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[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yikes. I tell my students that if they turn in a 30 minute presentation video (online class) I’m not watching it. 3-5 minutes for the first topic and 5-10 for the second. Anymore than that and I’m probably tuning out.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Absolutely, meeting a time limit is a skill that need to be practiced. I am in math and my supervisor is fond of quoting (well, paraphrasing) Pascal saying \"I have made this letter longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter\".", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yikes. I tell my students that if they turn in a 30 minute presentation video (online class) I’m not watching it. 3-5 minutes for the first topic and 5-10 for the second. Anymore than that and I’m probably tuning out.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is a terrible thing to let students get away with, in my view. When you're in the field presenting to clients, committees, etc., they typically prefer when you can wrap it up and get to the essentials fast. They never want to feel like they spent too much time on something. Shameful to let students go out into their fields with those habits.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I've never encountered a professor who praises people for going over time - quite the opposite in fact, usually they cut the presentation short or deduct points. I usually go the \"deduct points\" route unless it looks like the class is gong to run out of time for other presenters. Was this the same professor both times? Do you know if they docked points for going over-time?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Absolutely, meeting a time limit is a skill that need to be practiced. I am in math and my supervisor is fond of quoting (well, paraphrasing) Pascal saying \"I have made this letter longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter\".", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yikes. I tell my students that if they turn in a 30 minute presentation video (online class) I’m not watching it. 3-5 minutes for the first topic and 5-10 for the second. Anymore than that and I’m probably tuning out.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "People who go overtime by quite a bit - like more than 1-2 for a 10 min or 10+ for longer talks - are one of my pet peeves. Just respect everyone's time and stay within the limit... I was judging some 8 min presentations on Zoom a few days ago. The most interesting one got the lowest score because they barely made it half-way through their talk when their time was up. They would have won if they had stayed on target.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I've never encountered a professor who praises people for going over time - quite the opposite in fact, usually they cut the presentation short or deduct points. I usually go the \"deduct points\" route unless it looks like the class is gong to run out of time for other presenters. Was this the same professor both times? Do you know if they docked points for going over-time?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If any professor is reading this: please do not praise students keeping their presentations much longer than you said it should be because it covers more. It is unfair and an obvious sign of obliviousness. It is nonsense. Please. If you tell your students to keep their presentations at a certain length, do not praise the ones who go above the set time limit by half an hour and praise their work for its depth. This has happened to me second time now. My professor asks me to cover one of the most controversial and comprehensive subjects in social sciences in 10 minutes and rolls their eyes for it not having elaborated enough in certain aspects while praising the 40-minute-though-supposed-to-be-10-minute presentation of my classmate for covering more on the same subject. If there are any professors reading this; please don't do this. Some students put a lot of work into making the damn presentation as concise as possible and literally rehearse a few times so that they do not go over the time limit. Covering more by going waaaay above the limit you yourself set is not something to be encouraged. Nor is it fair.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is a terrible thing to let students get away with, in my view. When you're in the field presenting to clients, committees, etc., they typically prefer when you can wrap it up and get to the essentials fast. They never want to feel like they spent too much time on something. Shameful to let students go out into their fields with those habits.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Raminds me of my former PI who has a fun hobby: Getting predatory journals to include people like Hoss or Borat as an Editor. Why Fake Data When You Can Fake a Scientist? His point being: Virtual editors can significantly improve the visibility of junk journals", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is great, love it! Thank you for sharing.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Perhaps a little less complex, but there's also the classic paper \"Get Me Off Your Fucking Mailing List.\"", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Lmao I am dead", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "That fucking graph/figure. Hahahaha", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is great, love it! Thank you for sharing.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably more views than the typical publication", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "At my university (edit: I do not live in the US), if you publish even in lower tier legitimate journals, that counts against you. So this guy's resume must be bulletproof for him to take a hit like that", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Using WTF as a keyword surelly sets an impact factor over 9000", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "After receiving an email from a sketchy journal soliciting submissions, a professor sent in a joke paper titled \"What's the Deal With Birds?