors thesis? I've been asked to mentor a student (which I'm happy and excited to do) but any advice on how the mentoring should go is appreciated. The student will be working on one of my studies.","c_root_id_A":"dcwzq8c","c_root_id_B":"dcxaq7t","created_at_utc_A":1485397856,"created_at_utc_B":1485415404,"score_A":3,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Patience. Lots of patience. That goes for teaching them lab techniques and explaining their project to them. Check in on them to see if they have questions because some students will be scared to ask questions. Finally, to make your life easier, make sure they are taking notes when you're showing them new lab techniques. This keeps them from asking you how to do the same thing 3 or 4 times.","human_ref_B":"I finished honours a couple of years ago and the most useful thing my supervisors did was ask me what my goals were in the first week. Then they did everything in their power to get me there. I said I wanted to go towards academia so we made sure I did enough in honours for a quality publication which I was first author on. They also gave me a lot of advice on things like applying for funding and conferences and how things worked in my country.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":17548.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"5q774h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What's the best way to mentor an undergraduate who is doing an honors thesis? I've been asked to mentor a student (which I'm happy and excited to do) but any advice on how the mentoring should go is appreciated. The student will be working on one of my studies.","c_root_id_A":"dcxaq7t","c_root_id_B":"dcx6f77","created_at_utc_A":1485415404,"created_at_utc_B":1485407169,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I finished honours a couple of years ago and the most useful thing my supervisors did was ask me what my goals were in the first week. Then they did everything in their power to get me there. I said I wanted to go towards academia so we made sure I did enough in honours for a quality publication which I was first author on. They also gave me a lot of advice on things like applying for funding and conferences and how things worked in my country.","human_ref_B":"I do this often, but our students are all doing independent projects, not piggybacking on faculty work. In that situation we guide them through the entire process of writing a proposal, doing a lit review, developing and conducting the research project, and writing up the results. I suspect the \"best\" way will be quite dependent on the field of research in question and the relationship between the mentor\/student. What are the student's strengths? How can you play to those and help build confidence? Where are the areas of growth? How can you direct the student to those challenges and guide her\/him through them successfully? With our students the major hurdles are almost always the proposal (they struggle to develop good research questions), developing context from secondary sources (they are often poor at summarizing and comparing the work of others), and interpreting their results in context. We have a pretty solid process for the honors theses that is really just an extended (three semester) version of the regular thesis we require of everyone (one semester), which I'd recommend to anyone on my campus doing similar work. Is there someone on your campus who knows your system that could do the same for you?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":8235.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"5q774h","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"What's the best way to mentor an undergraduate who is doing an honors thesis? I've been asked to mentor a student (which I'm happy and excited to do) but any advice on how the mentoring should go is appreciated. The student will be working on one of my studies.","c_root_id_A":"dcxaq7t","c_root_id_B":"dcx9t4s","created_at_utc_A":1485415404,"created_at_utc_B":1485413330,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I finished honours a couple of years ago and the most useful thing my supervisors did was ask me what my goals were in the first week. Then they did everything in their power to get me there. I said I wanted to go towards academia so we made sure I did enough in honours for a quality publication which I was first author on. They also gave me a lot of advice on things like applying for funding and conferences and how things worked in my country.","human_ref_B":"I hope you are also asking this question of people who have mentored undergraduates at your institution in your department. They can give you more specific advice given the type of project you're doing and the experiences that the undergraduates at your institution bring with them.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2074.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"2a2nv4","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"How to exit academia as a science postdoc in non-applied field? I have been a postdoc for 5 years, working on subjects that have absolutely no application in industry. I have a reasonably good track record, with several publications in good journals. BUT... I have given up on pursuing a career in academia because: - I am not convinced that research in my sub-field should be prioritized, and therefore incapable of writing proposals and looking for funding with a clear conscience; - I really need to do something new - I don't find anything that happens in my field exciting, or even remotely interesting anymore. I am aware that my career up to this point has given me a lot of transferable skills that would be valued in a non-academic setting, but I feel that these assets are nullified by several factors: - I do not have a network - none of my current\/former colleagues\/bosses have relationships with industry, and I haven't made my \"coming-out\" to them anyway (because I feel it would change the way we work together); - I do not know anyone in a similar situation who has made a successful transition so I don't know how to start - the few people that I know who did it found industry positions in their domain of expertise; - I do not know what kind of position I could apply for - I feel too old to apply for entry-level positions, yet I don't have the required expertise and experience for more senior positions. Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate such a career transition?","c_root_id_A":"ciqxnso","c_root_id_B":"ciqyjj3","created_at_utc_A":1404763972,"created_at_utc_B":1404765623,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"You can probably find other people who have made a similar transition. Once you start talking to people, you will find that people will know others who have made that transition. You're still in academia so, quite naturally, the people you know most well are still in academia, but anybody who has been around awhile will probably be aware of people who have made that transition. Ask around, get some names, and begin networking that way.","human_ref_B":"There's no age limit on entry-level positions. If anyone is surprised at your age when you show up for interviews, just explain that you were planning to go into academia but realized it wasn't for you. People know that PhD-level and postdoc-level work takes a long time; they'll understand and give you a fair chance.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1651.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"a699yq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Thank you email for skype interview? I had my first ever first round Skype interview for a TT job today. Should I send a thank you email to the committee? I'm seeing mixed advice on this. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"ebt04d8","c_root_id_B":"ebt0dc6","created_at_utc_A":1544824620,"created_at_utc_B":1544824825,"score_A":13,"score_B":24,"human_ref_A":"Why not?","human_ref_B":"It can't hurt! Here's the body of the email I sent to the search committee chair at the job I ended up getting. >It was a pleasure speaking with you and the rest of the committee this afternoon about the Assistant Professor position in X. I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed meeting you all and appreciate the time you took to interview me, particularly during this busy time of year. I am excited about the opportunity to teach and conduct research at X, and I would love to contribute to your strengths in X and X. > >If you any further questions about anything we discussed during the interview, or something that appears on my CV, please do not hesitate to contact me at this email address, or via phone at X. I look forward to hearing from you.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":205.0,"score_ratio":1.8461538462} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx41hjr","c_root_id_B":"gx4tfjc","created_at_utc_A":1620272764,"created_at_utc_B":1620295667,"score_A":12,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Those positions pay less than tenure track positions and have very short contracts. In academia, you start applying for jobs nearly a year before the job actually starts. This means if you have a one year contract, you spend half your time applying for your next job. Not to mention the issues in moving to a new job each year - moving your family, spouse needs a new job, kids changing schools, health insurance doesn\u2019t cover anything again, etc. if you want to teach only, go for a community college instead where your work will be valued.","human_ref_B":"As others have said, it\u2019s important to identify what type of position. We have full-time NTTs on our campus, they have the same probationary period as TT faculty, but with promotion they land five year contracts as opposed to \u201cpermanent \u201c ones. Ours do not have research expectations, so the split in work is teaching (higher teaching load) and service. They are good, stable jobs that make only slightly less than TT faculty and have all the same perks, including sabbatical eligibility. However, you need to really research what you are applying for, as other posts show, some campuses give these faculty no stability.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":22903.0,"score_ratio":1.4166666667} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx4tfjc","c_root_id_B":"gx4lnvm","created_at_utc_A":1620295667,"created_at_utc_B":1620288245,"score_A":17,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"As others have said, it\u2019s important to identify what type of position. We have full-time NTTs on our campus, they have the same probationary period as TT faculty, but with promotion they land five year contracts as opposed to \u201cpermanent \u201c ones. Ours do not have research expectations, so the split in work is teaching (higher teaching load) and service. They are good, stable jobs that make only slightly less than TT faculty and have all the same perks, including sabbatical eligibility. However, you need to really research what you are applying for, as other posts show, some campuses give these faculty no stability.","human_ref_B":"I think pros and cons may differ depending on where you live and your field. Yes getting fired at the end of the year is always a risk but I live in a college town and my observation is that people who are dropped can find another job in a different university pretty quickly, mostly because hiring a contract-based lecturer is cheaper so universities are always looking for one. I'm supposed to graduate next year and I'm also looking into non-tenured positions cuz I'm in a bad place mentally and I don't feel ready to go through the stress of trying to score a tenure offer. I'm planning on working contract-based until I collect myself and publish 2-3 papers from my dissertation.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7422.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx4lnvm","c_root_id_B":"gx5eqxa","created_at_utc_A":1620288245,"created_at_utc_B":1620309098,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I think pros and cons may differ depending on where you live and your field. Yes getting fired at the end of the year is always a risk but I live in a college town and my observation is that people who are dropped can find another job in a different university pretty quickly, mostly because hiring a contract-based lecturer is cheaper so universities are always looking for one. I'm supposed to graduate next year and I'm also looking into non-tenured positions cuz I'm in a bad place mentally and I don't feel ready to go through the stress of trying to score a tenure offer. I'm planning on working contract-based until I collect myself and publish 2-3 papers from my dissertation.","human_ref_B":"There is another career progression in at least some places, including the US-East Coast med school where I am. The positions are shades of the \u201cResearch Scientist\u201d title (Asst\/Assoc\/full; Assoc\/full\/Senior; etc). They are intended for senior technical staff with a research focus who are not lab heads\/independent PIs but are highly skilled research workers. I have seen people with these titles occupy roles as diverse as advisors to chairs with remits to drive scientific strategy, lab managers for large groups, communications specialists\/full-time technical writers, etc. If you are more interested in research than teaching, this may be worth exploring too.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":20853.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx5eqxa","c_root_id_B":"gx4wdpo","created_at_utc_A":1620309098,"created_at_utc_B":1620298212,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"There is another career progression in at least some places, including the US-East Coast med school where I am. The positions are shades of the \u201cResearch Scientist\u201d title (Asst\/Assoc\/full; Assoc\/full\/Senior; etc). They are intended for senior technical staff with a research focus who are not lab heads\/independent PIs but are highly skilled research workers. I have seen people with these titles occupy roles as diverse as advisors to chairs with remits to drive scientific strategy, lab managers for large groups, communications specialists\/full-time technical writers, etc. If you are more interested in research than teaching, this may be worth exploring too.","human_ref_B":"From what others have said, it looks like these positions vary by institution\/system. In the University System of Georgia (USG), lecturers are employed on a yearly contract. There is no presumption of renewal at the end of each year and it is explicit that they don't have tenure but there is a gradually increasing period of time for notification of non-renewal. For the first 3 years, there is no non-renewal time required (so you can come in at the last day of your current contract and be told not to show up the next day). For the 4th and 5th year, it's a 30 day notice. For those employed 6 years and beyond, it's a 180 day notice. The USG is also explicit that those employed for more than 6 years have review and appeals of non-renewal following published procedures for each of the institutions that have been approved by the system office. And there are additional system appeals processes, as well. Lecturers employed beyond 6 years can be reappointed as Senior Lecturers if they have done extraordinary work, as defined by each institution. At the same time, the system is explicit that somebody can't go beyond 6 years of employment as a lecturer unless the person, \"... has demonstrated exceptional teaching ability and extraordinary value to the institution and if the institution determines that there is a continued need for the lecturer. The reappointment process must follow procedures outlined by the institution.\" I was a chair when the first of our lecturers on our campus reached 6 years. Our VPAA and President at the time weren't familiar with USG policies and so didn't know about the 6 year limit (both came from outside the system and had the rather remarkable belief that they could do anything they wanted!). My dean and I were aware of it because both of us had read system policies. So, she and I wrote a policy statement concerning employment of lecturers beyond 6 years, appeals processes if they were not continued and policies regarding promotion to senior lecturers. We sent that through the various levels of approval on campus. As soon as the president accepted it I then sent a memo requesting approval for our 6 year person to be renewed because he met the USG and our criteria and, by the way, promote him to Senior Lecturer. It was approved and he was renewed and promoted and is now protected for the 180 day time frame. So, in the USG, there's a process that protects lecturers on the same approximate time-line as for TT faculty. It's not the same level of protection and there's certainly not the same lifetime protections as TT faculty have, but it's not a, \"don't come in tomorrow\" at any time in their careers. The policies that I overviewed are easily found on the USG website. I'd look at the policies of any institution\/system for which you are thinking of applying to a non TT position. You might well find similar protections.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10886.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx5eqxa","c_root_id_B":"gx5dtzh","created_at_utc_A":1620309098,"created_at_utc_B":1620308673,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"There is another career progression in at least some places, including the US-East Coast med school where I am. The positions are shades of the \u201cResearch Scientist\u201d title (Asst\/Assoc\/full; Assoc\/full\/Senior; etc). They are intended for senior technical staff with a research focus who are not lab heads\/independent PIs but are highly skilled research workers. I have seen people with these titles occupy roles as diverse as advisors to chairs with remits to drive scientific strategy, lab managers for large groups, communications specialists\/full-time technical writers, etc. If you are more interested in research than teaching, this may be worth exploring too.","human_ref_B":"Money","labels":1,"seconds_difference":425.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx5g577","c_root_id_B":"gx4lnvm","created_at_utc_A":1620309748,"created_at_utc_B":1620288245,"score_A":4,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"It really depends on the position, as others have said. I had an NTT position that was ok. It started as a 1 year renewable position and after the 2nd year I was offered a 3 year contract. The university I was at had a very strong union that advocated for all faculty and staff positions so the job felt more secure.","human_ref_B":"I think pros and cons may differ depending on where you live and your field. Yes getting fired at the end of the year is always a risk but I live in a college town and my observation is that people who are dropped can find another job in a different university pretty quickly, mostly because hiring a contract-based lecturer is cheaper so universities are always looking for one. I'm supposed to graduate next year and I'm also looking into non-tenured positions cuz I'm in a bad place mentally and I don't feel ready to go through the stress of trying to score a tenure offer. I'm planning on working contract-based until I collect myself and publish 2-3 papers from my dissertation.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21503.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx4wdpo","c_root_id_B":"gx5g577","created_at_utc_A":1620298212,"created_at_utc_B":1620309748,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"From what others have said, it looks like these positions vary by institution\/system. In the University System of Georgia (USG), lecturers are employed on a yearly contract. There is no presumption of renewal at the end of each year and it is explicit that they don't have tenure but there is a gradually increasing period of time for notification of non-renewal. For the first 3 years, there is no non-renewal time required (so you can come in at the last day of your current contract and be told not to show up the next day). For the 4th and 5th year, it's a 30 day notice. For those employed 6 years and beyond, it's a 180 day notice. The USG is also explicit that those employed for more than 6 years have review and appeals of non-renewal following published procedures for each of the institutions that have been approved by the system office. And there are additional system appeals processes, as well. Lecturers employed beyond 6 years can be reappointed as Senior Lecturers if they have done extraordinary work, as defined by each institution. At the same time, the system is explicit that somebody can't go beyond 6 years of employment as a lecturer unless the person, \"... has demonstrated exceptional teaching ability and extraordinary value to the institution and if the institution determines that there is a continued need for the lecturer. The reappointment process must follow procedures outlined by the institution.\" I was a chair when the first of our lecturers on our campus reached 6 years. Our VPAA and President at the time weren't familiar with USG policies and so didn't know about the 6 year limit (both came from outside the system and had the rather remarkable belief that they could do anything they wanted!). My dean and I were aware of it because both of us had read system policies. So, she and I wrote a policy statement concerning employment of lecturers beyond 6 years, appeals processes if they were not continued and policies regarding promotion to senior lecturers. We sent that through the various levels of approval on campus. As soon as the president accepted it I then sent a memo requesting approval for our 6 year person to be renewed because he met the USG and our criteria and, by the way, promote him to Senior Lecturer. It was approved and he was renewed and promoted and is now protected for the 180 day time frame. So, in the USG, there's a process that protects lecturers on the same approximate time-line as for TT faculty. It's not the same level of protection and there's certainly not the same lifetime protections as TT faculty have, but it's not a, \"don't come in tomorrow\" at any time in their careers. The policies that I overviewed are easily found on the USG website. I'd look at the policies of any institution\/system for which you are thinking of applying to a non TT position. You might well find similar protections.","human_ref_B":"It really depends on the position, as others have said. I had an NTT position that was ok. It started as a 1 year renewable position and after the 2nd year I was offered a 3 year contract. The university I was at had a very strong union that advocated for all faculty and staff positions so the job felt more secure.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11536.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gx5g577","c_root_id_B":"gx5dtzh","created_at_utc_A":1620309748,"created_at_utc_B":1620308673,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It really depends on the position, as others have said. I had an NTT position that was ok. It started as a 1 year renewable position and after the 2nd year I was offered a 3 year contract. The university I was at had a very strong union that advocated for all faculty and staff positions so the job felt more secure.","human_ref_B":"Money","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1075.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"n5ux9s","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"gxai1e7","c_root_id_B":"gx5dtzh","created_at_utc_A":1620405649,"created_at_utc_B":1620308673,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Not all NTT positions are created equal, which is something that is being slightly obscured by the completely legitimate outrage over the continuing growth of abusive contingent or adjunct teaching positions at many universities. If you're evaluating a non tenure-track position, here's where you start: 1. What's the compensation? If it's per course, rather than a full salary comparable to what faculty with your experience make, stay away: it's an exploitative trap. Not only is that likely to be poorly paid (some of the per-course figures at regional publics and smaller private universities can be shockingly low, in the $2,000-$3,000 per course range for an entire semester's worth of work), but you can be ready to teach three to four courses and suddenly be told that two of them got cancelled at the last minute and find yourself out of half your expected income for that time period. 2. Do you get normal benefits? If not, stay away. 3. Is it always a single-year contract? If so, stay away unless you're prepared every May to look for another academic position or for a position in private industry. Think about how you'd judge a job offer in private industry where the annual review process might plausibly lead to you being laid off every May whether or not you had a positive review simply because the company was tightening its budgets or a new supervisor didn't like you much or because you were getting senior enough that you were more expensive than a new starting employee. That can all happen in an at-will employment state, mind you, but it's not a like-clockwork-every-May-and-September kind of thing. If you're considering non-tenure-track work, look for institutions offering you a 3-year contract. 4. Are you in a field where private industry or other workplaces besides academia are viable, where academic work will enhance your prospects in those professional opportunities? If so, then working in NTT positions is more viable, because in an NTT situation you have to be ready \\*always\\* for it to end and often with little notice. There are contexts where coming in and out of academia is completely professionally viable--people who are moving in and out of political appointments, for example, or people who have ongoing value in specialized industries. (If you're able to do high-level quantitative work for an investment firm, say.) There are many other contexts where this is not viable or even possible. 5. Basically, I think the only really good NTT situations are multi-year contracts where you're on salary and get full benefits, have other options if necessary, and where you're doing something that your institution values intensely but is not likely to hire a tenure-track faculty to do it. For example, someone who teaches 3-4 courses on GIS methods to students in multiple disciplines, or someone who teaches students to work with highly specialized lab equipment and techniques that multiple labs on campus need, etc. That kind of NTT position can continue for a person's entire career and be treated pretty fairly by the institution. (There are positions in the performing arts that can be rather similar.)","human_ref_B":"Money","labels":1,"seconds_difference":96976.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"espqbfu","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562188275,"score_A":4,"score_B":94,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"I think it's just that the world has become less formal and faculty worry that being sticklers for titles makes them look arrogant. ​ I'd suspect it's not that they don't like being called \"Dr. XYZ\", they just don't want people to feel that they insist on it. ​ When I was a kid we had a neighbor who was a vet and his wife would correct people that he's \"DOCTOR Jones\" if anyone ever referred to him as \"Mr. Jones\". It seemed a little pathetic (and the neighbors would laugh at her about it)...","labels":0,"seconds_difference":91.0,"score_ratio":23.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espz50r","c_root_id_B":"esprtdh","created_at_utc_A":1562192545,"created_at_utc_B":1562188974,"score_A":90,"score_B":88,"human_ref_A":"I let undergrads call me Dr. simply because it's better than Mr. I also felt it was useful when I was younger to provide some separation between myself and students who were only a few years younger. I've seen plenty of faculty abuse that relationship by getting too close to students- I was a pretty young looking 27 year old professor once. I don't use it with colleagues or staff, and I start using my first name with masters students after they graduate. If I had PhD students, I would not use Dr. and encourage us all to use our first names. ​ BTW- a colleague of mine had a customized license plate made that read \" 2 PHds\" for the car him and his girlfriend shared. I think he's a douche.","human_ref_B":"People can call me Doctor anywhere but a hospital or an airplane. In those places, doctor means something very specific and it isn't me.