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Human: Use of the word "request" by students from South Asia I regularly receive emails from students from India and Pakistan who want to enroll in PG studies or internships. Many of these emails seem fairly formal and respectful BUT make a troubling use of the word "request", in a way that feels downright disrespectful and abrupt. I'm talking about sentences like "I request you to take me under your mentorship", or "I request you to please let the process be continued"... Since I'm not a native speaker I'm not sure whether that's the way other people would perceive this use of the word. Perhaps it's some overly-formal British English turn of phrase that's gone out of fashion elsewhere. And I wonder why so many of these students use it, and where they learn it from. Any thoughts on this? Assistant: People learn different varieties of English in different language environments (which will influence how they construct phrases in English). I would not worry about this at all.

Human: Use of the word "request" by students from South Asia I regularly receive emails from students from India and Pakistan who want to enroll in PG studies or internships. Many of these emails seem fairly formal and respectful BUT make a troubling use of the word "request", in a way that feels downright disrespectful and abrupt. I'm talking about sentences like "I request you to take me under your mentorship", or "I request you to please let the process be continued"... Since I'm not a native speaker I'm not sure whether that's the way other people would perceive this use of the word. Perhaps it's some overly-formal British English turn of phrase that's gone out of fashion elsewhere. And I wonder why so many of these students use it, and where they learn it from. Any thoughts on this? Assistant: South Asian here. We use 'request' in the politest way possible so if someone 'requests' you to do something, they mean it in the most humble and respectful way possible. There's no intention to be disrespectful. We just have our own flavour/variety of English that was taught to us in schools, so that's what most people use, I suppose. 'Request' can come across as imperative or demanding, as I learnt abroad, but over here it's use is considered polite :)

Human: How do I bring up the fact that my PhD supervisor died and that's why I don't have him as a reference (and some more CV questions) Hello all, My phd supervisor unfortunately passed away this fall so alas, I cannot list him in my references. I'm afraid that not including my main supervisor as a reference might raise some eyebrows.. what if that's enough to stop my application from reaching the point of contacting the other references (who will surely explain the situation)? Should I include a tiny note in the references section of my CV or would that be too tacky/weird ? Besides this unpleasant issue, I'd also love to read some opinions on the following CV doubts #####Professional Appointments/Employment Is this really necessary? I have just finished my phd so this would just be my initial grant and then 3 consecutive contracts in the same lab while finishing my phd. Because of that I don't think it adds much value to my profile, does it? #####Research experience Similarly, i think this will just re-iterate what I did for my phd, I'm not sure I fully appreciate what I'm supposed to highlight in this section Is this where I showcase the things I can do as a researcher? #####Key competencies I think it's a good idea to have a brief section where you can highlight these but it doesn't seem to be a thing in academic context As my CV stands right now, I have 4 subsections in there: Bioinformatics, Data Science, Informatics, Biology where I highlight my competences that are most relevant to each section. For example the "Data science" parts reads as follows: >Data Science: Experienced in applying and developing statistical analyses and machine learning tech-niques for biological questions. Enjoys handling big amounts of data and takes pride indeveloping and optimizing fast performing computational pipelines. Very comfortable with the Python data science stack of libraries (jupyter, pandas, numpy, sci-kit, sci-py, seaborn,TensorFlow) Should all this just go in the cover letter instead ? Or in the research experience somehow ? #####Repositories As a bioinformatician, I've created some repositories for which I'm quite proud and I'd like to showcase them. This again doesn't seem to be a thing in academia, what do you think? Assistant: I have a line in my cover letter- though it helps that his death coincided with a change in direction for me. It’s something like “following the death of my advisor, I changed directions somewhat and ...). On my CV it is also part of the eduction section- something like “PhD in X under mentor Y [deceased, YEAR].” If you feel comfortable asking, I think it helps to have a reference from someone who knew your advisor and is willing to speak to your advisor’s general opinion of you.

Human: How do I bring up the fact that my PhD supervisor died and that's why I don't have him as a reference (and some more CV questions) Hello all, My phd supervisor unfortunately passed away this fall so alas, I cannot list him in my references. I'm afraid that not including my main supervisor as a reference might raise some eyebrows.. what if that's enough to stop my application from reaching the point of contacting the other references (who will surely explain the situation)? Should I include a tiny note in the references section of my CV or would that be too tacky/weird ? Besides this unpleasant issue, I'd also love to read some opinions on the following CV doubts #####Professional Appointments/Employment Is this really necessary? I have just finished my phd so this would just be my initial grant and then 3 consecutive contracts in the same lab while finishing my phd. Because of that I don't think it adds much value to my profile, does it? #####Research experience Similarly, i think this will just re-iterate what I did for my phd, I'm not sure I fully appreciate what I'm supposed to highlight in this section Is this where I showcase the things I can do as a researcher? #####Key competencies I think it's a good idea to have a brief section where you can highlight these but it doesn't seem to be a thing in academic context As my CV stands right now, I have 4 subsections in there: Bioinformatics, Data Science, Informatics, Biology where I highlight my competences that are most relevant to each section. For example the "Data science" parts reads as follows: >Data Science: Experienced in applying and developing statistical analyses and machine learning tech-niques for biological questions. Enjoys handling big amounts of data and takes pride indeveloping and optimizing fast performing computational pipelines. Very comfortable with the Python data science stack of libraries (jupyter, pandas, numpy, sci-kit, sci-py, seaborn,TensorFlow) Should all this just go in the cover letter instead ? Or in the research experience somehow ? #####Repositories As a bioinformatician, I've created some repositories for which I'm quite proud and I'd like to showcase them. This again doesn't seem to be a thing in academia, what do you think? Assistant: For your applications are you also including a cover letter? Personal statement? Etc? If so, you could mention it there. “With great sadness my PhD advisor passed away and I have been doing XYZ in the wake of it”.

Human: I Hate Rejecting Papers So I became a reviewer for one of the journals I published to during my PhD and I'm happy to be doing it, but I find that I reject far more papers than I accept and it's bothering me. I can always tell when a great deal of work and thought has gone into a manuscript and it makes me sad to send a rejection recommendation. Obviously, the field would not necessarily benefit if I lowered my standards (assuming they are calibrated properly), and I do make sure to find and note aspects of the paper I like and give grace where I can, but even so, rejecting doesn't feel great, especially when you've been on the other side of it, as we all have I'm sure. Any way to get over this while making sure I stay a quality reviewer? Assistant: It sounds like you are doing a good job, and it sounds like you have empathy for the struggles involved in publishing. Peer review needs more people who refuse to take out their anger on other people's work.

Human: I Hate Rejecting Papers So I became a reviewer for one of the journals I published to during my PhD and I'm happy to be doing it, but I find that I reject far more papers than I accept and it's bothering me. I can always tell when a great deal of work and thought has gone into a manuscript and it makes me sad to send a rejection recommendation. Obviously, the field would not necessarily benefit if I lowered my standards (assuming they are calibrated properly), and I do make sure to find and note aspects of the paper I like and give grace where I can, but even so, rejecting doesn't feel great, especially when you've been on the other side of it, as we all have I'm sure. Any way to get over this while making sure I stay a quality reviewer? Assistant: I've almost never rejected a paper. I write a long review explaining what is wrong and how it can be fixed, and usually just say revise. My job is to review, not to judge. The only two times I've rejected is when the authors obviously tried to republish existing data that they had already published.

Human: Now that you're in academia, do you really think grades matter? Out of curiosity! I once worked with the head of a PhD program who casually mentioned that the University's grade cutoffs for candidates sometimes leaves them with people who are great at coursework but have no research experience (implied: they drop out too). That's why he's not a fan of the cut-offs but it's the policy... and I'm also wondering if you choose RAs or TAs based wholly on their grades? Assistant: I had a 2.4 in undergrad, and now am in a TT position at an R1. I was successful in grad school. Because of this, I push my department on admissions to look past the GPA of a student, and at everything else. Courses are (at least in my experience), SO DIFFERENT at the graduate level, that they tend to lend themselves to students differently.

Human: Now that you're in academia, do you really think grades matter? Out of curiosity! I once worked with the head of a PhD program who casually mentioned that the University's grade cutoffs for candidates sometimes leaves them with people who are great at coursework but have no research experience (implied: they drop out too). That's why he's not a fan of the cut-offs but it's the policy... and I'm also wondering if you choose RAs or TAs based wholly on their grades? Assistant: 2.8 undergrad gpa and I'm publishing papers now as a masters student. While I am no longer getting Cs I still hate dedicating so much time for assignments .

Human: Am I the only one who can't see how physical distancing is feasible in classrooms? I recently read two great articles from Inside Higher Ed. " At his small, teaching-focused institution, Clark and a facilities colleague spent half a day measuring and "experiencing" every classroom and lab, all of which were designed for active learning. They looked at every space "from the perspectives of cleaning, scheduling, room capacities, HVAC systems, pedagogical practices, student and faculty behaviors, student conduct issues, and more," he wrote to the POD Network. "It's one thing to draw six-foot circles, talk about reduced classroom capacities, and propose wearing masks in class -- it's a whole other thing to actually experience it." Link This article links to Clark's amazing article: The Physically Distanced Classroom: A Day in the Life ​ I spent the morning going through my syllabus and I have a ton of small group discussion that simply isn't going to work in these new socially-distanced classrooms. Our university is telling us to plan for hybrid, which means there's another layer of unnecessary complexity to this. Despite all the complaining about online education, being able to use breakout rooms in Zoom for synchronous small group discussion is actually a huge benefit pedagogically. Except everyone seems to be desperate to get back on campus without really thinking about what it will look like. Do you have any ideas to share about how you're planning to adapt your courses for the fall? Assistant: Yes, I agree. I don't see in-class classes being feasible, especially a lab or similar setup. The administration, in my experience, view is to pretend everything will be just fine come the fall. I'm not sure if that is optimism or just trying to pretend that there isn't a problem.

Human: Am I the only one who can't see how physical distancing is feasible in classrooms? I recently read two great articles from Inside Higher Ed. " At his small, teaching-focused institution, Clark and a facilities colleague spent half a day measuring and "experiencing" every classroom and lab, all of which were designed for active learning. They looked at every space "from the perspectives of cleaning, scheduling, room capacities, HVAC systems, pedagogical practices, student and faculty behaviors, student conduct issues, and more," he wrote to the POD Network. "It's one thing to draw six-foot circles, talk about reduced classroom capacities, and propose wearing masks in class -- it's a whole other thing to actually experience it." Link This article links to Clark's amazing article: The Physically Distanced Classroom: A Day in the Life ​ I spent the morning going through my syllabus and I have a ton of small group discussion that simply isn't going to work in these new socially-distanced classrooms. Our university is telling us to plan for hybrid, which means there's another layer of unnecessary complexity to this. Despite all the complaining about online education, being able to use breakout rooms in Zoom for synchronous small group discussion is actually a huge benefit pedagogically. Except everyone seems to be desperate to get back on campus without really thinking about what it will look like. Do you have any ideas to share about how you're planning to adapt your courses for the fall? Assistant: Seems like large lectures that are not super collaborative could work ok but small group / partner work is going to be a real hurdle for sure.

Human: Why do academics seem to loath their profession? This isn't a hard and fast rule but I've observed there seems to be an above average dislike for ones profession among academics. Most times (I'd say 95%) I ask a question about future career planning to be an academic, the top comment is "Get a job that isn't being an academic - we all hate it here so you probably will as well". I didn't enjoy my time as a software engineer but I didn't go around r/CScareers telling everyone to not aspire to it so what gives? Can anyone explain this? Assistant: The thing that gnawed on my advisor was that If he had a losing streak on grants for a few years where he was ONLY in the top 85 percent and not top 90 percent, he would have to fire his staff and destroy the career trajectory of his students and postdocs. And it would be his fault for failing to run a successful lab.

Human: Why do academics seem to loath their profession? This isn't a hard and fast rule but I've observed there seems to be an above average dislike for ones profession among academics. Most times (I'd say 95%) I ask a question about future career planning to be an academic, the top comment is "Get a job that isn't being an academic - we all hate it here so you probably will as well". I didn't enjoy my time as a software engineer but I didn't go around r/CScareers telling everyone to not aspire to it so what gives? Can anyone explain this? Assistant: Many hate the path to getting tenure. It is terrible. You have no job security, make little money, have to move constantly, and there is a lot of luck involved in whether you eventually get tenure or not.

Human: My advisor was sexually inappropriate - how can I get around a letter of recommendation from him for PhD applications? Background: I finished my undergraduate a few years ago. Research was my passion, but this burned me out and I've been too afraid to go back. I'm also not in the US. Long story short, my advisor was a creep to me, I don't want to elaborate in case he's on this subreddit. I know he uses Reddit a lot. I didn't really work with anyone else in the department, and I have no interest in reporting it - it's well known, my department doesn't care. I also don't want to bring this up in a new application, I don't want to seem like I'm slandering someone - and frankly, it's probably irrational, but I'd feel unprofessional talking about it. I'm finally in a place where I want to apply for my PhD, but I don't know how to explain the fact I won't have a letter of reference from the person I did my undergraduate thesis with. I honestly don't even know who else I can ask for a letter from - it's been so long since I left that I don't think any professors would remember me. Does anyone have any idea how I can frame this without it coming off as unprofessional, or like *I* did something to sour the relationship? ​ Thanks Reddit. Assistant: Do you have a class or module that you really enjoyed and got some good grades for? When I applied for my PhD I was still lacking one reference so I cold emailed one of my lecturers that I remember as being warm and kind-hearted and explained my situation. She answered that while she didn't remember me she would look at my essays from the class and that she would write a note on the basis of this. Best of luck and sucks that you had to go though this.

Human: My advisor was sexually inappropriate - how can I get around a letter of recommendation from him for PhD applications? Background: I finished my undergraduate a few years ago. Research was my passion, but this burned me out and I've been too afraid to go back. I'm also not in the US. Long story short, my advisor was a creep to me, I don't want to elaborate in case he's on this subreddit. I know he uses Reddit a lot. I didn't really work with anyone else in the department, and I have no interest in reporting it - it's well known, my department doesn't care. I also don't want to bring this up in a new application, I don't want to seem like I'm slandering someone - and frankly, it's probably irrational, but I'd feel unprofessional talking about it. I'm finally in a place where I want to apply for my PhD, but I don't know how to explain the fact I won't have a letter of reference from the person I did my undergraduate thesis with. I honestly don't even know who else I can ask for a letter from - it's been so long since I left that I don't think any professors would remember me. Does anyone have any idea how I can frame this without it coming off as unprofessional, or like *I* did something to sour the relationship? ​ Thanks Reddit. Assistant: You would be surprised how many of us would remember you. I would reach out to any former professors and ask for a recommendation.

Human: So I guess my new job market fear is being falsely accused of sexual harassment by a competing applicant https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/magazine/title-ix-sexual-harassment-accusations.html Have you guys read this? tl;dr woman gets coveted job at UMich and is waiting for spousal hire news; woman's colleague tries to sabotage her offer by submitting fraudulent sexual harassment complaints to UMich and spouse's current university (use archive.is or clear your cache for non-paywalled version) So I guess, outside of this dude being a fucking psycho which obviously most people are not, this experience really highlights how unprotected anyone who works in academia is. Starting with the fact that people wouldn't be so desperate for jobs if their career choice didn't leave them to languish in Lubbock, TX or go back to low-skilled labor. Assistant: This is absolutely terrifying. How do you even defend yourself against that? And all it needs is someone with too much time on their hands. Buddy was sloppy, used his real phone number with his fake e-mail address, and used the same e-mail address to impersonate different people. But someone more prepared... god damn.

Human: So I guess my new job market fear is being falsely accused of sexual harassment by a competing applicant https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/magazine/title-ix-sexual-harassment-accusations.html Have you guys read this? tl;dr woman gets coveted job at UMich and is waiting for spousal hire news; woman's colleague tries to sabotage her offer by submitting fraudulent sexual harassment complaints to UMich and spouse's current university (use archive.is or clear your cache for non-paywalled version) So I guess, outside of this dude being a fucking psycho which obviously most people are not, this experience really highlights how unprotected anyone who works in academia is. Starting with the fact that people wouldn't be so desperate for jobs if their career choice didn't leave them to languish in Lubbock, TX or go back to low-skilled labor. Assistant: yeah. ITS CRAZY. that guy is sick.

Human: How do you... Do it all? I've been at a crossroads with academia for more than a year now. I'm a post doc right now (courting industry jobs because my current environment has been toxic for my mental health). I love my topic, I love the IDEA of what academia could be for me, but I've seen very little of it materialize for me (I'm also tired of a post doc that looks good on paper but in practice has been unsupportive, and often hostile). I think I'm at a point where I'm tired of the weird facade academia makes everyone put on like they're at peak productivity and continuously improving (when my experience has been that a lot of it is hand waving). Tonight I was thinking about all the things I have to tackle this coming week and I wondered... Is this it forever if I choose to stay? Presentations/teaching, re-hauling analyses / manuscripts, meetings that go no where or at least feel that way, and all the other things that come with academia. Honestly writing it out doesn't make it seem so bad, but then there's the conflict of all the projects and things feel like they are ALL urgent or a priority, juggling deadlines, and unexpected things that come up, PLUS trying to have a life outside of work. How do you (honestly) deal with it all? I don't even have courses to teach besides occasional guest lectures and I constantly feel like I'm drowning with just my research commitments. I try not to compare my progress/pace with others but some days it's hard not to. But right now I actually do want to know how others manage to handle all these things successfully. Assistant: There are many things I am required to do. Not to do to the best of my ability, just to complete. You have to prioritise your standards.

Human: How do you... Do it all? I've been at a crossroads with academia for more than a year now. I'm a post doc right now (courting industry jobs because my current environment has been toxic for my mental health). I love my topic, I love the IDEA of what academia could be for me, but I've seen very little of it materialize for me (I'm also tired of a post doc that looks good on paper but in practice has been unsupportive, and often hostile). I think I'm at a point where I'm tired of the weird facade academia makes everyone put on like they're at peak productivity and continuously improving (when my experience has been that a lot of it is hand waving). Tonight I was thinking about all the things I have to tackle this coming week and I wondered... Is this it forever if I choose to stay? Presentations/teaching, re-hauling analyses / manuscripts, meetings that go no where or at least feel that way, and all the other things that come with academia. Honestly writing it out doesn't make it seem so bad, but then there's the conflict of all the projects and things feel like they are ALL urgent or a priority, juggling deadlines, and unexpected things that come up, PLUS trying to have a life outside of work. How do you (honestly) deal with it all? I don't even have courses to teach besides occasional guest lectures and I constantly feel like I'm drowning with just my research commitments. I try not to compare my progress/pace with others but some days it's hard not to. But right now I actually do want to know how others manage to handle all these things successfully. Assistant: I'm lucky to be in a field where deadlines are usually more like suggestions. So “handling things successfully” is a very flexible concept. But seriously, everybody has 24 hours in a day. We all need to do what we can with the time and energy that we have. Read this, it might be interesting to you: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-awesomest-7-year-postdoc-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-tenure-track-faculty-life/

Human: My PhD student constantly tries to manipulate me. We are in the U.K. and the subject is computer science. Whenever he emails or talks to me he uses weird wording and always tries to manipulate me to comply with something and then pretends it’s something else that we agreed on. He never says yes or no when I ask him about anything really. Always vague language. What can I do? I have reported him and nothing happens. Assistant: Stop asking him questions that he can hand-wave away. Enforce clear deadlines with well described outcomes. Communicate by email, so there is a written record. Be explicit when you dismiss something he's trying to manipulate you about, so there is no ambigueity, and redirect the conversation to what you want it to cover. You're his supervisor, not his undergraduate!

Human: My PhD student constantly tries to manipulate me. We are in the U.K. and the subject is computer science. Whenever he emails or talks to me he uses weird wording and always tries to manipulate me to comply with something and then pretends it’s something else that we agreed on. He never says yes or no when I ask him about anything really. Always vague language. What can I do? I have reported him and nothing happens. Assistant: Don’t respond to his emails that includes this manipulation. You are his supervisor, yes?

Human: How do I combat the feeling of "I am not becoming an expert in anything" during my PhD ? Hello Fellow Academics, I am a PhD student in my 3rd year (4 year PhD program) I have finished course requirements for my program and have been working on this research project for about two years now. Last year or so was particularly bad for me, zero productivity, motivation problems, this feeling of "I was hoping to learn X from my PhD and be an expert in that, but I am no where being a close to an expert in anything". On top of that, I have this constant feeling of not learning anything new. I had this feeling before and that lead to a lot of apathy towards my projects / PhD. I do not want to get there again. ​ Question : Do you all have similar feeling(s) ? Have you able to develop any habits that help combat this feeling ? stuff like : Read a research paper every week / Implement (in code) a new research paper every week ? ​ To give some context, I am doing my PhD in trying to solve problems in Computational Materials Science using Machine learning. I did my MSc. in Machine learning and want to keep learning more in that field. But I am not a Physicist. At this point I feel I can not call myself an expert in Material Science nor Machine learning. Assistant: I sort of am in a similar field and I think in general the key is to adjust your expectations a bit, and focus on gaining competency. Expertise is incremental. Also, computational materials science is sort of one of those fields that is almost more methods and process based than domain based, if that makes sense? So it might feel like you don’t know a lot about any one single specific problem, if you’re more focused on the process of how to solve problems.

Human: How do I combat the feeling of "I am not becoming an expert in anything" during my PhD ? Hello Fellow Academics, I am a PhD student in my 3rd year (4 year PhD program) I have finished course requirements for my program and have been working on this research project for about two years now. Last year or so was particularly bad for me, zero productivity, motivation problems, this feeling of "I was hoping to learn X from my PhD and be an expert in that, but I am no where being a close to an expert in anything". On top of that, I have this constant feeling of not learning anything new. I had this feeling before and that lead to a lot of apathy towards my projects / PhD. I do not want to get there again. ​ Question : Do you all have similar feeling(s) ? Have you able to develop any habits that help combat this feeling ? stuff like : Read a research paper every week / Implement (in code) a new research paper every week ? ​ To give some context, I am doing my PhD in trying to solve problems in Computational Materials Science using Machine learning. I did my MSc. in Machine learning and want to keep learning more in that field. But I am not a Physicist. At this point I feel I can not call myself an expert in Material Science nor Machine learning. Assistant: Explain your work or the technical thing thats been preoccupying your mind to undergrads.

Human: Loss of a student TW: suicide Hi all, So sorry for the sad subject, but I could really use some advice. I'm a TA, and I found out recently that one of my students died by suicide a couple months ago. They were a student that I interacted with and met with a lot, and who I genuinely really cared about. I found out that they had passed away from a university-wide email announcing the recipients of posthumous degrees (not saying that I should have been on the list of people informed, but it was a rough way to find out). Has anyone else experienced this, and how did you handle it? It's hitting me pretty hard, and I'm really struggling. Thanks <3 (cross posted to r/GradSchool but I'm not sure it went through) Assistant: I have lost 3 students over the course of my teaching career - one of them by suicide. It still bothers me, and I still sometimes wonder if there is anything I could have said or done to make a difference. As others mentioned, use any counseling services available to you. I also have a Google doc where I write down the student’s name and things I remember about them, so I know they won’t be forgotten.

Human: Loss of a student TW: suicide Hi all, So sorry for the sad subject, but I could really use some advice. I'm a TA, and I found out recently that one of my students died by suicide a couple months ago. They were a student that I interacted with and met with a lot, and who I genuinely really cared about. I found out that they had passed away from a university-wide email announcing the recipients of posthumous degrees (not saying that I should have been on the list of people informed, but it was a rough way to find out). Has anyone else experienced this, and how did you handle it? It's hitting me pretty hard, and I'm really struggling. Thanks <3 (cross posted to r/GradSchool but I'm not sure it went through) Assistant: You’re allowed to feel however you feel. Don’t discount your relationship or how the loss is making you feel. Talk to a counselor too!