\", which got published. Here's a small excerpt from the paper: > *Abstract:* Many people wonder: what’s the deal with birds? This is a common query. Birds are pretty weird. I mean, they have feathers. WTF? Most other animals don’t have feathers. To investigate this issue, I looked at some birds. I looked at a woodpecker, a parrot, and a penguin. They were all pretty weird! In conclusion, we may never know the deal with birds, but further study is warranted. > *Keywords*: birds, ornithology, behavior, phenotype, WTF, genomics, climate change You can read the PDf version of the original article here: https://irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.MS.ID.000540.pdf Alternatively, there's a press summary of the situation here: https://gizmodo.com/sketchy-science-journal-publishes-article-titled-whats-1842924936", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Those acknowledgements though😂😂😂", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I just turned down a review invitation for an Elsevier journal on account of it being an Elsevier journal.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You should feel free to turn down a request to review if you aren’t interested in the topic. That’s how I decide what to review - whether or not I actually want to read the paper. It won’t hurt your tenure case if you occasionally say no.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This “publication-review-journals” is one of the most fucked up systems there is. We work like crazy to have publications ready (lab/field/writting) for ZERO money, plus many times we loose even our rights to our own papers. It is absolutely insane and abusive. People assuming OP is being malicious for pointing that out is insane. This kind of thinking will keep feeding this machine. Us pals should be more united and have each others backs like in other fields. On top of that, salaries received for universities/industry employment should not be factored in. You are producing new information and using that for handing out tenures and such is borderline blackmail, seeing that not everyone will be able to pay fees for publishing in high-impact journals, have time to review and still pay the bills. We should be paid for our services, especially if it’s in this weird cycle. Sadly, it does not look like we will find a solution soon enough. We are kind of trapped in this toxic situation having to overwork for free and having to do it with a smile on our faces. Edit: i do not mean to point fingers, just trying to speak my mind. This topic is such a huge cancer in academia it makes me mad.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm with you OP. I'm particularly annoyed at one journal that asked me to review about a week before the pandemic 'hit' and then sent annoying e-mail reminders every 2 weeks until I sent the review (despite me e-mailing them back the first time saying I couldn't review while providing full time childcare and inviting them to find an alternative reviewer if they couldn't wait). I think I'm at the point where I'm going to do my own boycott of journal reviewing. (Up to now I've reviewed around 3 times as many papers as I've published and the majority of journals in my subject have 1, or 2, reviewers so I'm \"up\".) I'll make exceptions for massive breakthroughs or work of students/postdocs who really need it.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm getting pretty sick of writing papers for free. For my PhD and postdoc I've worked on other people's big projects. Every time they strategically keep me in the lab for the entire duration of the fellowship with no time to write, knowing full well that I have to write papers to get a job, and that I'll do it for free when the fellowship is over just to try to keep up.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I could probably write more if not reviewing 3+ papers per each published. I had no idea it was that many until I looked up my reviewer stats.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "TBH, I wish for profit publishing houses would get lost. Nature's making a move to own academic publishing at all levels of journal quality and it's just not cool. You get better service from most societies too. Now I just need to convince myself not to send the good work to the Nature empire, and convince the funders that society journals should be perceived as prestigious as Nature's topical collection.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Exactly, I stopped helping those greedy publishers review papers for a while. Unless the paper title and abstract really interests me, I don't review.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Aren’t you already paid for ‘service’ - employment contracts might mention say 10% of your time to be dedicated to service. You don’t owe more than that. Just make a weekly time budget, and anything that requires more than that is a red line.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "How about we stop working for free? Just this month I was invited to review five new submissions from three different journals. I understand that we have an important role in improving the quality of science being published (specially during COVID times), but isn’t it unfair that we do all the work and these companies get all the money? Honestly, I feel like it’s passed time we start refusing to review articles without minimum compensation from these for-profit journals. ​ Field of research: Neuroscience/Biophysics Title: Ph.D. Country: USA", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You should feel free to turn down a request to review if you aren’t interested in the topic. That’s how I decide what to review - whether or not I actually want to read the paper. It won’t hurt your tenure case if you occasionally say no.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would go to a lawyer first. I'd ask the lawyer if I could file both criminal and civil charges and sue the student into next week. They'll probably say no which is disappointing because I'd want to nail that little shit to the wall. One thing you may find the lawyer actually doing for you is filing a restraining order against the student. I'd also be sure to ask the lawyer when to include the dean and the senior leadership at the school. Adding a threat and attempted blackmail to the disciplinary process might just get the kid expelled. Now I know there are some states where the LGBT status is a non-protected status which is what I'm assuming you're talking about, my brother's boyfriend was fired for being Gay at a school in New Hampshire. So yes there is a risk. If the student is willing to go to all of this trouble there is a real risk of violence, either by them or by someone they paid when things don't go their way. This is not something to take lightly. You need help.