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3571.0,"score_ratio":1.0227272727} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esprpf4","c_root_id_B":"esprtdh","created_at_utc_A":1562188924,"created_at_utc_B":1562188974,"score_A":23,"score_B":88,"human_ref_A":"What do these people prefer to be called? I've noticed that with grad students and beyond, even undergraduates who work in their lab, many professors prefer to be on a first-name basis in my field (STEM). In more formal or classroom settings, most people seem to be okay with Dr. However, if it's a recurring situation or if you know enough about them to know they indeed hold the title Professor, Prof. seems to be preferred. I think it all depends on context, but I think a lot of people feel like it's kind of stuffy\/overly formal to be referred to as doctor by people they regularly work with. My advisor adamantly did not want to be referred to anything other than their first name in day-to-day interactions, but if I referred to them in fellowship applications\/emails\/other written communication, they preferred \"Prof. X.\"","human_ref_B":"People can call me Doctor anywhere but a hospital or an airplane. In those places, doctor means something very specific and it isn't me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":50.0,"score_ratio":3.8260869565} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espqekx","c_root_id_B":"esprtdh","created_at_utc_A":1562188316,"created_at_utc_B":1562188974,"score_A":6,"score_B":88,"human_ref_A":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","human_ref_B":"People can call me Doctor anywhere but a hospital or an airplane. In those places, doctor means something very specific and it isn't me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":658.0,"score_ratio":14.6666666667} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"esprtdh","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562188974,"score_A":4,"score_B":88,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"People can call me Doctor anywhere but a hospital or an airplane. In those places, doctor means something very specific and it isn't me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":790.0,"score_ratio":22.0} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espu9sl","c_root_id_B":"espz50r","created_at_utc_A":1562190162,"created_at_utc_B":1562192545,"score_A":52,"score_B":90,"human_ref_A":"In the department, everyone is on a first name basis, so titles don't get used. And even if they did, (almost) everyone I interact with either has a doctorate or is working towards a doctorate, so calling everyone doctor would get repetitive. In the outside world, unless I'm doing some kind of outreach event where my PhD in physics is relevant, my doctor status is somewhat irrelevant and it would feel pretentious to demand to be called it. Plus, the risk that I get mistaken for a medical doctor is, for me, not worth taking. The only exception I make is if I think a company will treat me better if my title is Dr. Then I'm very much Dr foibleShmoible. Please give me a discount on my insurance, doctor's orders.","human_ref_B":"I let undergrads call me Dr. simply because it's better than Mr. I also felt it was useful when I was younger to provide some separation between myself and students who were only a few years younger. I've seen plenty of faculty abuse that relationship by getting too close to students- I was a pretty young looking 27 year old professor once. I don't use it with colleagues or staff, and I start using my first name with masters students after they graduate. If I had PhD students, I would not use Dr. and encourage us all to use our first names. ​ BTW- a colleague of mine had a customized license plate made that read \" 2 PHds\" for the car him and his girlfriend shared. I think he's a douche.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2383.0,"score_ratio":1.7307692308} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esprpf4","c_root_id_B":"espz50r","created_at_utc_A":1562188924,"created_at_utc_B":1562192545,"score_A":23,"score_B":90,"human_ref_A":"What do these people prefer to be called? I've noticed that with grad students and beyond, even undergraduates who work in their lab, many professors prefer to be on a first-name basis in my field (STEM). In more formal or classroom settings, most people seem to be okay with Dr. However, if it's a recurring situation or if you know enough about them to know they indeed hold the title Professor, Prof. seems to be preferred. I think it all depends on context, but I think a lot of people feel like it's kind of stuffy\/overly formal to be referred to as doctor by people they regularly work with. My advisor adamantly did not want to be referred to anything other than their first name in day-to-day interactions, but if I referred to them in fellowship applications\/emails\/other written communication, they preferred \"Prof. X.\"","human_ref_B":"I let undergrads call me Dr. simply because it's better than Mr. I also felt it was useful when I was younger to provide some separation between myself and students who were only a few years younger. I've seen plenty of faculty abuse that relationship by getting too close to students- I was a pretty young looking 27 year old professor once. I don't use it with colleagues or staff, and I start using my first name with masters students after they graduate. If I had PhD students, I would not use Dr. and encourage us all to use our first names. ​ BTW- a colleague of mine had a customized license plate made that read \" 2 PHds\" for the car him and his girlfriend shared. I think he's a douche.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3621.0,"score_ratio":3.9130434783} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espz50r","c_root_id_B":"espx63y","created_at_utc_A":1562192545,"created_at_utc_B":1562191560,"score_A":90,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"I let undergrads call me Dr. simply because it's better than Mr. I also felt it was useful when I was younger to provide some separation between myself and students who were only a few years younger. I've seen plenty of faculty abuse that relationship by getting too close to students- I was a pretty young looking 27 year old professor once. I don't use it with colleagues or staff, and I start using my first name with masters students after they graduate. If I had PhD students, I would not use Dr. and encourage us all to use our first names. ​ BTW- a colleague of mine had a customized license plate made that read \" 2 PHds\" for the car him and his girlfriend shared. I think he's a douche.","human_ref_B":"> I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant Eughhhhh. This attitude is probably why tbh. The degree isn't what makes your work significant, and having jumped through a bunch of institutional hoops probably isn't why your professors think you should respect them. It's one thing to remind people of your expertise when it is being questioned, but in an environment where everyone assumes you're an expert, such as a university, reminding people of it with titles of address would seem excessive. But, I also have friends who put Dr on their airline tickets and such, so clearly views are divided.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":985.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espz50r","c_root_id_B":"espuvw7","created_at_utc_A":1562192545,"created_at_utc_B":1562190454,"score_A":90,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I let undergrads call me Dr. simply because it's better than Mr. I also felt it was useful when I was younger to provide some separation between myself and students who were only a few years younger. I've seen plenty of faculty abuse that relationship by getting too close to students- I was a pretty young looking 27 year old professor once. I don't use it with colleagues or staff, and I start using my first name with masters students after they graduate. If I had PhD students, I would not use Dr. and encourage us all to use our first names. ​ BTW- a colleague of mine had a customized license plate made that read \" 2 PHds\" for the car him and his girlfriend shared. I think he's a douche.","human_ref_B":"Personally I just want to be treated like one of the guys, not like someone on a pedestal. If someone praises me or makes a big point of my credentials, including my PhD, I get uncomfortable.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2091.0,"score_ratio":12.8571428571} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espz50r","c_root_id_B":"espqekx","created_at_utc_A":1562192545,"created_at_utc_B":1562188316,"score_A":90,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"I let undergrads call me Dr. simply because it's better than Mr. I also felt it was useful when I was younger to provide some separation between myself and students who were only a few years younger. I've seen plenty of faculty abuse that relationship by getting too close to students- I was a pretty young looking 27 year old professor once. I don't use it with colleagues or staff, and I start using my first name with masters students after they graduate. If I had PhD students, I would not use Dr. and encourage us all to use our first names. ​ BTW- a colleague of mine had a customized license plate made that read \" 2 PHds\" for the car him and his girlfriend shared. I think he's a douche.","human_ref_B":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4229.0,"score_ratio":15.0} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"espz50r","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562192545,"score_A":4,"score_B":90,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"I let undergrads call me Dr. simply because it's better than Mr. I also felt it was useful when I was younger to provide some separation between myself and students who were only a few years younger. I've seen plenty of faculty abuse that relationship by getting too close to students- I was a pretty young looking 27 year old professor once. I don't use it with colleagues or staff, and I start using my first name with masters students after they graduate. If I had PhD students, I would not use Dr. and encourage us all to use our first names. ​ BTW- a colleague of mine had a customized license plate made that read \" 2 PHds\" for the car him and his girlfriend shared. I think he's a douche.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4361.0,"score_ratio":22.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esprpf4","c_root_id_B":"espu9sl","created_at_utc_A":1562188924,"created_at_utc_B":1562190162,"score_A":23,"score_B":52,"human_ref_A":"What do these people prefer to be called? I've noticed that with grad students and beyond, even undergraduates who work in their lab, many professors prefer to be on a first-name basis in my field (STEM). In more formal or classroom settings, most people seem to be okay with Dr. However, if it's a recurring situation or if you know enough about them to know they indeed hold the title Professor, Prof. seems to be preferred. I think it all depends on context, but I think a lot of people feel like it's kind of stuffy\/overly formal to be referred to as doctor by people they regularly work with. My advisor adamantly did not want to be referred to anything other than their first name in day-to-day interactions, but if I referred to them in fellowship applications\/emails\/other written communication, they preferred \"Prof. X.\"","human_ref_B":"In the department, everyone is on a first name basis, so titles don't get used. And even if they did, (almost) everyone I interact with either has a doctorate or is working towards a doctorate, so calling everyone doctor would get repetitive. In the outside world, unless I'm doing some kind of outreach event where my PhD in physics is relevant, my doctor status is somewhat irrelevant and it would feel pretentious to demand to be called it. Plus, the risk that I get mistaken for a medical doctor is, for me, not worth taking. The only exception I make is if I think a company will treat me better if my title is Dr. Then I'm very much Dr foibleShmoible. Please give me a discount on my insurance, doctor's orders.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1238.0,"score_ratio":2.2608695652} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espu9sl","c_root_id_B":"espqekx","created_at_utc_A":1562190162,"created_at_utc_B":1562188316,"score_A":52,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"In the department, everyone is on a first name basis, so titles don't get used. And even if they did, (almost) everyone I interact with either has a doctorate or is working towards a doctorate, so calling everyone doctor would get repetitive. In the outside world, unless I'm doing some kind of outreach event where my PhD in physics is relevant, my doctor status is somewhat irrelevant and it would feel pretentious to demand to be called it. Plus, the risk that I get mistaken for a medical doctor is, for me, not worth taking. The only exception I make is if I think a company will treat me better if my title is Dr. Then I'm very much Dr foibleShmoible. Please give me a discount on my insurance, doctor's orders.","human_ref_B":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1846.0,"score_ratio":8.6666666667} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"espu9sl","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562190162,"score_A":4,"score_B":52,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"In the department, everyone is on a first name basis, so titles don't get used. And even if they did, (almost) everyone I interact with either has a doctorate or is working towards a doctorate, so calling everyone doctor would get repetitive. In the outside world, unless I'm doing some kind of outreach event where my PhD in physics is relevant, my doctor status is somewhat irrelevant and it would feel pretentious to demand to be called it. Plus, the risk that I get mistaken for a medical doctor is, for me, not worth taking. The only exception I make is if I think a company will treat me better if my title is Dr. Then I'm very much Dr foibleShmoible. Please give me a discount on my insurance, doctor's orders.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1978.0,"score_ratio":13.0} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esprpf4","c_root_id_B":"espqekx","created_at_utc_A":1562188924,"created_at_utc_B":1562188316,"score_A":23,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"What do these people prefer to be called? I've noticed that with grad students and beyond, even undergraduates who work in their lab, many professors prefer to be on a first-name basis in my field (STEM). In more formal or classroom settings, most people seem to be okay with Dr. However, if it's a recurring situation or if you know enough about them to know they indeed hold the title Professor, Prof. seems to be preferred. I think it all depends on context, but I think a lot of people feel like it's kind of stuffy\/overly formal to be referred to as doctor by people they regularly work with. My advisor adamantly did not want to be referred to anything other than their first name in day-to-day interactions, but if I referred to them in fellowship applications\/emails\/other written communication, they preferred \"Prof. X.\"","human_ref_B":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":608.0,"score_ratio":3.8333333333} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esprpf4","c_root_id_B":"espq49z","created_at_utc_A":1562188924,"created_at_utc_B":1562188184,"score_A":23,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"What do these people prefer to be called? I've noticed that with grad students and beyond, even undergraduates who work in their lab, many professors prefer to be on a first-name basis in my field (STEM). In more formal or classroom settings, most people seem to be okay with Dr. However, if it's a recurring situation or if you know enough about them to know they indeed hold the title Professor, Prof. seems to be preferred. I think it all depends on context, but I think a lot of people feel like it's kind of stuffy\/overly formal to be referred to as doctor by people they regularly work with. My advisor adamantly did not want to be referred to anything other than their first name in day-to-day interactions, but if I referred to them in fellowship applications\/emails\/other written communication, they preferred \"Prof. X.\"","human_ref_B":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":740.0,"score_ratio":5.75} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espx63y","c_root_id_B":"espuvw7","created_at_utc_A":1562191560,"created_at_utc_B":1562190454,"score_A":18,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"> I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant Eughhhhh. This attitude is probably why tbh. The degree isn't what makes your work significant, and having jumped through a bunch of institutional hoops probably isn't why your professors think you should respect them. It's one thing to remind people of your expertise when it is being questioned, but in an environment where everyone assumes you're an expert, such as a university, reminding people of it with titles of address would seem excessive. But, I also have friends who put Dr on their airline tickets and such, so clearly views are divided.","human_ref_B":"Personally I just want to be treated like one of the guys, not like someone on a pedestal. If someone praises me or makes a big point of my credentials, including my PhD, I get uncomfortable.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1106.0,"score_ratio":2.5714285714} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espx63y","c_root_id_B":"espqekx","created_at_utc_A":1562191560,"created_at_utc_B":1562188316,"score_A":18,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"> I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant Eughhhhh. This attitude is probably why tbh. The degree isn't what makes your work significant, and having jumped through a bunch of institutional hoops probably isn't why your professors think you should respect them. It's one thing to remind people of your expertise when it is being questioned, but in an environment where everyone assumes you're an expert, such as a university, reminding people of it with titles of address would seem excessive. But, I also have friends who put Dr on their airline tickets and such, so clearly views are divided.","human_ref_B":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3244.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"espx63y","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562191560,"score_A":4,"score_B":18,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"> I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant Eughhhhh. This attitude is probably why tbh. The degree isn't what makes your work significant, and having jumped through a bunch of institutional hoops probably isn't why your professors think you should respect them. It's one thing to remind people of your expertise when it is being questioned, but in an environment where everyone assumes you're an expert, such as a university, reminding people of it with titles of address would seem excessive. But, I also have friends who put Dr on their airline tickets and such, so clearly views are divided.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3376.0,"score_ratio":4.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esq96i1","c_root_id_B":"espuvw7","created_at_utc_A":1562197958,"created_at_utc_B":1562190454,"score_A":11,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"It depends really strongly on where you are. Within Aus and NZ (as examples), it\u2019s less culturally acceptable to use titles. Most people will always go by their first name, and if you try to refer to a university lecturer or professor as \u201cprofessor\u201d, you\u2019ll be quickly asked to never do that again. Separating yourself out from the pack like that is a social faux pas, and the informality is actually a sign of respect. Insisting on keeping your title or insisting on referring to others by theirs is the disrespectful option.","human_ref_B":"Personally I just want to be treated like one of the guys, not like someone on a pedestal. If someone praises me or makes a big point of my credentials, including my PhD, I get uncomfortable.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7504.0,"score_ratio":1.5714285714} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esq96i1","c_root_id_B":"esq0ph3","created_at_utc_A":1562197958,"created_at_utc_B":1562193366,"score_A":11,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"It depends really strongly on where you are. Within Aus and NZ (as examples), it\u2019s less culturally acceptable to use titles. Most people will always go by their first name, and if you try to refer to a university lecturer or professor as \u201cprofessor\u201d, you\u2019ll be quickly asked to never do that again. Separating yourself out from the pack like that is a social faux pas, and the informality is actually a sign of respect. Insisting on keeping your title or insisting on referring to others by theirs is the disrespectful option.","human_ref_B":"As usual, Miss Manners has the answer: \"A PhD is like a nose \u2014 everyone has one. It\u2019s only conspicuous if you don\u2019t have one.\u201d Academics usually don't sully themselves by interacting with non-academics, so the title doesn't matter. Source: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/style\/miss-manners-graduation-cake-is-to-be-eaten-not-reserved\/2014\/05\/20\/924f347c-dd23-11e3-b745-87d39690c5c0\\_story.html?utm\\_term=.ec322b423a9a","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4592.0,"score_ratio":1.2222222222} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esq96i1","c_root_id_B":"espqekx","created_at_utc_A":1562197958,"created_at_utc_B":1562188316,"score_A":11,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"It depends really strongly on where you are. Within Aus and NZ (as examples), it\u2019s less culturally acceptable to use titles. Most people will always go by their first name, and if you try to refer to a university lecturer or professor as \u201cprofessor\u201d, you\u2019ll be quickly asked to never do that again. Separating yourself out from the pack like that is a social faux pas, and the informality is actually a sign of respect. Insisting on keeping your title or insisting on referring to others by theirs is the disrespectful option.","human_ref_B":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9642.0,"score_ratio":1.8333333333} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"esq96i1","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562197958,"score_A":4,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"It depends really strongly on where you are. Within Aus and NZ (as examples), it\u2019s less culturally acceptable to use titles. Most people will always go by their first name, and if you try to refer to a university lecturer or professor as \u201cprofessor\u201d, you\u2019ll be quickly asked to never do that again. Separating yourself out from the pack like that is a social faux pas, and the informality is actually a sign of respect. Insisting on keeping your title or insisting on referring to others by theirs is the disrespectful option.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9774.0,"score_ratio":2.75} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espuvw7","c_root_id_B":"esq0ph3","created_at_utc_A":1562190454,"created_at_utc_B":1562193366,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Personally I just want to be treated like one of the guys, not like someone on a pedestal. If someone praises me or makes a big point of my credentials, including my PhD, I get uncomfortable.","human_ref_B":"As usual, Miss Manners has the answer: \"A PhD is like a nose \u2014 everyone has one. It\u2019s only conspicuous if you don\u2019t have one.\u201d Academics usually don't sully themselves by interacting with non-academics, so the title doesn't matter. Source: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/style\/miss-manners-graduation-cake-is-to-be-eaten-not-reserved\/2014\/05\/20\/924f347c-dd23-11e3-b745-87d39690c5c0\\_story.html?utm\\_term=.ec322b423a9a","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2912.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espqekx","c_root_id_B":"espuvw7","created_at_utc_A":1562188316,"created_at_utc_B":1562190454,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","human_ref_B":"Personally I just want to be treated like one of the guys, not like someone on a pedestal. If someone praises me or makes a big point of my credentials, including my PhD, I get uncomfortable.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2138.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espuvw7","c_root_id_B":"espq49z","created_at_utc_A":1562190454,"created_at_utc_B":1562188184,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Personally I just want to be treated like one of the guys, not like someone on a pedestal. If someone praises me or makes a big point of my credentials, including my PhD, I get uncomfortable.","human_ref_B":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2270.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espqekx","c_root_id_B":"esq0ph3","created_at_utc_A":1562188316,"created_at_utc_B":1562193366,"score_A":6,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","human_ref_B":"As usual, Miss Manners has the answer: \"A PhD is like a nose \u2014 everyone has one. It\u2019s only conspicuous if you don\u2019t have one.\u201d Academics usually don't sully themselves by interacting with non-academics, so the title doesn't matter. Source: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/style\/miss-manners-graduation-cake-is-to-be-eaten-not-reserved\/2014\/05\/20\/924f347c-dd23-11e3-b745-87d39690c5c0\\_story.html?utm\\_term=.ec322b423a9a","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5050.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"esq0ph3","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562193366,"score_A":4,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"As usual, Miss Manners has the answer: \"A PhD is like a nose \u2014 everyone has one. It\u2019s only conspicuous if you don\u2019t have one.\u201d Academics usually don't sully themselves by interacting with non-academics, so the title doesn't matter. Source: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/style\/miss-manners-graduation-cake-is-to-be-eaten-not-reserved\/2014\/05\/20\/924f347c-dd23-11e3-b745-87d39690c5c0\\_story.html?utm\\_term=.ec322b423a9a","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5182.0,"score_ratio":2.25} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esqcfry","c_root_id_B":"espqekx","created_at_utc_A":1562199759,"created_at_utc_B":1562188316,"score_A":7,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"This is just a funny note on the whole doctor thing. I live in a rural area, which is really backwards, still has racist undertones, and rampant sexual stereotypes. proper etiquette dictates that formal invitations should have Dr. in the invite. Several of my friends have sent me invites to Dr. Blank and Mr. so-and-so. My mail is almost never in my box, so I\u2019m sure several neighbors think we are a gay couple. Because you know- females can\u2019t get doctorates. And I didn\u2019t change my last name. So we are living out of wedlock according to everyone anyway. In all seriousness- I use Dr for undergrads because it\u2019s expected in our program. But I\u2019m not particular with graduate level students unless someone really really disrespected me. Then I insist on being called doctor. It\u2019s only happened once.","human_ref_B":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11443.