Human: My advisor is in denial I'm in my final year of my PhD in a social science field, and I've been a very successful student. I've published three solo-authored articles, won a prestigious grant, and have several more papers in the pipeline. The problem is, I'm completely done with academia. I have completely lost my drive for research, and I've never enjoyed teaching. I have always feared the early-career instability and stress of getting tenure, and I have no desire to sacrifice my personal life or anything else for the sake of academia. I've been on the market twice and actually received a tenure track offer. However, I turned it down for many reasons, including that my chronic anxiety became debilitatingly bad as soon as I received the offer. I also have a two-body problem and am not willing to live apart from my spouse for an infinite amount of time and deal with the constant stress of being on the job market over and over until we find a solution. Although I turned down a tenure track job (!) and have mentioned to my advisor several times that I don't want a teaching-heavy job, don't want a postdoc or other temporary gig, and am interested in industry, he is in complete denial. Others in my department know I plan to leave, and when the topic comes up, he tells them they're wrong! Even now that I've given up on the academic market and have begun seriously applying to nonacademic positions, he keeps pushing me to stay another year and try the academic market again. I'm at my wits' end and don't know what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. Assistant: You don't need your advisers permission to do anything. They'll write you a letter of recommendation no matter what, that's not something being held over your head. It's worse for their reputation if they write a bad one, not to say it doesn't happen, but it sounds like your adviser just really likes you and wants for you what they have. Do what you want and they will be supportive

Human: My advisor is in denial I'm in my final year of my PhD in a social science field, and I've been a very successful student. I've published three solo-authored articles, won a prestigious grant, and have several more papers in the pipeline. The problem is, I'm completely done with academia. I have completely lost my drive for research, and I've never enjoyed teaching. I have always feared the early-career instability and stress of getting tenure, and I have no desire to sacrifice my personal life or anything else for the sake of academia. I've been on the market twice and actually received a tenure track offer. However, I turned it down for many reasons, including that my chronic anxiety became debilitatingly bad as soon as I received the offer. I also have a two-body problem and am not willing to live apart from my spouse for an infinite amount of time and deal with the constant stress of being on the job market over and over until we find a solution. Although I turned down a tenure track job (!) and have mentioned to my advisor several times that I don't want a teaching-heavy job, don't want a postdoc or other temporary gig, and am interested in industry, he is in complete denial. Others in my department know I plan to leave, and when the topic comes up, he tells them they're wrong! Even now that I've given up on the academic market and have begun seriously applying to nonacademic positions, he keeps pushing me to stay another year and try the academic market again. I'm at my wits' end and don't know what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. Assistant: You're leaving academia. Find a job you actually like. Their opinion really doesn't matter if you're leaving the profession anyways.

Human: Fired? Hi All. Sorry for the long text in advance, but I reaaaaally need help. &#x200B; I need help understanding what's happening because I am completely lost. Here is what has happened. &#x200B; I started my PhD in another country about a month and a half ago. My two supervisors got a grant and I was able to get the position after the interviews. An important thing to know is that they work in different universities and is a multidisciplinary project, so the science they do is completely different and I was told I would have to go from one place to the other regularly. &#x200B; My first month was completely in my first supervisor university and everything went super well. We really got along, I was getting super positive feedback, I really connected with my coworkers, ... This supervisor measures our performance with a KPI thing on an excel and he told me he was super happy and that he was really surprised with how well I was doing. &#x200B; After that meeting, I was told I had to go 5 days to the lab of my other supervisor. This is when things started to get weird. I arrived there and I was getting a weird vibe from my supervisor but it was the first time we met in real life so I didn't think too much about it. She starts to show me the place and tells me that she wants to show me some IT stuff. I told her that I didn't bring my work laptop from the other place but that I had brought my personal laptop (I know this is my bad, I just assume she was going to give me one, but again completely my bad). She told me something like "don't worry, I will send you the manuals and you can let me know if you have an issue when you go back". After that, we started doing some work that day and everything was ok. &#x200B; The next day, we had to prepare to do some experiments with animals to extract their organs while there were still alive. Just to be clear during the interviews I was only told "you will have to work with organs and biological samples". So during that experiment, I felt pretty bad, told her that I was going out for a while and then came back and told her that I was sorry that I felt very uncomfortable with that. She told me to go home and to contact my other supervisor because she thought that he should know. I did that and went to sleep. &#x200B; The next day, I was able to that experiments but I was starting to receive a lot of random negative comments from this woman like "I feel you are absolutely not interested in this project" out of nowhere. She also told me things like "you are not taking notes" that at the time she told me that I was not taking notes but at other moments I was taking notes, she also said things like "you can use your time to read papers" that is something that I was also doing but not exactly at the moment she told me that. &#x200B; Days went by and, honestly, our relationship kind of went to this place of not really talking that much. Now I know it was a super stupid move from me. I did everything that she told me to do but I recognise that I didn't do more than what she told me to. &#x200B; The last day I was there she told me to meet her at her office. There she started saying things to me like "I don't think you are a good student", "I don't think you will be able to find collaborators", "This PhD is going to get harder and harder", ... To those things, I didn't really answer a lot of things other than "sorry, the next time I come here I will try to improve". &#x200B; The next day I had a holiday but the "nice supervisor" called me to go to his office. So I went and he was there waiting for me with the other supervisor on zoom. I go in and he tells me "For legal reasons we have to record this" (I knew things were not going well at that point). &#x200B; They started to accuse me of multiple things. Some things were true, for example, the fact that I left that day at the experiment. Other things were half-trues, for example, that I didn't take my work laptop (which is true but she didn't tell me it was a problem). Some things were lies, for example, the "nice supervisor" told me that he received very negative feedback from my coworkers. I later checked with them and they promised me that they gave very positive feedback in fact. And some things were absolute bullsh\*t, for instance, they were questioning why I was living in a town and not in the city. &#x200B; After that, they told me that I was fired. They told me that if I resigned they would write me a "somewhat good" recommendation letter for another place but that if they had to fire me they would not do that. After a couple of minutes of discussion, I told them to give me a couple of weeks to prove to them that I can work better. They talked about it and that I had a week and a half to do it. They told me that they were going to write a list of things they want me to do, but that they were not going to give that list, I had to figure it out. &#x200B; After that, I talked with my coworkers and they presented a letter to the "nice" supervisor telling them that they don't agree with that decision and that they never gave negative feedback and that this letter is there to prove that they want to give positive feedback about me. Something else that I discovered while talking with my colleagues is that this supervisor started to ask them HR questions (like "do you think he is reliable?) the day after I left the experiment with the animals. &#x200B; The next day (today), my supervisor told me to go to his office. We sat down and gave a list of very general and broad stuff like "don´t assume, ask first", "think before you act", "recognise your mistakes", ... He also told me that I should try to focus on impressing the other supervisor not him. I thanked him for that list (even though it was not the list they wrote the day before and it was more like "tips"). I also told him that I don't know what I am going to be able to do in just one week and a half, he agreed to that. He also told me that he thinks that their decision to fire me was not the best way to handle it, but that if they don't fire me now they cannot fire me for the next 9 months. He told me that he thought I had a chance of doing it. &#x200B; This supervisor has money for hiring more students without the other supervisor. I asked him if he saw changing me to another project as an option (so basically me not working with the other supervisor). He told me that he does not see it as an option because "that is too easy and you have to learn to work with different kind of people", which is kind of true (i guess). I have been doing my work, reading papers and sending very nice emails to show that I care. I am going to go next week to the other university to show that I care (I cannot go more because of COVID). I have apologized to both of them for not being able to prove how much I like this position. But, honestly, there are not that many things one can achieve (at least in my field) in a week and a half. &#x200B; I am very worried. I came from another country, I have contracts here now for two years (apartment, phone, health insurance, ...), I really like the project that I am doing, the coworkers are really nice, .... &#x200B; I would like to know your opinion. Do you think I have options of keeping the position? Do you think they just gave me this week and a half to "show that they tried to let me improve but I didn't"? &#x200B; Thank you so much for reading my story. Please don't hesitate to comment!! I really can use all the help and tips I can get!! &#x200B; PS: I know I have not given a lot of specific details, but I would also like to stay as anonymous as possible just to avoid potential problems. But if you think that there is something important that could be missing please let me know! &#x200B; Thanks again Assistant: These supervisors are super toxic, and they are gaslighting the shit out of you. Any of the "mistakes" you've mentioned are completely normal mistakes that happen when you start a new job! And collecting organs from mice, you know what it would be normal if you passed out! Every new employee has a training period. Their Behavior and lack of communication is unacceptable. They are the ones who are bad at their job, not you.

Human: Fired? Hi All. Sorry for the long text in advance, but I reaaaaally need help. &#x200B; I need help understanding what's happening because I am completely lost. Here is what has happened. &#x200B; I started my PhD in another country about a month and a half ago. My two supervisors got a grant and I was able to get the position after the interviews. An important thing to know is that they work in different universities and is a multidisciplinary project, so the science they do is completely different and I was told I would have to go from one place to the other regularly. &#x200B; My first month was completely in my first supervisor university and everything went super well. We really got along, I was getting super positive feedback, I really connected with my coworkers, ... This supervisor measures our performance with a KPI thing on an excel and he told me he was super happy and that he was really surprised with how well I was doing. &#x200B; After that meeting, I was told I had to go 5 days to the lab of my other supervisor. This is when things started to get weird. I arrived there and I was getting a weird vibe from my supervisor but it was the first time we met in real life so I didn't think too much about it. She starts to show me the place and tells me that she wants to show me some IT stuff. I told her that I didn't bring my work laptop from the other place but that I had brought my personal laptop (I know this is my bad, I just assume she was going to give me one, but again completely my bad). She told me something like "don't worry, I will send you the manuals and you can let me know if you have an issue when you go back". After that, we started doing some work that day and everything was ok. &#x200B; The next day, we had to prepare to do some experiments with animals to extract their organs while there were still alive. Just to be clear during the interviews I was only told "you will have to work with organs and biological samples". So during that experiment, I felt pretty bad, told her that I was going out for a while and then came back and told her that I was sorry that I felt very uncomfortable with that. She told me to go home and to contact my other supervisor because she thought that he should know. I did that and went to sleep. &#x200B; The next day, I was able to that experiments but I was starting to receive a lot of random negative comments from this woman like "I feel you are absolutely not interested in this project" out of nowhere. She also told me things like "you are not taking notes" that at the time she told me that I was not taking notes but at other moments I was taking notes, she also said things like "you can use your time to read papers" that is something that I was also doing but not exactly at the moment she told me that. &#x200B; Days went by and, honestly, our relationship kind of went to this place of not really talking that much. Now I know it was a super stupid move from me. I did everything that she told me to do but I recognise that I didn't do more than what she told me to. &#x200B; The last day I was there she told me to meet her at her office. There she started saying things to me like "I don't think you are a good student", "I don't think you will be able to find collaborators", "This PhD is going to get harder and harder", ... To those things, I didn't really answer a lot of things other than "sorry, the next time I come here I will try to improve". &#x200B; The next day I had a holiday but the "nice supervisor" called me to go to his office. So I went and he was there waiting for me with the other supervisor on zoom. I go in and he tells me "For legal reasons we have to record this" (I knew things were not going well at that point). &#x200B; They started to accuse me of multiple things. Some things were true, for example, the fact that I left that day at the experiment. Other things were half-trues, for example, that I didn't take my work laptop (which is true but she didn't tell me it was a problem). Some things were lies, for example, the "nice supervisor" told me that he received very negative feedback from my coworkers. I later checked with them and they promised me that they gave very positive feedback in fact. And some things were absolute bullsh\*t, for instance, they were questioning why I was living in a town and not in the city. &#x200B; After that, they told me that I was fired. They told me that if I resigned they would write me a "somewhat good" recommendation letter for another place but that if they had to fire me they would not do that. After a couple of minutes of discussion, I told them to give me a couple of weeks to prove to them that I can work better. They talked about it and that I had a week and a half to do it. They told me that they were going to write a list of things they want me to do, but that they were not going to give that list, I had to figure it out. &#x200B; After that, I talked with my coworkers and they presented a letter to the "nice" supervisor telling them that they don't agree with that decision and that they never gave negative feedback and that this letter is there to prove that they want to give positive feedback about me. Something else that I discovered while talking with my colleagues is that this supervisor started to ask them HR questions (like "do you think he is reliable?) the day after I left the experiment with the animals. &#x200B; The next day (today), my supervisor told me to go to his office. We sat down and gave a list of very general and broad stuff like "don´t assume, ask first", "think before you act", "recognise your mistakes", ... He also told me that I should try to focus on impressing the other supervisor not him. I thanked him for that list (even though it was not the list they wrote the day before and it was more like "tips"). I also told him that I don't know what I am going to be able to do in just one week and a half, he agreed to that. He also told me that he thinks that their decision to fire me was not the best way to handle it, but that if they don't fire me now they cannot fire me for the next 9 months. He told me that he thought I had a chance of doing it. &#x200B; This supervisor has money for hiring more students without the other supervisor. I asked him if he saw changing me to another project as an option (so basically me not working with the other supervisor). He told me that he does not see it as an option because "that is too easy and you have to learn to work with different kind of people", which is kind of true (i guess). I have been doing my work, reading papers and sending very nice emails to show that I care. I am going to go next week to the other university to show that I care (I cannot go more because of COVID). I have apologized to both of them for not being able to prove how much I like this position. But, honestly, there are not that many things one can achieve (at least in my field) in a week and a half. &#x200B; I am very worried. I came from another country, I have contracts here now for two years (apartment, phone, health insurance, ...), I really like the project that I am doing, the coworkers are really nice, .... &#x200B; I would like to know your opinion. Do you think I have options of keeping the position? Do you think they just gave me this week and a half to "show that they tried to let me improve but I didn't"? &#x200B; Thank you so much for reading my story. Please don't hesitate to comment!! I really can use all the help and tips I can get!! &#x200B; PS: I know I have not given a lot of specific details, but I would also like to stay as anonymous as possible just to avoid potential problems. But if you think that there is something important that could be missing please let me know! &#x200B; Thanks again Assistant: I know people who get unlucky and have one dick as a supervisor, but you managed to be unlucky and have two... I'm sorry about that.

Human: Science professor at major US university promoting capitol rioters, election disinformation, COVID conspiracy theories, etc. on Twitter. Who do I report this to? I recently came across the Twitter account of an academic research scientist (professor at a well known university) and saw that he has thousands of tweets promoting all sorts of insane conspiracy theories, pro-Trump propaganda from extreme right wing news sources, and even conspiracy theories about COVID-19. The COVID stuff is really shocking because it is not that far from his field of research! He looks to be a mid-level professor. This is disturbing to me. Scientists are supposed to be promoters of reason, truth, and evidence. What this person is doing is the antithesis of that. This Twitter account is under his real name, but it seems to be flying under the radar because he is only following a bunch of right wing propagandists. He has no followers in his field and isn't following any other scientists. I have verified that it is indeed the professor's account. His username is a science term from his field, and he has posted some slightly less inflammatory things publicly on facebook also where his photo is visible. What should I do in this situation? Contact his academic department? Retweet some of his stuff to draw attention to it? His research is funded by the US government and I don't think a conspiracy nut and propagandist should be in charge of a federally funded research lab. Assistant: Nothing you can do but document. Radical professors (of one kind or another) are nothing new. Sometimes their words become so egregious they get censured or even fired, but if it’s not affecting their teaching or research there may be nothing to do (and maybe that’s how it should be?).

Human: Science professor at major US university promoting capitol rioters, election disinformation, COVID conspiracy theories, etc. on Twitter. Who do I report this to? I recently came across the Twitter account of an academic research scientist (professor at a well known university) and saw that he has thousands of tweets promoting all sorts of insane conspiracy theories, pro-Trump propaganda from extreme right wing news sources, and even conspiracy theories about COVID-19. The COVID stuff is really shocking because it is not that far from his field of research! He looks to be a mid-level professor. This is disturbing to me. Scientists are supposed to be promoters of reason, truth, and evidence. What this person is doing is the antithesis of that. This Twitter account is under his real name, but it seems to be flying under the radar because he is only following a bunch of right wing propagandists. He has no followers in his field and isn't following any other scientists. I have verified that it is indeed the professor's account. His username is a science term from his field, and he has posted some slightly less inflammatory things publicly on facebook also where his photo is visible. What should I do in this situation? Contact his academic department? Retweet some of his stuff to draw attention to it? His research is funded by the US government and I don't think a conspiracy nut and propagandist should be in charge of a federally funded research lab. Assistant: Report to a journalists or write an email to the university or write a Twitter thread. Many things you can do or write a medium article.

Human: What's your unpopular opinion about your field? Title. Assistant: I am in some mash up of drug discovery, computational chemistry, and computational physics. Honestly, methods papers don't get the love they deserve and more people need to run replicates to ensure that their simulations have not gone into weird phase space. Also a lot of experimentalists have no clue what a simulation can and can not show.

Human: What's your unpopular opinion about your field? Title. Assistant: Mathematics. My work isn't important and never will be important. Academic leadership knows this and hired me just because I write papers and have a PhD which looks good to accreditation boards. I do it just because I like doing it and talking to others about it.

Human: Dating struggles as an older phd student...to date or not to date? Dating as an older non-traditional phd student has been hella hard. Recently divorced and I’m in my 40’s (f). I’m currently in my 3rd year in a mathematics program. I met a really great guy who’s also a non-traditional student and is studying English. He’s in his 40’s too and divorced. The catch? He’s in his junior year of undergrad at the college I teach in. I’ve never taught him and won’t teach him at all. No supervisory responsibility or anything like that. In fact, we met at the food hall on campus! I want to give this a go but I don’t want backlash. Thoughts? Assistant: Ma’am I know a guy (37M) in my program who just got his PhD and has literally dated solely undergrads throughout his degree under more ethically questionable circumstances and nobody bats a fucking eye except me and my girlfriend because the dude has other major red flags nobody else for some reason sees. So yeah send it

Human: Dating struggles as an older phd student...to date or not to date? Dating as an older non-traditional phd student has been hella hard. Recently divorced and I’m in my 40’s (f). I’m currently in my 3rd year in a mathematics program. I met a really great guy who’s also a non-traditional student and is studying English. He’s in his 40’s too and divorced. The catch? He’s in his junior year of undergrad at the college I teach in. I’ve never taught him and won’t teach him at all. No supervisory responsibility or anything like that. In fact, we met at the food hall on campus! I want to give this a go but I don’t want backlash. Thoughts? Assistant: Don't take it seriously. You're only a phd student, not a faculty. Go ahead and find your love.

Human: Yo professors, do you ever get annoyed at students that visit you every day during your office hours? Taking my discrete math class this semeseter, easily the hardest class ive ever taken. im a junior &#x200B; im literally visiting my professor every day (he says if his office door is open, hes open to meet). &#x200B; Am i annoying him by visiting him every day? I need a C+ in this class and this class is FUCKING HARD. &#x200B; so do yall get annoyed at students that meet every single day? &#x200B; he did tell me im the only student that visits /meets him on teams via online during office hours.. Assistant: Don’t worry overthink it. You are paying for this class (with money and with the time you are devoting to this class) It’s a mark of growth to ask for help when you need it. He has office hours for a reason ...to help you out.

Human: Yo professors, do you ever get annoyed at students that visit you every day during your office hours? Taking my discrete math class this semeseter, easily the hardest class ive ever taken. im a junior &#x200B; im literally visiting my professor every day (he says if his office door is open, hes open to meet). &#x200B; Am i annoying him by visiting him every day? I need a C+ in this class and this class is FUCKING HARD. &#x200B; so do yall get annoyed at students that meet every single day? &#x200B; he did tell me im the only student that visits /meets him on teams via online during office hours.. Assistant: The only time I get annoyed is if students don't try in class, don't read the syllabus (I'm one of THOSE), or don't come to class... then come to my office all the time. I actually appreciate when students are in my office hours. To me that shows that they are making an effort and truly care about the class. I've had a few that are the "only ones" as well.... and they did well in the class as a result of asking lots of questions!

Human: I work seems pointless I recently graduated undergrad. I was super diligent and got to publish my senior thesis to a conference. I just recently spoke at a conference on said paper. I am enrolled in a masters program, I know I want to be a professor/researcher and do a PhD and the whole shebang. But with the conference, listening to everyone’s presentations on small details of hypothetical scenarios ... I am just left thinking, is any of this important? Why am I spending my time on this, when the world is going to crap? I don’t think that I dislike research... I think that I need to move to another field that is a little more applied and tied to real world problems. Has anyone else felt this way before? Would love to hear stories. Maybe I just depressed at the pandemic/climate change/political environment etc. Edit: rip title, “MY work” Assistant: I agree. I worked in a humanitarian field before academia with life and death stuff. Now as a professor it's just stunning that people get so worked up about things which matter so little and that the tenure system is built around producing largely meaningless work instead of emphasizing teaching which has genuine real-world impact. Bleh.

Human: I work seems pointless I recently graduated undergrad. I was super diligent and got to publish my senior thesis to a conference. I just recently spoke at a conference on said paper. I am enrolled in a masters program, I know I want to be a professor/researcher and do a PhD and the whole shebang. But with the conference, listening to everyone’s presentations on small details of hypothetical scenarios ... I am just left thinking, is any of this important? Why am I spending my time on this, when the world is going to crap? I don’t think that I dislike research... I think that I need to move to another field that is a little more applied and tied to real world problems. Has anyone else felt this way before? Would love to hear stories. Maybe I just depressed at the pandemic/climate change/political environment etc. Edit: rip title, “MY work” Assistant: Have you read Chomky's essay on "The Responsibility of Intellectuals"? If not, I'd think you'd enjoy it: https://chomsky.info/19670223/

Human: Thanks for your support, r/AskAcademia Just have to share that I successfully defended a PhD in deep-sea microbial ecology today. I wanted to say thanks to this community for keeping me grounded and sane over the last year or so. This sub has been my resource for many things including planning my next steps. So thanks y’all for sharing your experiences and expertise. Assistant: \> keeping me grounded and sane Dunno which sub you’ve been browsing m8 but it sure ain’t this one

Human: Thanks for your support, r/AskAcademia Just have to share that I successfully defended a PhD in deep-sea microbial ecology today. I wanted to say thanks to this community for keeping me grounded and sane over the last year or so. This sub has been my resource for many things including planning my next steps. So thanks y’all for sharing your experiences and expertise. Assistant: Congrats Dr!

Human: Pregnant during PhD program Hi everyone! I just found out that I’m pregnant. My husband and I are over the moon, but the anxiety is starting to creep up on me. I am finishing up my second year of my PhD program in biology and the baby will be due in the beginning/middle of my third year. Quals are at the end of the third year. I am really lucky and I have a really supportive PI who cares about his students, but I’m still scared about how he is going to handle it. I’m also scared about how I will handle being a mom and a grad student. I guess I’m just asking anyone who has gone through something like this for advice. What can I expect? And a bit of reassurance that you all made it through. Thanks! Assistant: Thanks everyone. This thread has made me feel better like I don’t have to choose between a family and a career path PhD

Human: Pregnant during PhD program Hi everyone! I just found out that I’m pregnant. My husband and I are over the moon, but the anxiety is starting to creep up on me. I am finishing up my second year of my PhD program in biology and the baby will be due in the beginning/middle of my third year. Quals are at the end of the third year. I am really lucky and I have a really supportive PI who cares about his students, but I’m still scared about how he is going to handle it. I’m also scared about how I will handle being a mom and a grad student. I guess I’m just asking anyone who has gone through something like this for advice. What can I expect? And a bit of reassurance that you all made it through. Thanks! Assistant: No advice just rooting for you. If I have kids, it will have to be during my PhD, because I am 39 and am just starting a masters. I know people who have done it but it’s rare. I am encouraged by everyone who does it. The more people do it, the more normalized it will be come.