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Is being in an open relationship against the terms of your contract? Regardless of whether it's right or wrong...if it's in your contract, it's in your contract. All-else considered, the school should protect you from this. You were literally doing your job. However, it sounds like this student comes from a fairly wealthy family...and money talks to universities as we've seen in the media recently. Just in case the school does not take your side...I'd lawyer-up immediately. Also might be time to throw your resume around to some colleagues at other institutions.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "No advice beyond that given, but just want to express solidarity. Who are these supposed academics who don't understand that your university doesn't need to fire you - they just need to quietly deny you tenure for a plausible reason, which at your university may be the code of conduct. I don't think there's anything wrong with you for wanting to keep your job, even at the (incredible personal) cost of placating one shithead student who would probably have been acquitted by the system anyway even if he raped or killed someone. I hope you figure this out.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Is being in an open relationship against the terms of your contract? Regardless of whether it's right or wrong...if it's in your contract, it's in your contract. All-else considered, the school should protect you from this. You were literally doing your job. However, it sounds like this student comes from a fairly wealthy family...and money talks to universities as we've seen in the media recently. Just in case the school does not take your side...I'd lawyer-up immediately. Also might be time to throw your resume around to some colleagues at other institutions.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This will sound harsh and unpopular, but grow some backbone and stand for your way of life. If this is frowned upon by a place you spend over 8 hours each weekday, you're in the wrong spot and you're supporting a system that undermines something you value a lot. It's difficult to do this, given you might have to provide for a family and run the risk of losing job security, but if the alternative is to live a lie for a third of your life, the choice seems easy to me.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Go to the police. Jesus.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This will sound harsh and unpopular, but grow some backbone and stand for your way of life. If this is frowned upon by a place you spend over 8 hours each weekday, you're in the wrong spot and you're supporting a system that undermines something you value a lot. It's difficult to do this, given you might have to provide for a family and run the risk of losing job security, but if the alternative is to live a lie for a third of your life, the choice seems easy to me.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I flunked someone for plagiarism. I just discovered they hired a PI to investigate me. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m in a tenure track position in the social sciences at a school in the Midwest. Last semester, I flunked a student for plagiarizing part of a paper (it was a clear case of copy and paste from an obscure source). The student did not take it well. Things are winding their way through the administrative process. It has come to my attention that this disgruntled student has apparently hired a private investigator to follow me and look into my life. I feel extremely violated. However, it has unfortunately also come to my attention that this PI has learned that I am in an open relationship. I suspect this would not be well received by my department and would likely jeopardize my ability to get tenure. It has been strongly implied that details of my personal relationship will be leaked to the department unless I stop pursuing internal discipline against the student. However, it’s not clear to me that I could stop the proceedings even if I wanted to. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Is being in an open relationship against the terms of your contract? Regardless of whether it's right or wrong...if it's in your contract, it's in your contract. All-else considered, the school should protect you from this. You were literally doing your job. However, it sounds like this student comes from a fairly wealthy family...and money talks to universities as we've seen in the media recently. Just in case the school does not take your side...I'd lawyer-up immediately. Also might be time to throw your resume around to some colleagues at other institutions.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I had this feeling when I was in grad school. Now, it's more that I'll never have time in this life to create all the things I want to: books, games, etc., that will never see the light of day. OTOH, that means I'll never be bored. I'll never run out of things to learn, do, and try. I try to keep my focus on that side.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I used to feel that way until corona hit and I had to scrub my research project. Three months into quarantine and I’m still sitting here trying to work up the will power to get better at coding.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "What's even stranger, is learning your professors, who are at the top of their field and extremely knowledgeable, are subject to the same lack of knowledge, because they simply forget. The reason why they keep telling us to read their articles, is because they wrote it down so they wouldn't have to remember. If they've since moved on in subject matter, they may not remember much of what they wrote. This is as true for us as it is for them. So with that understood, I've come to terms that the project of the the graduate thesis (and by extension academia), is the fine art of IDENTIFYING and WRITING only that which you are able to know. You can't know everything, so writing around what you know and don't know becomes the skill. Sorta like when I told my gf when she started a new job at a maddeningly byzantine organization: sometimes the meta-job IS the job.