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esqcfry","c_root_id_B":"espq49z","created_at_utc_A":1562199759,"created_at_utc_B":1562188184,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"This is just a funny note on the whole doctor thing. I live in a rural area, which is really backwards, still has racist undertones, and rampant sexual stereotypes. proper etiquette dictates that formal invitations should have Dr. in the invite. Several of my friends have sent me invites to Dr. Blank and Mr. so-and-so. My mail is almost never in my box, so I\u2019m sure several neighbors think we are a gay couple. Because you know- females can\u2019t get doctorates. And I didn\u2019t change my last name. So we are living out of wedlock according to everyone anyway. In all seriousness- I use Dr for undergrads because it\u2019s expected in our program. But I\u2019m not particular with graduate level students unless someone really really disrespected me. Then I insist on being called doctor. It\u2019s only happened once.","human_ref_B":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11575.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espqekx","c_root_id_B":"esqxk9k","created_at_utc_A":1562188316,"created_at_utc_B":1562211951,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","human_ref_B":"My adviser once said (as a joke) \"What's the big deal? All my friends are doctors.\" We spend our lives inside academia working with people who are doctors or will be soon. It's obnoxious to call everyone Dr. \"Dr. Jones, can you pass the sugar?\" \"Sure thing Dr. Smith.\" \"Have you seen Dr. Wu's ass lately? Looking fiiine!\" It gets silly. So when we interact with the non-academic public it's like we either suddenly have to put on this tuxedo and insist all the non-doctors start calling us doctor or just drop the whole thing. Also we look super humble and shit when we dont insist on it. I only use it when I teach kids in a school who are under 18. The schools insist on a 'Mr. Jones' kinda thing, so if I have to use a Mr. type title, then I use Dr. But with other adults, I dont need my title to argue that I'm smart and should be listened to. What I have to say and how I say it does that for me. It's like a walking argument from authority which I only need when I actually need authority, which I only need when I have to tell kids to sit down and stop licking the floors.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23635.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"esqxk9k","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562211951,"score_A":4,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"My adviser once said (as a joke) \"What's the big deal? All my friends are doctors.\" We spend our lives inside academia working with people who are doctors or will be soon. It's obnoxious to call everyone Dr. \"Dr. Jones, can you pass the sugar?\" \"Sure thing Dr. Smith.\" \"Have you seen Dr. Wu's ass lately? Looking fiiine!\" It gets silly. So when we interact with the non-academic public it's like we either suddenly have to put on this tuxedo and insist all the non-doctors start calling us doctor or just drop the whole thing. Also we look super humble and shit when we dont insist on it. I only use it when I teach kids in a school who are under 18. The schools insist on a 'Mr. Jones' kinda thing, so if I have to use a Mr. type title, then I use Dr. But with other adults, I dont need my title to argue that I'm smart and should be listened to. What I have to say and how I say it does that for me. It's like a walking argument from authority which I only need when I actually need authority, which I only need when I have to tell kids to sit down and stop licking the floors.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":23767.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esqrbg3","c_root_id_B":"esqxk9k","created_at_utc_A":1562208215,"created_at_utc_B":1562211951,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"It could be a regional thing but for major R-1s and Ivy League schools, faculty are always addressed as professor not doctor. In this context, not all doctors have a tenured or tenure-track position but virtually everyone teaching (at least in history) at the college as a doctorate, whether as professor or lecturer. To call someone \"doctor\" instead would be a little odd. I think it's more common in smaller schools and down South for some reason.","human_ref_B":"My adviser once said (as a joke) \"What's the big deal? All my friends are doctors.\" We spend our lives inside academia working with people who are doctors or will be soon. It's obnoxious to call everyone Dr. \"Dr. Jones, can you pass the sugar?\" \"Sure thing Dr. Smith.\" \"Have you seen Dr. Wu's ass lately? Looking fiiine!\" It gets silly. So when we interact with the non-academic public it's like we either suddenly have to put on this tuxedo and insist all the non-doctors start calling us doctor or just drop the whole thing. Also we look super humble and shit when we dont insist on it. I only use it when I teach kids in a school who are under 18. The schools insist on a 'Mr. Jones' kinda thing, so if I have to use a Mr. type title, then I use Dr. But with other adults, I dont need my title to argue that I'm smart and should be listened to. What I have to say and how I say it does that for me. It's like a walking argument from authority which I only need when I actually need authority, which I only need when I have to tell kids to sit down and stop licking the floors.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3736.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espqekx","c_root_id_B":"esr1i5d","created_at_utc_A":1562188316,"created_at_utc_B":1562214414,"score_A":6,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","human_ref_B":"I go by Dr. in every occasion one would ordinarily use \"Mr.\" instead. It's just that there aren't hardly any of those occasions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26098.0,"score_ratio":1.1666666667} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"esr1i5d","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562214414,"score_A":4,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"I go by Dr. in every occasion one would ordinarily use \"Mr.\" instead. It's just that there aren't hardly any of those occasions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":26230.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esqrbg3","c_root_id_B":"esr1i5d","created_at_utc_A":1562208215,"created_at_utc_B":1562214414,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"It could be a regional thing but for major R-1s and Ivy League schools, faculty are always addressed as professor not doctor. In this context, not all doctors have a tenured or tenure-track position but virtually everyone teaching (at least in history) at the college as a doctorate, whether as professor or lecturer. To call someone \"doctor\" instead would be a little odd. I think it's more common in smaller schools and down South for some reason.","human_ref_B":"I go by Dr. in every occasion one would ordinarily use \"Mr.\" instead. It's just that there aren't hardly any of those occasions.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6199.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esrengr","c_root_id_B":"espq49z","created_at_utc_A":1562223420,"created_at_utc_B":1562188184,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"This has been elaborately answered already, but I'll chip in: I'm on a first name basis with everyone, including my students. But I didn't do a PhD to be called \"Mrs\": if you want to use an honorific, it should be \"Dr\" or \"Professor\". Seriously, my students call me Miss or Mrs because they think I have the same education as their high school teachers, and it annoys the hell out of me.","human_ref_B":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":35236.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"esqrbg3","c_root_id_B":"esrengr","created_at_utc_A":1562208215,"created_at_utc_B":1562223420,"score_A":2,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"It could be a regional thing but for major R-1s and Ivy League schools, faculty are always addressed as professor not doctor. In this context, not all doctors have a tenured or tenure-track position but virtually everyone teaching (at least in history) at the college as a doctorate, whether as professor or lecturer. To call someone \"doctor\" instead would be a little odd. I think it's more common in smaller schools and down South for some reason.","human_ref_B":"This has been elaborately answered already, but I'll chip in: I'm on a first name basis with everyone, including my students. But I didn't do a PhD to be called \"Mrs\": if you want to use an honorific, it should be \"Dr\" or \"Professor\". Seriously, my students call me Miss or Mrs because they think I have the same education as their high school teachers, and it annoys the hell out of me.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":15205.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"c8tm4q","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.83,"history":"Why is it that all PhD holders do not use the title \u201cDoctor\u201d? I noticed in grad school several professors uncomfortable with being called \u201cDr. X.\u201d I get that my field is the humanities and that people do not regard our work as significant (unless our philosophies and theologies are plastered on Facebook), but I found all of my Professors to be incredibly wise, several literal geniuses - I couldn\u2019t hold a candle to these pioneers. Additionally, we never fail to refer to MLK as Dr. MLK - who also holds his doctorate in theology. So I\u2019m just curious to the Professors out there who don\u2019t like using Dr. - Why? You worked hard and I respect you! A history degree is just as important as the gal who prescribed your medications for arthritis. What\u2019s up?","c_root_id_A":"espq49z","c_root_id_B":"espqekx","created_at_utc_A":1562188184,"created_at_utc_B":1562188316,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Not a doctor, but in academia calling someone with a PhD doctor seems safer than calling them professor. They may be an instructor , adjunct, post doc, assistant professor, or full professor, etc. Is \u201cprofessor\u201d appropriate for all these different positions?","human_ref_B":"I don't care about people calling me \"Doctor\" in the context of my job, but out in the real world it feels very pretentious and I ask people not to do it.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":132.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ik6k65","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.97,"history":"I need insights on building trust between a Professor and a student in the research field. Do you find this behavior unacceptable? Hi, all. For the background, I am a 21 years old student from Asia, currently majoring in foreign literature & studies. On 15 August, my Prof asked me to join this international research seminar in my country which will be held on 29 September and the deadline of full paper submission is on 15 September this year. I think she found my paper in the research class which I did in the last semester is quite interesting, thus she chose me. I decided to move forward and she became my supervisor and co-author for these 2 weeks. The following day I sent my abstract to the conference commitee and the 2 days after that day I received a very \"excellent\" note from the conference reviewers. No revision, thanks God. Moreover, I realized that I needed to deepen my paper and wrote it from scratch because I was not very optimist with my lack style of writings (mind you. English is not my first language meanwhile I have to present and write it in English), however I still use the same variables from the former paper I've finished. Fast forward this morning, my Prof asked me wether I have finished making my video presentation which would due tonight. I told her that \"I am currently making it\", she said \"OK. I will wait\". The problem is I am not used to disappoint or make people waiting for me. I am not good at making and editing videos, coupled with the fact that my laptop is kinda slow, so it took hours for me to finish it. She messaged me again on 7 pm asking the same thing, unfortunately I had just gotten a chance to reply her on 9 PM along with sending the file of my video presentation. Just a few hours ago (now it's 4 AM. here), I found that the deadline of video presentation submission has been extended until 7 September and I still haven't heard from her which is quiye understandable since it was already past 10 PM at the time. I can't help but being very anxious right now, do you guys think my behavior is annoying and courteous as a student? Also, due to my resolution on rewriting it from the scratch I haven't even sent her my full paper yet, but I swear I will send it to her no later than thursday this week. If you guys were her, do you guys find it acceptable? Feedbacks are welcomed. Thank you.","c_root_id_A":"g3ip43k","c_root_id_B":"g3itul5","created_at_utc_A":1598909622,"created_at_utc_B":1598911988,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I'd be more nervous about what you mean by \"rewrite from scratch\". Is the substance vastly different? Or just a few words and styles?","human_ref_B":"To be frank, I have worked with profs, students and other colleagues for years and barely does anyone hand things in on the due date. I give my students an earlier deadline because I expect them to not be able to meet the first deadline.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2366.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"39rnq1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.82,"history":"I just graduated with my bachelors and I'm feeling a bit intimidated by research. What do people suggest for getting over this feeling? My bachelors was in Wildlife Ecology, now I am at a temporary seasonal position working in the field. I want to continue on to graduate school, mainly because I want to keep learning and I want to do relevant things to contribute to science. I just often feel like I'm falling short and the competition is too high. I'm a bit concerned about where to go from here. What have people done to get over their feelings of being inadequate?","c_root_id_A":"cs5u01q","c_root_id_B":"cs5yiz3","created_at_utc_A":1434250312,"created_at_utc_B":1434262159,"score_A":8,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"You would do well to read about Imposter Syndrome. A lot of those posts deal with the same feelings you're having now.","human_ref_B":"Relevant article: The importance of stupidity in scientific research","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11847.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"39rnq1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.82,"history":"I just graduated with my bachelors and I'm feeling a bit intimidated by research. What do people suggest for getting over this feeling? My bachelors was in Wildlife Ecology, now I am at a temporary seasonal position working in the field. I want to continue on to graduate school, mainly because I want to keep learning and I want to do relevant things to contribute to science. I just often feel like I'm falling short and the competition is too high. I'm a bit concerned about where to go from here. What have people done to get over their feelings of being inadequate?","c_root_id_A":"cs5vt4q","c_root_id_B":"cs5yiz3","created_at_utc_A":1434254692,"created_at_utc_B":1434262159,"score_A":2,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I had a similar experience when I started my MA program; I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do it. The only thing I can offer is that your bachelor's degree is designed to prepare you for higher level study. It may feel like you don't have the skills, but you 100% do. Honestly, the only thing that helped me overcome feelings that I wouldn't make it in grad school was just do the work. Once you get going in your research, you realize how much you love and why grad school was the best choice. If you feel like you want to and you are accepted into a program, then I firmly believe you can do this.","human_ref_B":"Relevant article: The importance of stupidity in scientific research","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7467.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"39rnq1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.82,"history":"I just graduated with my bachelors and I'm feeling a bit intimidated by research. What do people suggest for getting over this feeling? My bachelors was in Wildlife Ecology, now I am at a temporary seasonal position working in the field. I want to continue on to graduate school, mainly because I want to keep learning and I want to do relevant things to contribute to science. I just often feel like I'm falling short and the competition is too high. I'm a bit concerned about where to go from here. What have people done to get over their feelings of being inadequate?","c_root_id_A":"cs634jc","c_root_id_B":"cs5zcko","created_at_utc_A":1434282041,"created_at_utc_B":1434264922,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Research is just that though: saying \"I don't know this. I'm going to find out.\" I mean to say that while you don't (feel that you) know how to do lots of things, it doesn't matter because you're gonna find out by looking for it :)","human_ref_B":"> What do people suggest for getting over this feeling? Get comfortable functioning with it. I'm only a second year grad student, but I don't think it ever goes away completely. Eventually you'll feel pretty proficient in your specific area of research, but there will always be so much that is new to you that you think everyone else has mastered. Some people will have (just like you might master the small slice of the field that your thesis is embedded in), but lots of people who sound intelligent talking about things are actually just as intimidated and unsure as you are feeling. The important thing is to still be able to function with this feeling. You can feel intimidated by something new at first, but don't let that steer you away from getting knee deep in it! A good mantra that I keep in mind when feeling particularly overwhelmed by all the things I encounter that I don't know (and maybe even feel like I *should* already know by now) is that they're only things that I don't understand *yet*, not things that I can *never* know. That helps motivate me to start getting a handle on things one at a time instead of being paralyzed by the sheer volume of things I feel this way about.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":17119.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"39rnq1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.82,"history":"I just graduated with my bachelors and I'm feeling a bit intimidated by research. What do people suggest for getting over this feeling? My bachelors was in Wildlife Ecology, now I am at a temporary seasonal position working in the field. I want to continue on to graduate school, mainly because I want to keep learning and I want to do relevant things to contribute to science. I just often feel like I'm falling short and the competition is too high. I'm a bit concerned about where to go from here. What have people done to get over their feelings of being inadequate?","c_root_id_A":"cs5zcko","c_root_id_B":"cs5vt4q","created_at_utc_A":1434264922,"created_at_utc_B":1434254692,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"> What do people suggest for getting over this feeling? Get comfortable functioning with it. I'm only a second year grad student, but I don't think it ever goes away completely. Eventually you'll feel pretty proficient in your specific area of research, but there will always be so much that is new to you that you think everyone else has mastered. Some people will have (just like you might master the small slice of the field that your thesis is embedded in), but lots of people who sound intelligent talking about things are actually just as intimidated and unsure as you are feeling. The important thing is to still be able to function with this feeling. You can feel intimidated by something new at first, but don't let that steer you away from getting knee deep in it! A good mantra that I keep in mind when feeling particularly overwhelmed by all the things I encounter that I don't know (and maybe even feel like I *should* already know by now) is that they're only things that I don't understand *yet*, not things that I can *never* know. That helps motivate me to start getting a handle on things one at a time instead of being paralyzed by the sheer volume of things I feel this way about.","human_ref_B":"I had a similar experience when I started my MA program; I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do it. The only thing I can offer is that your bachelor's degree is designed to prepare you for higher level study. It may feel like you don't have the skills, but you 100% do. Honestly, the only thing that helped me overcome feelings that I wouldn't make it in grad school was just do the work. Once you get going in your research, you realize how much you love and why grad school was the best choice. If you feel like you want to and you are accepted into a program, then I firmly believe you can do this.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10230.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"39rnq1","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.82,"history":"I just graduated with my bachelors and I'm feeling a bit intimidated by research. What do people suggest for getting over this feeling? My bachelors was in Wildlife Ecology, now I am at a temporary seasonal position working in the field. I want to continue on to graduate school, mainly because I want to keep learning and I want to do relevant things to contribute to science. I just often feel like I'm falling short and the competition is too high. I'm a bit concerned about where to go from here. What have people done to get over their feelings of being inadequate?","c_root_id_A":"cs634jc","c_root_id_B":"cs5vt4q","created_at_utc_A":1434282041,"created_at_utc_B":1434254692,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Research is just that though: saying \"I don't know this. I'm going to find out.\" I mean to say that while you don't (feel that you) know how to do lots of things, it doesn't matter because you're gonna find out by looking for it :)","human_ref_B":"I had a similar experience when I started my MA program; I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do it. The only thing I can offer is that your bachelor's degree is designed to prepare you for higher level study. It may feel like you don't have the skills, but you 100% do. Honestly, the only thing that helped me overcome feelings that I wouldn't make it in grad school was just do the work. Once you get going in your research, you realize how much you love and why grad school was the best choice. If you feel like you want to and you are accepted into a program, then I firmly believe you can do this.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":27349.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"lmaq0z","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.86,"history":"How much time do you spend on objectively meaningless administrative tasks? As I re-attached a filled out form to an email thread that already contains it for the third time today, I wonder why my university, especially with its new obsession with efficiency, has never asked me this question. What I deem objectively meaningless includes: * Duplication of information. e.g. I have to add my publications to at least 3 databases all build or commissioned by the university. * Following up on requests for information. e.g. Have you received that form. I need it back signed by next Friday. Then again on Monday, Wednesday. Then I have to find out how hard the deadline actually was come Friday. * Filling out forms that no one reads. e.g. no one reads academic workplans. * Filling out forms where only one piece of information is needed. e.g. scholarship payment request form should have 3 pieces of information (student ID, amount, cost code), rather than 3 pages of irrelevant things. * Compliance and due diligence. e.g. does a paleoclimatologist really need to fill out forms declaring their research is not restricted technology? Have I forgotten any? How much time do you spend doing these tasks? (Answer on this Twitter poll if you want: https:\/\/twitter.com\/csferrie\/status\/1362199390081880068.)","c_root_id_A":"gnuirxz","c_root_id_B":"gnv375a","created_at_utc_A":1613619913,"created_at_utc_B":1613633234,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I bet I spend 10% of my time on bullshit like this.","human_ref_B":"\\> I have to add my publications to at least 3 databases all build or commissioned by the university. My uni has a system with ORCID integration. So I thought, neat, link it to ORCID and they have my publications. But no! It's set up to write *to* ORCID, but won't pull *from* ORCID. In the end I had to revoke the permissions because the system kept overwriting my curated information on ORCID. Just, why?!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13321.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxzb6ik","c_root_id_B":"dxz0np5","created_at_utc_A":1524709510,"created_at_utc_B":1524699520,"score_A":17,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"Professors who get tips like this are in the same position as you. They'll feel a moral obligation to do something, but also not want to deal with the hassle. In particular, the professor will probably have to do a significant amount of paperwork and also put their reputation on the line if the student decides to fight back. Yeah, the professor probably wins, but it's a lot to deal with. My suggestion is to tell the professor informally, and allow them to take it up if they feel like standing on principle. If you decide you want something done regardless of what your professor decides, then go to some administrative authority first. Myself and most people I know (TAs and authority figures) generally try to, basically, make the kid know they were caught and feel bad \/ appologize but don't actually take administrative action. That's for things like looking at the student next to you though. The thing you witnessed, if they really were paying someone for answers, sounds significantly worse.","human_ref_B":"Tell your professor, discretely in office hours.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9990.0,"score_ratio":1.0625} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz8awy","c_root_id_B":"dxzb6ik","created_at_utc_A":1524706898,"created_at_utc_B":1524709510,"score_A":12,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Personally I would not do anything. There's nothing to gain by telling someone, but there could potentially be negative consequences for you. Unless your grade depends on how well others do nobody suffers any consequences from the person cheating, so whatever.","human_ref_B":"Professors who get tips like this are in the same position as you. They'll feel a moral obligation to do something, but also not want to deal with the hassle. In particular, the professor will probably have to do a significant amount of paperwork and also put their reputation on the line if the student decides to fight back. Yeah, the professor probably wins, but it's a lot to deal with. My suggestion is to tell the professor informally, and allow them to take it up if they feel like standing on principle. If you decide you want something done regardless of what your professor decides, then go to some administrative authority first. Myself and most people I know (TAs and authority figures) generally try to, basically, make the kid know they were caught and feel bad \/ appologize but don't actually take administrative action. That's for things like looking at the student next to you though. The thing you witnessed, if they really were paying someone for answers, sounds significantly worse.