Human: "Make all the figures before you start writing the paper" is terrible advice Biomedical sciences student here. I am curious what people think of this statement. Personally, I have heard it from many PIs, including my own, leading me to believe it is a common bit of philosophy throughout academia. Based on my experience, this has been garbage advice. Sure, you need to know your data, and you need to have it analyzed before you start writing. But I have found that the story only comes together when pen hits paper, and some parts of the story end up needing to be emphasized while others can be ignored. In the past, I tried to stick to pre-made figures and maintain the expectation that they weren't going to change. Ultimately I found that this unnecessarily constrained the story I ended up being able to tell and became a waste of time since I just remake the figures anyway. Assistant: I make all the figures and do all the analyses before starting writing. You need a story first and that comes from the interpretation of your results!

Human: "Make all the figures before you start writing the paper" is terrible advice Biomedical sciences student here. I am curious what people think of this statement. Personally, I have heard it from many PIs, including my own, leading me to believe it is a common bit of philosophy throughout academia. Based on my experience, this has been garbage advice. Sure, you need to know your data, and you need to have it analyzed before you start writing. But I have found that the story only comes together when pen hits paper, and some parts of the story end up needing to be emphasized while others can be ignored. In the past, I tried to stick to pre-made figures and maintain the expectation that they weren't going to change. Ultimately I found that this unnecessarily constrained the story I ended up being able to tell and became a waste of time since I just remake the figures anyway. Assistant: Is it possible you're putting too much effort into the figures? My view is that I have a bunch of figures, like dozens, and it tells me which parts of the story are compelling, and then I write, and as I write I change figures and the story.

Human: Advice to your younger academic self If you could go back and tell your younger self one thing about academia or the PhD process, what would you say? What did you wish you had known early on? I’ve been asked to speak at an induction day for new PhD students and would love to hear your experiences/advice (as students and/or supervisors) - and to share them with my group and others on here. Apologies if there’s a recent thread on this. Assistant: Choose an advisor who's good at networking and has a very good standing in the community. That really helps.

Human: Advice to your younger academic self If you could go back and tell your younger self one thing about academia or the PhD process, what would you say? What did you wish you had known early on? I’ve been asked to speak at an induction day for new PhD students and would love to hear your experiences/advice (as students and/or supervisors) - and to share them with my group and others on here. Apologies if there’s a recent thread on this. Assistant: Publish earlier and a lot. Academic careers snowball and it is important to start out on a high trajectory. Of course, quality is important too, but it's OK to have a few average papers to start out and start building your CV. Anyway, I compare academia to wealth - the wealthy will continue to get wealthier. It's not right, but it's reality.

Human: What type of cranks does your discipline attract? I'm in religious studies and just got an email from someone letting me know his bizarre theories about the Bible. Assistant: History of science: a lot of aggressive atheists who think that Carl Sagan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and Richard Dawkins are leading scholars, and that science is some sort of special, removed form of knowledge.

Human: What type of cranks does your discipline attract? I'm in religious studies and just got an email from someone letting me know his bizarre theories about the Bible. Assistant: I do geochronology and a lot of my group works on Early Earth. We get weird postcards a couple times a year, and weird emails several times a year. My supervisor also has been "cited" by Answers in Genesis multiple times... &#x200B; Edit: I realized I didn't specify what type of weird it was. Mostly creationists insisting the Earth isn't that old, or that radiogenic elements' decay constants are actually much higher, etc.

Human: So so tired. How to rediscover my lost passion and drive 😥 Perhaps this feeling has been cliche by now, with everything going on in the world. But does anyone else out there just feel totally *done*? I'm going into my 3rd year of my PhD (out of 4 total), my "analysis year". (Previous two were mostly lots and lots of fieldwork, collecting data, presentations, some general analyses and papers but not focused on detailed analyses.) I used to love my research. I still do, but feel totally separate from it. Just can't motivate myself to work on anything for my dissertation the past few weeks. I'm tired all of the time and don't know how to refuel my drive... I'm guessing others must feel the same way. Suggestions on how to get out of this slump? How to feel refreshed, recharged, and passionate again? There's just so many shitty chaotic things occurring, speaking from the US perspective but globally as well. How does anyone focus on research, or anything for that matter, anymore? I'm just so tired... Assistant: My perspective is a little different. I don't need to be passionate about my work. I treat my research and teaching as a job, and that helps me stay motivated and productive. Maybe try to find things other than passion that motivate you to complete your PhD. Edited to add: Of course, there is a mental health aspect of your post that I haven't addressed. I second the suggestion to take a few days off to mentally recharge.

Human: So so tired. How to rediscover my lost passion and drive 😥 Perhaps this feeling has been cliche by now, with everything going on in the world. But does anyone else out there just feel totally *done*? I'm going into my 3rd year of my PhD (out of 4 total), my "analysis year". (Previous two were mostly lots and lots of fieldwork, collecting data, presentations, some general analyses and papers but not focused on detailed analyses.) I used to love my research. I still do, but feel totally separate from it. Just can't motivate myself to work on anything for my dissertation the past few weeks. I'm tired all of the time and don't know how to refuel my drive... I'm guessing others must feel the same way. Suggestions on how to get out of this slump? How to feel refreshed, recharged, and passionate again? There's just so many shitty chaotic things occurring, speaking from the US perspective but globally as well. How does anyone focus on research, or anything for that matter, anymore? I'm just so tired... Assistant: Ughh I feel this. I feel exhausted ALL the time and its making it impossible for me to get anything done. But then the longer I go without getting things done, the more stressed and tired I get.

Human: What’s life like Post-PhD? Does one feels less dumb? Only interested in unpopular opinions. Assistant: No it’s great. On days when I’m lounging around being a useless lump, I catch myself and I’m like “damn I’m a doctor!” And then I feel fancy and validated as I uselessly lump around.

Human: What’s life like Post-PhD? Does one feels less dumb? Only interested in unpopular opinions. Assistant: Nope. Just check out imposter syndrome...

Human: Why are scientists always portrayed as bad guys/cowardly villains/arrogant/etc in movies/media? &#x200B; God damnit, I'm tired of screenwriters/entertainment industry's weird vilification of us. Every time there's a guy with a lab coat in a movie, you know he/she is going to die in a horrible way or they're going to be complete weird dickheads.\* Have they even ever talked to or befriended your real average scientist? *Most* nobody acts like that in real life. (at least here in Canada) \*unless they're some rugged ex-soldier outsider main character who don't get along with the rest /rant Assistant: Because America doesn’t respect science as much as you think. Especially when rational and scientific behavior would solve most problems removing any excitement from the film.

Human: Why are scientists always portrayed as bad guys/cowardly villains/arrogant/etc in movies/media? &#x200B; God damnit, I'm tired of screenwriters/entertainment industry's weird vilification of us. Every time there's a guy with a lab coat in a movie, you know he/she is going to die in a horrible way or they're going to be complete weird dickheads.\* Have they even ever talked to or befriended your real average scientist? *Most* nobody acts like that in real life. (at least here in Canada) \*unless they're some rugged ex-soldier outsider main character who don't get along with the rest /rant Assistant: They weren’t even mentioned during the height of the pandemic - it was all doctors and nurses

Human: "How to work in academia and look after yourself" A talk I gave last week about well-being and work-life balance in academia Last week I gave a talk called "How to work in higher education and look after yourself" which was also called "How to be a future research leader and look after yourself" .... The talk was recorded and you can watch it here It's the second time I've given it, lots of people have told me it was useful for them. It's super hard for me to give the talk (it brings up a lot of personal issues with anxiety) so this time I recorded it so I won't have to give it again! It's got some practical time management, work-life balance stuff but focuses on thinking about the relationship you have with your work. I'm in the UK so it's obviously focused on that context. Assistant: Until professors stop being dicks for the sake of being dicks nothing is going to happen. There is a difference between being a tough professor that pushes and tries to bring out the best in the students (undergrad and grad) and simply being an asshole. To many professors seem to enjoy being assholes > Academia changes one death at a time

Human: "How to work in academia and look after yourself" A talk I gave last week about well-being and work-life balance in academia Last week I gave a talk called "How to work in higher education and look after yourself" which was also called "How to be a future research leader and look after yourself" .... The talk was recorded and you can watch it here It's the second time I've given it, lots of people have told me it was useful for them. It's super hard for me to give the talk (it brings up a lot of personal issues with anxiety) so this time I recorded it so I won't have to give it again! It's got some practical time management, work-life balance stuff but focuses on thinking about the relationship you have with your work. I'm in the UK so it's obviously focused on that context. Assistant: Thank you!

Human: Those who discovered they had ADHD during their PhD, what is your story ? Hi ! I started listening to the "How to ADHD" podcast on youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvq9Tp5JZ8oDV3SIpSJX25Twp9FHKqi\_l ) and honestly, it has brought me to tears... I'm not sure if I'm just exhausted or realize that I've been struggling with this for such a long time. I'm now a PhD student and have been having great grades in school most of my life, even if I didn't study a lot (excepts for math... where I have to study a lot and have meh grades...) Anyways, I'm interested in how you discovered that you had it, what caused you to get diagnosed and what you are doing now with it. Assistant: I was diagnosed right after my ph.d. (Psychiatrist). I started really struggling in multiple areas—reason I sought out help. It’s been helpful in the sense that it explains a lot of my life. Ironically, I work in special education. I know a lot of strategies for ADHD, but difficult to put them into play myself. I found that cognitive behavior therapy was really helpful. I still use a therapist to provide external motivation, accountability, and problem solving.

Human: Those who discovered they had ADHD during their PhD, what is your story ? Hi ! I started listening to the "How to ADHD" podcast on youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvq9Tp5JZ8oDV3SIpSJX25Twp9FHKqi\_l ) and honestly, it has brought me to tears... I'm not sure if I'm just exhausted or realize that I've been struggling with this for such a long time. I'm now a PhD student and have been having great grades in school most of my life, even if I didn't study a lot (excepts for math... where I have to study a lot and have meh grades...) Anyways, I'm interested in how you discovered that you had it, what caused you to get diagnosed and what you are doing now with it. Assistant: Uhh...... I’m now typing like super angry and sad at the same time after watching this video 🤣 that could explain so much haha

Human: Struggling with Disrespectful Masters Students Hello, I'm (30f) a north american doctoral researcher at a French university. This semester I'm teaching two classes: an undergraduate class and a masters class. My undergraduate students are wonderful, excited, and truly a joy to teach. I'm week 7/12 with them and I'm delighted each time I get to have them in my classroom. They're highly active, very engaged, and seem so passionate about the coursework. My masters students....are not. I'm on week 4/10 with them, and it's like pulling teeth. The purpose of the class is for them to practice speaking English in a scientific manner. That's the point. For the first half of the class, I designed it so we discuss readings that were given out as homework the week before. The second half, we break into group work so they can practice speaking in English to their colleagues. During week two, 33% of the class didn't do the readings. I'm flexible, so when I came to a student who didn't read, I changed questions. "What do you feel about the title of the paper?" -- "I don't know." "What do you think it means?" "I don't know." "What do you think about this topic in general?" "I don't know." Eventually, I moved on. During week three, they were meant to hand in an assignment -- the title of an article they'll be doing a five minute oral presentations on at the end of the semester, and the title of the book they'll do a book review on (also due at the end of the semester) Six students didn't show up. It's a class of 20. 10 in general didn't even turn in the assignment. Students have come up to me and said, they don't feel like doing the book review can they just do the oral presentation? No. A book is too long to read (over the course of 7 weeks), can they just do chapters instead? No. The most recent, tonight, was an email response to a reminder that I hadn't received this student's work. He told me he didn't know how to find a journal article, JSTOR and Research Gate has a paywall, can I just give it to him? I explained he could get institution access through the school library to find a journal article, that JSTOR has 100 free articles even without institution access, and Research Gate does as well. The parameters for choosing a book/journal article were: in he student's field of study and in english. That's it. I don't know what to do or how to respond to what seems just persistent disrespect for me and the class itself. Half the class seems to be doing okay, they're engaged and they do the work and they talk. I have one student, a professor on sabbatical taking a second masters, who seems to really enjoy the class. She tells me I'm doing great and that she wants to use my methodology with the group work to help keep classes engaged. But it feels like whiplash when she says that, because I feel like I'm fighting non-stop to keep the rest of the group engaged. I don't know the best way to reach out to these students, and also...how to respond to the blatant lack of care for the course. Apparently this is a weighted class system, so even if they fail my class it will barely affect their overall average. But that doesn't mean they should just be so outright *rude.* They don't even *try* to lie. They just tell me that they're not going to do their work. What do I do with that? I could really use some advice. Assistant: Here’s some advice from an old professor: don’t care more about your students’ grades in your class than they do. Teach your class and don’t stress out if someone is satisfied getting a C, or even an F. If that’s what they want to do, that’s up to them. You can’t force them to care.

Human: Struggling with Disrespectful Masters Students Hello, I'm (30f) a north american doctoral researcher at a French university. This semester I'm teaching two classes: an undergraduate class and a masters class. My undergraduate students are wonderful, excited, and truly a joy to teach. I'm week 7/12 with them and I'm delighted each time I get to have them in my classroom. They're highly active, very engaged, and seem so passionate about the coursework. My masters students....are not. I'm on week 4/10 with them, and it's like pulling teeth. The purpose of the class is for them to practice speaking English in a scientific manner. That's the point. For the first half of the class, I designed it so we discuss readings that were given out as homework the week before. The second half, we break into group work so they can practice speaking in English to their colleagues. During week two, 33% of the class didn't do the readings. I'm flexible, so when I came to a student who didn't read, I changed questions. "What do you feel about the title of the paper?" -- "I don't know." "What do you think it means?" "I don't know." "What do you think about this topic in general?" "I don't know." Eventually, I moved on. During week three, they were meant to hand in an assignment -- the title of an article they'll be doing a five minute oral presentations on at the end of the semester, and the title of the book they'll do a book review on (also due at the end of the semester) Six students didn't show up. It's a class of 20. 10 in general didn't even turn in the assignment. Students have come up to me and said, they don't feel like doing the book review can they just do the oral presentation? No. A book is too long to read (over the course of 7 weeks), can they just do chapters instead? No. The most recent, tonight, was an email response to a reminder that I hadn't received this student's work. He told me he didn't know how to find a journal article, JSTOR and Research Gate has a paywall, can I just give it to him? I explained he could get institution access through the school library to find a journal article, that JSTOR has 100 free articles even without institution access, and Research Gate does as well. The parameters for choosing a book/journal article were: in he student's field of study and in english. That's it. I don't know what to do or how to respond to what seems just persistent disrespect for me and the class itself. Half the class seems to be doing okay, they're engaged and they do the work and they talk. I have one student, a professor on sabbatical taking a second masters, who seems to really enjoy the class. She tells me I'm doing great and that she wants to use my methodology with the group work to help keep classes engaged. But it feels like whiplash when she says that, because I feel like I'm fighting non-stop to keep the rest of the group engaged. I don't know the best way to reach out to these students, and also...how to respond to the blatant lack of care for the course. Apparently this is a weighted class system, so even if they fail my class it will barely affect their overall average. But that doesn't mean they should just be so outright *rude.* They don't even *try* to lie. They just tell me that they're not going to do their work. What do I do with that? I could really use some advice. Assistant: I would ask them to leave. It's a master's. You can't have it if you don't earn it.

Human: Can we explicitly state that some statement is about American academia when it is exclusively about American academia? Instead of just assuming that the reader is associated to and familiar with American academia? Thanks. Assistant: I feel like all posts should explain the location and region just because each area is very different.

Human: Can we explicitly state that some statement is about American academia when it is exclusively about American academia? Instead of just assuming that the reader is associated to and familiar with American academia? Thanks. Assistant: Ha, can we do the same for STEM? So many posts assume everyone is in a lab, has a PI, gets funded through soft money, publishes several multi-author articles per year, worries about author order….

Human: Why are all geology professors so nice? Between undergraduate electives and studying energy in graduate school, I've taken 4 different lower/upper level geology courses. Every professor I've had in that subject area has been incredibly nice, cool, and genuine. What's up with this? Is "being a nice person" part of the requirements on Geology PhD applications? Assistant: hahah I've experienced this phenomenon, I was a geo major. My theory is based on how very aware geologists are of our laughably short presence on the geologic timescale. Maybe once you contemplate your insignificance you have more fucks to give in the "be a decent person" department and fewer in the "People must know my intellectual might! No time for kindness". Just a working theory on the matter.

Human: Why are all geology professors so nice? Between undergraduate electives and studying energy in graduate school, I've taken 4 different lower/upper level geology courses. Every professor I've had in that subject area has been incredibly nice, cool, and genuine. What's up with this? Is "being a nice person" part of the requirements on Geology PhD applications? Assistant: Because they... rock. I'll see myself out.

Human: Why should I peer-review a paper? (Honest question) Today I received two emails from a journal I never published in. In the first email, they communicated to me that I was added to their database. In the second email, I have been asked to I) review the paper before the 1st of Jan, or II) suggest another expert in the field. My question is: why would I ever work for them, for free? And why is it even acceptable that I get registered on a database of a journal that I have never had anything to do without my consent? I completely understand the idea that I should do it for science, and that someone else did the same for my manuscripts. But isn’t that crazy? I mean, they are asking me to work on a tight schedule entirely for free, on a paper that they will most likely ask money to access. And I don’t even see one way how this will benefit my career. Am I missing something here? Should I accept this review for some reason obscure to me? Assistant: Speaking from an entirely 'selfish' point of view, you review papers for two reasons: 1. Forces you to keep up with the literature in the field and will give you new ideas. 2. Reviewing journal articles is seen as an 'essential' part of your job as an academic. You have to show that you regularly review papers for applying to fellowships, grants, tenure, etc.

Human: Why should I peer-review a paper? (Honest question) Today I received two emails from a journal I never published in. In the first email, they communicated to me that I was added to their database. In the second email, I have been asked to I) review the paper before the 1st of Jan, or II) suggest another expert in the field. My question is: why would I ever work for them, for free? And why is it even acceptable that I get registered on a database of a journal that I have never had anything to do without my consent? I completely understand the idea that I should do it for science, and that someone else did the same for my manuscripts. But isn’t that crazy? I mean, they are asking me to work on a tight schedule entirely for free, on a paper that they will most likely ask money to access. And I don’t even see one way how this will benefit my career. Am I missing something here? Should I accept this review for some reason obscure to me? Assistant: And who reviews your papers? Magical Christmas elves? If you're submitting papers you should be willing to review others.

Human: Is it common to fail to get a PhD after 10 years of being in the program? Someone I know is returning to our (mutual) home country without finishing her dissertation after 10 years in the PhD program. She said she can't stay in the states longer I thought she was graduating late because she was in humanities. I never imagined someone can fail to graduate after whopping 10 years Is this a common story? Assistant: People do fail to get across the line. It’s a tough journey. Things can get in the way. Research labs can take advantage of you. There are a lot of barriers. I hope your friend is okay!

Human: Is it common to fail to get a PhD after 10 years of being in the program? Someone I know is returning to our (mutual) home country without finishing her dissertation after 10 years in the PhD program. She said she can't stay in the states longer I thought she was graduating late because she was in humanities. I never imagined someone can fail to graduate after whopping 10 years Is this a common story? Assistant: If you're there for a full decade, you're probably being abused for labour by your supervisor. That or you honestly just aren't cut out for research work. It's not unheard of, and there are a few legitimate cases that just unfortunately take *very* long, but most PhD programs last 4-7 years in the USA. And in most other countries are even shorter, since it's often common practice to do a Master's first before PhD outside of the states.

Human: What are some obvious issues in academia, nobody wants to talk about? Like inter-departmental politics, everybody knows but people rarely talk about it to resolve it. Assistant: Honest answer - insane always on / always working culture. I did a bunch of industry work before grad school and it was nowhere even close to this bad. It's about it being a "meritocracy" and therefore always something else you can or should be doing. Would be unacceptable in many other sectors.

Human: What are some obvious issues in academia, nobody wants to talk about? Like inter-departmental politics, everybody knows but people rarely talk about it to resolve it. Assistant: Unbalanced mentoring relationships: profs that are far too distant from students and students that are not autonomous enough.

Human: Social scientists and philosophers, what have you learned professionally about human nature that you still have trouble applying to your own life? For me, while I've learned plenty of useful, empirically validated things about how people process information, I still incorrectly think I can write perfect communications everyone will understand. Assistant: Biases are everywhere and your reasoning is never independent of emotion or potential manipulation. Yet, I think my decisions are sound and logical.

Human: Social scientists and philosophers, what have you learned professionally about human nature that you still have trouble applying to your own life? For me, while I've learned plenty of useful, empirically validated things about how people process information, I still incorrectly think I can write perfect communications everyone will understand. Assistant: Philosophically, I am radically suspicious of anything that claims to be "real," especially historical narratives and documentary media (including news). However, in order to be a good person and function in society, I have to live my life with the faith that if I'm being told that people are suffering, that my vote counts, that the earth is round, I should believe it.

Human: For Ph.D. students that used to work out consistently during college. Is it possible to do it during a Ph.D.? I'll be starting my Ph.D. this Fall. I've been lifting all of college, would such a lifestyle still be possible during my Ph.D.? I'd spend about 1 hour and 30 minutes at the gym 4-5 times a week (still do). Do any of you guys lift on the regular while still finishing your responsabilities? &#x200B; I love fitness and its a big part of my life. &#x200B; Thank you. Assistant: Yes, of course it is possible. I worked hard during my PhD, but I still had to to take musical instrument lessons, go dancing, throw pottery, enjoy parties and happy hours. I know it seems like there are a lot of unknowns, but grad school can be a great time with a great sense of community. For reference I am in a STEM field.

Human: For Ph.D. students that used to work out consistently during college. Is it possible to do it during a Ph.D.? I'll be starting my Ph.D. this Fall. I've been lifting all of college, would such a lifestyle still be possible during my Ph.D.? I'd spend about 1 hour and 30 minutes at the gym 4-5 times a week (still do). Do any of you guys lift on the regular while still finishing your responsabilities? &#x200B; I love fitness and its a big part of my life. &#x200B; Thank you. Assistant: So long as it's a priority for you, you'll find the time. I didn't get into regular lifting until I got my first faculty job. But I'm much busier as faculty than I was as a grad student, and I'm still in the gym most mornings.

Human: Academics who publish more than your peers: what do you do differently? I've been using Scopus to compare publication records of academics in my field who have received early career grants to get an idea of what I should be aiming for. In doing this I've noticed that most people have a similar number of publications - usually 1-2 first author papers per year, plus a more variable number of co-authored papers further down the author list. However, there are some people who are comparably prolific, publishing upwards of 4 first-author publications a year multiple times in the first 5 years of their career (highest I've seen is 7 in one year), usually alongside many more co-authored papers. These authors are publishing in reputable journals with solid citations so they aren't just targeting easier journals. I've noticed that this usually occurs when the authors sticks closely to the same topic, sometimes even the same dataset (cohort studies in public health/psychology/psychiatry), or studies of different cohorts testing the same/similar research question. I'm curious about some less obvious differences that might be present. Writing on the same topic/data over and over of course is going to make writing faster and reduce time spent collecting data, but I don't think it's the whole story. I assume there must be other contextual factors at play, as well some differences in how these authors work. If you are someone with a lot of first-author publications (in a field where that matters) compared to your peers, or you know someone like this, what do you think allows them to publish twice as much as their peers? Assistant: As a first year PhD student in a field where most people get a single first author paper over the course of their PhD or postdoc: what the actual fuck are with these comments and the insane publication rate.