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is sometimes why I watch Groundhog Day on repeat. Imagine getting to do each day over and over again before we get it right? And what can’t we do that? Haha... besides the whole time dilation thing.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "No. As soon as you realise the depth of our lack of understanding of the details of everything, it is immediately apparent you will never be an expert in everything. There are people who spend life times mastering individual skills and areas of study. The days of being able to know everything about everything that was known died out - literally - thousands of years ago. So, you can sit and feel sad about it, or you can accept it and get on with doing what you can do. And - if you want a productive career in academia - that means you also need to give yourself peace and time to develop new knowledge and learn. There are tens of thousands of scientists working in related fields to all of us. Either we can spend our lives reading every minuscule byte of related information, or we can get ourselves to a working knowledge of a niche and try and contribute. I'm totally accepting and content with the idea that I will never be able to read lots of interesting things. Because the trade off is that I get to do lots of interesting and new things. The idea that you might get sad at not being able to read all the things feels a bit too close to the mentality of wanting to passively learn rather than actively do research (i.e. the step change between undergrad and grad education). Because you could always be reading someone else's work rather than doing your own.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I do!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "What's even stranger, is learning your professors, who are at the top of their field and extremely knowledgeable, are subject to the same lack of knowledge, because they simply forget. The reason why they keep telling us to read their articles, is because they wrote it down so they wouldn't have to remember. If they've since moved on in subject matter, they may not remember much of what they wrote. This is as true for us as it is for them. So with that understood, I've come to terms that the project of the the graduate thesis (and by extension academia), is the fine art of IDENTIFYING and WRITING only that which you are able to know. You can't know everything, so writing around what you know and don't know becomes the skill. Sorta like when I told my gf when she started a new job at a maddeningly byzantine organization: sometimes the meta-job IS the job.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Me every single day. I feel stupid all the time. In my field. But i know I’m not that stupid maybe (?)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I never thought about it but now that you mentioned it... Yess!!! Its kind of like when you read a review paper and they cite many other original research papers, and you wanna get through all of them but you dont have the time to do so. When you do attempt to get through them, you find yourself going down a rabbit hole. One paper leads to 10 other papers and each of the 10 papers lead you to another 10 papers... IT NEVER ENDS!! Then the timer goes off, you gotta run back to the lab to change whatever solution you've got your tissue incubating in. And those papers that you've found will be left as tabs on your browser, never looked at again (but never closed too). Until one day, your computer freezes up and you gotta force shutdown your computer.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you also happen to get sad because you simply will never have enough time to get the knowledge you want to? I was wondering if other people also get kind of sad because it is simply impossible to have enough time to learn everything you actually wanted to learn by a certain age/stage in life. Like idk, completing that list of books with important authors in your field which gets longer and longer while keeping up with the recent findings in your field. Or learning that additional programming language or further practicing the one your familiar with. Or learning one more additional language. And all of that on top of the workload you already have. Sometimes that makes me really sad because there are just so many things I am interested in and curious about but the more I study the things the longer the list of things I want to learn more about gets. Idk if you can relate but I just wanted to share this and I would be really interested to see what you think about this!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have nothing other to say than: Yes, I know that feeling.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A friend of mine used to say that we'd committed financial suicide by getting PhDs. For whatever it's worth, you're not at all alone in being disappointed by what your graduate studies led to.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Surely you must have some teaching or research skills of some sort? Or did you go down the path in such a way as to avoid teaching at all costs? I know some who did this - one coworker in particular treated his TA work like a joke and his students rated him with 1's and 2's on RateMyProfessor. Regardless, setting aside community college, there's also high school. I know that many people sneer at it, but personally I hate the attitude that \"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.\" We've all had good teachers and terrible ones. Being one is the good ones is an accomplishment, whatever the level. But of course, a degree isn't just about teaching, and usually trains many skills. Perhaps you learned some coding or technical writing? It may just be that you're looking at the wrong jobs, or that your expectations are too high. Technical writing ability is valued in research and business alike. Coding and numerical skills, whether in python or excel or something else, can also be valuable. I'm sure you have some skills you can market. You may just have to go about it in a different way. Finally, it's also tough out there right now. The economy is sagging, partly due to covid. People are struggling. Don't go to hard on yourself.