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2612.0,"score_ratio":1.4166666667} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxzb6ik","c_root_id_B":"dxz9sx5","created_at_utc_A":1524709510,"created_at_utc_B":1524708210,"score_A":17,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Professors who get tips like this are in the same position as you. They'll feel a moral obligation to do something, but also not want to deal with the hassle. In particular, the professor will probably have to do a significant amount of paperwork and also put their reputation on the line if the student decides to fight back. Yeah, the professor probably wins, but it's a lot to deal with. My suggestion is to tell the professor informally, and allow them to take it up if they feel like standing on principle. If you decide you want something done regardless of what your professor decides, then go to some administrative authority first. Myself and most people I know (TAs and authority figures) generally try to, basically, make the kid know they were caught and feel bad \/ appologize but don't actually take administrative action. That's for things like looking at the student next to you though. The thing you witnessed, if they really were paying someone for answers, sounds significantly worse.","human_ref_B":"If there is a curve, then absolutely find a discreet way to tip off your Professor. If there is not a curve, then let it go. It won't affect you and she'll likely face some natural consequences, whether she gets caught for cheating or she just screws herself over by not learning the material.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1300.0,"score_ratio":2.4285714286} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz2mcw","c_root_id_B":"dxzb6ik","created_at_utc_A":1524701426,"created_at_utc_B":1524709510,"score_A":5,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"I should add students with disabilities, for example, can be discretely granted additional time\/early access to course material, and also access to notes and similar materials not allowed for other students. I'm not saying you're wrong - just passing along the idea you may also not be right.","human_ref_B":"Professors who get tips like this are in the same position as you. They'll feel a moral obligation to do something, but also not want to deal with the hassle. In particular, the professor will probably have to do a significant amount of paperwork and also put their reputation on the line if the student decides to fight back. Yeah, the professor probably wins, but it's a lot to deal with. My suggestion is to tell the professor informally, and allow them to take it up if they feel like standing on principle. If you decide you want something done regardless of what your professor decides, then go to some administrative authority first. Myself and most people I know (TAs and authority figures) generally try to, basically, make the kid know they were caught and feel bad \/ appologize but don't actually take administrative action. That's for things like looking at the student next to you though. The thing you witnessed, if they really were paying someone for answers, sounds significantly worse.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":8084.0,"score_ratio":3.4} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxzb6ik","c_root_id_B":"dxz6lfv","created_at_utc_A":1524709510,"created_at_utc_B":1524705244,"score_A":17,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Professors who get tips like this are in the same position as you. They'll feel a moral obligation to do something, but also not want to deal with the hassle. In particular, the professor will probably have to do a significant amount of paperwork and also put their reputation on the line if the student decides to fight back. Yeah, the professor probably wins, but it's a lot to deal with. My suggestion is to tell the professor informally, and allow them to take it up if they feel like standing on principle. If you decide you want something done regardless of what your professor decides, then go to some administrative authority first. Myself and most people I know (TAs and authority figures) generally try to, basically, make the kid know they were caught and feel bad \/ appologize but don't actually take administrative action. That's for things like looking at the student next to you though. The thing you witnessed, if they really were paying someone for answers, sounds significantly worse.","human_ref_B":"I feel like this would be worth turning in an anonymous tip. A professor may or may not decide to pursue it further, but it is up to that professor to ensure the integrity of the course. I would appreciate being notified of something so blatant. Usually this kind of thing washes out because the student will perform poorly on exams if they\u2019ve been cheating, but it depends on how the course is structured. The professor could easily ask her to explain how she arrived at some of the answers to see if they actually understood the work they submitted. At the least, a warning would likely be beneficial to the offending student\u2019s future.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4266.0,"score_ratio":5.6666666667} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz7r0i","c_root_id_B":"dxzb6ik","created_at_utc_A":1524706363,"created_at_utc_B":1524709510,"score_A":2,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"OP mentioned it was a TAKE HOME MIDTERM. What did you think was going to happen? Just the same as I don\u2019t know OP or his or her circumstances the same can be said about the cheater. Had the professor been truly concerned with the midterm results they\u2019d all be in the exam hall taking their midterms. Also OP I wasn\u2019t trying to offend you. Just find it funny this is genuinely bothering you. Look at all the time and effort you\u2019ve already put into making this issue your own issue. Unless this is personally affecting your grade, mind your business.","human_ref_B":"Professors who get tips like this are in the same position as you. They'll feel a moral obligation to do something, but also not want to deal with the hassle. In particular, the professor will probably have to do a significant amount of paperwork and also put their reputation on the line if the student decides to fight back. Yeah, the professor probably wins, but it's a lot to deal with. My suggestion is to tell the professor informally, and allow them to take it up if they feel like standing on principle. If you decide you want something done regardless of what your professor decides, then go to some administrative authority first. Myself and most people I know (TAs and authority figures) generally try to, basically, make the kid know they were caught and feel bad \/ appologize but don't actually take administrative action. That's for things like looking at the student next to you though. The thing you witnessed, if they really were paying someone for answers, sounds significantly worse.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3147.0,"score_ratio":8.5} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz0np5","c_root_id_B":"dxzapkh","created_at_utc_A":1524699520,"created_at_utc_B":1524709081,"score_A":16,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"Tell your professor, discretely in office hours.","human_ref_B":"At my university, I would be in violation of the code of academic conduct if I didn't report cheating by another student. You may want to check that for your own. The chances of you getting in trouble for it are slim, obviously, but it would give you a feel for what your school's expectations are in these situations.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9561.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxzapkh","c_root_id_B":"dxz8awy","created_at_utc_A":1524709081,"created_at_utc_B":1524706898,"score_A":20,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"At my university, I would be in violation of the code of academic conduct if I didn't report cheating by another student. You may want to check that for your own. The chances of you getting in trouble for it are slim, obviously, but it would give you a feel for what your school's expectations are in these situations.","human_ref_B":"Personally I would not do anything. There's nothing to gain by telling someone, but there could potentially be negative consequences for you. Unless your grade depends on how well others do nobody suffers any consequences from the person cheating, so whatever.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2183.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxzapkh","c_root_id_B":"dxz9sx5","created_at_utc_A":1524709081,"created_at_utc_B":1524708210,"score_A":20,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"At my university, I would be in violation of the code of academic conduct if I didn't report cheating by another student. You may want to check that for your own. The chances of you getting in trouble for it are slim, obviously, but it would give you a feel for what your school's expectations are in these situations.","human_ref_B":"If there is a curve, then absolutely find a discreet way to tip off your Professor. If there is not a curve, then let it go. It won't affect you and she'll likely face some natural consequences, whether she gets caught for cheating or she just screws herself over by not learning the material.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":871.0,"score_ratio":2.8571428571} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxzapkh","c_root_id_B":"dxz2mcw","created_at_utc_A":1524709081,"created_at_utc_B":1524701426,"score_A":20,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"At my university, I would be in violation of the code of academic conduct if I didn't report cheating by another student. You may want to check that for your own. The chances of you getting in trouble for it are slim, obviously, but it would give you a feel for what your school's expectations are in these situations.","human_ref_B":"I should add students with disabilities, for example, can be discretely granted additional time\/early access to course material, and also access to notes and similar materials not allowed for other students. I'm not saying you're wrong - just passing along the idea you may also not be right.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7655.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz6lfv","c_root_id_B":"dxzapkh","created_at_utc_A":1524705244,"created_at_utc_B":1524709081,"score_A":3,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"I feel like this would be worth turning in an anonymous tip. A professor may or may not decide to pursue it further, but it is up to that professor to ensure the integrity of the course. I would appreciate being notified of something so blatant. Usually this kind of thing washes out because the student will perform poorly on exams if they\u2019ve been cheating, but it depends on how the course is structured. The professor could easily ask her to explain how she arrived at some of the answers to see if they actually understood the work they submitted. At the least, a warning would likely be beneficial to the offending student\u2019s future.","human_ref_B":"At my university, I would be in violation of the code of academic conduct if I didn't report cheating by another student. You may want to check that for your own. The chances of you getting in trouble for it are slim, obviously, but it would give you a feel for what your school's expectations are in these situations.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3837.0,"score_ratio":6.6666666667} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxzapkh","c_root_id_B":"dxz7r0i","created_at_utc_A":1524709081,"created_at_utc_B":1524706363,"score_A":20,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"At my university, I would be in violation of the code of academic conduct if I didn't report cheating by another student. You may want to check that for your own. The chances of you getting in trouble for it are slim, obviously, but it would give you a feel for what your school's expectations are in these situations.","human_ref_B":"OP mentioned it was a TAKE HOME MIDTERM. What did you think was going to happen? Just the same as I don\u2019t know OP or his or her circumstances the same can be said about the cheater. Had the professor been truly concerned with the midterm results they\u2019d all be in the exam hall taking their midterms. Also OP I wasn\u2019t trying to offend you. Just find it funny this is genuinely bothering you. Look at all the time and effort you\u2019ve already put into making this issue your own issue. Unless this is personally affecting your grade, mind your business.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2718.0,"score_ratio":10.0} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz8awy","c_root_id_B":"dxz2mcw","created_at_utc_A":1524706898,"created_at_utc_B":1524701426,"score_A":12,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Personally I would not do anything. There's nothing to gain by telling someone, but there could potentially be negative consequences for you. Unless your grade depends on how well others do nobody suffers any consequences from the person cheating, so whatever.","human_ref_B":"I should add students with disabilities, for example, can be discretely granted additional time\/early access to course material, and also access to notes and similar materials not allowed for other students. I'm not saying you're wrong - just passing along the idea you may also not be right.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5472.0,"score_ratio":2.4} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz8awy","c_root_id_B":"dxz6lfv","created_at_utc_A":1524706898,"created_at_utc_B":1524705244,"score_A":12,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Personally I would not do anything. There's nothing to gain by telling someone, but there could potentially be negative consequences for you. Unless your grade depends on how well others do nobody suffers any consequences from the person cheating, so whatever.","human_ref_B":"I feel like this would be worth turning in an anonymous tip. A professor may or may not decide to pursue it further, but it is up to that professor to ensure the integrity of the course. I would appreciate being notified of something so blatant. Usually this kind of thing washes out because the student will perform poorly on exams if they\u2019ve been cheating, but it depends on how the course is structured. The professor could easily ask her to explain how she arrived at some of the answers to see if they actually understood the work they submitted. At the least, a warning would likely be beneficial to the offending student\u2019s future.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1654.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz7r0i","c_root_id_B":"dxz8awy","created_at_utc_A":1524706363,"created_at_utc_B":1524706898,"score_A":2,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"OP mentioned it was a TAKE HOME MIDTERM. What did you think was going to happen? Just the same as I don\u2019t know OP or his or her circumstances the same can be said about the cheater. Had the professor been truly concerned with the midterm results they\u2019d all be in the exam hall taking their midterms. Also OP I wasn\u2019t trying to offend you. Just find it funny this is genuinely bothering you. Look at all the time and effort you\u2019ve already put into making this issue your own issue. Unless this is personally affecting your grade, mind your business.","human_ref_B":"Personally I would not do anything. There's nothing to gain by telling someone, but there could potentially be negative consequences for you. Unless your grade depends on how well others do nobody suffers any consequences from the person cheating, so whatever.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":535.0,"score_ratio":6.0} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz2mcw","c_root_id_B":"dxz9sx5","created_at_utc_A":1524701426,"created_at_utc_B":1524708210,"score_A":5,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I should add students with disabilities, for example, can be discretely granted additional time\/early access to course material, and also access to notes and similar materials not allowed for other students. I'm not saying you're wrong - just passing along the idea you may also not be right.","human_ref_B":"If there is a curve, then absolutely find a discreet way to tip off your Professor. If there is not a curve, then let it go. It won't affect you and she'll likely face some natural consequences, whether she gets caught for cheating or she just screws herself over by not learning the material.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6784.0,"score_ratio":1.4} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz9sx5","c_root_id_B":"dxz6lfv","created_at_utc_A":1524708210,"created_at_utc_B":1524705244,"score_A":7,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"If there is a curve, then absolutely find a discreet way to tip off your Professor. If there is not a curve, then let it go. It won't affect you and she'll likely face some natural consequences, whether she gets caught for cheating or she just screws herself over by not learning the material.","human_ref_B":"I feel like this would be worth turning in an anonymous tip. A professor may or may not decide to pursue it further, but it is up to that professor to ensure the integrity of the course. I would appreciate being notified of something so blatant. Usually this kind of thing washes out because the student will perform poorly on exams if they\u2019ve been cheating, but it depends on how the course is structured. The professor could easily ask her to explain how she arrived at some of the answers to see if they actually understood the work they submitted. At the least, a warning would likely be beneficial to the offending student\u2019s future.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2966.0,"score_ratio":2.3333333333} {"post_id":"8exx73","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.76,"history":"Witnessed a classmate cheating. What's the best course of action? I'm an undergraduate taking a senior-level math class (it's cross-registered with grad students) and we recently received a take-home midterm. I sit next to this girl in class and I noticed she was working on the test before class started (it's due this Friday). She had her laptop out and was straight up copying down the answers from something she found online. In particular, it appeared that she had paid someone to upload a solution set on Chegg, because there's no way our teacher would've given us questions that you could easily google. What should I do here? Just mind my own business? I feel like I'm inadvertently doing something wrong by not speaking up.","c_root_id_A":"dxz7r0i","c_root_id_B":"dxz9sx5","created_at_utc_A":1524706363,"created_at_utc_B":1524708210,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"OP mentioned it was a TAKE HOME MIDTERM. What did you think was going to happen? Just the same as I don\u2019t know OP or his or her circumstances the same can be said about the cheater. Had the professor been truly concerned with the midterm results they\u2019d all be in the exam hall taking their midterms. Also OP I wasn\u2019t trying to offend you. Just find it funny this is genuinely bothering you. Look at all the time and effort you\u2019ve already put into making this issue your own issue. Unless this is personally affecting your grade, mind your business.","human_ref_B":"If there is a curve, then absolutely find a discreet way to tip off your Professor. If there is not a curve, then let it go. It won't affect you and she'll likely face some natural consequences, whether she gets caught for cheating or she just screws herself over by not learning the material.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1847.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"g2111x","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Transition from Dr. to first name with former professor I started working as an RA for one of my professors during undergrad. Now I've been working for her as an RA for almost a year post-graduation. I still address her as \"Dr. xxx\", and it's starting to feel a little weird. Everyone else on our team calls her by her first name, although they're all most senior and older than me by 6+ years. I feel like I should start using her first name, but wouldn't the transition be weird? lol","c_root_id_A":"fnj6nsf","c_root_id_B":"fniuwh8","created_at_utc_A":1586992976,"created_at_utc_B":1586986788,"score_A":15,"score_B":12,"human_ref_A":"I still call old professors Dr X years and years after both graduating and adding Dr. to the front of my own name and becoming a professor myself. Just a habit I suppose. But that's just who they are to me.","human_ref_B":"You could always ask her how she prefers to be addressed now that you\u2019ve been working together for some time.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6188.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"8tk6zt","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"State universities and SLACs as separate career tracks? My doctoral psychology advisor left our large state university and tried to get a job at a small liberal arts college, but told me that she found out in the process that those only hire professors who did their undergrad and educational careers at SLACs, preferably the one they want to work in. She did her whole career in state universities, and found a job in another state university. I have never heard of this before, but looking up the faculty of the department she wanted, every single one went to a SLAC throughout their career. Is it true that for psychology your undergrad effectively tracks you into state vs. SLAC which persists throughout your professional career? If so why does no one ever say so?","c_root_id_A":"e183sre","c_root_id_B":"e18h99w","created_at_utc_A":1529868764,"created_at_utc_B":1529883250,"score_A":12,"score_B":16,"human_ref_A":"> those only hire professors who did their undergrad and educational careers at SLACs, preferably the one they want to work in There are specific SLACs where this practice is rumored to exist (hello, Swarthmore and Williams), albeit I suspect it is department to department even there. In general, this is horseshit. SLACs want to see teaching experience and demonstrated understanding of their mission. Going to a SLAC is a nice segue to a discussion of the latter, but in the same way that mentioning that your grandma died of cancer is a nice segue to discussing why you want to do cancer research in your SOP. It's cute, but it won't get you in. edit: SLACs want to see teaching experience (but also research experience)","human_ref_B":"I did my PhD at a pretty fabulous R1, and BS and MS at state schools. I'm now psychology faculty at a rural SLAC, and since being hired I've sat on two search committees. At my institution, at least, \\*we want people who are going to stay.\\* A big school with research focus and undergrads as just sort of a hazy, noisy background is really not conducive to producing the kind of faculty that fit at my school. Many last a few years before becoming completely disillusioned and then bounce for a higher-ranked research institution. OR, they wanted to use us as a stepping stone to a \"real university.\" Now we've gotta drop another few thousand dollars on another search. If they graduated from a SLAC then they know what it's about. How did I make the jump? By actually having teaching experience and a meaningful teaching philosophy. I made sure to emphasize how my research would provide great opportunities for undergrads and that I knew the limitations of the institution. (We don't do R01s, but I'm going for an AREA, for example.) I could feel the skepticism coming from the committee while I was interviewing, but I guess I convinced them. It didn't hurt that it is a rural school with less competition for the position. tl;dr: SLACs want people who know what SLAC is about. The easiest way to get that is hiring a SLAC grad. It is not, however, the only way.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":14486.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"8tk6zt","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"State universities and SLACs as separate career tracks? My doctoral psychology advisor left our large state university and tried to get a job at a small liberal arts college, but told me that she found out in the process that those only hire professors who did their undergrad and educational careers at SLACs, preferably the one they want to work in. She did her whole career in state universities, and found a job in another state university. I have never heard of this before, but looking up the faculty of the department she wanted, every single one went to a SLAC throughout their career. Is it true that for psychology your undergrad effectively tracks you into state vs. SLAC which persists throughout your professional career? If so why does no one ever say so?","c_root_id_A":"e18h99w","c_root_id_B":"e18gjqo","created_at_utc_A":1529883250,"created_at_utc_B":1529882420,"score_A":16,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I did my PhD at a pretty fabulous R1, and BS and MS at state schools. I'm now psychology faculty at a rural SLAC, and since being hired I've sat on two search committees. At my institution, at least, \\*we want people who are going to stay.\\* A big school with research focus and undergrads as just sort of a hazy, noisy background is really not conducive to producing the kind of faculty that fit at my school. Many last a few years before becoming completely disillusioned and then bounce for a higher-ranked research institution. OR, they wanted to use us as a stepping stone to a \"real university.\" Now we've gotta drop another few thousand dollars on another search. If they graduated from a SLAC then they know what it's about. How did I make the jump? By actually having teaching experience and a meaningful teaching philosophy. I made sure to emphasize how my research would provide great opportunities for undergrads and that I knew the limitations of the institution. (We don't do R01s, but I'm going for an AREA, for example.) I could feel the skepticism coming from the committee while I was interviewing, but I guess I convinced them. It didn't hurt that it is a rural school with less competition for the position. tl;dr: SLACs want people who know what SLAC is about. The easiest way to get that is hiring a SLAC grad. It is not, however, the only way.","human_ref_B":"FWIW, I went to a large state school and then did a visiting position at a SLAC and then to a TT position at a SLAC. You have to show that you understand what a SLAC is about and be ready to talk about it, but not a requirement.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":830.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"8tk6zt","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"State universities and SLACs as separate career tracks? My doctoral psychology advisor left our large state university and tried to get a job at a small liberal arts college, but told me that she found out in the process that those only hire professors who did their undergrad and educational careers at SLACs, preferably the one they want to work in. She did her whole career in state universities, and found a job in another state university. I have never heard of this before, but looking up the faculty of the department she wanted, every single one went to a SLAC throughout their career. Is it true that for psychology your undergrad effectively tracks you into state vs. SLAC which persists throughout your professional career? If so why does no one ever say so?","c_root_id_A":"e18h99w","c_root_id_B":"e184b15","created_at_utc_A":1529883250,"created_at_utc_B":1529869258,"score_A":16,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I did my PhD at a pretty fabulous R1, and BS and MS at state schools. I'm now psychology faculty at a rural SLAC, and since being hired I've sat on two search committees. At my institution, at least, \\*we want people who are going to stay.