Human: Academics who publish more than your peers: what do you do differently? I've been using Scopus to compare publication records of academics in my field who have received early career grants to get an idea of what I should be aiming for. In doing this I've noticed that most people have a similar number of publications - usually 1-2 first author papers per year, plus a more variable number of co-authored papers further down the author list. However, there are some people who are comparably prolific, publishing upwards of 4 first-author publications a year multiple times in the first 5 years of their career (highest I've seen is 7 in one year), usually alongside many more co-authored papers. These authors are publishing in reputable journals with solid citations so they aren't just targeting easier journals. I've noticed that this usually occurs when the authors sticks closely to the same topic, sometimes even the same dataset (cohort studies in public health/psychology/psychiatry), or studies of different cohorts testing the same/similar research question. I'm curious about some less obvious differences that might be present. Writing on the same topic/data over and over of course is going to make writing faster and reduce time spent collecting data, but I don't think it's the whole story. I assume there must be other contextual factors at play, as well some differences in how these authors work. If you are someone with a lot of first-author publications (in a field where that matters) compared to your peers, or you know someone like this, what do you think allows them to publish twice as much as their peers? Assistant: I'll just leave this here... Something something quality and quantity

Human: Leave Academia at 30? Hi all, I am writing here because I feel confused and I am currently searching for some advice. I am 30 years old, I live in europe and I graduated as a medical doctor and got a PhD in Neuroscience. During these years I've been focusing on the physiology of memory and Alzheimer's Disease. I had the opportunity to learn a lot focusing on various electrophysiological techniques (recording of neuronal activity), 3D design and modelling, python, and various research techniques. I also spent some time abroad (1 year) in an Ivy league university in the US. I've got a good record of publications, got some prices, and had the chance to share my results in many international meetings. Right now, I'm doing my post-doc, but I feel that this is not my path. I am gradually loosing my interest toward research also due to some personal bad experiences. My year in US was inconclusive and had a really bad experience with my boss there. People keep telling me that at this age I can do whatever I want, but the truth is that I feel like I have to get out of my comfort zone and try something new, but I really don't know how to proceed. I like science and technology, and I think that I could do more, but at the moment I feel like it is impossible to get out of Academia (and at the same time staying in it). I have been looking for various job opportunities, but I have the feeling that I am useless out of my field or sometimes overqualified to certain positions. To make some context I am trying to consider jobs that are reasonably close to what I have done until now. What I feel i could try to do is: * going back to MD path and get a residency in Neurology/psychiatry or public health (I have some experience in handling data and it seems reasonable) * move out from my country and try other research paths * try to get into industry business. I am not so convinced about pharmaceutical companies because I fear that I will end up doing exactly the same stuff I do now and feel miserable again. Therefore, I have looked into emerging companies that are specialized in brain machine interfaces etc. My problem is that whatever I think to approach gives me the feeling that I could not do it. I have about one year of contract and I am trying to improve my programming skills and keep myself updated on medicine (this works fine because among my duties I have to teach physiology to MD students and that helps me being up to date). But the truth is that I feel I am lost and have no idea how to proceed. I am afraid of making wrong life choices and feel unable to really commit and hold into something. I don't know if any of you have a similar feeling or have been in a similar situation, but all kinds of feedback are welcome. Whoever read this, thank you for your time in reading my story. Assistant: I don't have some specific advice, but I am very familiar with the feeling that I am useless outside of my particular field of expertise (I am a postdoc too). One thing I try to remind myself of is that *it is not your responsibility to be the judge of that:* it is the responsibility of the person hiring you. So don't overthink things, and don't hesitate to aim for things that look interesting, even if you don't feel particularly suited for the job. Self-censorship is your worse enemy!

Human: Leave Academia at 30? Hi all, I am writing here because I feel confused and I am currently searching for some advice. I am 30 years old, I live in europe and I graduated as a medical doctor and got a PhD in Neuroscience. During these years I've been focusing on the physiology of memory and Alzheimer's Disease. I had the opportunity to learn a lot focusing on various electrophysiological techniques (recording of neuronal activity), 3D design and modelling, python, and various research techniques. I also spent some time abroad (1 year) in an Ivy league university in the US. I've got a good record of publications, got some prices, and had the chance to share my results in many international meetings. Right now, I'm doing my post-doc, but I feel that this is not my path. I am gradually loosing my interest toward research also due to some personal bad experiences. My year in US was inconclusive and had a really bad experience with my boss there. People keep telling me that at this age I can do whatever I want, but the truth is that I feel like I have to get out of my comfort zone and try something new, but I really don't know how to proceed. I like science and technology, and I think that I could do more, but at the moment I feel like it is impossible to get out of Academia (and at the same time staying in it). I have been looking for various job opportunities, but I have the feeling that I am useless out of my field or sometimes overqualified to certain positions. To make some context I am trying to consider jobs that are reasonably close to what I have done until now. What I feel i could try to do is: * going back to MD path and get a residency in Neurology/psychiatry or public health (I have some experience in handling data and it seems reasonable) * move out from my country and try other research paths * try to get into industry business. I am not so convinced about pharmaceutical companies because I fear that I will end up doing exactly the same stuff I do now and feel miserable again. Therefore, I have looked into emerging companies that are specialized in brain machine interfaces etc. My problem is that whatever I think to approach gives me the feeling that I could not do it. I have about one year of contract and I am trying to improve my programming skills and keep myself updated on medicine (this works fine because among my duties I have to teach physiology to MD students and that helps me being up to date). But the truth is that I feel I am lost and have no idea how to proceed. I am afraid of making wrong life choices and feel unable to really commit and hold into something. I don't know if any of you have a similar feeling or have been in a similar situation, but all kinds of feedback are welcome. Whoever read this, thank you for your time in reading my story. Assistant: Upvoting so more people see and maybe someone has good advice. Brain machine interface stuff is going to go big though. Your MD would really help some tech companies here in the US

Human: I was offered a PhD position. Would it be weird if I asked to talk to a PhD student I would work with before deciding to accept? The interviews involved only people who would supervise my work and while I got the impression the atmosphere in the team is good I would like to talk to someone whose perspective would be closer to mine. This is going to be the next 3 years of my life so I want to be as sure as possible I'm not being lured into an unhealthy environment. I already know there are 2 other PhD students working on the project so they would become my colleagues and I would get to know them anyway. Assistant: Definitely do it! I suggest making sure you talk to people at all stages too- new student, middle, near dissertation, even an alumni. As a PI, I give prospective students the contact info. A lab can be great and have a great culture, but not be the right fit for someone.

Human: I was offered a PhD position. Would it be weird if I asked to talk to a PhD student I would work with before deciding to accept? The interviews involved only people who would supervise my work and while I got the impression the atmosphere in the team is good I would like to talk to someone whose perspective would be closer to mine. This is going to be the next 3 years of my life so I want to be as sure as possible I'm not being lured into an unhealthy environment. I already know there are 2 other PhD students working on the project so they would become my colleagues and I would get to know them anyway. Assistant: I don't think it would be weird. It's important to know what the culture is from a student perspective.

Human: The student that just brings a notebook to class... My whole academic career I’ve never brought more than my notebook, a pen, and an open engaged mind to class... I do it for myself, and I’ve never really questioned it - for me it allows me to make the most free form / interconnected notes, when I hand-write things I feel it helps me retain the things I’m learning better, not having a computer in front of me forces me to engage in the lecture or seminar - there’s no distractions, there’s no laptop to hide behind - I’m not just attending I’m present. This has never been something I’ve questioned much, in my undergrad sure most other students had laptops but I never thought anything of it and they never thought anything of me. I’ve recently started grad school, at a quite elite institution with lots of very wealthy international students (that’s far from my socio-economic background). I’ve been showing up to class with my trusty notebook and pen, stowing my notes in nicely divided folders... my usual thing. But for the first time ever I’ve been getting comments about it from my peers - ‘oh that’s so old school’ - ‘how do you work like that?’ - ‘we’re going to need you to type up your notes for our google drive!’ Etc. It’s suddenly made me very self-conscious about my approach to learning, and I have noticed that when I show up to the seminars I’m the only person in the room without a laptop in front of me, when I get out my paper and pen I almost feel naked in the classroom. I wonder what my professors think, because clearly the other students with their shiny MacBook Pro’s have noticed it... it’s not that I don’t have a laptop, it’s just my entire life I’ve never been encouraged to use one in a classroom environment - in school electronics were banned! So I wanted to get the perspective from ideally academics and other post-grad students about this, am I doing something wrong? What’s your perception of the student with just a notepad?? reminds me of this meme (which I feel on a spiritual level!) Assistant: The other comments are spot on. I would add that your professors are most likely from a generation where notebooks were the norm. Also, in a sea of laptops the only face that stands out is yours. I think that's an advantage.

Human: The student that just brings a notebook to class... My whole academic career I’ve never brought more than my notebook, a pen, and an open engaged mind to class... I do it for myself, and I’ve never really questioned it - for me it allows me to make the most free form / interconnected notes, when I hand-write things I feel it helps me retain the things I’m learning better, not having a computer in front of me forces me to engage in the lecture or seminar - there’s no distractions, there’s no laptop to hide behind - I’m not just attending I’m present. This has never been something I’ve questioned much, in my undergrad sure most other students had laptops but I never thought anything of it and they never thought anything of me. I’ve recently started grad school, at a quite elite institution with lots of very wealthy international students (that’s far from my socio-economic background). I’ve been showing up to class with my trusty notebook and pen, stowing my notes in nicely divided folders... my usual thing. But for the first time ever I’ve been getting comments about it from my peers - ‘oh that’s so old school’ - ‘how do you work like that?’ - ‘we’re going to need you to type up your notes for our google drive!’ Etc. It’s suddenly made me very self-conscious about my approach to learning, and I have noticed that when I show up to the seminars I’m the only person in the room without a laptop in front of me, when I get out my paper and pen I almost feel naked in the classroom. I wonder what my professors think, because clearly the other students with their shiny MacBook Pro’s have noticed it... it’s not that I don’t have a laptop, it’s just my entire life I’ve never been encouraged to use one in a classroom environment - in school electronics were banned! So I wanted to get the perspective from ideally academics and other post-grad students about this, am I doing something wrong? What’s your perception of the student with just a notepad?? reminds me of this meme (which I feel on a spiritual level!) Assistant: I like taking notes by cursive instead of by typing - this kinetic approach helps me remember better. If I type notes then I don’t remember as well. I was taking PhD classes recently and half the class had laptops and the other half had notebooks and pens. Do what works for YOU. And no, when we teach we don’t care what laptops our students bring to class.

Human: Should I contact my previous advisor to see how they are doing? I graduated with my masters degree two years ago. I have two academic and research advisor that I guided me throughout the program and I managed to land a very good job and get on my feet after graduation. I want to send an email to two of my advisors to check in. Do you think this is a good idea? Do professors like to hear back from their previous students? &#x200B; I don't know if it matters but im an engineer and they are in school of engineering Assistant: Lecturer here! I love to hear back from my old students. Not only because I care about most of them, but I love to hear that their education has helped them achieve their goals.

Human: Should I contact my previous advisor to see how they are doing? I graduated with my masters degree two years ago. I have two academic and research advisor that I guided me throughout the program and I managed to land a very good job and get on my feet after graduation. I want to send an email to two of my advisors to check in. Do you think this is a good idea? Do professors like to hear back from their previous students? &#x200B; I don't know if it matters but im an engineer and they are in school of engineering Assistant: My advisor LOVES to receive news from formers students!

Human: Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. Assistant: As soon as I read the statement about your spouse and children not liking US, I was convinced that you should leave. Academia will eat up your whole life if you let it! Also there is a r/leavingacademia that might be helpful to you and a recently published book called leaving academia. I’m reading it now and it speaks to my soul. I’m planning my exit and will do it soon!

Human: Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. Assistant: A crisis either clarifies or confuses. You have to decide which one this is for you. You have already been working eight years then you know what it was like before the crisis. Honestly, none of us know what it’s going to be like years down the road.

Human: My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? Assistant: There's a difference between interpretation of existing real data and outright fabrication of new data points that never existed. Based on what you wrote (I don't and can't know what the situation actually is like), this can be - or can at least sold as - a difference in opinion on how to interpret existing real data. In this case, it should be caught up in peer review and if it isn't, you can issue an Errata. That's my "Devil's advocate" take on this.

Human: My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? Assistant: This sounds more like you and your advisor arm wrestling over how much time the foundational work requires than it does like falsifying anything.

Human: How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? Assistant: I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5.

Human: How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? Assistant: Dude, chill out. Let your family be proud of you and stop messing around with it. Not everybody has that kind of extended support.

Human: PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. Assistant: This sounds pretty normal, and this is even more prevalent when you become an academic or move into industry.

Human: PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. Assistant: I agree with the top comment that there's sort of a gradient of admin tasks to research tasks. Minute per minute though, definitely over a quarter of my time lately has been spent on what you count as administrative items. Maybe up to half the time, if you include all the work I do to coordinate the resources I need to collect and analyze data. I actually enjoy the admin tasks more than the research haha, at least admin tasks don't come back underpowered and insignificant :(

Human: What drama is happening in your department right now? After hearing some interesting tales of pettiness, I'm looking to hear yours. What drama is happening among your department or school now? How do you plan to cope with it? Assistant: There are rumors that the head of my program is leaving. The starter of those rumors? The head of my program.

Human: What drama is happening in your department right now? After hearing some interesting tales of pettiness, I'm looking to hear yours. What drama is happening among your department or school now? How do you plan to cope with it? Assistant: Some minor drama happened when a PI started talking AND answering questions about the research (!) during his student’s dissertation defense. PI’s are expressly not supposed to even talk during their student’s defense. Everyone was abuzz after that, but this PI has also been known to do weird things in general so I think everyone ended up shrugging their shoulders. Yes, he’s tenured.

Human: No matter what I do, I keep feeling the pull back to higher ed. I'm 28 and will probably apply for a PhD next year but feel like I'm too old and the market is too volatile. Thoughts? I graduated from university several years ago now. I had intended to apply for a PhD straight out but didn't due to a combination of health issues, feeling insecure about my chosen PhD project, and imposter syndrome. Well, at the end of last year it became clear to me that my mind was never going to stop gravitating back to higher ed. I just fucking loved it. I loved taking classes, I loved going to guest lectures and panels and doc screenings, and I really loved being a research assistant. And, in a weird way, I felt a sense of kinship with my discipline (in the social sciences) and my professors. It's hard to not feel gushy about it all, but I felt it then (even when it wasn't easy) and I feel it now. My intention was to apply this year but all things 2020 really took a toll on me mentally, to the point where it really started to impact my physical health. So, sadly, I am not ready to apply for programs this cycle (and a lot of programs closed their admissions anyway). At this point, the insecurities have started flooding in. Partially because I feel like I'll be starting my PhD very old and that it will make me incredibly unattractive in an already unstable and volatile higher ed market. There is also the good ol' imposter syndrome drilling away at me HARD. I'm honestly just looking for any personal advice/thoughts. No one else in my life has any real grasp on the academic or higher ed space. So I'd just love to talk to someone about this. Assistant: I didn't even start my *bachelor's* until your age and I'm doing a STEM PhD. You're letting your insecurities get the better of you, my friend.

Human: No matter what I do, I keep feeling the pull back to higher ed. I'm 28 and will probably apply for a PhD next year but feel like I'm too old and the market is too volatile. Thoughts? I graduated from university several years ago now. I had intended to apply for a PhD straight out but didn't due to a combination of health issues, feeling insecure about my chosen PhD project, and imposter syndrome. Well, at the end of last year it became clear to me that my mind was never going to stop gravitating back to higher ed. I just fucking loved it. I loved taking classes, I loved going to guest lectures and panels and doc screenings, and I really loved being a research assistant. And, in a weird way, I felt a sense of kinship with my discipline (in the social sciences) and my professors. It's hard to not feel gushy about it all, but I felt it then (even when it wasn't easy) and I feel it now. My intention was to apply this year but all things 2020 really took a toll on me mentally, to the point where it really started to impact my physical health. So, sadly, I am not ready to apply for programs this cycle (and a lot of programs closed their admissions anyway). At this point, the insecurities have started flooding in. Partially because I feel like I'll be starting my PhD very old and that it will make me incredibly unattractive in an already unstable and volatile higher ed market. There is also the good ol' imposter syndrome drilling away at me HARD. I'm honestly just looking for any personal advice/thoughts. No one else in my life has any real grasp on the academic or higher ed space. So I'd just love to talk to someone about this. Assistant: Definitely not too old. My department typically hires between 30 and 45 year olds for TT positions. Also, age brings maturity. In retrospect, I was a clueless baby when I started my TT position in my 20s.

Human: What are your best academic writing tips? I'm a first year UK PhD student in meteorology. Currently, I'm trying to write my first formal progress report which (if you don't know) is just a summary of my project, my progress up to yet, my methods and my future plans. I'm having a bit of writer's block - maybe it's the impostor syndrome but I feel less able to write a good piece of work. I'm doubting everything I write and struggling to come up with a good way to start and finish my writing. **So what are your best academic writing tips?** One thing I picked up from a Nature workshop is to make your reader understand why something is important, rather than saying "this is important because..." For example: * "Identifying flaws in weather models is important because it enables meteorologists to make direct improvements." vs * "Identifying flaws in weather models equips meteorologists with the knowledge to make direct improvements to the forecasts, which could increase the lead time on evacuation decisions." Assistant: Accept that good writing takes time and multiple drafts. Write something, set it down, work on something else, then come back to it. Get feedback. Iterate.

Human: What are your best academic writing tips? I'm a first year UK PhD student in meteorology. Currently, I'm trying to write my first formal progress report which (if you don't know) is just a summary of my project, my progress up to yet, my methods and my future plans. I'm having a bit of writer's block - maybe it's the impostor syndrome but I feel less able to write a good piece of work. I'm doubting everything I write and struggling to come up with a good way to start and finish my writing. **So what are your best academic writing tips?** One thing I picked up from a Nature workshop is to make your reader understand why something is important, rather than saying "this is important because..." For example: * "Identifying flaws in weather models is important because it enables meteorologists to make direct improvements." vs * "Identifying flaws in weather models equips meteorologists with the knowledge to make direct improvements to the forecasts, which could increase the lead time on evacuation decisions." Assistant: Prof Whitesides has a great little guide on outlining academic papers, with the intention that this outline should actually be made in the planning stages of a project rather than after the fact. Still, I think it brings a lot of clarity to the process from an expert.

Human: What's on your most recommended reading/activity list for early career academics? Are there any books (or other references) you find yourself reaching for over and over again or recommending to your mentees? Alternatively, is there an activity that you personally find very useful (journal clubs, independent reviews, ect.) for newcomers to your field? I definitely fall into early career myself, but there's a few books I've collected that I can't help but recommend to anyone I think may benefit from them. * "Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded" by Joshua Schimel * "The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster" by Steve Dalton * "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot * "The Emperor of All Maladies" by Siddhartha Mukherjee (I'm in cancer research) I'm hoping to expand this list, especially as I work with my postdoctoral and graduate student office to establish a lending library of sorts for our institution. Assistant: Found a lot of helpful tips in "The Professor Is In" by Karen Kelsky related to looking for academic positions. Also thanks so much for initiating this topic! Always looking for more academia/writing/reading/communicating science books.

Human: What's on your most recommended reading/activity list for early career academics? Are there any books (or other references) you find yourself reaching for over and over again or recommending to your mentees? Alternatively, is there an activity that you personally find very useful (journal clubs, independent reviews, ect.) for newcomers to your field? I definitely fall into early career myself, but there's a few books I've collected that I can't help but recommend to anyone I think may benefit from them. * "Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded" by Joshua Schimel * "The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster" by Steve Dalton * "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot * "The Emperor of All Maladies" by Siddhartha Mukherjee (I'm in cancer research) I'm hoping to expand this list, especially as I work with my postdoctoral and graduate student office to establish a lending library of sorts for our institution. Assistant: I'm in organic geochemistry, and most often recommend: * *Echoes of Life* by Susan Gaines, Geoffrey Eglinton, and Jurgen Rullkotter * *The Story of More* by Hope Jahren (as much as I love her writing, I try to *avoid* recommending *Lab Girl* to new students, because I feel like it promotes an unhealthy work/life balance - or actually, no work/life balance)

Human: Humanities PhDs that have left academia, what do you do now? The market has been terrible since I was in undergrad. I am getting towards the end of my PhD and I know that I need plan B's and C's (really these will more than likely be A and B with academia being a Hail Mary). But I am struggling with thinking about alternatives. I have some friends in the private sector that say consulting could be a good fit. Others say to go into teaching, but I'm certain that this requires even more school. Assistant: The fact that people have to resort to Reddit to find out answers to these questions tells you everything you need to know about just how much academic depts care about what happens to their PhD graduates after they’ve pushed them out of the door.

Human: Humanities PhDs that have left academia, what do you do now? The market has been terrible since I was in undergrad. I am getting towards the end of my PhD and I know that I need plan B's and C's (really these will more than likely be A and B with academia being a Hail Mary). But I am struggling with thinking about alternatives. I have some friends in the private sector that say consulting could be a good fit. Others say to go into teaching, but I'm certain that this requires even more school. Assistant: Policy analyst for a Govt department. Was sad to leave academia but now I get to do interesting work with intelligent people, clock off at 5pm, I'm paid a decent wage and get to live in the city I want to live in :)

Human: I got a job! After a hellish year. This is a long story, but I've wanted to tell it. I'm a regular lurker and commenter on this sub but creating an alt account to maintain my anonymity. The story has a happy ending, but it took a long time to get there. I finished my PhD in 2016 in Geography. I came out of one of the top graduate Geography programs in the US, but from a university that doesn't rank as 'elite'. Not all colleges and universities have Geography departments in the US and so people with Geography PhDs are often hired in departments that are interdisciplinary (such as environmental studies or international studies). I started applying for jobs in 2014-2015 while ABD and had a few phone and Skype interviews but nothing beyond that. I applied to all types of institution, in lots of different kinds of departments. I really didn't care about rank or anything like that, I just wanted a job. In 2015-2016, still ABD, I kept applying with no luck, and began to despair. I imagined a different life for myself outside of academia and began to mobilize some alternative options for myself. At the end of the Spring that year, I defended my dissertation, a few days later I half heartedly applied for one more job and got it! It was an NTT Instructor position at a large well-known research university in the US. I moved myself to a new place where I didn't know anyone in the summer of 2016 and started my first faculty position in an R1 Geography department that fall semester. Soon after I got to the new place, I met with my new colleagues and was told that they intended to hire a tenure track position for exactly the type of research that I do. Of course, I was immediately very excited about this. I really liked these people, loved my new students, and could envision a future for myself at this new university. From the time I got there in fall, 2016, I worked to distinguish myself. I published all of my dissertation that first year, and was able to submit some other publications as well. I consistently had stellar teaching evaluations. I began developing my next research project. My colleagues seemed supportive and I received very encouraging feedback about everything I was doing. Multiple people told me they wanted me to have the tenure track position when it came up. I tried to take this with a grain of salt, but of course I was very hopeful. In the fall of 2017, my department posted the ad for the new tenure track hire. It was clearly written around what I do. It was quite obvious, even to the point that friends and colleagues elsewhere were emailing me to figure out if the job was for me or if they should bother applying. I advised people to apply, because I knew that I wouldn't be given any particular advantage over other applicants. Nonetheless, I was very hopeful. But, I didn't want to think of it as guaranteed and I did continue to apply elsewhere for TT positions. I didn't have much luck. I was shortlisted at another R1 Geography program and (as anyone who has been on the market for awhile knows), applying for jobs is enormously time consuming and emotionally draining. After January, I stopped applying to other jobs and decided to let the chips fall where they would. I made it to the campus visit stage in the TT search at my university. I felt like my interview went well. Throughout the process I was very aware of everything else that was happening (a common challenge for the internal candidate). I knew when search committee meetings were happening, I knew when other candidates were visiting, I knew something of the internal dynamics of the search. For complicated reasons, the search was drawn out, a final candidate interviewed a month after the initial interviews happened. Members of the search committee were out of the country off and on. It was about 2.5 months from the time of my interview to the time when they actually made a decision about the job. Meanwhile, I organized a conference on themes that related directly to the position. I continued to work on publishing, provided quality educational experiences for my students, and generally do my thing well. But I was under an intense amount of pressure. My insomnia was terrible. I was dealing with some crippling anxiety. I was socially isolated because everyone I knew in this new place was either a colleague or a grad student in my department. It seemed like a bad idea to unload my stress on anyone in my department while the search was underway, so I kept my distance and spent a lot of time alone. It was honestly one of the hardest times in my life. Being alone in a new place, not being able to reach out to the few friends I had made there, and feeling like everything I did professionally was being judged. I felt that I had to do everything right so that they would give me this TT job. I was a mess emotionally, but managed to keep it to myself and appear as if I was doing fine professionally. They didn't give me the job. Worse, they didn't give it to anyone. It was a failed search. No one would ever give me a straight answer about why. My colleagues were mostly gaslighting me and acting as if I should not be impacted by how this all played out. Senior colleagues said things like, "I had lots of jobs I didn't get" and tried to act as if they knew my experience. But they didn't. They all got TT jobs within a year of finishing their PhDs (most straight out of grad school) none of them had to go through what early career people do today. A couple colleagues even offered to help me improve my application materials so that when they re-run the search next year I would be better prepared. I tried to be polite and not burn bridges, but all of this was insulting and hurtful. I'd already made it to the campus visit stage. I felt that they had their opportunity for me to be a part of their department long term and they didn't take it. So why would I bother putting myself through another year of that hell? As I saw it, my only pathway forward was to leave. But the NTT position I was in wasn't terrible so I couldn't just take anything. I knew it was a long shot but I applied to a few jobs that were posted in April. I got 2 on site interviews. One of them was an amazing good fit at an R1 near where I did my PhD. It's a great city that I love and I have friends in the area. The interview was like a great blind date. I loved it there and I could tell that their department was really excited about me. The day after I got back from my interview, I had an informal offer from the chair and after a bit of negotiation, I signed the offer letter and am now on my way to a TT position in a place I am very excited about. I really can't get over my good fortune here, especially after such a hellish year. So, after 4 years on the job market and a terrible experience an internal candidate, I finally got the job. It felt great to email my current colleagues brief polite emails about my imminent departure. If you made it to the end of this, thank you for reading. I am mostly posting this for my own catharsis, but also for grad students with academic aspirations and others still on the market. Good luck to all, the market is brutal and demoralizing. The End Assistant: GEOGRAPHERS UNITE! Congratulations! The job hunt is scary and disheartening and humbling, but you made it! I have only one question: Physical geography or Human geography? ;)