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Go apply for industry jobs 2. Get an entry level job 3. Be happy when you see your first pay check that's double the money for less work", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This question is for OP and anybody who has completed a PhD program. What did/does your program do in regards to helping with job placement, making connections, etc.? I'm asking because several of the programs I'm looking at boast about high job placement, particularly in academia, post-PhD program. ... If it matters I have my MBA, and I'm looking at PhD in Business programs.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Go apply for industry jobs 2. Get an entry level job 3. Be happy when you see your first pay check that's double the money for less work", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "What is it in? Can you go into industry?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "OP, please in no way take this as me being condescending in anyway. I just want to pass on what I have learned by *just* squeeking by into a TT position. 10 papers (unless they are all first author papers) is not enough to get into a TT position these days. I want to be clear that I think that paper count is an absolutely stupid metric to put the majority of a hiring decision on. If we're all being honest, number of papers is almost entirely correlated with how well funded and connected your group is, which of course you as an individual have very little control over. I fully acknowledge that I was extremely fortunate to be in a high output group and I know this is primarily the reason I have gotten this position. I just feel it's better to shoot you straight now and get an honest take. With all this said, I still fantasize about industry positions with their higher salary and normal work hours, so the grass is always greener. Edit: my context is through Chemistry. So apply the appropriate amount of salt", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "If you want money, academia is the wrong place. You'll have much more financial success going corporate, but less freedom on what you want to do. It's hard, but you've just gotta weigh up on what you want more and if you want seriously higher pay that corporate is the way to go", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Go apply for industry jobs 2. Get an entry level job 3. Be happy when you see your first pay check that's double the money for less work", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Why did I pursue a PhD if it has not led to any opportunities? I’m feeling pretty down at the moment. I’ve been applying to TT jobs for a few years and have gotten no luck. I received my PhD from an average state school in 2015 and have had two relatively fruitful postdocs the last 5 years. I’ve published 10 papers in mid-tier journals. Yet it’s all been for nothing. I can’t get a job for the life of me. I’ve applied to probably almost 100 professor jobs with no success whatsoever. 4 year R1 schools, SLACs, and community colleges all have rejected me. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the country. There’s too few jobs and I just don’t cut. I’m almost 35 now with a salary that an undergrad straight out of college wouldn’t be thrilled with. And I’ve busting my ass for more than a decade for pretty much nothing. No upside, no new or exciting opportunities, nothing. It sucks. I would have been better off teaching high school instead of trying in to break into higher ed. I’ve learned the hard way that the PhD pays in prestige, but you can’t eat prestige. Why did I do this to myself? Any one else feel this way?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Surely you must have some teaching or research skills of some sort? Or did you go down the path in such a way as to avoid teaching at all costs? I know some who did this - one coworker in particular treated his TA work like a joke and his students rated him with 1's and 2's on RateMyProfessor. Regardless, setting aside community college, there's also high school. I know that many people sneer at it, but personally I hate the attitude that \"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.\" We've all had good teachers and terrible ones. Being one is the good ones is an accomplishment, whatever the level. But of course, a degree isn't just about teaching, and usually trains many skills. Perhaps you learned some coding or technical writing? It may just be that you're looking at the wrong jobs, or that your expectations are too high. Technical writing ability is valued in research and business alike. Coding and numerical skills, whether in python or excel or something else, can also be valuable. I'm sure you have some skills you can market. You may just have to go about it in a different way. Finally, it's also tough out there right now. The economy is sagging, partly due to covid. People are struggling. Don't go to hard on yourself.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I currently teach high school... We plan to be open face to face, once a kid gets COVID we're out for a week and anyone who was in class with that kid is out an additional week for quarantine... In a school with almost 2k students. Yeah, ok...", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "My uni is gonna be all remote at least", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In all honesty; it's not going to happen. They *intend* to open, and they'd vastly prefer to open from a revenue perspective, but at the same time they're all quietly planning for the possibility (or, rather, probability) of online-only instruction. Eventually, they'll start acknowledging it.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is the correct take.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In all honesty; it's not going to happen. They *intend* to open, and they'd vastly prefer to open from a revenue perspective, but at the same time they're all quietly planning for the possibility (or, rather, probability) of online-only instruction. Eventually, they'll start acknowledging it.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "My uni is gonna be all remote at least", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I currently teach high school... We plan to be open face to face, once a kid gets COVID we're out for a week and anyone who was in class with that kid is out an additional week for quarantine... In a school with almost 2k students. Yeah, ok...", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is the correct take.