\\* A big school with research focus and undergrads as just sort of a hazy, noisy background is really not conducive to producing the kind of faculty that fit at my school. Many last a few years before becoming completely disillusioned and then bounce for a higher-ranked research institution. OR, they wanted to use us as a stepping stone to a \"real university.\" Now we've gotta drop another few thousand dollars on another search. If they graduated from a SLAC then they know what it's about. How did I make the jump? By actually having teaching experience and a meaningful teaching philosophy. I made sure to emphasize how my research would provide great opportunities for undergrads and that I knew the limitations of the institution. (We don't do R01s, but I'm going for an AREA, for example.) I could feel the skepticism coming from the committee while I was interviewing, but I guess I convinced them. It didn't hurt that it is a rural school with less competition for the position. tl;dr: SLACs want people who know what SLAC is about. The easiest way to get that is hiring a SLAC grad. It is not, however, the only way.","human_ref_B":"No, it's not a certainty, but it can help. It's obviously not a given at every SLAC, because nearly all of my professors did their UGs at state schools. However, I've found I've had a relatively easy time (compared to the rest of the academic search) parlaying my SLAC experience into a visiting position and interviews at other SLACs. That said, I had a much bigger uptick in interest once I had teaching experience at a state school (actually, even before i had any real experience - just once it appeared on my CV) - there is no one factor that guarantees or eliminates you from one track or the other, but there are certainly things to make it easier or more difficult.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13992.0,"score_ratio":2.2857142857} {"post_id":"8tk6zt","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"State universities and SLACs as separate career tracks? My doctoral psychology advisor left our large state university and tried to get a job at a small liberal arts college, but told me that she found out in the process that those only hire professors who did their undergrad and educational careers at SLACs, preferably the one they want to work in. She did her whole career in state universities, and found a job in another state university. I have never heard of this before, but looking up the faculty of the department she wanted, every single one went to a SLAC throughout their career. Is it true that for psychology your undergrad effectively tracks you into state vs. SLAC which persists throughout your professional career? If so why does no one ever say so?","c_root_id_A":"e184b15","c_root_id_B":"e18gjqo","created_at_utc_A":1529869258,"created_at_utc_B":1529882420,"score_A":7,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"No, it's not a certainty, but it can help. It's obviously not a given at every SLAC, because nearly all of my professors did their UGs at state schools. However, I've found I've had a relatively easy time (compared to the rest of the academic search) parlaying my SLAC experience into a visiting position and interviews at other SLACs. That said, I had a much bigger uptick in interest once I had teaching experience at a state school (actually, even before i had any real experience - just once it appeared on my CV) - there is no one factor that guarantees or eliminates you from one track or the other, but there are certainly things to make it easier or more difficult.","human_ref_B":"FWIW, I went to a large state school and then did a visiting position at a SLAC and then to a TT position at a SLAC. You have to show that you understand what a SLAC is about and be ready to talk about it, but not a requirement.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13162.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"b3hrxm","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Is it exclusionary to only accept electronic assignments (as opposed to pen & paper)? I wanted to get the opinion of other instructors\/professors\/TA's about whether or not requiring that students submit assignments online would potentially be exclusionary to economically disadvantaged students. Do you think having a laptop\/computer access is simply a requisite of attending college at this point, or should we be sensitive to the possibility that students don't have easy computer access? Of course, there are computer labs, etc. on campus. My motivation for this post is mainly my frustration with students' sloppiness\/illegible writing as well as the physical waste of paper (and my energy lugging the paper around) with on-paper assignments.","c_root_id_A":"eizv1ly","c_root_id_B":"eizoglv","created_at_utc_A":1553122319,"created_at_utc_B":1553117920,"score_A":55,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"I think my students see printed assignments as more exclusionary because the computer lab is free but they have to pay for printing.","human_ref_B":"Do students not have access to campus computers? Also, with paper hand ins they require students to come to campus which isn\u2019t always easy for all students to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4399.0,"score_ratio":6.875} {"post_id":"b3hrxm","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Is it exclusionary to only accept electronic assignments (as opposed to pen & paper)? I wanted to get the opinion of other instructors\/professors\/TA's about whether or not requiring that students submit assignments online would potentially be exclusionary to economically disadvantaged students. Do you think having a laptop\/computer access is simply a requisite of attending college at this point, or should we be sensitive to the possibility that students don't have easy computer access? Of course, there are computer labs, etc. on campus. My motivation for this post is mainly my frustration with students' sloppiness\/illegible writing as well as the physical waste of paper (and my energy lugging the paper around) with on-paper assignments.","c_root_id_A":"eizoxkb","c_root_id_B":"eizv1ly","created_at_utc_A":1553118218,"created_at_utc_B":1553122319,"score_A":5,"score_B":55,"human_ref_A":"I do most stuff online through the LMS. They get more immediate feedback and it keeps records of their work and log-ins. I can even give then 2 attempts and stuff like that that I can do with a paper assignment. Essays and papers etc have to be in Word. I always put in the syllabus and mention in class that if anyone has economic problems or disabilities that would make this a hardship they should talk to me about it before the stuff is due. I started doing exams online in class also, in the LMS. I still offer paper exams for people who prefer it, but it is a HUGE time saver for grading. It doesn't make their writing any better, but at least I can read it, the multiple choice answers are auto graded.","human_ref_B":"I think my students see printed assignments as more exclusionary because the computer lab is free but they have to pay for printing.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":4101.0,"score_ratio":11.0} {"post_id":"b3hrxm","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Is it exclusionary to only accept electronic assignments (as opposed to pen & paper)? I wanted to get the opinion of other instructors\/professors\/TA's about whether or not requiring that students submit assignments online would potentially be exclusionary to economically disadvantaged students. Do you think having a laptop\/computer access is simply a requisite of attending college at this point, or should we be sensitive to the possibility that students don't have easy computer access? Of course, there are computer labs, etc. on campus. My motivation for this post is mainly my frustration with students' sloppiness\/illegible writing as well as the physical waste of paper (and my energy lugging the paper around) with on-paper assignments.","c_root_id_A":"ej05czi","c_root_id_B":"eizoglv","created_at_utc_A":1553129737,"created_at_utc_B":1553117920,"score_A":27,"score_B":8,"human_ref_A":"No. If they have an accommodation related to being unable to access a computer, you\u2019ll get a letter to that effect. If you follow that line of thought, textbooks are exclusionary. Pencils are exclusionary. Homework that takes time outside of class is exclusionary, etc.","human_ref_B":"Do students not have access to campus computers? Also, with paper hand ins they require students to come to campus which isn\u2019t always easy for all students to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11817.0,"score_ratio":3.375} {"post_id":"b3hrxm","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Is it exclusionary to only accept electronic assignments (as opposed to pen & paper)? I wanted to get the opinion of other instructors\/professors\/TA's about whether or not requiring that students submit assignments online would potentially be exclusionary to economically disadvantaged students. Do you think having a laptop\/computer access is simply a requisite of attending college at this point, or should we be sensitive to the possibility that students don't have easy computer access? Of course, there are computer labs, etc. on campus. My motivation for this post is mainly my frustration with students' sloppiness\/illegible writing as well as the physical waste of paper (and my energy lugging the paper around) with on-paper assignments.","c_root_id_A":"ej05czi","c_root_id_B":"eizoxkb","created_at_utc_A":1553129737,"created_at_utc_B":1553118218,"score_A":27,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"No. If they have an accommodation related to being unable to access a computer, you\u2019ll get a letter to that effect. If you follow that line of thought, textbooks are exclusionary. Pencils are exclusionary. Homework that takes time outside of class is exclusionary, etc.","human_ref_B":"I do most stuff online through the LMS. They get more immediate feedback and it keeps records of their work and log-ins. I can even give then 2 attempts and stuff like that that I can do with a paper assignment. Essays and papers etc have to be in Word. I always put in the syllabus and mention in class that if anyone has economic problems or disabilities that would make this a hardship they should talk to me about it before the stuff is due. I started doing exams online in class also, in the LMS. I still offer paper exams for people who prefer it, but it is a HUGE time saver for grading. It doesn't make their writing any better, but at least I can read it, the multiple choice answers are auto graded.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11519.0,"score_ratio":5.4} {"post_id":"b3hrxm","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Is it exclusionary to only accept electronic assignments (as opposed to pen & paper)? I wanted to get the opinion of other instructors\/professors\/TA's about whether or not requiring that students submit assignments online would potentially be exclusionary to economically disadvantaged students. Do you think having a laptop\/computer access is simply a requisite of attending college at this point, or should we be sensitive to the possibility that students don't have easy computer access? Of course, there are computer labs, etc. on campus. My motivation for this post is mainly my frustration with students' sloppiness\/illegible writing as well as the physical waste of paper (and my energy lugging the paper around) with on-paper assignments.","c_root_id_A":"eizvg7i","c_root_id_B":"ej05czi","created_at_utc_A":1553122598,"created_at_utc_B":1553129737,"score_A":3,"score_B":27,"human_ref_A":"I have a paperless course, so I tell students the first day that they need to have consistent access to a computer\/tablet and the internet. It's in my syllabus. I use Google Docs and Google Drive for everything. Smaller assignments can even be done from their phones. I haven't had anyone drop or complain yet.","human_ref_B":"No. If they have an accommodation related to being unable to access a computer, you\u2019ll get a letter to that effect. If you follow that line of thought, textbooks are exclusionary. Pencils are exclusionary. Homework that takes time outside of class is exclusionary, etc.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7139.0,"score_ratio":9.0} {"post_id":"b3hrxm","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Is it exclusionary to only accept electronic assignments (as opposed to pen & paper)? I wanted to get the opinion of other instructors\/professors\/TA's about whether or not requiring that students submit assignments online would potentially be exclusionary to economically disadvantaged students. Do you think having a laptop\/computer access is simply a requisite of attending college at this point, or should we be sensitive to the possibility that students don't have easy computer access? Of course, there are computer labs, etc. on campus. My motivation for this post is mainly my frustration with students' sloppiness\/illegible writing as well as the physical waste of paper (and my energy lugging the paper around) with on-paper assignments.","c_root_id_A":"ej0boyl","c_root_id_B":"eizvg7i","created_at_utc_A":1553134455,"created_at_utc_B":1553122598,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think computers are actually an explicit requirement of many programs now. And even of they aren't, surely they have access to campus computers I'm the library, or in computer lab or wherever. I think this is completely reasonable.","human_ref_B":"I have a paperless course, so I tell students the first day that they need to have consistent access to a computer\/tablet and the internet. It's in my syllabus. I use Google Docs and Google Drive for everything. Smaller assignments can even be done from their phones. I haven't had anyone drop or complain yet.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11857.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"b3hrxm","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.88,"history":"Is it exclusionary to only accept electronic assignments (as opposed to pen & paper)? I wanted to get the opinion of other instructors\/professors\/TA's about whether or not requiring that students submit assignments online would potentially be exclusionary to economically disadvantaged students. Do you think having a laptop\/computer access is simply a requisite of attending college at this point, or should we be sensitive to the possibility that students don't have easy computer access? Of course, there are computer labs, etc. on campus. My motivation for this post is mainly my frustration with students' sloppiness\/illegible writing as well as the physical waste of paper (and my energy lugging the paper around) with on-paper assignments.","c_root_id_A":"eizvg7i","c_root_id_B":"ej0dci7","created_at_utc_A":1553122598,"created_at_utc_B":1553135740,"score_A":3,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I have a paperless course, so I tell students the first day that they need to have consistent access to a computer\/tablet and the internet. It's in my syllabus. I use Google Docs and Google Drive for everything. Smaller assignments can even be done from their phones. I haven't had anyone drop or complain yet.","human_ref_B":"We have a computer lab, free to use, lots of machines available. If a computer is a requirement then there has to be an accommodation for those who fry their machine by spilling a drink, dropping it, etc, and who can't afford another.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13142.0,"score_ratio":1.3333333333} {"post_id":"l2322r","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.91,"history":"How do I have hobbies and a life outside academia? I'm in grad school and my whole life is academia. Honestly I never had a problem with it until one of my coworkers pointed out that I'm a workaholic who only gets joy out of writing papers and that I'm going to be miserable if I don't change. I don't have any hobbies or interests outside my discipline because nothing is even remotely as satisfying. Picking up new hobbies seems pointless because they all seem like too much work for basically zero returns. I'm not the kind of person who gets enjoyment from the process. \"Relaxing\" activities have never worked for me, I just think about the useful things I could be doing instead. In undergrad I was in Greek Life so I had some work-life balance i.e. my hobby was partying. I'm not sure if I'm just crazy but the only thing fun to me is working or doing something really intense (partying, bungee jumping, diving, I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie). Obviously most hobbies don't measure up to this level of intensity so it's all just painfully boring to me. Plus academia is just fulfilling on a level nothing else is. But I gotta change before I get burnt out or become a shell of a person with no interests. This has already become a problem when people ask me to talk about myself and all I can do is talk about my work and like, a random show I saw on Netflix. Help, guys. How do I be a well-rounded person not addicted to academia.","c_root_id_A":"gk5f9va","c_root_id_B":"gk5ir4n","created_at_utc_A":1611296083,"created_at_utc_B":1611298856,"score_A":3,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I'd suggest taking up some kind of physical activity. I had a good friend in my PhD cohort who practiced martial arts. It kept her balanced. I had another friend who fenced. Find something that keeps your body moving, and get into it.","human_ref_B":"My husband is a workaholic with no real hobbies. He\u2019s lucky enough to have found a career he loves so much. Other than work, his main focus in life is me and our family. He seems to be living his best life, so I\u2019d agree with the other commenter who said to include a focus on relationships in your life!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2773.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"m0n6gc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.7,"history":"What Do We Call Ourselves?! @ Latin American Academics Calling all **Latin American Academics**! How the HECK do you refer to our general community in your papers?! Latinx? Latino\/a? Hispanic? Latine? I've heard opinions from all sides, and I'm still unsure. :( I've heard arguments for and against all of them. * The term Hispanic doesn't include indigenous communities * The term Latino\/Latina isn't gender-neutral * The term Latinx is western-focused because it's incredibly hard to use when you're ACTUALLY speaking Spanish. * The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I've tried looking for papers by people in our community who discuss the term they believe is most appropriate but can't find much. A manuscript I'm working on *(population is mainly Mexican, with a few from other Latin American countries)* recently got fully rejected from a journal and one of the comments I got was from a reviewer who got upset at our use of \"Latinx\". But I'm not sure what to substitute it with! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! What do you use? Do you have or know of any papers that discuss this?","c_root_id_A":"gq8wf8v","c_root_id_B":"gq949aw","created_at_utc_A":1615232839,"created_at_utc_B":1615236234,"score_A":7,"score_B":20,"human_ref_A":"In my field, everyone just uses Hispanic. I\u2019m a white researcher tho, so my opinion isn\u2019t really relevant. But the top five Latino authors I\u2019ve read (who write about topics specific to Latino populations and issues) all use Hispanic as well\u2014not necessarily because they favor it but because it\u2019s just what\u2019s used in our field. Afaik there isn\u2019t really much leniency on this\u2014an MS wouldn\u2019t get rejected for using another term, but the editor would likely ask you to change the term just to match the common usage in our field. We also exclusively use Black instead of African American. And we always say male or female rather than man or woman. I know those comparisons aren\u2019t the same, but they\u2019re meant to show that there\u2019s certain conventions used within our field that many of us follow even if we use different terms colloquially.","human_ref_B":"Latino is gender neutral. Or you could just say the Latin community or Latin American community.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3395.0,"score_ratio":2.8571428571} {"post_id":"m0n6gc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.7,"history":"What Do We Call Ourselves?! @ Latin American Academics Calling all **Latin American Academics**! How the HECK do you refer to our general community in your papers?! Latinx? Latino\/a? Hispanic? Latine? I've heard opinions from all sides, and I'm still unsure. :( I've heard arguments for and against all of them. * The term Hispanic doesn't include indigenous communities * The term Latino\/Latina isn't gender-neutral * The term Latinx is western-focused because it's incredibly hard to use when you're ACTUALLY speaking Spanish. * The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I've tried looking for papers by people in our community who discuss the term they believe is most appropriate but can't find much. A manuscript I'm working on *(population is mainly Mexican, with a few from other Latin American countries)* recently got fully rejected from a journal and one of the comments I got was from a reviewer who got upset at our use of \"Latinx\". But I'm not sure what to substitute it with! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! What do you use? Do you have or know of any papers that discuss this?","c_root_id_A":"gq9tl4r","c_root_id_B":"gq94czq","created_at_utc_A":1615248377,"created_at_utc_B":1615236278,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"I'm Latin American (Mexican specifically) and the most widely used term in STEM is 'Latin American community' or 'Latin American academia'. I think both Latino\/Latina and Hispanic are more common in the US, not a lot of people refer to themselves as Latino\/Hispanic outside of the US, especially when speaking in Spanish. I know a lot of people who are more in social science or humanities circles who use -x or -e endings comfortably in casual settings but institutionally\/in formal settings use other inclusive alternatives such as saying \"Latinos and Latinas\" because doing otherwise sparks unwanted and unrelated discourse both within academia and among the general public. It's more wordy to include both but it's the least controversial and what I've seen in academic texts\/events. Some argue it's not truly neutral though, but it's hard because all nouns in Spanish are gendered. It's a controversial issue for sure, I've definitely witnessed very heated debates about this and I'm uncertain if -x or -e will ever become widely used anywhere. For that reason I'd stick to Latin American or Latino and Latina.","human_ref_B":">The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I'm curious if the \"isn't really accepted yet\" is more of an issue among or outside of Latin Americans in academia? I previously lived with two Latin American grad students who used the gender neutral -e very comfortably and confidently and said it was the norm within their academic and social circles, but I'm wondering how far that extends.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":12099.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"m0n6gc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.7,"history":"What Do We Call Ourselves?! @ Latin American Academics Calling all **Latin American Academics**! How the HECK do you refer to our general community in your papers?! Latinx? Latino\/a? Hispanic? Latine? I've heard opinions from all sides, and I'm still unsure. :( I've heard arguments for and against all of them. * The term Hispanic doesn't include indigenous communities * The term Latino\/Latina isn't gender-neutral * The term Latinx is western-focused because it's incredibly hard to use when you're ACTUALLY speaking Spanish. * The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I've tried looking for papers by people in our community who discuss the term they believe is most appropriate but can't find much. A manuscript I'm working on *(population is mainly Mexican, with a few from other Latin American countries)* recently got fully rejected from a journal and one of the comments I got was from a reviewer who got upset at our use of \"Latinx\". But I'm not sure what to substitute it with! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! What do you use? Do you have or know of any papers that discuss this?","c_root_id_A":"gq9tl4r","c_root_id_B":"gq97pkd","created_at_utc_A":1615248377,"created_at_utc_B":1615237731,"score_A":7,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I'm Latin American (Mexican specifically) and the most widely used term in STEM is 'Latin American community' or 'Latin American academia'. I think both Latino\/Latina and Hispanic are more common in the US, not a lot of people refer to themselves as Latino\/Hispanic outside of the US, especially when speaking in Spanish. I know a lot of people who are more in social science or humanities circles who use -x or -e endings comfortably in casual settings but institutionally\/in formal settings use other inclusive alternatives such as saying \"Latinos and Latinas\" because doing otherwise sparks unwanted and unrelated discourse both within academia and among the general public. It's more wordy to include both but it's the least controversial and what I've seen in academic texts\/events. Some argue it's not truly neutral though, but it's hard because all nouns in Spanish are gendered. It's a controversial issue for sure, I've definitely witnessed very heated debates about this and I'm uncertain if -x or -e will ever become widely used anywhere. For that reason I'd stick to Latin American or Latino and Latina.","human_ref_B":"I'm not a Latin American academic, but I attend a lot of conferences that are geared toward Latin Americans in STEM. The term I hear used most commonly by members of that population to refer to themselves is Latinx, so that's what I use. I also have some NSF-funded grants, and in the last go-round the program officer asked us to change our terminology to Latino\/Latina or Latinx (formerly we used Hispanic). So the NSF, or at least the directorate I was dealing with, was using that terminology as well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10646.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"m0n6gc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.7,"history":"What Do We Call Ourselves?! @ Latin American Academics Calling all **Latin American Academics**! How the HECK do you refer to our general community in your papers?! Latinx? Latino\/a? Hispanic? Latine? I've heard opinions from all sides, and I'm still unsure. :( I've heard arguments for and against all of them. * The term Hispanic doesn't include indigenous communities * The term Latino\/Latina isn't gender-neutral * The term Latinx is western-focused because it's incredibly hard to use when you're ACTUALLY speaking Spanish. * The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I've tried looking for papers by people in our community who discuss the term they believe is most appropriate but can't find much. A manuscript I'm working on *(population is mainly Mexican, with a few from other Latin American countries)* recently got fully rejected from a journal and one of the comments I got was from a reviewer who got upset at our use of \"Latinx\". But I'm not sure what to substitute it with! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! What do you use? Do you have or know of any papers that discuss this?","c_root_id_A":"gq94czq","c_root_id_B":"gqa0vvd","created_at_utc_A":1615236278,"created_at_utc_B":1615252354,"score_A":4,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":">The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I'm curious if the \"isn't really accepted yet\" is more of an issue among or outside of Latin Americans in academia? I previously lived with two Latin American grad students who used the gender neutral -e very comfortably and confidently and said it was the norm within their academic and social circles, but I'm wondering how far that extends.","human_ref_B":"Very good question!! I think this speaks to the larger issue of difficulty of naming the community of those of us who descend from Latin America. Obviously we can\u2019t go around just saying \u201cthose who descend from Latin America,\u201d but I do think it\u2019s important to look at how different institutions validate certain terms. Government is tied to Hispanic, many universities use Latino, and some use Latinx (such as Harvard\u2019s grad minor in Latinx studies). I don\u2019t think it\u2019s great for your reviewer to have been uncomfortable with your use of the word Latinx, however, when many use the term already. I would say to use the term that you feel most comfortable with, and perhaps consider inserting a footnote that says something along the lines of \u201cI use [term] in this paper to refer to those who descend from Latin America. Although this term is contested, it encompasses [x y z].