Human: I got a job! After a hellish year. This is a long story, but I've wanted to tell it. I'm a regular lurker and commenter on this sub but creating an alt account to maintain my anonymity. The story has a happy ending, but it took a long time to get there. I finished my PhD in 2016 in Geography. I came out of one of the top graduate Geography programs in the US, but from a university that doesn't rank as 'elite'. Not all colleges and universities have Geography departments in the US and so people with Geography PhDs are often hired in departments that are interdisciplinary (such as environmental studies or international studies). I started applying for jobs in 2014-2015 while ABD and had a few phone and Skype interviews but nothing beyond that. I applied to all types of institution, in lots of different kinds of departments. I really didn't care about rank or anything like that, I just wanted a job. In 2015-2016, still ABD, I kept applying with no luck, and began to despair. I imagined a different life for myself outside of academia and began to mobilize some alternative options for myself. At the end of the Spring that year, I defended my dissertation, a few days later I half heartedly applied for one more job and got it! It was an NTT Instructor position at a large well-known research university in the US. I moved myself to a new place where I didn't know anyone in the summer of 2016 and started my first faculty position in an R1 Geography department that fall semester. Soon after I got to the new place, I met with my new colleagues and was told that they intended to hire a tenure track position for exactly the type of research that I do. Of course, I was immediately very excited about this. I really liked these people, loved my new students, and could envision a future for myself at this new university. From the time I got there in fall, 2016, I worked to distinguish myself. I published all of my dissertation that first year, and was able to submit some other publications as well. I consistently had stellar teaching evaluations. I began developing my next research project. My colleagues seemed supportive and I received very encouraging feedback about everything I was doing. Multiple people told me they wanted me to have the tenure track position when it came up. I tried to take this with a grain of salt, but of course I was very hopeful. In the fall of 2017, my department posted the ad for the new tenure track hire. It was clearly written around what I do. It was quite obvious, even to the point that friends and colleagues elsewhere were emailing me to figure out if the job was for me or if they should bother applying. I advised people to apply, because I knew that I wouldn't be given any particular advantage over other applicants. Nonetheless, I was very hopeful. But, I didn't want to think of it as guaranteed and I did continue to apply elsewhere for TT positions. I didn't have much luck. I was shortlisted at another R1 Geography program and (as anyone who has been on the market for awhile knows), applying for jobs is enormously time consuming and emotionally draining. After January, I stopped applying to other jobs and decided to let the chips fall where they would. I made it to the campus visit stage in the TT search at my university. I felt like my interview went well. Throughout the process I was very aware of everything else that was happening (a common challenge for the internal candidate). I knew when search committee meetings were happening, I knew when other candidates were visiting, I knew something of the internal dynamics of the search. For complicated reasons, the search was drawn out, a final candidate interviewed a month after the initial interviews happened. Members of the search committee were out of the country off and on. It was about 2.5 months from the time of my interview to the time when they actually made a decision about the job. Meanwhile, I organized a conference on themes that related directly to the position. I continued to work on publishing, provided quality educational experiences for my students, and generally do my thing well. But I was under an intense amount of pressure. My insomnia was terrible. I was dealing with some crippling anxiety. I was socially isolated because everyone I knew in this new place was either a colleague or a grad student in my department. It seemed like a bad idea to unload my stress on anyone in my department while the search was underway, so I kept my distance and spent a lot of time alone. It was honestly one of the hardest times in my life. Being alone in a new place, not being able to reach out to the few friends I had made there, and feeling like everything I did professionally was being judged. I felt that I had to do everything right so that they would give me this TT job. I was a mess emotionally, but managed to keep it to myself and appear as if I was doing fine professionally. They didn't give me the job. Worse, they didn't give it to anyone. It was a failed search. No one would ever give me a straight answer about why. My colleagues were mostly gaslighting me and acting as if I should not be impacted by how this all played out. Senior colleagues said things like, "I had lots of jobs I didn't get" and tried to act as if they knew my experience. But they didn't. They all got TT jobs within a year of finishing their PhDs (most straight out of grad school) none of them had to go through what early career people do today. A couple colleagues even offered to help me improve my application materials so that when they re-run the search next year I would be better prepared. I tried to be polite and not burn bridges, but all of this was insulting and hurtful. I'd already made it to the campus visit stage. I felt that they had their opportunity for me to be a part of their department long term and they didn't take it. So why would I bother putting myself through another year of that hell? As I saw it, my only pathway forward was to leave. But the NTT position I was in wasn't terrible so I couldn't just take anything. I knew it was a long shot but I applied to a few jobs that were posted in April. I got 2 on site interviews. One of them was an amazing good fit at an R1 near where I did my PhD. It's a great city that I love and I have friends in the area. The interview was like a great blind date. I loved it there and I could tell that their department was really excited about me. The day after I got back from my interview, I had an informal offer from the chair and after a bit of negotiation, I signed the offer letter and am now on my way to a TT position in a place I am very excited about. I really can't get over my good fortune here, especially after such a hellish year. So, after 4 years on the job market and a terrible experience an internal candidate, I finally got the job. It felt great to email my current colleagues brief polite emails about my imminent departure. If you made it to the end of this, thank you for reading. I am mostly posting this for my own catharsis, but also for grad students with academic aspirations and others still on the market. Good luck to all, the market is brutal and demoralizing. The End Assistant: CONGRATS! Persistence and hard work pays off! Enjoy some R&R with the comfort of knowing they want you!

Human: “College isn’t for everyone”. Is it really that simple? Couldn’t one college be for someone but not another? Or maybe college wasn’t for someone in the past but is now? Or maybe it isn’t for someone now but they need to grow up? Transferring colleges, hope the next one I do better. At least because it holds no bad memories. Assistant: I believe that only ~15% of people currently going for Bachelor degrees should be there and the rest should quit, and the government should stop subsidizing them. And I 100% believe that some people ought to go to college one day but aren’t ready for it yet.

Human: “College isn’t for everyone”. Is it really that simple? Couldn’t one college be for someone but not another? Or maybe college wasn’t for someone in the past but is now? Or maybe it isn’t for someone now but they need to grow up? Transferring colleges, hope the next one I do better. At least because it holds no bad memories. Assistant: Yes & yes. For some people, college doesn't make sense. It doesn't fit their interests, goals, or talents. For some people, college at a certain place or time is a bad fit and they'll thrive somewhere/time else. Lots of life paths.

Human: How can I stay professional and calm while meeting with my toxic Ph.D. supervisor after I've graduated? I am a Postdoc now, and I graduated back in 2019. My Ph.D. lab environment was toxic ( sabotaging experiments, favoritism, disputes about authorship, reagent hoarding, etc..), and my PI was extremely narcissistic and manipulative. I somehow fought my way through the years, got my degree, and shifted to the US for a postdoc. I even avoided getting a Postdoc in a lab that my PI recommended because he knew the professor personally, and I did not want to be under his umbrella anymore. I still kept an amicable relationship with him, but I am in touch with very few of my previous colleagues and avoid the rest, as I had a rather unpleasant experience with them. Recently, he personally invited me to join a get-together of his lab, which will consist of past lab members, but I really want to avoid it. My wife (who was in academia too) says not attending might come across as unprofessional and can have repercussions later (if we decide to move back) since he (the PI) is well connected and influential in the academic circles in my home country. Any suggestions? Assistant: It sounds like you would need to travel to attend? So I would just tell PI I cannot travel at that time, but I appreciate the invitation and wish I could come as he’s a big part of how I got to this point in my career and wish him the best. Something that’s a no, but still makes a narcissist feel good so next time I ask for a favor he has positive feelings

Human: How can I stay professional and calm while meeting with my toxic Ph.D. supervisor after I've graduated? I am a Postdoc now, and I graduated back in 2019. My Ph.D. lab environment was toxic ( sabotaging experiments, favoritism, disputes about authorship, reagent hoarding, etc..), and my PI was extremely narcissistic and manipulative. I somehow fought my way through the years, got my degree, and shifted to the US for a postdoc. I even avoided getting a Postdoc in a lab that my PI recommended because he knew the professor personally, and I did not want to be under his umbrella anymore. I still kept an amicable relationship with him, but I am in touch with very few of my previous colleagues and avoid the rest, as I had a rather unpleasant experience with them. Recently, he personally invited me to join a get-together of his lab, which will consist of past lab members, but I really want to avoid it. My wife (who was in academia too) says not attending might come across as unprofessional and can have repercussions later (if we decide to move back) since he (the PI) is well connected and influential in the academic circles in my home country. Any suggestions? Assistant: I'll definitely attend! Oh no, I've been exposed to COVID19. So sad, next time! Better safe than sorry..

Human: How to leave without screwing yourself over Straight to the point: I'm really not enjoying academia as much as I thought I would. I'm currently in a postdoc position many would dream. The only caveat to the position is that you must publish as much as possible in 2 years. I'm now 1.5 years into it and have not published enough to my standard and likely the uni (1 journal 3 submitted - under review). I have many days of anxiety fuelled thoughts and have had thoughts of depression which were mostly addressed in therapy. However the underlying pressure is obviously still there. I just want out. The thought of applying for grants for the rest of my life with the added pressure of writing papers is just silly to me. I don't think this is a lifestyle for me. I'm pretty entrenched in the faculty now. How do I leave without pissing off my chain of command and without saying I wasn't grateful for this opportunity. I'm sorry I couldn't be a better academic. Assistant: I'm not sure I understand the problem. You have a 2-year position which has almost ended, and you say you don't enjoy the work. So just apply to jobs elsewhere and leave academia. A majority of postdocs don't continue in academia so nobody will be surprised or outraged by this kind of career decision.

Human: How to leave without screwing yourself over Straight to the point: I'm really not enjoying academia as much as I thought I would. I'm currently in a postdoc position many would dream. The only caveat to the position is that you must publish as much as possible in 2 years. I'm now 1.5 years into it and have not published enough to my standard and likely the uni (1 journal 3 submitted - under review). I have many days of anxiety fuelled thoughts and have had thoughts of depression which were mostly addressed in therapy. However the underlying pressure is obviously still there. I just want out. The thought of applying for grants for the rest of my life with the added pressure of writing papers is just silly to me. I don't think this is a lifestyle for me. I'm pretty entrenched in the faculty now. How do I leave without pissing off my chain of command and without saying I wasn't grateful for this opportunity. I'm sorry I couldn't be a better academic. Assistant: Yo just go this is a working relationship you do not owe the people anything. I left academia too after my postdoctoral and my PI totally understood. If they don’t it’s still not your problem. I have now an industry job and no one cares about who I did my postdoc with and why I left. Be polite but firm do not let yourself be guilt tripped into staying. Edit: plus not staying (surviving) in academia does make you second class scientist or anything like that! Do not let yourself being told that.

Human: Enjoyable PhD/academia success stories I hear so many graduate school horror stories and I feel like those are the majority. Are there people who enjoyed their PhD experience? Had a good work life balance ? Did not overwork themselves to exhaustion? Took most weekends off ? Had good, supportive PIs ? I started a PhD in 2014 but quit after 2 years and left with my masters because of mental health problems. I’ve been working in industry/ government since then, and I love it but I realized that my true passion is research and I am happiest doing experiments, and want to get back to grad school and apply to PhD programs. I sorely miss being in the lab doing experiments. I’ll be quite a bit older (30-31 when I start) but I’m not too concerned about that, in fact I think my experiences and perspective will help. My scientific skills are better than they were too so I feel ready. However, I’m concerned about the transition to life back in academia, in terms of the lifestyle. Also long term, I’m more inclined to an academic career although most don’t recommend it - I have an open mind for sure but I’ve realised in the 4 years of working in industry that it’s not my thing. I’m in USA and my field is biophysics/biochemistry. Many of my friends in Europe enjoyed their PhD experience but I know it’s different in USA. I’d love to hear about some good experiences! TLDR: looking to go back to get my PhD after 4 years in industry, want to hear about positive PhD experiences. Assistant: I had a wonderful PhD experience. I did really cool science that helps makes the world a better place, I lived somewhere beautiful with lots of things to do plus I got to travel pretty often to wonderful places. My lab was full of fun and brilliant people that I loved spending time with and my advisor is someone I really look up to. I would repeat those years in a heartbeat.

Human: Enjoyable PhD/academia success stories I hear so many graduate school horror stories and I feel like those are the majority. Are there people who enjoyed their PhD experience? Had a good work life balance ? Did not overwork themselves to exhaustion? Took most weekends off ? Had good, supportive PIs ? I started a PhD in 2014 but quit after 2 years and left with my masters because of mental health problems. I’ve been working in industry/ government since then, and I love it but I realized that my true passion is research and I am happiest doing experiments, and want to get back to grad school and apply to PhD programs. I sorely miss being in the lab doing experiments. I’ll be quite a bit older (30-31 when I start) but I’m not too concerned about that, in fact I think my experiences and perspective will help. My scientific skills are better than they were too so I feel ready. However, I’m concerned about the transition to life back in academia, in terms of the lifestyle. Also long term, I’m more inclined to an academic career although most don’t recommend it - I have an open mind for sure but I’ve realised in the 4 years of working in industry that it’s not my thing. I’m in USA and my field is biophysics/biochemistry. Many of my friends in Europe enjoyed their PhD experience but I know it’s different in USA. I’d love to hear about some good experiences! TLDR: looking to go back to get my PhD after 4 years in industry, want to hear about positive PhD experiences. Assistant: I had a great PhD experience! Four of the best years of my life.

Human: Update: "A PhD program posted the wrong deadline on their website. They won't consider my application after I missed the true deadline. Do I have options?" \*\*Update to previous post regarding a program that had posted the wrong PhD application deadline: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAcademia/comments/a7d269/a\_phd\_program\_posted\_the\_wrong\_deadline\_on\_their/ &#x200B; After hearing from you all and talking with a mentor, I ended up sending my application materials to the two faculty members I was applying to work with, explaining my situation, and asking for their help. It appeared to work at first--a professor responded sympathetically and said he would do what he could, as I must not have been the only applicant to miss the deadline. The head of the graduate college (who had been ignoring all emails until this point) then got in touch with me to apologize for being out of the country and that he would make a decision after the holidays. So, I was hopeful someone was working on my behalf behind the scenes. But I got the final word a few days ago: the university says they have to treat the true deadline as final, and won't accept my application. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement, especially since this was my top program and applying to others without being considered at my top choice feels a little empty at this point. But I'm tired of fighting it. Hard not to feel completely turned off by academia after all this, too, so also considering applying to other jobs. Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for their responses and advice. Here's to new things in the new year...! Assistant: what dicks. name and shame.

Human: Update: "A PhD program posted the wrong deadline on their website. They won't consider my application after I missed the true deadline. Do I have options?" \*\*Update to previous post regarding a program that had posted the wrong PhD application deadline: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAcademia/comments/a7d269/a\_phd\_program\_posted\_the\_wrong\_deadline\_on\_their/ &#x200B; After hearing from you all and talking with a mentor, I ended up sending my application materials to the two faculty members I was applying to work with, explaining my situation, and asking for their help. It appeared to work at first--a professor responded sympathetically and said he would do what he could, as I must not have been the only applicant to miss the deadline. The head of the graduate college (who had been ignoring all emails until this point) then got in touch with me to apologize for being out of the country and that he would make a decision after the holidays. So, I was hopeful someone was working on my behalf behind the scenes. But I got the final word a few days ago: the university says they have to treat the true deadline as final, and won't accept my application. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement, especially since this was my top program and applying to others without being considered at my top choice feels a little empty at this point. But I'm tired of fighting it. Hard not to feel completely turned off by academia after all this, too, so also considering applying to other jobs. Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for their responses and advice. Here's to new things in the new year...! Assistant: As a professor I would be really pissed off at this. I don't know what the difference in posted versus true deadlines was, but I know that abut half of our applications are submitted in the two weeks before our deadline. No way we'd want to miss out on half our applicants! That said, this wouldn't happen at my program, because we have control.

Human: Student keeps missing class for part-time job I'm TA-ing for a big class this semester, and one of the students in my section has a job in healthcare, and keeps asking to miss class for extra shifts as they have stated that they need the hours. They keep begging to take the quizzes remotely during their shifts, and I let them once, which I know I probably shouldn't have. However, they have now asked to take every quiz remotely for the rest of the semester, and keep telling me that they need the shifts and want to miss every class for the rest of the semester as they have been offered shifts at this time. It's an afternoon class so not at an unreasonable time. They're a high B/low A grade student, so they are keeping up, but I'm just reluctant to allow this as I don't think it's fair that they miss every class when others have to come, as this isn't a legit excuse, but when I try to broach the issue with them, they tell me that they need to work. I understand that they are in a difficult situation, but I don't want them to miss every single class, as we have group and project work coming up, too? Assistant: I've been dealing with this more among pre nursing students who are working at a hospital. I understand students need to work but they do need to attend their classes. In most healthcare fields right now there is a shortage and therefore they should be able to find an alternative shift. The money is really good in many positions and they are getting bombarded with pleas to help out, but I talk with them about their long term goals and the consequences of not being able to attend or pass their classes.

Human: Student keeps missing class for part-time job I'm TA-ing for a big class this semester, and one of the students in my section has a job in healthcare, and keeps asking to miss class for extra shifts as they have stated that they need the hours. They keep begging to take the quizzes remotely during their shifts, and I let them once, which I know I probably shouldn't have. However, they have now asked to take every quiz remotely for the rest of the semester, and keep telling me that they need the shifts and want to miss every class for the rest of the semester as they have been offered shifts at this time. It's an afternoon class so not at an unreasonable time. They're a high B/low A grade student, so they are keeping up, but I'm just reluctant to allow this as I don't think it's fair that they miss every class when others have to come, as this isn't a legit excuse, but when I try to broach the issue with them, they tell me that they need to work. I understand that they are in a difficult situation, but I don't want them to miss every single class, as we have group and project work coming up, too? Assistant: The answer from the beginning should have been no. If they choose to work during class, that's their choice. But it comes at the cost of not being part of the class and not being able to complete the in-laws activities (quizzes or otherwise). They signed up for the class. Not for a remote independent study on their schedule.

Human: Why aren’t phd students paid more? This certainly isn’t for all disciplines, but I recently commented on another post and drew a correlation between STEM PhD students and college athletes… at some schools which receive grant money, this seems to hold valid parallels. The value of the grants these labs pull in is very much so like college football players/teams pulling in vast streams of revenue for big ten schools during their sports season through games merchandise etc… are discussions ever had about what’s fair? Assistant: Because at existing wages they get a surplus of applicants.

Human: Why aren’t phd students paid more? This certainly isn’t for all disciplines, but I recently commented on another post and drew a correlation between STEM PhD students and college athletes… at some schools which receive grant money, this seems to hold valid parallels. The value of the grants these labs pull in is very much so like college football players/teams pulling in vast streams of revenue for big ten schools during their sports season through games merchandise etc… are discussions ever had about what’s fair? Assistant: Also NIH grant funding levels have stagnated for decades, so the spending power is continually less than it used to be. Leaves little room to pay grad students more when PIs are having to tighten their belts every year as it is. https://drugmonkey.scientopia.org/2020/12/16/updating-the-erosion-of-the-purchase-power-of-the-modular-nih-r01/

Human: 26% of Cambridge's PhDs are fully self-funded This is from this infographic from the University of Cambridge's 2020/21 funding site. As an overall percentage, I suppose is not unheard of. But what I find astonishing is that on average 43% of the Humanities PhDs are fully self-funded. Unless someone is independently very wealthy, isn't this a big financial risk to take? Not to mention paying to work? Also, the job market for the Humanities can be tricky as it is so there's no guarantee this will pay off. Because, at least in STEM, the person could specialise and switch directly to industry. Assistant: >Unless someone is independently very wealthy, isn't this a big financial risk to take? Not to mention paying to work? International students, who sometimes account for 25-30% of all students at many Western Unis, spend tens of thousands per year for tuition at subpar universities, subpar programs and get ZERO for experience. Spending tens of thousands at one of the worlds best universities and getting world class PhD experience will produce a very good return on investment.

Human: 26% of Cambridge's PhDs are fully self-funded This is from this infographic from the University of Cambridge's 2020/21 funding site. As an overall percentage, I suppose is not unheard of. But what I find astonishing is that on average 43% of the Humanities PhDs are fully self-funded. Unless someone is independently very wealthy, isn't this a big financial risk to take? Not to mention paying to work? Also, the job market for the Humanities can be tricky as it is so there's no guarantee this will pay off. Because, at least in STEM, the person could specialise and switch directly to industry. Assistant: This blew my mind. I’m at a different major institution and we have 0 self funded PhDs.

Human: How do researchers stay up to date on all the literature in the STEM field? There is so much to read and all the papers are soooo long. I don't get how you can digest all those papers without spending a significant amount of time parsing through it. Assistant: We don't digest them all. I have alerts set up on PubMed for certain topics. I also rely on my colleagues, Twitter, journal clubs, conferences to keep up with the latest in my field. What comes through those filters gets triaged by reading the abstract and then I only drill into the subset that is most relevant to my personal research goals, which by necessity are narrow.

Human: How do researchers stay up to date on all the literature in the STEM field? There is so much to read and all the papers are soooo long. I don't get how you can digest all those papers without spending a significant amount of time parsing through it. Assistant: Going to conferences really helps. It's a good way to get a presentation that goes for 15 mins and summarises one or more papers from a group in a specific area. Then you can pick up an enormous amount of different information without reading all the full papers.

Human: Have your academic pursuits ever cost you relationships? Context: Recently left a 2 year relationship because distance couldn't keep working (I'm studying for a masters and she worked a lot, so were seeing eachother less frequently). The final straw was my accepting a PhD at the end of this course, which she'd supported my intention to do throughout, but the prospect of several more years of long-distance was too much. Have any of you had similar experiences? How did you move past them? Assistant: Yes. My 15 month relationship ended a month ago. I just couldn’t do both. I was exhausted. I started neglecting his needs in order to satisfy my own - things like needing a night to myself after a long week, etc. It just created issues because it started to seem like I was always making excuses not to see him, but I honestly was just so fucking tired from school that I had nothing left in me to make someone else as happy as they deserve.