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Don't use that letter. But honestly I'd burn all sorts of bridges out of spite over something like that. I'd go to her school and tell them this, ideally with a copy of the letter, and ask them why their professor is doing this to students who ask her for recommendations in good faith. It's universally accepted that if you can't give a good reference, you don't. And if you're in a position where it's expected to recommend someone, you at _least_ hit a neutral to positive note. Actively attacking you in the letter without warning you that she didn't feel she could write you a good letter is unforgivable.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You can try to talk to her to see what the problem was. And stop putting her name for recommendations.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Faculty shouldn't agree to write letters unless it's going to support the student. I'm a professor. I actually just posted a video on YT about requesting a letter from a prof. (link here, in case it'll help anyone). With regards to this specific case, I'd immediately find a new source for letters of recommendation. If you have any other applications that are out there, you MIGHT be able to remove the offending letter writer in question and then setup another person (after asking another person, all that jazz). I'm so sorry that this happened. It's extremely unprofessional and cruel.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You can “exclude” a LOR in most application systems these days. Do that. ASAP", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Considering that professors (in the US) are specifically told to decline to write a letter if you don’t think the student is deserving due to slander lawsuits shows that this professor is an idiot", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is extremely unfortunate and uncommon. For the most part professors will decline to write a letter if they can’t write a positive one. It’s a “letter of recommendation”, not “letter of review”. This person is out to get you and I would avoid interacting with them further.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed \"it would be an honor\". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed \"that the club struggled under my leadership\" and my research \"was not adequate and not helpful\". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "That’s really quite terrible. Sorry you are in that kind of position. The worst letter I wrote never said anything negative about a candidate. The worst letter just didn’t say anything super positive. Basically a neutral letter is as bad as it ever gets.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Your name was mentioned in a paper recently found by Academia! Dear Academia.edu, no one is mentioning my name in any papers. Please stop.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In contrast, when Research Gate says you have a citation, it's true. It's even better than Google Scholar. Citations for my unpublished PhD dissertation appear on Research Gate but not on Google Scholar.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Your name was mentioned in a paper recently found by Academia! Dear Academia.edu, no one is mentioning my name in any papers. Please stop.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Supposedly there are over 3,000 mentions of my name in papers. My name is quite uncommon.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Now everyone cite it!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Now everyone cite it!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations!!! I’m also an undergrad student and I’ve been trying to get something published too... this is hard work, keep going!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Now everyone cite it!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This is such a great feeling! Congratulations to you.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! This will be a huge help for you moving forward in your life no matter what path you choose to take.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "That's huge! Especially as an undergrad! gg, my friend", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Ewwwww you kiss your spouse?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "The struggle is real.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I don’t understand. This is great advice, but it’s not different for professors than anyone else. Why propagate the notion that this is anything other than a normal job.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "When I *get* home?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Kissing your SO is always a good thing. Also, the lifestyle that you are implying is not universal and it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe some fields, maybe USA, maybe some PIs. But there are plenty of places where academia is associated with good pay and work-life balance.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "The struggle is real.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I do not understand how the hell I put up with it. You wanna hire a hard working nanotechnologist? I would like to see my family a little, and afford a better house than this tiny apartment... \\*sigh\\*", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "The struggle is real.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "My wife just tells me everything I did wrong when I come home. Kinda just makes me want to stay at work with my cells. At least they don't yell at me.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "When I *get* home?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "There's this guy in my field who published like 8 papers based on his PhD project alone by slicing and dicing the project into small portions then blowing each of them up into full papers. The intros of some of these papers read almost the same with some modifications to make them just different enough. Till this day I wonder how they got published. But he's now a professor at a top university so I guess it worked out well for him.