\u201d Might be a way of clarifying your term of choice for the reviewer\/reader, and even provide an entry point for terms such as Latine for entering academia.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":16076.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"m0n6gc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.7,"history":"What Do We Call Ourselves?! @ Latin American Academics Calling all **Latin American Academics**! How the HECK do you refer to our general community in your papers?! Latinx? Latino\/a? Hispanic? Latine? I've heard opinions from all sides, and I'm still unsure. :( I've heard arguments for and against all of them. * The term Hispanic doesn't include indigenous communities * The term Latino\/Latina isn't gender-neutral * The term Latinx is western-focused because it's incredibly hard to use when you're ACTUALLY speaking Spanish. * The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I've tried looking for papers by people in our community who discuss the term they believe is most appropriate but can't find much. A manuscript I'm working on *(population is mainly Mexican, with a few from other Latin American countries)* recently got fully rejected from a journal and one of the comments I got was from a reviewer who got upset at our use of \"Latinx\". But I'm not sure what to substitute it with! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! What do you use? Do you have or know of any papers that discuss this?","c_root_id_A":"gqa0vvd","c_root_id_B":"gq97pkd","created_at_utc_A":1615252354,"created_at_utc_B":1615237731,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Very good question!! I think this speaks to the larger issue of difficulty of naming the community of those of us who descend from Latin America. Obviously we can\u2019t go around just saying \u201cthose who descend from Latin America,\u201d but I do think it\u2019s important to look at how different institutions validate certain terms. Government is tied to Hispanic, many universities use Latino, and some use Latinx (such as Harvard\u2019s grad minor in Latinx studies). I don\u2019t think it\u2019s great for your reviewer to have been uncomfortable with your use of the word Latinx, however, when many use the term already. I would say to use the term that you feel most comfortable with, and perhaps consider inserting a footnote that says something along the lines of \u201cI use [term] in this paper to refer to those who descend from Latin America. Although this term is contested, it encompasses [x y z].\u201d Might be a way of clarifying your term of choice for the reviewer\/reader, and even provide an entry point for terms such as Latine for entering academia.","human_ref_B":"I'm not a Latin American academic, but I attend a lot of conferences that are geared toward Latin Americans in STEM. The term I hear used most commonly by members of that population to refer to themselves is Latinx, so that's what I use. I also have some NSF-funded grants, and in the last go-round the program officer asked us to change our terminology to Latino\/Latina or Latinx (formerly we used Hispanic). So the NSF, or at least the directorate I was dealing with, was using that terminology as well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14623.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"m0n6gc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.7,"history":"What Do We Call Ourselves?! @ Latin American Academics Calling all **Latin American Academics**! How the HECK do you refer to our general community in your papers?! Latinx? Latino\/a? Hispanic? Latine? I've heard opinions from all sides, and I'm still unsure. :( I've heard arguments for and against all of them. * The term Hispanic doesn't include indigenous communities * The term Latino\/Latina isn't gender-neutral * The term Latinx is western-focused because it's incredibly hard to use when you're ACTUALLY speaking Spanish. * The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I've tried looking for papers by people in our community who discuss the term they believe is most appropriate but can't find much. A manuscript I'm working on *(population is mainly Mexican, with a few from other Latin American countries)* recently got fully rejected from a journal and one of the comments I got was from a reviewer who got upset at our use of \"Latinx\". But I'm not sure what to substitute it with! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! What do you use? Do you have or know of any papers that discuss this?","c_root_id_A":"gqa2lf6","c_root_id_B":"gq97pkd","created_at_utc_A":1615253283,"created_at_utc_B":1615237731,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It is a big controversy, because Americans in general talk about Hispanic people when they talk about Latinamerican people that were born in Mexico. I believe the best term by \u201c La Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola\u201d is Latin American People.This term will Include all Spanish speaking countries in \u201c Latinoam\u00e9rica \u201c in English should be a Latinoamerican, nowadays it will be better because it is a neutral term in English, but not in Spanish. I will forget everything else, because does not come from an authority academic source in the Spanish language.","human_ref_B":"I'm not a Latin American academic, but I attend a lot of conferences that are geared toward Latin Americans in STEM. The term I hear used most commonly by members of that population to refer to themselves is Latinx, so that's what I use. I also have some NSF-funded grants, and in the last go-round the program officer asked us to change our terminology to Latino\/Latina or Latinx (formerly we used Hispanic). So the NSF, or at least the directorate I was dealing with, was using that terminology as well.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15552.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"m0n6gc","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.7,"history":"What Do We Call Ourselves?! @ Latin American Academics Calling all **Latin American Academics**! How the HECK do you refer to our general community in your papers?! Latinx? Latino\/a? Hispanic? Latine? I've heard opinions from all sides, and I'm still unsure. :( I've heard arguments for and against all of them. * The term Hispanic doesn't include indigenous communities * The term Latino\/Latina isn't gender-neutral * The term Latinx is western-focused because it's incredibly hard to use when you're ACTUALLY speaking Spanish. * The term Latine (my personal preference) isn't really accepted yet. I've tried looking for papers by people in our community who discuss the term they believe is most appropriate but can't find much. A manuscript I'm working on *(population is mainly Mexican, with a few from other Latin American countries)* recently got fully rejected from a journal and one of the comments I got was from a reviewer who got upset at our use of \"Latinx\". But I'm not sure what to substitute it with! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! What do you use? Do you have or know of any papers that discuss this?","c_root_id_A":"gq97pkd","c_root_id_B":"gqcwro4","created_at_utc_A":1615237731,"created_at_utc_B":1615315145,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I'm not a Latin American academic, but I attend a lot of conferences that are geared toward Latin Americans in STEM. The term I hear used most commonly by members of that population to refer to themselves is Latinx, so that's what I use. I also have some NSF-funded grants, and in the last go-round the program officer asked us to change our terminology to Latino\/Latina or Latinx (formerly we used Hispanic). So the NSF, or at least the directorate I was dealing with, was using that terminology as well.","human_ref_B":"I refer to geography (e.g., Mexican, Central American, Carribean, South American). If more nuance is needed then I refer to ethnicity (e.g., Amerindigenous).","labels":0,"seconds_difference":77414.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ovlnkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Tips for teaching graduate students for the first time I\u2019m a newly graduated PhD who is going to teach some graduate courses in the fall. Since I just received my degree a few days ago, I\u2019m still feeling it\u2019s unreal that i\u2019ll be a faculty member in just a month. Maybe some imposter syndrome is in play, but I was wondering how your first experience of teaching graduate students was, particularly if you were about the same age as most of them. Anything you would\u2019ve done differently in terms of dealing with graduate students in or outside your classroom? I\u2019m definitely considering to wear some professional outfit to make myself look more serious, but any other strategies you find helpful in boosting your confidence in teaching graduate students and gaining respect from them. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"h7bb0e3","c_root_id_B":"h7atuj0","created_at_utc_A":1627826167,"created_at_utc_B":1627814483,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Graduate students vary a lot in their knowledge and abilities. Don\u2019t be afraid if there are topics where some clearly know more than you. Let them shine. You are an expert in the course you developed so focus on integrating the knowledge they share with the learning goals of the class. Also, this is a learning experience for you too. You aren\u2019t done growing as a scholar so embrace the opportunity to learn from your students, deepen your own knowledge, and develop your teaching skills. I always think it\u2019s important to dress professional but projecting professionalism goes beyond your wardrobe. I can\u2019t emphasize enough that you need to be confident in what you know and honest about what you don\u2019t know. PhD students are pretty good BS detectors. Good luck!","human_ref_B":"Insecurity and imposter syndrome are the devil. It tends to feed on everything. Benign questions from students are misinterpreted as them being difficult. If you stumble upon something that you don't know, you can't acknowledge that and you get stuck instead. Etcetera. You got the job for a reason. Someone who knows what you know wanted you to teach these people. Other than that, my main tip for any teaching is to never overestimate the students' prior knowledge and never underestimate their intelligence. They are just as smart as we are. They just know less about stuff that we care about -- and that is why they are there in the first place. Often people confuse the two. (It's a bit like talking louder to someone who doesn't understand English.) Edit: And congrats! Welcome to the club!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11684.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"ovlnkb","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Tips for teaching graduate students for the first time I\u2019m a newly graduated PhD who is going to teach some graduate courses in the fall. Since I just received my degree a few days ago, I\u2019m still feeling it\u2019s unreal that i\u2019ll be a faculty member in just a month. Maybe some imposter syndrome is in play, but I was wondering how your first experience of teaching graduate students was, particularly if you were about the same age as most of them. Anything you would\u2019ve done differently in terms of dealing with graduate students in or outside your classroom? I\u2019m definitely considering to wear some professional outfit to make myself look more serious, but any other strategies you find helpful in boosting your confidence in teaching graduate students and gaining respect from them. Thanks!","c_root_id_A":"h7bb0e3","c_root_id_B":"h7barx6","created_at_utc_A":1627826167,"created_at_utc_B":1627826040,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Graduate students vary a lot in their knowledge and abilities. Don\u2019t be afraid if there are topics where some clearly know more than you. Let them shine. You are an expert in the course you developed so focus on integrating the knowledge they share with the learning goals of the class. Also, this is a learning experience for you too. You aren\u2019t done growing as a scholar so embrace the opportunity to learn from your students, deepen your own knowledge, and develop your teaching skills. I always think it\u2019s important to dress professional but projecting professionalism goes beyond your wardrobe. I can\u2019t emphasize enough that you need to be confident in what you know and honest about what you don\u2019t know. PhD students are pretty good BS detectors. Good luck!","human_ref_B":"Congrats on finishing your PhD! I\u2019ve been teaching Masters and Doc level courses for about five years, shortly after earning my doctorate. My greatest advice is to be transparent about the course outcomes (what they are going to learn and be able to do at the of your course). Communicate weekly about the outcomes and, if possible, build flexibility into how the students demonstrate the outcomes. This may seem obvious, but I\u2019ve found the more I clearly connect the content and work with outcomes, the more grad students appreciate the class. Knock \u2018em dead!","labels":1,"seconds_difference":127.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh74g6l","c_root_id_B":"gh74fj4","created_at_utc_A":1609087851,"created_at_utc_B":1609087840,"score_A":68,"score_B":43,"human_ref_A":"One thing to keep in mind is that your research interests are likely to change dramatically during grad school, being at a larger school will allow you more opportunities for cross collaboration etc. Another thing- depending on the school, the R2 may have fewer resources (microscopes, grants, etc etc etc) which can affect your progress and ability to gather data and if you apply for funding, all of that matters. Further, it seems a bit strange to me that your work could be so specialized straight out of undergrad that the bigger school (with a medical school attached I'd assume) wouldn't have people working on what you are interested in. That said- I think the #1 thing I would base my decision on is fit with potential advisor(s), this is the single biggest factor in your happiness during your PhD work.","human_ref_B":"It's not about snobbishness. R1s are on average going to have a lot more institutional resources and support for your research. The faculty are also on average better connected and better at getting grants. Obviously it's an institutional average, so it's possible the best department at an r2 might be better than the worst department at an r1 but you don't know if that's the case. I would also look carefully into the departments, not rely on the name of the thing - non traditional departments can be a disaster because everyone has a dual appointment somewhere else. You'll have to look into these department\/program\/advisor specifically.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11.0,"score_ratio":1.5813953488} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7ca96","c_root_id_B":"gh76jtx","created_at_utc_A":1609092080,"created_at_utc_B":1609089005,"score_A":18,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"A lot depends on one important factor. What do you want to do with your PhD? There are second level STEM PhD programs out there that might be fantastic for people interested in a specific outcome of a job in, say, industry. A local major company may have a long relationship with that school and want to hire grads for its technical positions. It\u2019s also possible that a national Academy level person just happens to be working at a second level PhD program and you will be bolstered by your association with them for academic positions But if you are interested in getting a research job at a research 1 University nothing replaces getting your PhD at a top 10 or at most top 20 PhD program. In many fields, such as in the humanities, getting your PhD in anything less than the top 20 is decreasing your already decreased chances. The first bit of research you need to do is to find out where the people who have gone before you are going. Take a look at graduates of the same PhD program over the last five years. Are they getting the jobs that you would wish to get? If not, what makes you think you will be the exception?","human_ref_B":"call me crazy...but I think you should study the thing you are the most excited about. that R2 sounds like it's a better \"fit\" for what you want to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3075.0,"score_ratio":3.6} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7gkym","c_root_id_B":"gh7rld6","created_at_utc_A":1609094294,"created_at_utc_B":1609099913,"score_A":6,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"Some R2 schools might be better than some R1. You can check the criteria from wikipedia. If a school is specialized in narrow STEM fields, they do not qualify for R1 school. In my field, I frequently find nice research output from R2 schools such as Lehigh, Michigan Tech, and Colorado School of Mines.","human_ref_B":"Best advice I was given was to go to a school where my needs would be met to help set me up for the next stage of my career. Pick a place with mentors and stable funding.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5619.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7k386","c_root_id_B":"gh7rld6","created_at_utc_A":1609096056,"created_at_utc_B":1609099913,"score_A":6,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I went and checked out the R2 list. A friend who graduated an R1 with me teaches at an R2. He is a rockstar in his field and you would do well to have him as an advisor. He would also have good industry connections... Point being? It\u2019s still all about the advisor. If someone is getting major grants at an R2, you are going to be fine. As others have mentioned though, on the whole you want the R1. If you don\u2019t have any good fits at the R1s, you should definitely take the R2 that\u2019s a great fit rather than potentially flounder at an R1 and drop out.","human_ref_B":"Best advice I was given was to go to a school where my needs would be met to help set me up for the next stage of my career. Pick a place with mentors and stable funding.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":3857.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7rld6","c_root_id_B":"gh76jtx","created_at_utc_A":1609099913,"created_at_utc_B":1609089005,"score_A":10,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Best advice I was given was to go to a school where my needs would be met to help set me up for the next stage of my career. Pick a place with mentors and stable funding.","human_ref_B":"call me crazy...but I think you should study the thing you are the most excited about. that R2 sounds like it's a better \"fit\" for what you want to do.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10908.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7rld6","c_root_id_B":"gh7igwi","created_at_utc_A":1609099913,"created_at_utc_B":1609095237,"score_A":10,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Best advice I was given was to go to a school where my needs would be met to help set me up for the next stage of my career. Pick a place with mentors and stable funding.","human_ref_B":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4676.0,"score_ratio":5.0} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7nd46","c_root_id_B":"gh7rld6","created_at_utc_A":1609097746,"created_at_utc_B":1609099913,"score_A":3,"score_B":10,"human_ref_A":"I feel like throughout my academic career, I was so hyperfocused on graduating and getting ahead and starting to bring in an income, I missed out on what *I* wanted to do. In retrospect, I chose a career that I am poorly suited towards because I knew I could get a job and make money. I am currently very miserable and full of regret. Going for the shiny gold star might seem like the obvious and best choice, but you may end up totally regretting it in ten years when you are stuck doing something you don't want to do. Do what feels internally fulfilling to you rather than what is externally validating. I promise you external validation is no pathway to fulfillment or happiness. That validation dries up pretty quick, loses its luster, and there you will be, living with whatever choice you made. (I learned my lesson) best of luck to you in your decision.","human_ref_B":"Best advice I was given was to go to a school where my needs would be met to help set me up for the next stage of my career. Pick a place with mentors and stable funding.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2167.0,"score_ratio":3.3333333333} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh76jtx","c_root_id_B":"gh7gkym","created_at_utc_A":1609089005,"created_at_utc_B":1609094294,"score_A":5,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"call me crazy...but I think you should study the thing you are the most excited about. that R2 sounds like it's a better \"fit\" for what you want to do.","human_ref_B":"Some R2 schools might be better than some R1. You can check the criteria from wikipedia. If a school is specialized in narrow STEM fields, they do not qualify for R1 school. In my field, I frequently find nice research output from R2 schools such as Lehigh, Michigan Tech, and Colorado School of Mines.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5289.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh76jtx","c_root_id_B":"gh7k386","created_at_utc_A":1609089005,"created_at_utc_B":1609096056,"score_A":5,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"call me crazy...but I think you should study the thing you are the most excited about. that R2 sounds like it's a better \"fit\" for what you want to do.","human_ref_B":"I went and checked out the R2 list. A friend who graduated an R1 with me teaches at an R2. He is a rockstar in his field and you would do well to have him as an advisor. He would also have good industry connections... Point being? It\u2019s still all about the advisor. If someone is getting major grants at an R2, you are going to be fine. As others have mentioned though, on the whole you want the R1. If you don\u2019t have any good fits at the R1s, you should definitely take the R2 that\u2019s a great fit rather than potentially flounder at an R1 and drop out.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":7051.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7k386","c_root_id_B":"gh7igwi","created_at_utc_A":1609096056,"created_at_utc_B":1609095237,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I went and checked out the R2 list. A friend who graduated an R1 with me teaches at an R2. He is a rockstar in his field and you would do well to have him as an advisor. He would also have good industry connections... Point being? It\u2019s still all about the advisor. If someone is getting major grants at an R2, you are going to be fine. As others have mentioned though, on the whole you want the R1. If you don\u2019t have any good fits at the R1s, you should definitely take the R2 that\u2019s a great fit rather than potentially flounder at an R1 and drop out.","human_ref_B":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":819.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh88xqq","c_root_id_B":"gh7igwi","created_at_utc_A":1609108662,"created_at_utc_B":1609095237,"score_A":5,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I think you should ask this question in \/r\/labrats, you might get different answers compared to this sub","human_ref_B":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":13425.0,"score_ratio":2.5} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh88xqq","c_root_id_B":"gh7nd46","created_at_utc_A":1609108662,"created_at_utc_B":1609097746,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think you should ask this question in \/r\/labrats, you might get different answers compared to this sub","human_ref_B":"I feel like throughout my academic career, I was so hyperfocused on graduating and getting ahead and starting to bring in an income, I missed out on what *I* wanted to do. In retrospect, I chose a career that I am poorly suited towards because I knew I could get a job and make money. I am currently very miserable and full of regret. Going for the shiny gold star might seem like the obvious and best choice, but you may end up totally regretting it in ten years when you are stuck doing something you don't want to do. Do what feels internally fulfilling to you rather than what is externally validating. I promise you external validation is no pathway to fulfillment or happiness. That validation dries up pretty quick, loses its luster, and there you will be, living with whatever choice you made. (I learned my lesson) best of luck to you in your decision.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":10916.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh88xqq","c_root_id_B":"gh7x91n","created_at_utc_A":1609108662,"created_at_utc_B":1609102765,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think you should ask this question in \/r\/labrats, you might get different answers compared to this sub","human_ref_B":"It depends on your goals after graduation. It also depends on the professional reputation and resources of your advisor. There are really big deal names at smaller places and you can benefit from this. Though that will depend on if your goals after graduation will also put you in a specialized position and the people hiring therefore would know your PI. On the other hand, if you are going to be applying for generic faculty positions in biology departments, the people in your search may not know how big of a deal your PI is in your specialty. The other thing, coming from an R2, you are probably going to need to work harder and have more productivity (more papers, land a fellowship, etc.) than someone coming from a top university to \"prove\" your worth if you are going the academic route. You will also probably need to plan to do an outstanding post-doc to balance out your PhD institution (though if you have a big deal PI, that will probably not be a problem, they can call in a favor). Another thing to consider are university level resources. Do they have the equipment and facilities to do research well? They could. At my little podunk university there are a few faculty that have enough grant money that their graduate students have everything that need for research. But while they have money, there is nothing outside of their grant money. For example, there is no institutional support for student travel and our grant office sucks if you are trying to land a fellowship. You also will probably not have an outstanding cohort to share your graduate experience with (but maybe you will, hard to tell). One of the things l like to ask is to see what recent graduates have gone on to do. If they match your goals, then this is a good sign the school will work for you. For example, if the R1 labs have run off half of their students and they never graduated, while the R2 PI has moved people on to top-tier post-docs, I may consider the R2.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":5897.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh88xqq","c_root_id_B":"gh811qn","created_at_utc_A":1609108662,"created_at_utc_B":1609104611,"score_A":5,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"I think you should ask this question in \/r\/labrats, you might get different answers compared to this sub","human_ref_B":"I\u2019m going to leave the R1 R2 discussions to people more qualified and put in my two cents about happiness. Don\u2019t forget to see whether you fit in well in that program, whether the lab is nurturing and the adviser genuinely cares about his or her students. Reputation and success are not nearly as important as your mental health.