Human: Have your academic pursuits ever cost you relationships? Context: Recently left a 2 year relationship because distance couldn't keep working (I'm studying for a masters and she worked a lot, so were seeing eachother less frequently). The final straw was my accepting a PhD at the end of this course, which she'd supported my intention to do throughout, but the prospect of several more years of long-distance was too much. Have any of you had similar experiences? How did you move past them? Assistant: My research just cost me the love of my life. Really broken up and considering quitting all together. This shit just isn't worth it anymore.

Human: I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? &#x200B; Thanks. Assistant: This is a weird tip, but it’s helped me. Just say out loud what you want to communicate and record yourself. Then write that. Most of us think a lot less about talking than writing (and put less pressure on ourselves), so that can help you get started. We also don’t use as many conjunctions when we speak, we just say what we want to say.

Human: I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? &#x200B; Thanks. Assistant: Be careful not to overuse transition words or phrases in general.

Human: My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback. Assistant: I agree with the replies so far. And I want to add: most academic institutions will ask for all transcripts from all institutions of higher education. Having the first hand account from your current advisor that those grades don't reflect your actual abilities in the area of study will improve acceptance chances. In my opinion, your advisor is acting 100% in your best interest by including that line.

Human: My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback. Assistant: It may well be a wise approach of your advisor. Your undergrad record will presumably be looked at in any case, the LoR won't change that whatever you do. So if it's not great then the best thing is to address it and remove concerns, which is what this is doing. I think there's a good chance it'd be considered quite rude to ask to remove it too - your advisor probably knows better than you, no? Not to always trust them, but in this case he's clearly being strategic.

Human: I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance! Assistant: There are such things as research assistant professors, though I know less about the pipeline for those. There's also contracting research companies. You don't have much time for "your" research, but most I've been with support their people publishing on things related to their contracts. There's also .gov positions, like at NSF, DoD, etc. Can be heavy on paperwork and admin, but some positions still get to do quite a bit of research.

Human: I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance! Assistant: Look up think tanks in your field. Also corporate loves to do research to publish white papers. Also government agencies as well.

Human: How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented. Assistant: My uni's got mandatory retirement at 68 so it almost never comes up - I am in favour of figuring out some sort of upper limit of age to keep turnover healthy but 68 does feel rather early to me.

Human: How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented. Assistant: I feel like the majority of cases are due directly or indirectly due to old age, and those faculty members are already emeritus and semi-retired if they are still around. Just give them minimal to no responsibilities (or students to supervise, or classes) and let them show up and sit in their office if they want.

Human: What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article. Assistant: Miller's 1956 classic on working memory capacity "The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two" is one of my favorites (although just a heads up, our understanding of working memory has advanced a bit since then).

Human: What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article. Assistant: Hutchinson's Homage to Santa Rosalia, or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals? It's like prose.

Human: Does online teaching make you tired? I am a first time professor and while I taught a couple of classes in person before the pandemic, this is my first time teaching this many hours. I found that attending conferences online is much more energy draining if compared to attending them in person. I started teaching after earning my PhD in 2020, so you can imagine that I've only experienced online professoring for the time being. What I realized is that teaching for hours online is incredibly exhausting. Given what I experienced with conferences, I can imagine that if the similarity holds, teaching in person should be somewhat less exhausting. Is this true? Do you think that online teaching is more exhausting than in person teaching? Assistant: I teach online, primarily asynchronous. In an average year, I don’t find it more tiring. However, the pandemic has made everything tiring. If you are teaching live on Zoom, I can imagine it’s exhausting. After a day on Zoom, I am physically and mentally drained. I’m tired of looking at myself, I’m tired of not being able to read cues. It’s tiring. I do find in person teaching to be both exhilarating (while it’s happening) and exhausting (after), but I am an introvert.

Human: Does online teaching make you tired? I am a first time professor and while I taught a couple of classes in person before the pandemic, this is my first time teaching this many hours. I found that attending conferences online is much more energy draining if compared to attending them in person. I started teaching after earning my PhD in 2020, so you can imagine that I've only experienced online professoring for the time being. What I realized is that teaching for hours online is incredibly exhausting. Given what I experienced with conferences, I can imagine that if the similarity holds, teaching in person should be somewhat less exhausting. Is this true? Do you think that online teaching is more exhausting than in person teaching? Assistant: Yes, the same concept takes double the time to teach !!!

Human: Student with PSA I have a student who refuses to speak due to anxiety, which I can understand to an extent however this is a public speaking class and in order to pass you must give the required speeches. They’ve already taken the course with another professor and failed because they did not give the speeches. Any advice on how I can encourage the student to give their speeches so they can pass the class? Assistant: I'm going to sound like the cruel old codger, but I'll say it anyway: student needs to withdraw from the course and take something else. My understanding of how anxiety disorders are viewed by mental health professionals: total avoidance is not a successful treatment strategy. If this is some kind of documented ADA scenario, exempting a single student from speaking in public in a public speaking course is unreasonable. Don't do it. It's also not your job to provide mental health therapy.

Human: Student with PSA I have a student who refuses to speak due to anxiety, which I can understand to an extent however this is a public speaking class and in order to pass you must give the required speeches. They’ve already taken the course with another professor and failed because they did not give the speeches. Any advice on how I can encourage the student to give their speeches so they can pass the class? Assistant: Is it permissible to allow your student to record their speech using video software on their own, and then play that video for the class?

Human: 31M Asst. Professor struggling with recent move to small college town This August, I began my first tenure-track job. I am from a large coastal urban area in the USA, but my job is at a regional state university located in a college town. This town is located 21 hours from home and 5 hours from the nearest large city. The nearest Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (aka basic needs) are 2 hours away! I like my job, but I'm really having trouble with the town. My friends back home describe me as a friendly and outgoing person, yet it is hard for me to make friends here. No one is mean; I'm just having trouble finding people I vibe with. I attribute this to two factors: 1. I'm single (the town is very family-focused). 2. I'm just not that into the activities that are popular here (i.e., sports, church, and the outdoors). There aren't even activities I would enjoy doing alone here. I'm a big foodie (the restaurants here are all about meat, meat, and more meat); I enjoy going to museums (the museums here are extremely small and regionally-focused); and I LOVE shopping (this town has little more than Walmart & Target). So, as you can see, I'm really out of my element. I love to travel, and I'm willing to take on pretty much any city. However, I've never wanted to live anywhere other than a large city, and now I find myself in a town straight out of a Hallmark movie. Has anyone else found themselves in this situation? If yes, what did you do about it? I thought about getting a second small place so I could spend the weekend in the small/mid-sized city with Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (and a lot more to do than my college town), but my salary won't allow it. :( Thanks for your input! :) Assistant: “Publish your way out”. I was in a similar region very recently (I was living in the “largest” “city” in the region with a population of around 30,000). Job was okay, life was easy a la Hallmark movie as you said. But if you were not into high school football and church-ing, there wasn’t anything to do. The university was small enough. I put teaching and service on auto-pilot, focused on a couple of fast-tracked research projects, and got out.

Human: 31M Asst. Professor struggling with recent move to small college town This August, I began my first tenure-track job. I am from a large coastal urban area in the USA, but my job is at a regional state university located in a college town. This town is located 21 hours from home and 5 hours from the nearest large city. The nearest Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (aka basic needs) are 2 hours away! I like my job, but I'm really having trouble with the town. My friends back home describe me as a friendly and outgoing person, yet it is hard for me to make friends here. No one is mean; I'm just having trouble finding people I vibe with. I attribute this to two factors: 1. I'm single (the town is very family-focused). 2. I'm just not that into the activities that are popular here (i.e., sports, church, and the outdoors). There aren't even activities I would enjoy doing alone here. I'm a big foodie (the restaurants here are all about meat, meat, and more meat); I enjoy going to museums (the museums here are extremely small and regionally-focused); and I LOVE shopping (this town has little more than Walmart & Target). So, as you can see, I'm really out of my element. I love to travel, and I'm willing to take on pretty much any city. However, I've never wanted to live anywhere other than a large city, and now I find myself in a town straight out of a Hallmark movie. Has anyone else found themselves in this situation? If yes, what did you do about it? I thought about getting a second small place so I could spend the weekend in the small/mid-sized city with Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (and a lot more to do than my college town), but my salary won't allow it. :( Thanks for your input! :) Assistant: Apply for positions elsewhere... Consider it another postdoc ;)

Human: Just got tenure. Want to let my gender fluidity come out in professional environments. What do you think? I'd like to let my gender fluidity be present at work, but I am hesitant. I'm not in gender studies or similar, and it will be a surprise for most. Do I send an email to the faculty? Do I explain "gender" to students the first day of class even though it has nothing to do with the class? I'd definitely keep my clothes professional but I'm a 35 y.o. dude, and while teaching or presenting in a conference as my authentic self sounds exhilarating, I know it's an image I can't take back--especially if it's one of those 300-student survey. I'm wondering if anyone has any related experiences or feedback. Would you care if a male professor in your department suddenly would show up here and there in feminine clothing? Hesitant to see him/her representing the department? Assistant: I don't see what your gender has to do with your work environment. If someone asks you, you can choose to talk about it but sending mass email about it seems really inappropriate in a professional environment. If a male comes in feminine's clothing that's his choice and if people are curious they can talk to you about it. And I am one of those that after your phd if you choose to it is not him or her anymore but Dr.

Human: Just got tenure. Want to let my gender fluidity come out in professional environments. What do you think? I'd like to let my gender fluidity be present at work, but I am hesitant. I'm not in gender studies or similar, and it will be a surprise for most. Do I send an email to the faculty? Do I explain "gender" to students the first day of class even though it has nothing to do with the class? I'd definitely keep my clothes professional but I'm a 35 y.o. dude, and while teaching or presenting in a conference as my authentic self sounds exhilarating, I know it's an image I can't take back--especially if it's one of those 300-student survey. I'm wondering if anyone has any related experiences or feedback. Would you care if a male professor in your department suddenly would show up here and there in feminine clothing? Hesitant to see him/her representing the department? Assistant: Kinda seems unnecessary to me tbh as this information doesn’t effect your work. Why not just have it on your website, that’s how my profs openly share this or an lgbtq poster on your door

Human: How do people subscribed to Science and Nature find the time and energy to read all the papers not on their topic? I'm a PhD student in a Biology department, and I specialize in molecular biology and biochemistry so I feel like I'm the target audience for these journals, but I can only get through the first half easily. How the hell do people read the second half on a regular basis every week? It takes me several hours to get through a paper on a topic that I'm not familiar with. And people are definitely reading them, the department delivers them every week to people who have subscribed, and there's quite a few. Mine are just piling up and I am honestly considering tossing them since the new ones are constantly coming in and by the time I read through the backlog they will be irrelevant anyway. Assistant: I PREFER the papers not from my field!!!

Human: How do people subscribed to Science and Nature find the time and energy to read all the papers not on their topic? I'm a PhD student in a Biology department, and I specialize in molecular biology and biochemistry so I feel like I'm the target audience for these journals, but I can only get through the first half easily. How the hell do people read the second half on a regular basis every week? It takes me several hours to get through a paper on a topic that I'm not familiar with. And people are definitely reading them, the department delivers them every week to people who have subscribed, and there's quite a few. Mine are just piling up and I am honestly considering tossing them since the new ones are constantly coming in and by the time I read through the backlog they will be irrelevant anyway. Assistant: They don't. Grab a subscription to a journal focusing on your field (broadly or narrowly) and try to read the papers relevant to your subfield and interests. There is too much science being published in our own subfields to keep up with, let alone others. The news and commentary articles are good to peruse in Nature/Science though.

Human: What are your views on reducing core curriculum requirements and eliminating required courses? I was speaking to a friend who works at the University of Alabama, and he told me about proposed changes to their core curriculum. You can read about them here Notable changes I found intriguing were: * Humanities, literature, and fine arts are reduced from 12 to 9 hours. Literature is no longer required as the other options can fully satisfy the requirement. * Writing courses (comp) are reduced from 6 to 3 hours meaning only one writing-focused course is required. * History and social/behavioral courses are reduced from 12 to 9 hours. The social/behavioral courses can fully satisfy the requirement, so no history course is required. * Overall reduction of core requirements from 53-55 hours to 37-38 hours. More hours will be added to major requirements. My friend said he and a lot of his colleagues are up in arms about it. He also mentioned that statistics will satisfy the core curriculum math requirement. I'm conflicted on my personal feelings on this. I like that students have more choice, but it feels like it's pushing the university experience to be more focused on "job training" rather than a liberal education. I'm an idealist though. Assistant: It’s interesting to me that the science and math classes stay the exact same but the humanities fields get reduced. There were less science and math to begin with but why reduce the writing requirements to only a single class? If STEM students don’t need writing classes, why do humanities need math? Or maybe we should be as cross-disciplinary as possible.

Human: What are your views on reducing core curriculum requirements and eliminating required courses? I was speaking to a friend who works at the University of Alabama, and he told me about proposed changes to their core curriculum. You can read about them here Notable changes I found intriguing were: * Humanities, literature, and fine arts are reduced from 12 to 9 hours. Literature is no longer required as the other options can fully satisfy the requirement. * Writing courses (comp) are reduced from 6 to 3 hours meaning only one writing-focused course is required. * History and social/behavioral courses are reduced from 12 to 9 hours. The social/behavioral courses can fully satisfy the requirement, so no history course is required. * Overall reduction of core requirements from 53-55 hours to 37-38 hours. More hours will be added to major requirements. My friend said he and a lot of his colleagues are up in arms about it. He also mentioned that statistics will satisfy the core curriculum math requirement. I'm conflicted on my personal feelings on this. I like that students have more choice, but it feels like it's pushing the university experience to be more focused on "job training" rather than a liberal education. I'm an idealist though. Assistant: As a STEM professor, this is my worst fear. My students are already barely able to write. If you can't write, you can't do science. The best you can hope for is to be a lab tech working for someone else.

Human: What did you do during graduate school to fully take advantage of your time there? Hi everyone! I'm a STEM master's student in Canada and about a year into my degree. I couldn't really find a good discussion on the topic, so, like the title says, I'm curious to know about what you did during grad school that you felt help you stand out? Did you join a graduate council or a field-related organization? Did you teach yourself skills that aren't necessarily related to your work? Did you start an initiative of some sort? Apply for awards? I feel like I could be doing more, but with COVID, and working entirely remotely, it's hard to get new perspectives and ideas. Thanks! Assistant: I climbed a lot, traveled internationally quite a bit, fell in love, got married, and had a kid. Don't underestimate the importance of actually having a life at this time. Also published in Nature as a first author so that was cool but honestly it isn't even in my top 10 experiences during my PhD.

Human: What did you do during graduate school to fully take advantage of your time there? Hi everyone! I'm a STEM master's student in Canada and about a year into my degree. I couldn't really find a good discussion on the topic, so, like the title says, I'm curious to know about what you did during grad school that you felt help you stand out? Did you join a graduate council or a field-related organization? Did you teach yourself skills that aren't necessarily related to your work? Did you start an initiative of some sort? Apply for awards? I feel like I could be doing more, but with COVID, and working entirely remotely, it's hard to get new perspectives and ideas. Thanks! Assistant: Enjoyed my life. I came to grad school (PhD program in engineering) 2 months after a long deployment to Afghanistan in a combat arms role. As such, grad school seemed like a vacation from previous hardships and I had a absolute blast doing research and taking advantage of everyday lifestyle (walking on a safe sidewalk to work, eating out, having some beers casually).

Human: Took a postdoc after PhD but I want out. How to transition successfully into industry? How do I approach jobs that might view me as over qualified? How do I explain why I want to transition out of academia without explicitly saying that I hate the career path, the long hours, little pay, and endless stress? Anyone successfully leave their postdoc for industry? My background is in genomics (worked with fish so not even humans or viruses or anything useful for medical/pharmacy fields). I just want out I can't do this anymore. Assistant: You don't have to explain why you want to leave academia. The people hiring you have PhDs, too. They know why.

Human: Took a postdoc after PhD but I want out. How to transition successfully into industry? How do I approach jobs that might view me as over qualified? How do I explain why I want to transition out of academia without explicitly saying that I hate the career path, the long hours, little pay, and endless stress? Anyone successfully leave their postdoc for industry? My background is in genomics (worked with fish so not even humans or viruses or anything useful for medical/pharmacy fields). I just want out I can't do this anymore. Assistant: Since you have a genomics background, let me ask: do you know analysis of transcriptomics and proteomics data? If you do, you are in good demand. There are so many jobs out there that require expertise in this area. You are not overqualified for those jobs.

Human: How do some professors (in the US) earn half a million dollars? So information about compensation is public information. E.g., Purdue Salary Compensation I browsed through various departments (STEM specifically) and found that some professors absolutely make a killing. Is the grant funding included? If not, then how do they get so much money? Assistant: Probably multiple sources of compensation. Anecdotally, one person tagged as faculty is actually an associate dean and director of a research center. Admin positions tend to be better compensated than baseline faculty. It looks like there are business/finance faculty, too, who get paid megabucks for the university to be a competitive option.

Human: How do some professors (in the US) earn half a million dollars? So information about compensation is public information. E.g., Purdue Salary Compensation I browsed through various departments (STEM specifically) and found that some professors absolutely make a killing. Is the grant funding included? If not, then how do they get so much money? Assistant: And the first page of top salaries is all coaches and executives…

Human: Is it normal to get angry at a student for ignoring advice and wasting their own time (teaching undergrads)? I am normally a calmn person but I am finding myself angry at a student for a nonsensical reason. I am teaching a CS course. In this course we provided undergrads with a template in Javascript so that they could do a demo. The assignment uses a sophisticated data structure that is common in geometry processing that we provided students so that they can do their assignment. Using the DS is not complicated but it takes a lot of effort and care to make it work properly which is why we give it to them instead of asking them to code it. One student came during office hours to ask for help, and I am more than happy to help them out. I went over multiple examples on paper on how the algorithm they need to implement works. I suggested multiple different possible implementations to see if one would click. I asked the student to walk me over a few steps of what they should do, to try to gauge what they were confused about. This student is a PhD candidate taking an upper year undergrad course as part of their degree, take this into consideration for what I am about to describe, this is not a first year undergrad but someone who already graduated and is at the PhD level (albeit in a different discipline to mine). After an hour of trying to help the student understand the assignment they said two things in that conversation that struck a cord in me (politely, the student was never rude in any way). 1) Can I get extra marks for making a writeup of what I understand about the assignment? Which absolutely not, the course is about application and being able to code the algorithm, failing to implement the algorithm (which many other students have implemented) is a failure in the assignment, period, why would you be entitled to marks for a writeup when there is no written component to the assignment? 2) They mentioned that they were struggling for time and they thought they might not finish the assignment (not asking for an extension, they just mentioned it as part of the conversation and did not dwell on it, they did not ask for any additional considerations). And they also said that to "understand the algorithm" they would code the entire thing in python (without a 3D visualizer like the one we gave them for js), without the sophisticated data structure they are supposed to use (i.e. he wants to brute force the solution in python without any acceleration queries). I tried to gently advice them to not waste their time and just sit down and understand the assignment proper. I did not say anything in that hour, but even though it's been hours I am so... angry? Like I want to shout at this student and tell them they are being positively stupid. They want to waste hours of their time replicating 10% of the assignment (the result), when the whole point is for us to test them on their use of the data structure. Understanding the data structure IS the assignment, if you get it you can get the solution in 30 minutes. They are a PhD student in a subdiscipline of CS, I feel they should be embarrassed to be scared of properly learning the course material and finding copouts and crutches to get by instead of properly studying. But I have no stakes on this, if they fail the assignment it's on them, not on me. Why am I so upset at this student self sabotaging by not realising they are using python as an unhealthy coping mechanism to not deal with the anxiety of learning new languages and algorithms? Have others felt this way? Is this normal? Do I need to seek counselling? I have never gotten so angry at someone over something so inconsequential to my own status. Assistant: It sounds to me like the student just doesn't understand the content. A tutor sounds like a good idea.

Human: Is it normal to get angry at a student for ignoring advice and wasting their own time (teaching undergrads)? I am normally a calmn person but I am finding myself angry at a student for a nonsensical reason. I am teaching a CS course. In this course we provided undergrads with a template in Javascript so that they could do a demo. The assignment uses a sophisticated data structure that is common in geometry processing that we provided students so that they can do their assignment. Using the DS is not complicated but it takes a lot of effort and care to make it work properly which is why we give it to them instead of asking them to code it. One student came during office hours to ask for help, and I am more than happy to help them out. I went over multiple examples on paper on how the algorithm they need to implement works. I suggested multiple different possible implementations to see if one would click. I asked the student to walk me over a few steps of what they should do, to try to gauge what they were confused about. This student is a PhD candidate taking an upper year undergrad course as part of their degree, take this into consideration for what I am about to describe, this is not a first year undergrad but someone who already graduated and is at the PhD level (albeit in a different discipline to mine). After an hour of trying to help the student understand the assignment they said two things in that conversation that struck a cord in me (politely, the student was never rude in any way). 1) Can I get extra marks for making a writeup of what I understand about the assignment? Which absolutely not, the course is about application and being able to code the algorithm, failing to implement the algorithm (which many other students have implemented) is a failure in the assignment, period, why would you be entitled to marks for a writeup when there is no written component to the assignment? 2) They mentioned that they were struggling for time and they thought they might not finish the assignment (not asking for an extension, they just mentioned it as part of the conversation and did not dwell on it, they did not ask for any additional considerations). And they also said that to "understand the algorithm" they would code the entire thing in python (without a 3D visualizer like the one we gave them for js), without the sophisticated data structure they are supposed to use (i.e. he wants to brute force the solution in python without any acceleration queries). I tried to gently advice them to not waste their time and just sit down and understand the assignment proper. I did not say anything in that hour, but even though it's been hours I am so... angry? Like I want to shout at this student and tell them they are being positively stupid. They want to waste hours of their time replicating 10% of the assignment (the result), when the whole point is for us to test them on their use of the data structure. Understanding the data structure IS the assignment, if you get it you can get the solution in 30 minutes. They are a PhD student in a subdiscipline of CS, I feel they should be embarrassed to be scared of properly learning the course material and finding copouts and crutches to get by instead of properly studying. But I have no stakes on this, if they fail the assignment it's on them, not on me. Why am I so upset at this student self sabotaging by not realising they are using python as an unhealthy coping mechanism to not deal with the anxiety of learning new languages and algorithms? Have others felt this way? Is this normal? Do I need to seek counselling? I have never gotten so angry at someone over something so inconsequential to my own status. Assistant: I have never been angry at a student over school work. There is no emotional reaction to what they do or say regarding assignments. I occasionally comment (kindly) if I see or hear one of them being unkind. Even then I'm not angry. Life is too short for me to spend time on that. I care about all my students and will make time to work with them if they need help. I teach mostly gen ed courses, so some of my students struggle not only with the content, but with the fact the course is required.

Human: Dating/marriage and Tenure Track Academia I am in my final year of my PhD and also in my late 20s. I am currently single but I find it constantly weighing on me that I feel like I should be dating if I don’t want to be single for the rest of my life but also the demands of academia are significant. I currently am fulfilling a senior role in my lab that is much closer to a postdoc than PhD student with regards to research and management responsibilities, that plus teaching activities, and finishing my dissertation leave me very busy and often overwhelmed. Every time I look at getting into a relationship I can’t honestly say I have the time that most people want. I don’t work a 9-5. I work kind of insane hours. Also, I worry that any time I dedicate to a relationship is time I could be spending writing that next article or doing XYZ thing to advance my career. Does it get better? How do you all find/make the time? Do you feel like it takes away from your career? Field: Engineering Title: PhD student Country:US Assistant: I got married during law school, prior to pursuing my Ph.D. My wife gives more meaning to my life than any work I do ever could. Work to live, don't live to work.