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4051.0,"score_ratio":1.6666666667} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7igwi","c_root_id_B":"gh7nd46","created_at_utc_A":1609095237,"created_at_utc_B":1609097746,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","human_ref_B":"I feel like throughout my academic career, I was so hyperfocused on graduating and getting ahead and starting to bring in an income, I missed out on what *I* wanted to do. In retrospect, I chose a career that I am poorly suited towards because I knew I could get a job and make money. I am currently very miserable and full of regret. Going for the shiny gold star might seem like the obvious and best choice, but you may end up totally regretting it in ten years when you are stuck doing something you don't want to do. Do what feels internally fulfilling to you rather than what is externally validating. I promise you external validation is no pathway to fulfillment or happiness. That validation dries up pretty quick, loses its luster, and there you will be, living with whatever choice you made. (I learned my lesson) best of luck to you in your decision.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2509.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7x91n","c_root_id_B":"gh7igwi","created_at_utc_A":1609102765,"created_at_utc_B":1609095237,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"It depends on your goals after graduation. It also depends on the professional reputation and resources of your advisor. There are really big deal names at smaller places and you can benefit from this. Though that will depend on if your goals after graduation will also put you in a specialized position and the people hiring therefore would know your PI. On the other hand, if you are going to be applying for generic faculty positions in biology departments, the people in your search may not know how big of a deal your PI is in your specialty. The other thing, coming from an R2, you are probably going to need to work harder and have more productivity (more papers, land a fellowship, etc.) than someone coming from a top university to \"prove\" your worth if you are going the academic route. You will also probably need to plan to do an outstanding post-doc to balance out your PhD institution (though if you have a big deal PI, that will probably not be a problem, they can call in a favor). Another thing to consider are university level resources. Do they have the equipment and facilities to do research well? They could. At my little podunk university there are a few faculty that have enough grant money that their graduate students have everything that need for research. But while they have money, there is nothing outside of their grant money. For example, there is no institutional support for student travel and our grant office sucks if you are trying to land a fellowship. You also will probably not have an outstanding cohort to share your graduate experience with (but maybe you will, hard to tell). One of the things l like to ask is to see what recent graduates have gone on to do. If they match your goals, then this is a good sign the school will work for you. For example, if the R1 labs have run off half of their students and they never graduated, while the R2 PI has moved people on to top-tier post-docs, I may consider the R2.","human_ref_B":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":7528.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh811qn","c_root_id_B":"gh7igwi","created_at_utc_A":1609104611,"created_at_utc_B":1609095237,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"I\u2019m going to leave the R1 R2 discussions to people more qualified and put in my two cents about happiness. Don\u2019t forget to see whether you fit in well in that program, whether the lab is nurturing and the adviser genuinely cares about his or her students. Reputation and success are not nearly as important as your mental health.","human_ref_B":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9374.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7igwi","c_root_id_B":"gh8j5hh","created_at_utc_A":1609095237,"created_at_utc_B":1609113970,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","human_ref_B":"I think this is something you should discuss with professors in your department who know your field. I just looked at the list of R2 universities and found very few with academic programs I'd really heard of. One exception is Rockefeller University, which is small and I don't know too much about it, but its focus is in biomedical sciences and I could definitely see someone picking it over a lower-ranked R1. I don't know enough about it to say more than that. Another exception is RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) which was known to have a good optics program when I was applying to graduate schools, so maybe if you're into microscopy you might think about going there. For graduate school I got into one of the most famous universities in the world. I turned it down and went to a lesser-known school (although it's actually more highly ranked in the subfield I ended up specializing in). The reasons I turned it down were because (1) I didn't like the location, (2) the graduate students didn't seem happy or productive, (3) there were very few professors there who were doing the type of research I wanted to do, (4) in my subfield it actually had fewer resources than the one I ended up going to. Honestly the best reason to go there was its name. My parents thought I was crazy for not giving it more thought, but I didn't see the point in sacrificing 5-7 years of my life so that my resume would have a stronger name at the top in case my career in science didn't take off. This was an easy decision for me because I quickly decided that I just didn't like the place.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18733.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"kl61pe","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.93,"history":"R1 vs. R2 research institution for Ph.D. Hello my fellow scholars, I am in the process of going through my options for where I will be attending as a Ph.D. candidate. I have been accepted to a few R1 universities and an R2 university. I know it seems like a slam dunk. However, the R2 university I was accepted to has a department and specialization for the entire Ph.D. which I myself am ultimately hoping to pursue. The R1 universities, though, only have the odd faculty that are studying the subject and tend to have more general fields of study for their Ph.D. specializations (I am in biomedical, so I feel as though this is relevant). My question is, do I go with an R1 which has the stronger overall \u201cbrand\u201d for the future academic snobs (i.e. will going there help future job outlook), or do I go to the R2 I like which is specializing in the research I am hoping to pursue? I want to thank everyone for your time and hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays.","c_root_id_A":"gh7igwi","c_root_id_B":"gh93cpw","created_at_utc_A":1609095237,"created_at_utc_B":1609124720,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Find the advisor and department that has the best track record of putting their graduates into careers that you want for yourself.","human_ref_B":"For non-Americans, this is an American grading scale. R1 is top level, R2 is second. I have never heard of this before, as a European working in the USA. I google my institution (for my current Research Scientist position), and my former postdoc position... turns out both were R1. I kind of with I knew about this before I ended up applying to this country, but I guess I lucked out!","labels":0,"seconds_difference":29483.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"jve1pq","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.79,"history":"Difficulties applying to graduate schools abroad as an African. I am a graduate of pharmacy who hopes to change a narrative for himself by furthering his education! Ever since I finished my undergraduate studies, I've been seeking opportunities to study abroad but certain standards set by foreign universities has proven my efforts abortive. One is required to write English proficiency exams (TOEL, IELTS etc), GRE and the other exams despite having been instructed in English language as an undergraduate. Writing these exams isn't the problem. The problem is in the fees one is required to pay to write them. Is there any University abroad that seems to be different with their demand?","c_root_id_A":"gcjdmky","c_root_id_B":"gcj7s31","created_at_utc_A":1605561431,"created_at_utc_B":1605559104,"score_A":17,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"I don't know what country you're from or where you've looked into applying, but we (R1 university in the US) do exempt many African countries which carry out schooling in English from TOEFL\/IELTS requirements, including Ghana, Nigeria, etc. Keep looking around.","human_ref_B":"I'd expect (or at least \\*hope\\*) that there would be some kind of charitable grant\/fund\/foundation etc. that helps with this kind of thing? Something like this?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2327.0,"score_ratio":2.4285714286} {"post_id":"8k70tr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"how to overcome lack of teaching experience when on job market? doing a research heavy post-doc, in all my interviews, I can't seem to compete against the teaching experience others have. I have done guest lectureships and manage many RAs for my research projects.","c_root_id_A":"dz5br52","c_root_id_B":"dz5pjs2","created_at_utc_A":1526585932,"created_at_utc_B":1526599297,"score_A":16,"score_B":17,"human_ref_A":"Teach during the year before your next run? You can prep a demo syllabus and so on, but it is hard to counter zero or near zero experience in the classroom as an instructor.","human_ref_B":"Own it if you're interviewing with teaching focused institutions. Admit that you don't have much experience but you are willing to learn and eager to utilise the institution's teaching and learning opportunities. Sometimes the willing to learn and demonstrating potential is what's important in early career faculty. Ask about mentorship and training. These are the\"do you have any questions for us\" that can make or break an inexperienced candidate in my unit.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":13365.0,"score_ratio":1.0625} {"post_id":"8k70tr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"how to overcome lack of teaching experience when on job market? doing a research heavy post-doc, in all my interviews, I can't seem to compete against the teaching experience others have. I have done guest lectureships and manage many RAs for my research projects.","c_root_id_A":"dz5pjs2","c_root_id_B":"dz5lnal","created_at_utc_A":1526599297,"created_at_utc_B":1526595158,"score_A":17,"score_B":11,"human_ref_A":"Own it if you're interviewing with teaching focused institutions. Admit that you don't have much experience but you are willing to learn and eager to utilise the institution's teaching and learning opportunities. Sometimes the willing to learn and demonstrating potential is what's important in early career faculty. Ask about mentorship and training. These are the\"do you have any questions for us\" that can make or break an inexperienced candidate in my unit.","human_ref_B":"Have these schools actually told you that your lack of teaching experience is a problem? This may be field-specific and obviously varies between research vs teaching schools, but I'm at a research institution and most of the first year APs in my department come in with very minimal teaching experience (as in, they TAed a few classes but that's it). If you know for certain that your lack of teaching experience is the stumbling block then I agree with the above comment about trying to get some experience as an instructor or at least a TA this year. Maybe check if there are any last-minute needs for summer term?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":4139.0,"score_ratio":1.5454545455} {"post_id":"8k70tr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"how to overcome lack of teaching experience when on job market? doing a research heavy post-doc, in all my interviews, I can't seem to compete against the teaching experience others have. I have done guest lectureships and manage many RAs for my research projects.","c_root_id_A":"dz5zf42","c_root_id_B":"dz5r90g","created_at_utc_A":1526610390,"created_at_utc_B":1526601211,"score_A":8,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Work as an adjunct if if you can't get any teaching experience in your department. It sucks \\(a lot\\) to be paid less than minimum wage for working your butt off, but it is the guaranteed way to get teaching experience, and most cities have plenty of places that need adjuncts \\(especially in the sciences, but YMMV\\).","human_ref_B":"I was in similar position a couple years ago. I asked my PI to put me at half time research so I could pursue getting teaching experience. Was still unsuccessful after my first year of teaching but landed a TT on my second year. It was a pretty sucky time - doing a fair amount of teaching (not quite a full load by most measures) and a good chuck of research as well. Then factor in the exorbitant amount of time working on applications. Yeah, life sucked. Good luck. Edit: I'm at a PUI now. I assume that's where you've been applying since I doubt lack of teaching would hurt you at an R1.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":9179.0,"score_ratio":1.1428571429} {"post_id":"8k70tr","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.9,"history":"how to overcome lack of teaching experience when on job market? doing a research heavy post-doc, in all my interviews, I can't seem to compete against the teaching experience others have. I have done guest lectureships and manage many RAs for my research projects.","c_root_id_A":"dz5zhps","c_root_id_B":"dz61h1y","created_at_utc_A":1526610470,"created_at_utc_B":1526612779,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Asst prof (non-US) here. I listed all my TA and volunteer class works (summer camps, etc.) as experience. Paid or unpaid, it is useful. I also mentioned teaching techniques and educational philosophy in the interview. I clearly indicated that I am more familiar with coaching style and PBL courses and I strongly believe that students should be treated as individuals. Lack of actual experience (course design, syllabus writing, etc.) was still noted, but they are willing to show me the ropes. In terms of education duties, I am currently placed on bench and asked to observe and assist for the first year, so I can focus on properly preparing myself to teach next year and to work on funding proposals. I am also advised to review the syllabi and plans at my uni to get a better picture. Where I am right now, the students sit there like stones and don't ask or discuss. It is up to the lecturer to instigate, inspire, and sometimes (slightly) coerce them to talk.","human_ref_B":"You can't overcome it\\-\\- schools that value teaching will generally not consider applicants without direct experience, usually as instructor\\-of\\-record. People that are seeking positions at such schools \\(SLACs, CCs, some public comprehensives\\) generally find a way to get teaching experience if it is not directly available to them via their home department. As a veteran of many search committees, I can't even begin to count the options: summer classes, adjuncting at local private schools, CC teaching, courses in prisons, \"college in the schools\" programs with high school students, teaching in living\/learning centers at large universities, etc. etc. Often these are *very* low\\-paying positions...I taught at an SLAC for $1,500 per course section a few times before I went on the market \\(in additionl to teaching multiple courses at my R1, which paid much better\\) because my mentors told me it was the best way to strengthen my file. They were right. Guest lecturing and TAing isn't enough. You ideally want to have designed and taught multiple courses independently, but barring that at least to have delivered a common departmental course \\(BIOL 101, HIST 125, etc.\\) that was developed by others. As OP has learned, competitive applicants for teaching\\-focused schools generally have quite a bit of experience...in humanities fields that's often 1\\-2 years of full\\-time teaching equivalent, while even STEM candidates usually have at least 2\\-3 courses as instructor\\-of\\-record on their CVs. At my institution applicants without direct teaching experience get cut from the pool with the initial reading of the files in any tenure\\-track search. We *might* consider someone without much experience for a short\\-term hire, but it's unlikely they'd get the job since they'd still be competing against people with significant experience.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2309.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"etrknok","c_root_id_B":"etrmbbv","created_at_utc_A":1563123181,"created_at_utc_B":1563124260,"score_A":28,"score_B":56,"human_ref_A":"When I ask students to do this, I want a few paragraphs about your accomplishments. There are probably things I don't know about you so please share those in the letter. Remember that what you did is not the same as describing success, improvements, accomplishments, awards, etc. That's what I want in a letter.","human_ref_B":"I had an employer do this for me. One big positive is that you might have a better idea of what the hiring\/admissions\/whatever committee is looking for. So you can focus the content of your letter on those things. A drawback is that most people tend to undersell themselves and be too modest. When I was writing my letter, I hit up some former colleagues and asked them if they could help me out by giving me a short list of what they saw as my best strengths. Those people have worked with me so they were able to give great feedback. They mentioned things I hadn\u2019t thought of, praised me higher than I would have myself, and used phrasing that I wouldn\u2019t have. (That last part is great because it helps the letter sound different from your own writing voice.) Maybe you have peers, classmates, tutors, or other professors that could help you out with something like that? I\u2019m guessing most would be happy to do so, especially since you aren\u2019t asking for a full letter, just a few bullet points they can churn out quickly.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1079.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"ets4vxj","c_root_id_B":"etrnp6m","created_at_utc_A":1563136595,"created_at_utc_B":1563125147,"score_A":28,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"This comes up all the time and there are very polarized opinions on the practice. I, as a department chair and a senior full professor at a liberal arts college, think it is both unprofessional and unethical. If one of my faculty was found to be doing this we would have a serious conversation about their professional ethics and responsibility to their students. LORs are by design intended to be frank, candid assessments of student ability and personal qualities-- that's not something an individual can do by themselves and if a faculty member isn't familiar enough with the student to write a real LOR they should simply refuse. On the other hand, it appears this practice is quite common in certain fields (comp sci, other STEM, business) and at large(r) institutions. Faculty in those cases make excuses about having too many letters to write, or how it's \"good for the student\" to have to write their own letters. I call bullshit on both claims; writing LORs is part of the faculty workload (I write dozens, and sometimes 100+, each semester) and while it is good practice to require students to put together a resume and personal statement to *inform* a proper letter, making them draft it for you is beyond the pale. I'm sure you'll get mixed responses here, and due to the STEM dominance of this sub you'll get more apologists for the practice than not. Just be aware that many of us think it's improper, and that you can't do anything about it-- if that's what your preferred referee wants, you really don't have a choice, do you?","human_ref_B":"Your professor wants you to make a connection between what he observed or would know about you as a student and what this graduate program is looking for: Did you perform well in the class? Did you show enthusiasm for the material? Did you make frequent visits to his office to clarify information, discuss material, etc.? Did you receive feedback on a paper or project that indicated this professor was particularly impressed with your work or ideas? Does the program you are applying to build on the material from the class you took with this professor, so he can speak to your mastery of or enthusiasm for the material? Did you do any internships, volunteer work, hold office or membership in a relevant club\/group, etc.? Think about why you are asking this specific professor to write the letter, what he knows or should have observed about you, and how this connects to the program you're applying.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11448.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"etrnp6m","c_root_id_B":"ets59bu","created_at_utc_A":1563125147,"created_at_utc_B":1563136859,"score_A":7,"score_B":9,"human_ref_A":"Your professor wants you to make a connection between what he observed or would know about you as a student and what this graduate program is looking for: Did you perform well in the class? Did you show enthusiasm for the material? Did you make frequent visits to his office to clarify information, discuss material, etc.? Did you receive feedback on a paper or project that indicated this professor was particularly impressed with your work or ideas? Does the program you are applying to build on the material from the class you took with this professor, so he can speak to your mastery of or enthusiasm for the material? Did you do any internships, volunteer work, hold office or membership in a relevant club\/group, etc.? Think about why you are asking this specific professor to write the letter, what he knows or should have observed about you, and how this connects to the program you're applying.","human_ref_B":"A Rec Letter I am writing to _____ to recommend _______ they are a delightful person whom I got to know well when I taught them in ______ of _____, a class\/classes where they received an __. They are so brilliant, let me tell you how brilliant they are: this one time they did a routine assignment for me and it was interesting--can you believe it--they wrote about ______ so you know this is specific enough that there is no way I am making it up right now on the basis of whatever was in my inbox under the name of _______. Needless to say, I gave them an A for it. But, not only are they brilliance incarnate, they are also a super funny\/nice\/endearing to humans in a particular specific way I can recall right now:___________, isn't that endearing, fellow human? Now another anecdote, or just move on to the final paragraph. I heartily recommend ____ to your ___ and believe they will be a great asset to your ________ in the future--you'd make a wise choice investing in this ___________. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions at @email.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11712.0,"score_ratio":1.2857142857} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"etsj7n0","c_root_id_B":"etsuywo","created_at_utc_A":1563147031,"created_at_utc_B":1563156261,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Which field is this in? I can give an answer, but my problem with answering this question is that I tend to consider it as a \"certificate of employment\". In technical fields, you tend to go pretty precisely into the details of what the person has actually worked with - not so much about what kind of a person he is. If I give you a template, it might be totally wrong for your field. Nevertheless, one mistake about \"recommendation letters\" in general is to fill them up with assessments based on personal opinions. Everything should be demonstrable and motivated by facts. I've written these letters for myself a couple of times, and what I wrote (and what was approved) was in this pattern: * Name, title and contact details of the professor. * Full name and birthdate for identification, followed by the precise job title, name of institution, name of research group, exact dates from and to employed\/studied. * Reason for termination, if any - I think this is a legal thing, you may or may not have to include this - check. * Fields of science worked in. * Projects worked in. Tasks are described in the active tense, \"\/u\/hangilk did X\". * If competency in your field is established by the exact research methods used, make sure that you list the most important ones here: NMR, GCMS, GPC, HPLC, INADEQUATE, Proton Enhanced Nuclear Induction Spectroscopy, etc. But don't list Microsoft Word, upload \/ download, etc. or similar things that everyone can do; ideally, the methods mentioned should set you apart from other candidates. * Personal assessment. \"\/u\/hangilk demonstrated aptitude in X, particularly in X\". Evaluate the level of expertise and the results gained. Mention personal qualities like inventiveness, motivation, etc. If your next job needs some particular quality, think about including it in the draft. Finally, how do you work in a team? * Finally, the important fighting words: \"I recommend \/u\/hangilk, without any reservation, for research\/(other work you're applying to)\". * Signed. Spell-check and double-check everything, especially the names, phone numbers etc. - without them being correct, the document is worse than useless. Make sure to use the up-to-date, spell- and fact-checked stationery or template of the university. Sounds dumb to say this, but departments can change names and contact addresses, and I remember that the new official template in one of my former jobs actually read \"Reseach and Development\".","human_ref_B":"A recommendation letter for grad school should probably focus on outlining: \\- how well you work with others in a research\/university setting \\- how teachable\/what kind of student you are \\- whether you have shown interest or promise in research, or been a part of research projects and what your contribution was","labels":0,"seconds_difference":9230.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"etsndfg","c_root_id_B":"etsuywo","created_at_utc_A":1563150241,"created_at_utc_B":1563156261,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yea this is common, it helps them bc they probably don\u2019t know every detail of your resume\/CV. My advice is to be overly confident in what you write, instead of humble. They will tone it down if they don\u2019t agree but you\u2019ll never know what they changed either way, assuming it\u2019s a blind submission. Might as well go for it and hype yourself UP!","human_ref_B":"A recommendation letter for grad school should probably focus on outlining: \\- how well you work with others in a research\/university setting \\- how teachable\/what kind of student you are \\- whether you have shown interest or promise in research, or been a part of research projects and what your contribution was","labels":0,"seconds_difference":6020.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"ett95rv","c_root_id_B":"etsj7n0","created_at_utc_A":1563169122,"created_at_utc_B":1563147031,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"My general outline: First paragraph (Intro) * Introduction saying I recommend [full name] to [program] at [university]. * How long and in what capacity I know the student (taught in class, advised, was my TA, chaired thesis, etc.) * Quick summary of attributes I think qualify the student. Next section (classes they took with me) * Brief description of course (survey, seminar, etc.) * Overall assessment of their performance (not just the grade) * Some examples of why they did well (some from an assignment, or exam performance, or class discussion ability, etc.) * Repeat if more than one class Next section (research experience) * What projects the student was involved in * Specifically what parts the student was involved in * Quality of their work and level of supervision needed * What are the outcomes of the research (presentations, publications, etc.) * If the student presented work, I will describe the type venue and assess how they did Next section (general attributes) * Personal strengths * How well they work with others * How well they take instruction \/ feedback * Comment on the students future plans and if they are moving toward them * Comment on hardships they have overcome (work full time, first in family in college, etc.) or address a red flag if needed (why they did poor only one semester, etc.) * Few more personal strengths (always end on positive stuff) * Compare students to other students I have taught * Give bottom line assessment where I again recommend the person for the program In all cases, try to give some examples instead of just saying vague nice things. For a student that only took a class from me, they get about 3 paragraphs (I warn them up front), the intro, class paragraph, and general paragraph. For someone that worked in my lab, these get divided into as many paragraphs as needed and is about 2 pages.","human_ref_B":"Which field is this in? I can give an answer, but my problem with answering this question is that I tend to consider it as a \"certificate of employment\". In technical fields, you tend to go pretty precisely into the details of what the person has actually worked with - not so much about what kind of a person he is. If I give you a template, it might be totally wrong for your field. Nevertheless, one mistake about \"recommendation letters\" in general is to fill them up with assessments based on personal opinions. Everything should be demonstrable and motivated by facts. I've written these letters for myself a couple of times, and what I wrote (and what was approved) was in this pattern: * Name, title and contact details of the professor. * Full name and birthdate for identification, followed by the precise job title, name of institution, name of research group, exact dates from and to employed\/studied. * Reason for termination, if any - I think this is a legal thing, you may or may not have to include this - check. * Fields of science worked in. * Projects worked in. Tasks are described in the active tense, \"\/u\/hangilk did X\". * If competency in your field is established by the exact research methods used, make sure that you list the most important ones here: NMR, GCMS, GPC, HPLC, INADEQUATE, Proton Enhanced Nuclear Induction Spectroscopy, etc. But don't list Microsoft Word, upload \/ download, etc. or similar things that everyone can do; ideally, the methods mentioned should set you apart from other candidates. * Personal assessment. \"\/u\/hangilk demonstrated aptitude in X, particularly in X\". Evaluate the level of expertise and the results gained. Mention personal qualities like inventiveness, motivation, etc. If your next job needs some particular quality, think about including it in the draft. Finally, how do you work in a team? * Finally, the important fighting words: \"I recommend \/u\/hangilk, without any reservation, for research\/(other work you're applying to)\". * Signed. Spell-check and double-check everything, especially the names, phone numbers etc. - without them being correct, the document is worse than useless. Make sure to use the up-to-date, spell- and fact-checked stationery or template of the university. Sounds dumb to say this, but departments can change names and contact addresses, and I remember that the new official template in one of my former jobs actually read \"Reseach and Development\".","labels":1,"seconds_difference":22091.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"etsndfg","c_root_id_B":"ett95rv","created_at_utc_A":1563150241,"created_at_utc_B":1563169122,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Yea this is common, it helps them bc they probably don\u2019t know every detail of your resume\/CV. My advice is to be overly confident in what you write, instead of humble. They will tone it down if they don\u2019t agree but you\u2019ll never know what they changed either way, assuming it\u2019s a blind submission. Might as well go for it and hype yourself UP!","human_ref_B":"My general outline: First paragraph (Intro) * Introduction saying I recommend [full name] to [program] at [university]. * How long and in what capacity I know the student (taught in class, advised, was my TA, chaired thesis, etc.) * Quick summary of attributes I think qualify the student. Next section (classes they took with me) * Brief description of course (survey, seminar, etc.) * Overall assessment of their performance (not just the grade) * Some examples of why they did well (some from an assignment, or exam performance, or class discussion ability, etc.) * Repeat if more than one class Next section (research experience) * What projects the student was involved in * Specifically what parts the student was involved in * Quality of their work and level of supervision needed * What are the outcomes of the research (presentations, publications, etc.) * If the student presented work, I will describe the type venue and assess how they did Next section (general attributes) * Personal strengths * How well they work with others * How well they take instruction \/ feedback * Comment on the students future plans and if they are moving toward them * Comment on hardships they have overcome (work full time, first in family in college, etc.) or address a red flag if needed (why they did poor only one semester, etc.) * Few more personal strengths (always end on positive stuff) * Compare students to other students I have taught * Give bottom line assessment where I again recommend the person for the program In all cases, try to give some examples instead of just saying vague nice things. For a student that only took a class from me, they get about 3 paragraphs (I warn them up front), the intro, class paragraph, and general paragraph. For someone that worked in my lab, these get divided into as many paragraphs as needed and is about 2 pages.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":18881.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"cd56k0","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.96,"history":"Writing my own recommendation letter? I recently asked one of my previous professors to write me a recommendation letter for grad school and he told me the way he did it was I write the letter, send it to him, and he makes his adjustments accordingly. While this sounds pretty liberating, I don\u2019t even know how to write a recommendation letter. Besides describing the relationship I had with my professor academically and personally, what else should I write about? Any tips would be appreciated!","c_root_id_A":"etsw2lz","c_root_id_B":"ett95rv","created_at_utc_A":1563157152,"created_at_utc_B":1563169122,"score_A":2,"score_B":3,"human_ref_A":"Questions pertaining to being asked to write your own recommendation letter draft have been asked before and having read the same thing come up, I think this really needs to be said: Your recommender is not required to write you a letter. If he\/she asks you to write up a draft for them to adjust, what position are you in to object? Being asked to do so is not a test of integrity. That said, I don\u2019t think objecting to this practice or insisting on them writing a letter on your behalf will benefit you. Moreover, there is utility in this process. Do some self examination and figure out where your strengths and best attributes are. Then, read other people\u2019s letters of rec online to figure out how they read. Your attributes will probably be mentioned at some point, take note of how they were articulated. Write as much as you can, proofread, shave it down, send for editing. People typically undershoot their positive attributes so try to adjust, but remember, this process is iterative. Best of luck.","human_ref_B":"My general outline: First paragraph (Intro) * Introduction saying I recommend [full name] to [program] at [university]. * How long and in what capacity I know the student (taught in class, advised, was my TA, chaired thesis, etc.) * Quick summary of attributes I think qualify the student. Next section (classes they took with me) * Brief description of course (survey, seminar, etc.) * Overall assessment of their performance (not just the grade) * Some examples of why they did well (some from an assignment, or exam performance, or class discussion ability, etc.) * Repeat if more than one class Next section (research experience) * What projects the student was involved in * Specifically what parts the student was involved in * Quality of their work and level of supervision needed * What are the outcomes of the research (presentations, publications, etc.) * If the student presented work, I will describe the type venue and assess how they did Next section (general attributes) * Personal strengths * How well they work with others * How well they take instruction \/ feedback * Comment on the students future plans and if they are moving toward them * Comment on hardships they have overcome (work full time, first in family in college, etc.) or address a red flag if needed (why they did poor only one semester, etc.) * Few more personal strengths (always end on positive stuff) * Compare students to other students I have taught * Give bottom line assessment where I again recommend the person for the program In all cases, try to give some examples instead of just saying vague nice things. For a student that only took a class from me, they get about 3 paragraphs (I warn them up front), the intro, class paragraph, and general paragraph. For someone that worked in my lab, these get divided into as many paragraphs as needed and is about 2 pages.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":11970.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8jtiyl","c_root_id_B":"e8jtgms","created_at_utc_A":1540653149,"created_at_utc_B":1540653084,"score_A":7,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"You might want to look into nbgrader if you go the Jupyter route for quizzes and assignments. I also used SageMathCloud (now CoCalc) for my Calc 3 class a while back which was all right. You might also consider Ximera, created at Ohio State. I\u2019ve used Jupyter notebooks (and HTML export) for lecture notes in addition to assignments and they work fine. For an actual textbook format however, I recommend PreTeXt (formerly Mathbook XML). It\u2019s not too horribly complicated to get set up on macOS, supports MathJax\/LaTeX, allows for the inclusion of SageMath code cells along with WebWork and MyOpenMath problems, and exports to HTML and PDF (via LaTeX). It also exports Jupyter notebooks but that\u2019s not quite polished yet. I think they\u2019re still working on ePub export as well.","human_ref_B":"TopHat can do this. It's mostly free and lets you grade within the system. It's a little clunky but each \"chapter\" can have as many interactive elements as you like.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":65.0,"score_ratio":1.75} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8jsa3q","c_root_id_B":"e8jtiyl","created_at_utc_A":1540651857,"created_at_utc_B":1540653149,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Upvoting and in the same boat. This time for the acccounting discipline.","human_ref_B":"You might want to look into nbgrader if you go the Jupyter route for quizzes and assignments. I also used SageMathCloud (now CoCalc) for my Calc 3 class a while back which was all right. You might also consider Ximera, created at Ohio State. I\u2019ve used Jupyter notebooks (and HTML export) for lecture notes in addition to assignments and they work fine. For an actual textbook format however, I recommend PreTeXt (formerly Mathbook XML). It\u2019s not too horribly complicated to get set up on macOS, supports MathJax\/LaTeX, allows for the inclusion of SageMath code cells along with WebWork and MyOpenMath problems, and exports to HTML and PDF (via LaTeX). It also exports Jupyter notebooks but that\u2019s not quite polished yet. I think they\u2019re still working on ePub export as well.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1292.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8jstfa","c_root_id_B":"e8jtiyl","created_at_utc_A":1540652419,"created_at_utc_B":1540653149,"score_A":2,"score_B":7,"human_ref_A":"Jupyter notebook can be shared as HTML via gist.github.com","human_ref_B":"You might want to look into nbgrader if you go the Jupyter route for quizzes and assignments. I also used SageMathCloud (now CoCalc) for my Calc 3 class a while back which was all right. You might also consider Ximera, created at Ohio State. I\u2019ve used Jupyter notebooks (and HTML export) for lecture notes in addition to assignments and they work fine. For an actual textbook format however, I recommend PreTeXt (formerly Mathbook XML). It\u2019s not too horribly complicated to get set up on macOS, supports MathJax\/LaTeX, allows for the inclusion of SageMath code cells along with WebWork and MyOpenMath problems, and exports to HTML and PDF (via LaTeX). It also exports Jupyter notebooks but that\u2019s not quite polished yet. I think they\u2019re still working on ePub export as well.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":730.0,"score_ratio":3.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8jsa3q","c_root_id_B":"e8jtgms","created_at_utc_A":1540651857,"created_at_utc_B":1540653084,"score_A":2,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Upvoting and in the same boat. This time for the acccounting discipline.","human_ref_B":"TopHat can do this. It's mostly free and lets you grade within the system. It's a little clunky but each \"chapter\" can have as many interactive elements as you like.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":1227.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8jtgms","c_root_id_B":"e8jstfa","created_at_utc_A":1540653084,"created_at_utc_B":1540652419,"score_A":4,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"TopHat can do this. It's mostly free and lets you grade within the system. It's a little clunky but each \"chapter\" can have as many interactive elements as you like.","human_ref_B":"Jupyter notebook can be shared as HTML via gist.github.com","labels":1,"seconds_difference":665.0,"score_ratio":2.0} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8ju3p1","c_root_id_B":"e8jsa3q","created_at_utc_A":1540653718,"created_at_utc_B":1540651857,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Check out Mathematica. You can create interactive computational documents with tests, simulations and on-the-fly computations, which is be useful for STEM applications. I'm sure it can't be exported as HTML, but Mathematica has its own file format for portability (CDF), which can be embedded in HTML and viewed with a (free) browser plugin. Check this out: http:\/\/www.wolfram.com\/cdf\/uses-examples\/textbooks.html","human_ref_B":"Upvoting and in the same boat. This time for the acccounting discipline.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1861.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8ju3p1","c_root_id_B":"e8jstfa","created_at_utc_A":1540653718,"created_at_utc_B":1540652419,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Check out Mathematica. You can create interactive computational documents with tests, simulations and on-the-fly computations, which is be useful for STEM applications. I'm sure it can't be exported as HTML, but Mathematica has its own file format for portability (CDF), which can be embedded in HTML and viewed with a (free) browser plugin. Check this out: http:\/\/www.wolfram.com\/cdf\/uses-examples\/textbooks.html","human_ref_B":"Jupyter notebook can be shared as HTML via gist.github.com","labels":1,"seconds_difference":1299.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8jvr2u","c_root_id_B":"e8jsa3q","created_at_utc_A":1540655262,"created_at_utc_B":1540651857,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Have you looked at bookdown? It's compiled using RMarkdown and can be presented as a pdf, epub, or html.","human_ref_B":"Upvoting and in the same boat. This time for the acccounting discipline.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3405.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8jvr2u","c_root_id_B":"e8jstfa","created_at_utc_A":1540655262,"created_at_utc_B":1540652419,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Have you looked at bookdown? It's compiled using RMarkdown and can be presented as a pdf, epub, or html.","human_ref_B":"Jupyter notebook can be shared as HTML via gist.github.com","labels":1,"seconds_difference":2843.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8k8xo0","c_root_id_B":"e8jsa3q","created_at_utc_A":1540667722,"created_at_utc_B":1540651857,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Pressbooks + H5P. https:\/\/pressbooks.com\/ http:\/\/h5p.org Both are open source but have hosting for fee options. Both are WordPress plugins. If you're willing to make the book OER there may be funding from your institution\/state. In Ontario, eCampusOntario pays for premium hosting and it's free to use. Premium hosting supports LaTeK Markup & hypothes.is annotations.","human_ref_B":"Upvoting and in the same boat. This time for the acccounting discipline.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15865.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"9rub9t","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Want to create an interactive textbook. Which software should I use? Jupyter notebook, ibooks author, moocs? Hi, I want to create an interactive textbook which will also include multiple choice exercises. I know ibooks author can create that kind of books, however, the platform is macOS\/ios specific. Moreover, it does not have the capacity of jupyter-notebooks. You can interactively do calculations and plot graphs with jupyter-notebooks. Also there are rumors about the end of ibooks. I wonder whether it is possible to create multiple-choice and true-false questions interactively and evaluating the correct results and grading them later using that same interface again with jupyter-notebooks. Also is it possible to get the output as an .epub format or .html format for interactive session. Is there any software that you can advise for these purposes? If you wanted to write a digital notebook for stem, which software would you use?","c_root_id_A":"e8k8xo0","c_root_id_B":"e8jstfa","created_at_utc_A":1540667722,"created_at_utc_B":1540652419,"score_A":3,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Pressbooks + H5P. https:\/\/pressbooks.com\/ http:\/\/h5p.org Both are open source but have hosting for fee options. Both are WordPress plugins. If you're willing to make the book OER there may be funding from your institution\/state. In Ontario, eCampusOntario pays for premium hosting and it's free to use. Premium hosting supports LaTeK Markup & hypothes.is annotations.","human_ref_B":"Jupyter notebook can be shared as HTML via gist.github.com","labels":1,"seconds_difference":15303.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"4hz093","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":1.0,"history":"Applying for PhDs - should I mention previous health problems in my application? I'm currently applying for PhD positions, primarily in the UK. I have a masters degree with pretty good grades. I'm currently in the process of getting some of my work published and I've got good references. However, halfway through my undergrad degree I became ill and had to take a two year medical interruption. My academic transcript from this period looks a complete mess, with aborted modules and scores of 0% on some exams (because I wasn't in attendance - tbh I don't quite understand why they're even included on the transcript). My question is, should I draw attention to this issue in my application? For instance, should I perhaps include an explanation in my cover letter\/letter of motivation? Or perhaps I should get in touch directly with the faculty I'm applying for and alert them to the issue? Or should I just not mention it whatsoever and hope it doesn't cause a problem? Thanks.","c_root_id_A":"d2tnufq","c_root_id_B":"d2tmlxz","created_at_utc_A":1462447969,"created_at_utc_B":1462444190,"score_A":8,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Do any of your references know about the medical situation? The explanation might be stronger coming from one of them. If not, work it into your personal statement as proof that you can overcome challenges\/adversity.","human_ref_B":"If you have a more recent degree with good grades they probably won't pay much attention to your undergraduate degree. However, if there is a field on the application to add any additional information (extenuating circumstances, something you want them to know, etc.) put a short sentence or two there.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":3779.0,"score_ratio":4.0} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"doppjdv","c_root_id_B":"dopqc0s","created_at_utc_A":1508656308,"created_at_utc_B":1508658514,"score_A":5,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"In my field, yes. It's called Twitter. All the major and mid-range journals have their own twitter account, and there's some useful aggregator accounts that tweet all papers with a certain keyword.","human_ref_B":"I don't know if this is still a feature but I know that I was able to set up a Google alert in the past that was specific to Scholar. Alerts send you an email whenever a keyword is found in an article but I've only used it for news lately... if it's still available for Scholar, I would bet they have an option to get notifications from the journals they track.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2206.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"doppgt3","c_root_id_B":"dopqc0s","created_at_utc_A":1508656116,"created_at_utc_B":1508658514,"score_A":4,"score_B":6,"human_ref_A":"Some if not most journals avoid advertising their RSS channel, probably for fear that it might adversely affect their sales. I've found, however, that the CMSs some use for their sites mostly come with RSS hardwired into it, and you can often just add \"\/feed\" or \"\/rss\" to their base url...","human_ref_B":"I don't know if this is still a feature but I know that I was able to set up a Google alert in the past that was specific to Scholar. Alerts send you an email whenever a keyword is found in an article but I've only used it for news lately... if it's still available for Scholar, I would bet they have an option to get notifications from the journals they track.","labels":0,"seconds_difference":2398.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"dopx6ew","c_root_id_B":"doppjdv","created_at_utc_A":1508677245,"created_at_utc_B":1508656308,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Check out Feedly. You can subscribe to journals and find all the new articles aggregated in one place.","human_ref_B":"In my field, yes. It's called Twitter. All the major and mid-range journals have their own twitter account, and there's some useful aggregator accounts that tweet all papers with a certain keyword.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":20937.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"dopx6ew","c_root_id_B":"doppgt3","created_at_utc_A":1508677245,"created_at_utc_B":1508656116,"score_A":6,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Check out Feedly. You can subscribe to journals and find all the new articles aggregated in one place.","human_ref_B":"Some if not most journals avoid advertising their RSS channel, probably for fear that it might adversely affect their sales. I've found, however, that the CMSs some use for their sites mostly come with RSS hardwired into it, and you can often just add \"\/feed\" or \"\/rss\" to their base url...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":21129.0,"score_ratio":1.5} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"dopx6ew","c_root_id_B":"dopucmm","created_at_utc_A":1508677245,"created_at_utc_B":1508670629,"score_A":6,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"Check out Feedly. You can subscribe to journals and find all the new articles aggregated in one place.","human_ref_B":"Most journals have RSS feeds. And are you really complaining about the time it takes to check a journal's \"new articles\" page?","labels":1,"seconds_difference":6616.0,"score_ratio":1.2} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"dopx6ew","c_root_id_B":"dopsmox","created_at_utc_A":1508677245,"created_at_utc_B":1508665422,"score_A":6,"score_B":2,"human_ref_A":"Check out Feedly. You can subscribe to journals and find all the new articles aggregated in one place.","human_ref_B":"I have no idea if Mendeley is useful for your field, but it's a reference manager and has a feature that recommends new journal articles based on those that exist in your database. It works excellently for biologists and is the primary way I stay on top of the literature in my field.","labels":1,"seconds_difference":11823.0,"score_ratio":3.0} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"doppjdv","c_root_id_B":"doppgt3","created_at_utc_A":1508656308,"created_at_utc_B":1508656116,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"In my field, yes. It's called Twitter. All the major and mid-range journals have their own twitter account, and there's some useful aggregator accounts that tweet all papers with a certain keyword.","human_ref_B":"Some if not most journals avoid advertising their RSS channel, probably for fear that it might adversely affect their sales. I've found, however, that the CMSs some use for their sites mostly come with RSS hardwired into it, and you can often just add \"\/feed\" or \"\/rss\" to their base url...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":192.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"dopucmm","c_root_id_B":"doppgt3","created_at_utc_A":1508670629,"created_at_utc_B":1508656116,"score_A":5,"score_B":4,"human_ref_A":"Most journals have RSS feeds. And are you really complaining about the time it takes to check a journal's \"new articles\" page?","human_ref_B":"Some if not most journals avoid advertising their RSS channel, probably for fear that it might adversely affect their sales. I've found, however, that the CMSs some use for their sites mostly come with RSS hardwired into it, and you can often just add \"\/feed\" or \"\/rss\" to their base url...","labels":1,"seconds_difference":14513.0,"score_ratio":1.25} {"post_id":"77y7io","domain":"askacademia_validation","upvote_ratio":0.92,"history":"Is there something like an RSS feed or aggregator for new issues of scholarly journals? Since I just entered graduate school, I would really like to stay up-to-date on what people are publishing in my field. My research is very interdisciplinary, so it would be awesome to have a tool similar to an RSS reader that aggregates new issues and publications. Right now, I have to check every journal periodically, which consumes a certain amount of time that I'd rather spend reading. Some publications I follow: * European Journal of the History of Economic Thought * Review of Social Economy * Journal of Radical Political Economics * Social Justice Review * Rethinking Marxism * New Left Review Any suggestions for keeping track of new publications is greatly appreciated.","c_root_id_A":"dopsmox","c_root_id_B":"dopucmm","created_at_utc_A":1508665422,"created_at_utc_B":1508670629,"score_A":2,"score_B":5,"human_ref_A":"I have no idea if Mendeley is useful for your field, but it's a reference manager and has a feature that recommends new journal articles based on those that exist in your database. It works excellently for biologists and is the primary way I stay on top of the literature in my field.","human_ref_B":"Most journals have RSS feeds. And are you really complaining about the time it takes to check a journal's \"new articles\" page?","labels":0,"seconds_difference":5207.0,"score_ratio":2.5}