Human: Dating/marriage and Tenure Track Academia I am in my final year of my PhD and also in my late 20s. I am currently single but I find it constantly weighing on me that I feel like I should be dating if I don’t want to be single for the rest of my life but also the demands of academia are significant. I currently am fulfilling a senior role in my lab that is much closer to a postdoc than PhD student with regards to research and management responsibilities, that plus teaching activities, and finishing my dissertation leave me very busy and often overwhelmed. Every time I look at getting into a relationship I can’t honestly say I have the time that most people want. I don’t work a 9-5. I work kind of insane hours. Also, I worry that any time I dedicate to a relationship is time I could be spending writing that next article or doing XYZ thing to advance my career. Does it get better? How do you all find/make the time? Do you feel like it takes away from your career? Field: Engineering Title: PhD student Country:US Assistant: The job will not save you

Human: I hate my PhD supervisors. Is it worth even continuing? Their feedback is always too broad for any real application, they're, at best, indifferent about me continuing my studies after severe extenuating circumstances (worsening of my physical and mental health, the passing of my mother after a long battle with cancer, my wife being diagnosed and treated for autoimmune disease, and more) and they go out of their way to passive-aggressively make me feel like I don't work (every conversation with them starts with "as we've already told you" even when they haven't told me, they don't believe in any form or shape of encouragement and have never said a single positive thing about me or my work, they constantly ask if I'm still interested in continuing my PhD even though I've been meeting my deadlines, etc). More than that, they actually recommended that I quit my part time job so I can focus more on my PhD, even though all they ever tell me is that I'm falling behind with no actual advice to fix things. They are purposefully opaque and honestly might as well be magic 8 balls at this point, randomly answering my questions and serious concerns haphazardly. Further, they are charging a premium because I'm an international student, and I am being charged literally the highest possible cost for my PhD (the bench fees are absolutely ridiculous for a non-lab based PhD). I have a professional doctorate degree and a masters degree already, and received them both with honors. I've never had any problems with anything coursework related before this horrible, horrible experience. I'm at the end of my first year, and may or may not pass my first year. But I'm wondering: if I even do pass, should I even continue? Best case scenario is 3 more years of suffering, then a PhD so I can get a teaching job that pays less than my current consulting job but that I'm passionate about. Worst case scenario is I fail the final viva and lose some very serious time and money. Anyway, rant and questions over. Thanks for reading, appreciate any thoughts. Assistant: It sounds like you've already made your mind up, but being as big of a decision as it is you (naturally) want to validate your decision. Three years is a long time to spend doing a programme you are not enjoying. Keep in mind, you can always apply again to another PhD programme. Taking the time to find a programme that is right for you is always worth it.

Human: I hate my PhD supervisors. Is it worth even continuing? Their feedback is always too broad for any real application, they're, at best, indifferent about me continuing my studies after severe extenuating circumstances (worsening of my physical and mental health, the passing of my mother after a long battle with cancer, my wife being diagnosed and treated for autoimmune disease, and more) and they go out of their way to passive-aggressively make me feel like I don't work (every conversation with them starts with "as we've already told you" even when they haven't told me, they don't believe in any form or shape of encouragement and have never said a single positive thing about me or my work, they constantly ask if I'm still interested in continuing my PhD even though I've been meeting my deadlines, etc). More than that, they actually recommended that I quit my part time job so I can focus more on my PhD, even though all they ever tell me is that I'm falling behind with no actual advice to fix things. They are purposefully opaque and honestly might as well be magic 8 balls at this point, randomly answering my questions and serious concerns haphazardly. Further, they are charging a premium because I'm an international student, and I am being charged literally the highest possible cost for my PhD (the bench fees are absolutely ridiculous for a non-lab based PhD). I have a professional doctorate degree and a masters degree already, and received them both with honors. I've never had any problems with anything coursework related before this horrible, horrible experience. I'm at the end of my first year, and may or may not pass my first year. But I'm wondering: if I even do pass, should I even continue? Best case scenario is 3 more years of suffering, then a PhD so I can get a teaching job that pays less than my current consulting job but that I'm passionate about. Worst case scenario is I fail the final viva and lose some very serious time and money. Anyway, rant and questions over. Thanks for reading, appreciate any thoughts. Assistant: I hate my PhD advisor and wish I had quit. I pushed myself to finish my PhD - it's **not** worth it.

Human: How did you go from clueless undergrad to an expert in your field? I'm an undergrad and while I read a lot of articles when it's time for me to write papers and such, I don't read many articles as a way to learn more about a subject. At least, not successfully - I am not afraid to admit that I often struggle to understand what a research article is trying to say as a lot of them are way beyond my level of comprehension. How did you come to be knowledgable and 'up to date' about your subject of interest? Stumbling through articles until eventually you absorbed info through osmosis, reading review papers, talking to your mentors, etc. Assistant: The answer is all of the above. You can't quit reading papers, you can't quit talking to others, you can't quit going to seminars. It's stays uncomfortable and hard, but over time you realize that you're absorbing more and more of it.

Human: How did you go from clueless undergrad to an expert in your field? I'm an undergrad and while I read a lot of articles when it's time for me to write papers and such, I don't read many articles as a way to learn more about a subject. At least, not successfully - I am not afraid to admit that I often struggle to understand what a research article is trying to say as a lot of them are way beyond my level of comprehension. How did you come to be knowledgable and 'up to date' about your subject of interest? Stumbling through articles until eventually you absorbed info through osmosis, reading review papers, talking to your mentors, etc. Assistant: Start with the basics and work your way up. If you don't build your foundation, you will never really understand what the articles are saying. I would begin by reading text books. They tend to give a pretty good overview of the things you will need to know. Once you have read the text books, then you can read some review articles to get more topic specific background information.

Human: What’s the craziest shit that happened to you in academia? (Horror tales only) Hi Reddit, I'm producing an episode on toxicity in academia for a podcast, and I've been making a compilation of the horror stories people have told me they've been through. There are the "standard" bully supervisor cases but also things like 100-hour working weeks, women feeling they have to give up motherhood to be successful academics, PIs blocking their post-docs from applying for their own grants and really sabotaging their careers, a case of someone stealing a colleague's work and them accusing THEM of plagiarism, people faking their results because they desperately need to publish to secure grants... Please tell me yours. But I thought I would start by sharing mine (sorry it got long): I got admitted into a super prestigious uni for my MPhil, of course I was over the moon. I had been doing research before somewhere else and had such a great time there, I loved being in the lab. Well, things were very different in my new place. You would've thought you were walking into a funeral when you walked through those lab doors. No one talked much, no one laughed, no one seemed happy. As a new student I didn't know where to find anything, and the lab technician had quit before I joined, so I went to ask things to the postdoc who was extremely rude and unpleasant from day 1. Me and the other new students felt awful when we had to ask her anything, but we needed some initial guidance to do our work that we weren't getting at all. Another student told me I shouldn't ask questions, "that's how things were" \[red flag\]. With the supervisor things were fine at the beginning because I just never saw him. I went home for Christmas and when I came back he started weekly meetings saying he was "extremely worried" I took that break. He then kept asking if I was sure I had "what it takes", constantly questioning my potential. I was lucky my experiments were working at the point and I knew I had pretty good results already despite what he said, otherwise I would have probably given up. He a few times suggested I should probably apply to get a less important sort of degree -what people get when they don't have enough for an MPhil-, or look for funds to change it to a PhD. Actually the MPhil student that started the year before was persuaded by him to change to a PhD because he said she wouldn't have enough to get an MPhil within that timeframe, so that poor woman got stuck 3 more years with the bastard. I was NOT going to fall into that trap, but there was just no way we wouldn't get impostor syndrome around that man. He told me because I was an MPhil student I didn't have the "luxury of time" PhD students had, so I should be the first one in the lab and the last one to leave, and that he would work all weekend as well if he were me. I was thinking errr, surely it's proportionate, or does he want me to get a PhD within my fucking 12 months?! Anyway, I ignored his request because I had a life. My mentor who's a super accomplished researcher told me he would only be in lab from 9 to 5 and always got loads done, so I knew it was about the quality of time, not the quantity. There were experiments that did require me to be in lab for 12 hours, and I often had to go in on Sundays to get my samples ready to go on the Monday, but I find extremely important to have quality time out of the department. In fact the other events, talks and seminars I had access to within the uni were super valuable, and the network I built in my college was what kept me sane. Every two to three months we were required to give a presentation in our lab meetings. To add some context, everyone was terrified when it was their turn. There was zero encouragement to the people presenting, no smiles, no nods, no claps at the end of the presentations (I had never seen that before). At my friend's lab her supervisor got champagne so everyone cheered the person who presented at the end! Well, not there. When I presented in the journal club the presentation wasn't what he expected, my nerves were high, I was probably rushing through so I was done within 40 minutes instead of the 60 minutes I was supposed to take. He was SHOUTING at me in the end. I can't remember what he said, I was in shock, but I had the feeling he was expecting me to cry and would go on and on verbally abusing me until he got what he wanted. But I didn't cry, I just stared at him super blasé, because it just felt so surreal what this guy was doing. I did feel embarrassed though cos everyone could probably hear everything outside his office. It was soon my turn to present again, this time my own work. I prepared super well, the presentation was good, some of my colleagues told me afterwards I had done a pretty good job. My supervisor then comes and says I didn't seem very "enthusiastic" about my work, and no positive comments, never. And of course how did he expect anyone to sound enthusiastic in such a toxic environment. The anxiety we all felt before having to give these presentations because we were so scared of his reaction was unbelievable. 100% everyone left that lab mentally scarred. There was a particular experiment that was quite tricky to get to work. I tried and failed several times and this man kept telling me it was such a simple thing, implying I was just super incompetent not to get it to work, so of course I was also feeling super on the edge about this. But I finally managed to make it to work, on and on, I mastered it. Fast-forward I was in a presentation of a PhD student who had just submitted her thesis, so she had been there for 4 years and she mentioned she NEVER got that method to work. So I started noticing it wasn't as straightforward as he implied. Then a couple of other students in my lab also got stuck with the experiment. What the supervisor made me feel awful about for weeks wasn't that easy and no one else there was getting it to work. He hadn't done bench work for 2 decades, these methods were quite new, and he himself never actually got any of it to work, but he was bullying his students over it. A second-year PhD student was the only one trying to speak out about it. She told her advisor about all the bullying -advisors are other professors in the department randomly allocated to each student so they have a person to go to who's not their supervisors-. The advisor went straight to our supervisor and told him everything she had said, so the supervisor only made her life there even more difficult (she eventually quit)!!! By the way, our supervisor was the head of the department, we just didn't know where to go, who to complain to. Every Friday we had our weekly meetings, I was constantly dreading it, Fridays became my nightmare. One of those Fridays the abuse was quite unbelievable again, so the following week I tried to record our meeting but then he just acted normal! It got to a point in August I just couldn't get myself to walk into the lab again, though I had planned to run some final experiments. I just didn't have the strength anymore to see him, so I never went back. I never spoke to him again, I didn't respond to his e-mails. I worked on my dissertation, applied to my degree without his consent, got my viva, I passed. I got my MPhil. It sounds like a happy ending but it wasn't. I don't think the degree was worth it, I would've been better off in a less prestigious institution that didn't have that toxic environment. It took me months, probably over a year to build back my confidence and recover my mental health, and trust me, confidence is just as important as competence. I completely ruled out a PhD, and I would never ask for his reference anyway which I thought was essential for me to get admitted into one. This has completely put me off academia. The supervisor is still there, bullying people. He was supposed to retire the year after I left, but I found out he had recruited new PhD students, so I guess he wasn't planning on retiring at least in the next 4 years. Sometimes I google him hoping to see an obituary. So far, no luck. Assistant: My wife failed her first defense because a committee member didn’t like her statistical analysis. His next paper used the same tests.

Human: What’s the craziest shit that happened to you in academia? (Horror tales only) Hi Reddit, I'm producing an episode on toxicity in academia for a podcast, and I've been making a compilation of the horror stories people have told me they've been through. There are the "standard" bully supervisor cases but also things like 100-hour working weeks, women feeling they have to give up motherhood to be successful academics, PIs blocking their post-docs from applying for their own grants and really sabotaging their careers, a case of someone stealing a colleague's work and them accusing THEM of plagiarism, people faking their results because they desperately need to publish to secure grants... Please tell me yours. But I thought I would start by sharing mine (sorry it got long): I got admitted into a super prestigious uni for my MPhil, of course I was over the moon. I had been doing research before somewhere else and had such a great time there, I loved being in the lab. Well, things were very different in my new place. You would've thought you were walking into a funeral when you walked through those lab doors. No one talked much, no one laughed, no one seemed happy. As a new student I didn't know where to find anything, and the lab technician had quit before I joined, so I went to ask things to the postdoc who was extremely rude and unpleasant from day 1. Me and the other new students felt awful when we had to ask her anything, but we needed some initial guidance to do our work that we weren't getting at all. Another student told me I shouldn't ask questions, "that's how things were" \[red flag\]. With the supervisor things were fine at the beginning because I just never saw him. I went home for Christmas and when I came back he started weekly meetings saying he was "extremely worried" I took that break. He then kept asking if I was sure I had "what it takes", constantly questioning my potential. I was lucky my experiments were working at the point and I knew I had pretty good results already despite what he said, otherwise I would have probably given up. He a few times suggested I should probably apply to get a less important sort of degree -what people get when they don't have enough for an MPhil-, or look for funds to change it to a PhD. Actually the MPhil student that started the year before was persuaded by him to change to a PhD because he said she wouldn't have enough to get an MPhil within that timeframe, so that poor woman got stuck 3 more years with the bastard. I was NOT going to fall into that trap, but there was just no way we wouldn't get impostor syndrome around that man. He told me because I was an MPhil student I didn't have the "luxury of time" PhD students had, so I should be the first one in the lab and the last one to leave, and that he would work all weekend as well if he were me. I was thinking errr, surely it's proportionate, or does he want me to get a PhD within my fucking 12 months?! Anyway, I ignored his request because I had a life. My mentor who's a super accomplished researcher told me he would only be in lab from 9 to 5 and always got loads done, so I knew it was about the quality of time, not the quantity. There were experiments that did require me to be in lab for 12 hours, and I often had to go in on Sundays to get my samples ready to go on the Monday, but I find extremely important to have quality time out of the department. In fact the other events, talks and seminars I had access to within the uni were super valuable, and the network I built in my college was what kept me sane. Every two to three months we were required to give a presentation in our lab meetings. To add some context, everyone was terrified when it was their turn. There was zero encouragement to the people presenting, no smiles, no nods, no claps at the end of the presentations (I had never seen that before). At my friend's lab her supervisor got champagne so everyone cheered the person who presented at the end! Well, not there. When I presented in the journal club the presentation wasn't what he expected, my nerves were high, I was probably rushing through so I was done within 40 minutes instead of the 60 minutes I was supposed to take. He was SHOUTING at me in the end. I can't remember what he said, I was in shock, but I had the feeling he was expecting me to cry and would go on and on verbally abusing me until he got what he wanted. But I didn't cry, I just stared at him super blasé, because it just felt so surreal what this guy was doing. I did feel embarrassed though cos everyone could probably hear everything outside his office. It was soon my turn to present again, this time my own work. I prepared super well, the presentation was good, some of my colleagues told me afterwards I had done a pretty good job. My supervisor then comes and says I didn't seem very "enthusiastic" about my work, and no positive comments, never. And of course how did he expect anyone to sound enthusiastic in such a toxic environment. The anxiety we all felt before having to give these presentations because we were so scared of his reaction was unbelievable. 100% everyone left that lab mentally scarred. There was a particular experiment that was quite tricky to get to work. I tried and failed several times and this man kept telling me it was such a simple thing, implying I was just super incompetent not to get it to work, so of course I was also feeling super on the edge about this. But I finally managed to make it to work, on and on, I mastered it. Fast-forward I was in a presentation of a PhD student who had just submitted her thesis, so she had been there for 4 years and she mentioned she NEVER got that method to work. So I started noticing it wasn't as straightforward as he implied. Then a couple of other students in my lab also got stuck with the experiment. What the supervisor made me feel awful about for weeks wasn't that easy and no one else there was getting it to work. He hadn't done bench work for 2 decades, these methods were quite new, and he himself never actually got any of it to work, but he was bullying his students over it. A second-year PhD student was the only one trying to speak out about it. She told her advisor about all the bullying -advisors are other professors in the department randomly allocated to each student so they have a person to go to who's not their supervisors-. The advisor went straight to our supervisor and told him everything she had said, so the supervisor only made her life there even more difficult (she eventually quit)!!! By the way, our supervisor was the head of the department, we just didn't know where to go, who to complain to. Every Friday we had our weekly meetings, I was constantly dreading it, Fridays became my nightmare. One of those Fridays the abuse was quite unbelievable again, so the following week I tried to record our meeting but then he just acted normal! It got to a point in August I just couldn't get myself to walk into the lab again, though I had planned to run some final experiments. I just didn't have the strength anymore to see him, so I never went back. I never spoke to him again, I didn't respond to his e-mails. I worked on my dissertation, applied to my degree without his consent, got my viva, I passed. I got my MPhil. It sounds like a happy ending but it wasn't. I don't think the degree was worth it, I would've been better off in a less prestigious institution that didn't have that toxic environment. It took me months, probably over a year to build back my confidence and recover my mental health, and trust me, confidence is just as important as competence. I completely ruled out a PhD, and I would never ask for his reference anyway which I thought was essential for me to get admitted into one. This has completely put me off academia. The supervisor is still there, bullying people. He was supposed to retire the year after I left, but I found out he had recruited new PhD students, so I guess he wasn't planning on retiring at least in the next 4 years. Sometimes I google him hoping to see an obituary. So far, no luck. Assistant: Two sentence horror story: One of my committee members didn't come to my defense and had zero intention of ever coming. She's still on my committee.

Human: Do You think most of the research doesn’t have and won’t have a real world application? I am working on drug discovery field and most of the research drug screening etc. doesn’t have any continuation. After the paper gets published, people doesn’t care about the found compound. Assistant: I feel like pharmaceutical companies would care, honetly I think drug discovery is probably one of the fields that has the most real word applications

Human: Do You think most of the research doesn’t have and won’t have a real world application? I am working on drug discovery field and most of the research drug screening etc. doesn’t have any continuation. After the paper gets published, people doesn’t care about the found compound. Assistant: I think this Simpsons video should address your concerns Researcher: "Wow, that new anti-dieting pill really works. Homer. You really have no desire to eat that food?" Homer: "Food? Oh no! I'm blind!!!" [starts panicking] Researcher: "Whose gonna buy a pill that makes you blind?" Female Researcher: "We'll let MARKETING worry about that."

Human: [Wrong Answers Only] What personal website to link to your department profile? My department gives us the option to add a personal website to our profile pages. Someone used to put a link to her online store there, and I thought it was both hilarious and awesome! I mean, the university has been exploiting our cheap labor, we might as well take advantage of their free advertising platform while we can! ;) Obviously I'm just indulging in some crazy fantasies here, but what else could we link to our department profiles? Instagram? A YouTube channel? A GoFundMe page for a "feed a poor grad student" fundraiser? Only Fans? ... I can't stop laughing at the idea of this last one hahaha Assistant: Set up a spoof website that looks just like the directory website for your page, except it's poor_phd_student's Evil Twin as the name, and everything else is the same except you've drawn a moustache on your professional photo.

Human: [Wrong Answers Only] What personal website to link to your department profile? My department gives us the option to add a personal website to our profile pages. Someone used to put a link to her online store there, and I thought it was both hilarious and awesome! I mean, the university has been exploiting our cheap labor, we might as well take advantage of their free advertising platform while we can! ;) Obviously I'm just indulging in some crazy fantasies here, but what else could we link to our department profiles? Instagram? A YouTube channel? A GoFundMe page for a "feed a poor grad student" fundraiser? Only Fans? ... I can't stop laughing at the idea of this last one hahaha Assistant: MySpace. No contest

Human: It’s criminal what they pay adjuncts I was asked to adjunct teach a course for a university I am staff at. This course would force me to rearrange my entire schedule. They offered me $1600, plus the department head was very condescending. My other adjunct work pays $3500 at another university. Is this normal!? Thankfully I have a clinical license that allows me to have other employment opportunities and the adjunct teaching I’ve done supplements my income and gives me experience on my CV for when I complete my PhD. But it is absolutely criminal what they pay! It comes to roughly 16$/hour that you’re in class, not including the grading and office hours. Assistant: Yes, it's ridiculous and in many cases it's abused. It should be used as a kind of, "well Dr. S got real sick so we need someone to cover his Calc 3 course this semester," or "our tenure track candidate fell through and we need someone to help lower our teaching load" but is instead used as "Let's see how little we can pay". I don't think all schools abuse it like this though.

Human: It’s criminal what they pay adjuncts I was asked to adjunct teach a course for a university I am staff at. This course would force me to rearrange my entire schedule. They offered me $1600, plus the department head was very condescending. My other adjunct work pays $3500 at another university. Is this normal!? Thankfully I have a clinical license that allows me to have other employment opportunities and the adjunct teaching I’ve done supplements my income and gives me experience on my CV for when I complete my PhD. But it is absolutely criminal what they pay! It comes to roughly 16$/hour that you’re in class, not including the grading and office hours. Assistant: That kind of pay is just straight up unethical. It’s not even minimum wage when you work in time spent outside of the classroom. Turn it down.

Human: Is it appropriate for me to contact professors from 3+ years ago for letters of recommendation? I applied to grad schools right out of undergrad but didn’t get in anywhere. Waited a year and I’m trying again to different places, and I’m going to need to ask the same professors again. Not asking for anything to do with admissions, just etiquette. Is it appropriate for me to contact these professors? Assistant: Totally. Last year I wrote a letter for a student I had in 1996. That was my record.

Human: Is it appropriate for me to contact professors from 3+ years ago for letters of recommendation? I applied to grad schools right out of undergrad but didn’t get in anywhere. Waited a year and I’m trying again to different places, and I’m going to need to ask the same professors again. Not asking for anything to do with admissions, just etiquette. Is it appropriate for me to contact these professors? Assistant: Yes, totally acceptable. I've done it, and former profs have also done it for me. One thing that would be very helpful if they say yes would be to share the pertinent information with them, like your CV, or resume, what classes you took with them and your grade, a sample assignment, and anything else that can be of help.

Human: The Good, the Bad, and the Bye Bye: A Professor Shares Why He Left His Tenured Academic Job I found this article interesting and wanted to share it with the community, since it could be relevant to many people here: https://reyammer.io/blog/2020/10/03/the-good-the-bad-and-the-bye-bye-why-i-left-my-tenured-academic-job/ Assistant: Everyone, please take under **serious** consideration when you read this, his discipline. He is in a very sought after field of computer science/cybersecurity. He can get multiple jobs offers almost anywhere in the world. So his ability to say "goodbye" to academia is somewhat also colored by having multiple, very safe alternatives. So his situation does not really apply to all academics in all disciplines.

Human: The Good, the Bad, and the Bye Bye: A Professor Shares Why He Left His Tenured Academic Job I found this article interesting and wanted to share it with the community, since it could be relevant to many people here: https://reyammer.io/blog/2020/10/03/the-good-the-bad-and-the-bye-bye-why-i-left-my-tenured-academic-job/ Assistant: Kind of interesting, but a weird start to tell the reader "it really is a \*job\*!" Who didn't think it's a job?

Human: I became intimate with my advisor last night Not much more to add. The tension has been building between us as I work on my dissertation and last night things happened. I go back and forth. On one hand, it was absolutely thrilling. On the other, I’m afraid I’ve just torpedoed my academic career. Does anyone have advice on how to navigate this moving forward? Assistant: This is bad judgement on the part of your advisor

Human: I became intimate with my advisor last night Not much more to add. The tension has been building between us as I work on my dissertation and last night things happened. I go back and forth. On one hand, it was absolutely thrilling. On the other, I’m afraid I’ve just torpedoed my academic career. Does anyone have advice on how to navigate this moving forward? Assistant: 1) Find out if there is an official policy about this kind of thing in your HR department so you know the exact level of screwed you both are. 2) Even if it's not officially barred, there are a lot of ways this could result in serious negative consequences for both of you. Consider never doing it again and taking it to your grave. 3) If you want to pursue a relationship, you need to change advisors.

Human: Is it a career killer to attend the same school as undergrad for a PhD? I've been in my current physics research group at an R1 state school for a year. The problem we're working on is a long-term problem that I find inspiring and important. I've also received really strong mentorship here. I got into another school where they'd like me to work on the same problem, if I choose to go there. They said they'd like to collaborate even if I don't go there. I'm not married to the idea of an academic career, but I would consider it if I felt I was competitive. Logistically, staying at my current school would be easier, and I have momentum. Would staying at my current institution be a bad decision? Or is the important thing that I work with other groups of people and broaden my horizons? Assistant: Not a career killer, but I do advise looking elsewhere. If you're young and do a PhD you're basically spending the first ten years of your adult life on college campuses. The best you can do to experience more of the world is to travel a bit or go to a new city or a new school. Seeing how another place does things, meeting new people, and making new friends is a very important experience, and traveling for a PhD helps with that.

Human: Is it a career killer to attend the same school as undergrad for a PhD? I've been in my current physics research group at an R1 state school for a year. The problem we're working on is a long-term problem that I find inspiring and important. I've also received really strong mentorship here. I got into another school where they'd like me to work on the same problem, if I choose to go there. They said they'd like to collaborate even if I don't go there. I'm not married to the idea of an academic career, but I would consider it if I felt I was competitive. Logistically, staying at my current school would be easier, and I have momentum. Would staying at my current institution be a bad decision? Or is the important thing that I work with other groups of people and broaden my horizons? Assistant: Not if it’s a good school for your PhD area.

Human: Colons in article titles: Yes or no? It seems that people have strong opinions about this. Please share yours. Assistant: Is it possible to have a title of an academic article *without* a colon?: A question for the community

Human: Colons in article titles: Yes or no? It seems that people have strong opinions about this. Please share yours. Assistant: Seems like something I should have a strong opinion on but I don't.

Human: Is it worth sacrificing your early 20s for a PhD when you can get a Masters? I’m currently 21 (22 early next year) and a Biomed graduate, further planning to continue my studies so I can spend more time researching prognostic biomarkers in cardiovascular disease. So I was considering between taking a PhD or masters; while I would have more creative freedom regarding my research with a PhD, its a long commitment, around 3-4 years, so I’ll have spent nearly all of my early 20s in school without the typical vacations that someone taking a masters would get. Now that wouldn’t be a huge problem since this is something I really enjoy, except that I have a personal philosophy that my early 20s are supposed to be for doing as many adventurous things (e.g. travelling) as I can, so I won’t come to regret not doing those things sooner by the time I have greater responsibilities like a full time job and a family. Now I don’t plan on getting into academia, but I do want to get into an R&D role in industry, where PhD holders are highly sought after, although masters holders are also considered. Looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts! Assistant: > Is it worth sacrificing your early 20s for a PhD when you can get a Masters? No idea, you tell us. Your priorities are yours. I did my PhD in my 20's and the university paid me to travel and present shit to large audiences of experts - to me that's adventurous enough.

Human: Is it worth sacrificing your early 20s for a PhD when you can get a Masters? I’m currently 21 (22 early next year) and a Biomed graduate, further planning to continue my studies so I can spend more time researching prognostic biomarkers in cardiovascular disease. So I was considering between taking a PhD or masters; while I would have more creative freedom regarding my research with a PhD, its a long commitment, around 3-4 years, so I’ll have spent nearly all of my early 20s in school without the typical vacations that someone taking a masters would get. Now that wouldn’t be a huge problem since this is something I really enjoy, except that I have a personal philosophy that my early 20s are supposed to be for doing as many adventurous things (e.g. travelling) as I can, so I won’t come to regret not doing those things sooner by the time I have greater responsibilities like a full time job and a family. Now I don’t plan on getting into academia, but I do want to get into an R&D role in industry, where PhD holders are highly sought after, although masters holders are also considered. Looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts! Assistant: If you feel like doing a PhD is a "sacrifice," you shouldn't get one.

Human: I just received tenure track offer and start up package - do I need to negotiate? Is it gauche to discuss with a new prof in the dept? I received a tenure track asst prof offer on Fri in chemical engineering at a mid level R1 institute in the US. I am happy! I do not have other offers and 100% plan to take this because my husband is here and there’s no other option within two hour commute. (1) I can see salaries online as they are public. I am very happy with the salary offer. Should I still negotiate? Always? (2) The start up funding is quite low ($25,000) unexpectedly low, for someone who does wet chemistry. I genuinely expected it to be an order of magnitude higher. I cannot buy any piece of equipment or support even one student with this money. Not sure what to even say. I thought about asking another professor who just began in the dept last year what he thought I could negotiate for in funding. Unsure what’s appropriate given the large chasm. Almost want to accept and not deal with it, after I waited 3 months for the offer. Assistant: Ask for the startup you need to succeed. That is important and it doesn’t matter what anyone else got. The department wants you to be successful, so they won’t mind you asking for this.

Human: I just received tenure track offer and start up package - do I need to negotiate? Is it gauche to discuss with a new prof in the dept? I received a tenure track asst prof offer on Fri in chemical engineering at a mid level R1 institute in the US. I am happy! I do not have other offers and 100% plan to take this because my husband is here and there’s no other option within two hour commute. (1) I can see salaries online as they are public. I am very happy with the salary offer. Should I still negotiate? Always? (2) The start up funding is quite low ($25,000) unexpectedly low, for someone who does wet chemistry. I genuinely expected it to be an order of magnitude higher. I cannot buy any piece of equipment or support even one student with this money. Not sure what to even say. I thought about asking another professor who just began in the dept last year what he thought I could negotiate for in funding. Unsure what’s appropriate given the large chasm. Almost want to accept and not deal with it, after I waited 3 months for the offer. Assistant: What the? Did they drop a 0 from your offer? That's barely enough to pay for reagents. How can you hire a technician or postdoc to generate some results for papers and grants? I have seen startup packages with 10x that. That's crazy. Is it a teaching heavy position?

Human: Is academia underpaid in the US? For most skilled jobs, the US have higher salaries than pretty much everywhere else in the world across the board. Sometimes the gap is massive at least for gross amounts, especially in tech. But academia seems to be a major exception. PhD stipends are ridiculous and barely allow students to scrape by. Postdoc salaries vary a lot but most of the positions I've come across were in the range of $45k-$60k. I guess you can live relatively comfortably in most of the US with that, but it's peanuts compared to what you'd get in the industry, and about the same as what you'd get in a country like Germany - not to mention Switzerland where postdocs usually start from $80k and can go up to $100k in the best institutions. You never get rich anywhere in academia - but in other countries academia seems to be less underpaid compared to non-academia. Given the amount of debt so many grad students in the US get themselves into, it really doesn't seem worth it. Granted, US academia can be the gateway for top paying non-academic jobs, and you can make good money in tenure track positions, but those are hard to come by. Is there something I'm missing here? Assistant: Swiss is probably the only place (in its face value) that makes academia \_seems\_ adequately paid. In fact, most of the places in the world are underpaying postdocs and also APs. Right now in the US we are admitting even more Ph.D. students (in my case, 2x), and that means the job market will be more competitive after \~5 years...

Human: Is academia underpaid in the US? For most skilled jobs, the US have higher salaries than pretty much everywhere else in the world across the board. Sometimes the gap is massive at least for gross amounts, especially in tech. But academia seems to be a major exception. PhD stipends are ridiculous and barely allow students to scrape by. Postdoc salaries vary a lot but most of the positions I've come across were in the range of $45k-$60k. I guess you can live relatively comfortably in most of the US with that, but it's peanuts compared to what you'd get in the industry, and about the same as what you'd get in a country like Germany - not to mention Switzerland where postdocs usually start from $80k and can go up to $100k in the best institutions. You never get rich anywhere in academia - but in other countries academia seems to be less underpaid compared to non-academia. Given the amount of debt so many grad students in the US get themselves into, it really doesn't seem worth it. Granted, US academia can be the gateway for top paying non-academic jobs, and you can make good money in tenure track positions, but those are hard to come by. Is there something I'm missing here? Assistant: Academia is underpaid EVERYWHERE. Show me another profession where you are expected to become an internationally renowned expert in your field within 3-4 years by expanding the limits of human knowledge but still have to come up with your own funding.

Human: Someone added themselves as an author to my publication on research gate Has this happened to anyone before?? I don't see an option to remove them as an author or dispute this. Assistant: SHE DOESN'T EVEN GO HERE!!

Human: Someone added themselves as an author to my publication on research gate Has this happened to anyone before?? I don't see an option to remove them as an author or dispute this. Assistant: I bet it’s an error. I often get asked to confirm ownership of my articles - if I bother to go and check then I seem to remember it gives a long list of papers/stuff by people with my surname and I have to pick out the right ones.

Human: Is it necessary to have an academic twitter account? Today I saw some crazy nuts trolling under a tweet of a simple PhD recruitment ad. I know in general twitter is a very toxic environment but I didn't expect ppl can troll under sth unrelated with them at all. I know a lot of profs have twitter accounts with their full name and affiliation, and most of their tweets are new papers published/conference announcement, and they retweet paper they are interested in or tweets by ppl they know, and it looks like a causal way of networking. I wonder how necessary this is. I have an account using fake name just for collecting info and I never tweet. Personally I extremely hate seeing trolls so I quit a lot of social medias already. I want to do networking for opportunities of collaboration and jobs, and I am wondering whether twitter plays a major part in networking nowadays in academia. Assistant: I think it depends on your area of interest.. I know some disciplines have very active twitter circles that are super fruitful, and it's pretty much expected of you to have one if you're going to be "somebody"

Human: Is it necessary to have an academic twitter account? Today I saw some crazy nuts trolling under a tweet of a simple PhD recruitment ad. I know in general twitter is a very toxic environment but I didn't expect ppl can troll under sth unrelated with them at all. I know a lot of profs have twitter accounts with their full name and affiliation, and most of their tweets are new papers published/conference announcement, and they retweet paper they are interested in or tweets by ppl they know, and it looks like a causal way of networking. I wonder how necessary this is. I have an account using fake name just for collecting info and I never tweet. Personally I extremely hate seeing trolls so I quit a lot of social medias already. I want to do networking for opportunities of collaboration and jobs, and I am wondering whether twitter plays a major part in networking nowadays in academia. Assistant: Tweeting significantly increases citations https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003497520308602

Human: I recently graduated from my university with a doctorate degree, and because I am no longer a current student they have removed my access to the library databases. What do I do? I have already sent an email to the library asking what I can do to reestablish my library privileges. I am currently in the middle of writing a manuscript, and of course I was conducting my literature research using my university’s library system. I graduated with my doctorate in August and just yesterday I found out that my privileges have been removed since I am no longer a current student. What in the world do I do if the university does not allow me access to the library system? I am currently working in a public high school, so right now I am not affiliated with any university. Please help! Assistant: Local Public library card?

Human: I recently graduated from my university with a doctorate degree, and because I am no longer a current student they have removed my access to the library databases. What do I do? I have already sent an email to the library asking what I can do to reestablish my library privileges. I am currently in the middle of writing a manuscript, and of course I was conducting my literature research using my university’s library system. I graduated with my doctorate in August and just yesterday I found out that my privileges have been removed since I am no longer a current student. What in the world do I do if the university does not allow me access to the library system? I am currently working in a public high school, so right now I am not affiliated with any university. Please help! Assistant: If you know what papers or books you want, ask a current grad student or your advisor if they can get you the PDF copies of them. You can also email the authors for a copy since some will send you it themselves.

Human: Do Professors notice how you name your email attachments? I've been emailing potential PhD mentors with a CV pdf that's titled "Grad School CV". Am I risking shooting myself in the foot? Assistant: Yes- please name it something like First-Last-CV_2020-date.pdf

Human: Do Professors notice how you name your email attachments? I've been emailing potential PhD mentors with a CV pdf that's titled "Grad School CV". Am I risking shooting myself in the foot? Assistant: PSA: no matter who you are, watch what you name your docs. A colleague of mine (we work in curriculum development at a university) recieved a document from a professor he was working with that had the title of "PPRub." Say it out loud. It was a rubric for a PowerPoint assignment but my colleague wasnt sure if he wanted to open it at first.

Human: Did any other academics end up taking a more blue-collar career path? I graduated from university with a major in Political Science and a minor in History. I do a lot of work as a Tutor (about 10-40 hours a week, depending on the season and how busy I am with other work) and also occasionally write articles. However, while going to school, I worked in construction to help pay the bills. Even after I graduated, I continued to do a lot of construction work and started my own business (and for the right price, occasionally still help out other companies as well, for the right price). I particularly do a lot of roofing, concrete work, and landscaping. Some people are surprised when they learn about my educational background. While my background helps me get a lot of work during the off-season, the bulk of my income remains from construction work. While I don't really mind the desk work, I love construction because it helps me burn off energy, makes me feel like I'm contributing to society, and keeps me in shape. Assistant: I have family that uses a HVAC repair guy that is also a tenured biology professor and does AC work on the side.

Human: Did any other academics end up taking a more blue-collar career path? I graduated from university with a major in Political Science and a minor in History. I do a lot of work as a Tutor (about 10-40 hours a week, depending on the season and how busy I am with other work) and also occasionally write articles. However, while going to school, I worked in construction to help pay the bills. Even after I graduated, I continued to do a lot of construction work and started my own business (and for the right price, occasionally still help out other companies as well, for the right price). I particularly do a lot of roofing, concrete work, and landscaping. Some people are surprised when they learn about my educational background. While my background helps me get a lot of work during the off-season, the bulk of my income remains from construction work. While I don't really mind the desk work, I love construction because it helps me burn off energy, makes me feel like I'm contributing to society, and keeps me in shape. Assistant: Abe Tesser is one of the more renowned social psychologists in the world, but when he retired from academia, he went into woodworking. And, OMG, is he good at it. https://tesserfurniture.com/

Human: I think my boss has been playing me and as a result my career is likely ruined. Help? I want to stay in academia, and I have a specific vision for my work. When I joined the lab (2nd postdoc), my boss made promises of mentorship and support to reach my career goals. Since then: \- I had a big grant rejected, which could have been avoided had she not pressured me to add more and more experiments that I have no expertise in, claiming that the collaborators would be enough to convince the reviewers. I found out the hard way that that's BS \- I then got another grant for 2 years with the possibility to hire my own PhD student, if she had promised to pay the third year. She told me she had no idea if she would be able to pay, which ended up in me getting a TA instead. I then found out that she offered a PhD student to another postdoc with the same funding as me a couple of months later \- She was dismissive of my ideas to the point that I was seriously doubting myself, until I received good feedback from our collaborators. Then she was interested. Now she's trying to push her own unfounded, sloppy ideas into my story and is threatening me that if I don't work on this aspect she has no interest in keeping me \- She blocked a collaboration that I made with an industry partner at a conference, saying she has no interest in it and the idea is 'stupid' (its not). She then uses my contact to ask for something completely different and not related to my research and expects me to do the experiments. In the emails she switched from english to her mother language and even sent one without me in Cc which I later saw in the thread, saying that I work for her in a very condescending tone \- I have been asking her consistently for other projects since I didn't publish since my last postdoc (4 years, hoping to submit this year). She keeps giving me dead-end mini projects she knows won't be published. There are other opportunities in the lab that she is not including me in, saying I will get 'distracted' \- She blocked me from publishing because we got 1 (ONE) editor rejection from a high impact journal, so now I am working overtime for more functional experiments that would make it 'interesting enough' for publishing, so I can finally submit and apply for other positions while in review \- she's arguing with me in front of other people, via email or in online meetings, anything I say is wrong, she's constantly putting me down given the chance and it's awkward and embarrassing. \- she argues with me for not telling her absolutely everything, even though I started with the aim to build up to independence. This includes applications for conferences and discussions with other PIs in the institute \- she yelled at me several times for spending too much money for my project, whereas another colleague is spending 10x more but that's apparently ok because it's my boss' ideas. We are working in one of the most funded institutes where money shouldn't be an issue \- if I confront her about anything she gets super defensive, aggressive even, and I'm afraid to say anything in case it makes things worse. I told her I am applying for faculty positions (with a preprint), and she sent her references, but now I am really worried that she will ruin me. I always had good feedback from other PIs and collaborators but she broke me down so much, I am doubting my abilities as a scientist, and I am getting bitter and jealous of other postdocs who have OK projects but are getting ahead because they have the right support/ contacts (as I said, well funded institute). Ultimately I feel like I am missing out on productive and fun scientific discussion and real mentorship, scientific and otherwise, and I am worried that I am not equipped for the next step because of it. I still have a tiny slither of hope but I don't know for how much longer. Several people have left the lab already for similar reasons apart from her now 'star postdoc' who is wasting tons of money. Her PhD students all left (or will leave) academia. Am I doomed? Assistant: Resubmit the big grant with her BS removed. Pursue the industry grant separately. Resubmit the rejected manuscript to a lower tier journal. Don’t forget - as long as it is indexed on pubmed or whatever the standard in your field is, the rest matters a lot less. Read up on narcissism, the grey rock technique, and broken record technique. Check out the book “crucial confrontations”.

Human: I think my boss has been playing me and as a result my career is likely ruined. Help? I want to stay in academia, and I have a specific vision for my work. When I joined the lab (2nd postdoc), my boss made promises of mentorship and support to reach my career goals. Since then: \- I had a big grant rejected, which could have been avoided had she not pressured me to add more and more experiments that I have no expertise in, claiming that the collaborators would be enough to convince the reviewers. I found out the hard way that that's BS \- I then got another grant for 2 years with the possibility to hire my own PhD student, if she had promised to pay the third year. She told me she had no idea if she would be able to pay, which ended up in me getting a TA instead. I then found out that she offered a PhD student to another postdoc with the same funding as me a couple of months later \- She was dismissive of my ideas to the point that I was seriously doubting myself, until I received good feedback from our collaborators. Then she was interested. Now she's trying to push her own unfounded, sloppy ideas into my story and is threatening me that if I don't work on this aspect she has no interest in keeping me \- She blocked a collaboration that I made with an industry partner at a conference, saying she has no interest in it and the idea is 'stupid' (its not). She then uses my contact to ask for something completely different and not related to my research and expects me to do the experiments. In the emails she switched from english to her mother language and even sent one without me in Cc which I later saw in the thread, saying that I work for her in a very condescending tone \- I have been asking her consistently for other projects since I didn't publish since my last postdoc (4 years, hoping to submit this year). She keeps giving me dead-end mini projects she knows won't be published. There are other opportunities in the lab that she is not including me in, saying I will get 'distracted' \- She blocked me from publishing because we got 1 (ONE) editor rejection from a high impact journal, so now I am working overtime for more functional experiments that would make it 'interesting enough' for publishing, so I can finally submit and apply for other positions while in review \- she's arguing with me in front of other people, via email or in online meetings, anything I say is wrong, she's constantly putting me down given the chance and it's awkward and embarrassing. \- she argues with me for not telling her absolutely everything, even though I started with the aim to build up to independence. This includes applications for conferences and discussions with other PIs in the institute \- she yelled at me several times for spending too much money for my project, whereas another colleague is spending 10x more but that's apparently ok because it's my boss' ideas. We are working in one of the most funded institutes where money shouldn't be an issue \- if I confront her about anything she gets super defensive, aggressive even, and I'm afraid to say anything in case it makes things worse. I told her I am applying for faculty positions (with a preprint), and she sent her references, but now I am really worried that she will ruin me. I always had good feedback from other PIs and collaborators but she broke me down so much, I am doubting my abilities as a scientist, and I am getting bitter and jealous of other postdocs who have OK projects but are getting ahead because they have the right support/ contacts (as I said, well funded institute). Ultimately I feel like I am missing out on productive and fun scientific discussion and real mentorship, scientific and otherwise, and I am worried that I am not equipped for the next step because of it. I still have a tiny slither of hope but I don't know for how much longer. Several people have left the lab already for similar reasons apart from her now 'star postdoc' who is wasting tons of money. Her PhD students all left (or will leave) academia. Am I doomed? Assistant: Oooh, you must be threatening to this PI. Take her sabotage as a mark of your power/potential/intelligence. Then run.

Human: Why do professors ignore letter of recommendation requests instead of just declining? Is it a sign that they simply forgot to reply or missed my email, or is it that they just can't be bothered to reply at all if they aren't interested? &#x200B; **Edit:** When I make requests in the future, would it be appropriate to tack on "just a simple yes or no answer is fine" at the end of the email, to hint that I would appreciate even a very curt refusal rather than silence? Assistant: Students have no concept of how wildly overwhelming most academics' inboxes are

Human: Why do professors ignore letter of recommendation requests instead of just declining? Is it a sign that they simply forgot to reply or missed my email, or is it that they just can't be bothered to reply at all if they aren't interested? &#x200B; **Edit:** When I make requests in the future, would it be appropriate to tack on "just a simple yes or no answer is fine" at the end of the email, to hint that I would appreciate even a very curt refusal rather than silence? Assistant: I think the whole convention is silly. I wish that would be removed from admission processes. Profs get so bombarded with these. Most have a general template that they cut and paste and maybe add in a few specific sentences. I Always seem to get these requests during end of semester/finals week when I’m swamped. I don’t ignore, it’s just not a priority and falls to the bottom of the list often times.

Human: Is burnout normal in academics? Im a doctoral candidate, (4th year) and though there is the light at the end of the tunnel, I feel like I burnt myself out so hard last year (COVID, grant writing w no laptop, could not go to lab, got married, family disowned me, and threats from family members, took quals twice (failed the first time)). My advisors dont know how hard the last year was for me. My advisors are extremely selfless and wonderful advisors and they are treking out a plan where I can publish 1-2 papers within 20-24 months and graduate on time. Since May, Ive been completely burnt out and disinterested. I never get up on time, and I am going to lab at 2pm and forcing myself to stay there for 8 hours. Even when my body is in lab, my work is not great, and I can hardly motivate myself to thaw out cells. Other people in academia seem to have trials with burn out from time to time. Virtually all PIs are over extended, post-docs too. I was wondering if burnout is a bug or a feature in academia? Does everyone feel burntout from time to time or did I fuck myself? thanks Assistant: Burnout is common. Try getting a therapist. It may be just what you need to find the right motivation. Sorry to hear about your family disowning you, sounds like a religious thing? Another way therapy might help.

Human: Is burnout normal in academics? Im a doctoral candidate, (4th year) and though there is the light at the end of the tunnel, I feel like I burnt myself out so hard last year (COVID, grant writing w no laptop, could not go to lab, got married, family disowned me, and threats from family members, took quals twice (failed the first time)). My advisors dont know how hard the last year was for me. My advisors are extremely selfless and wonderful advisors and they are treking out a plan where I can publish 1-2 papers within 20-24 months and graduate on time. Since May, Ive been completely burnt out and disinterested. I never get up on time, and I am going to lab at 2pm and forcing myself to stay there for 8 hours. Even when my body is in lab, my work is not great, and I can hardly motivate myself to thaw out cells. Other people in academia seem to have trials with burn out from time to time. Virtually all PIs are over extended, post-docs too. I was wondering if burnout is a bug or a feature in academia? Does everyone feel burntout from time to time or did I fuck myself? thanks Assistant: Burnout is _extremely_ uncommon. You are an anomaly. How in the hell could I (or anyone else) ever get burned out from working 60+ hours a week while raising young kids and trying to grind tenure in one of the most competitive industries in the world? More seriously, of course people get burned out. Spend 3 minutes scrolling through the submissions on any of the academia oriented subreddits and the extreme commonness of burnout should be obvious.