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know some PhD students more experienced than any other postdoc since they still do a PhD in their 8th or 9th years at the same lab and this is in Europe, where you don't have classes, exams, seminars etc. It's full time research. They aim to publish every chapter of their dissertation in famous and high impact journals, it clogs the lab for upcoming students and we invest too much money and time on limited number of projects. The sad part is to see that all about the journal names. Nobody cares about the continuity, robust data or reproducibility, they keep looking for fancy experiments to fit fancy journals. Our lab discussions don't involve around the scientific ideas, they involve around journal names (e.g. this would be a Nature paper etc.) I mean after all our PI is \"ambitious\" enough to keep pushing us by telling \"I want that each one to have a Nature paper\" and yes, this is a toxic lab environment. I think this is why many people want to quit academia. PS: This also creates a huge inequality in terms of fellowships etc. Many of us don't have luxury to do a 8 year PhD project and wait for a publication for that long.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "There are very few TT positions, and many of these have research as a moderate to major component of their appointment. Why *wouldn’t* you expect those pressures to drive up output? What would selection for a TT job look like research productivity was removed? Impact? Novelty of research program? That is very much like what midcareer and senior searches look like. How would you do that at the junior stage, without just simply replicating prestige networks?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I've added failed experiments/negative data into papers. You unfortunately generally need some positive/interesting result as the basis for the paper, but if things failed along the way and are relevant to the main topic of the paper, you can briefly mention the negative results and add it as a supplemental figure. I believe there are journals exclusively for negative results now, too, but I'm not sure how widely indexed they are.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know some PhD students more experienced than any other postdoc since they still do a PhD in their 8th or 9th years at the same lab and this is in Europe, where you don't have classes, exams, seminars etc. It's full time research. They aim to publish every chapter of their dissertation in famous and high impact journals, it clogs the lab for upcoming students and we invest too much money and time on limited number of projects. The sad part is to see that all about the journal names. Nobody cares about the continuity, robust data or reproducibility, they keep looking for fancy experiments to fit fancy journals. Our lab discussions don't involve around the scientific ideas, they involve around journal names (e.g. this would be a Nature paper etc.) I mean after all our PI is \"ambitious\" enough to keep pushing us by telling \"I want that each one to have a Nature paper\" and yes, this is a toxic lab environment. I think this is why many people want to quit academia. PS: This also creates a huge inequality in terms of fellowships etc. Many of us don't have luxury to do a 8 year PhD project and wait for a publication for that long.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm a physisist, and I feel all of this as a scam... Academia became into a legal piramidal bussines: you need a degre in order to be able to teach to those who pretend to get a degree so they can teach others who pretend... All of us are guilty for accepting this unsenseless academia rules.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A perspective from the humanities: I'm in what's called a \"book field,\" rather than an \"article field.\" Tenure expectation is, basically, one single-authored book. These take years to research and write, so it's pretty much a one-shot deal. Thing is, only a handful of publishers publish scholarship in a given field. The most prestigious (and therefore secure for tenure purposes) publishers are university presses, and we all know the financial condition of universities these days. They're getting hit on the demand side as well, because fewer and fewer libraries are buying books (and these are the kind of books that mostly only libraries buy). So the presses might not even look at your proposal, let alone send it out for review. Universities have effectively outsourced P&T to presses that are on life support themselves.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "There are very few TT positions, and many of these have research as a moderate to major component of their appointment. Why *wouldn’t* you expect those pressures to drive up output? What would selection for a TT job look like research productivity was removed? Impact? Novelty of research program? That is very much like what midcareer and senior searches look like. How would you do that at the junior stage, without just simply replicating prestige networks?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Ours are taking a 10% paycut and one extremely noble individual is going up to 20%.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Thankfully we're only getting everything above hard truths at my institution. But we've formed committees to look at all the options", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Mods - I'd like to report a hack into my e-mail account.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This was so spot on it was scary", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Serious question, why are US universities running out of money now? Did they have to pay back tuition? Is enrollment down for the next semester? From what I've heard, both seems to be... unlikely?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "This was so spot on it was scary", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Don’t forget to forget mentioning athletics! No need to cut them!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I was surprised to get a newsletter announcing some pay increases for staff https://www.ukrant.nl/a-bonus-and-a-3-percent-pay-increase/?lang=en", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Ours are taking a 10% paycut and one extremely noble individual is going up to 20%.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you been getting these emails from your ever-supportive senior administrators? Dear loyal workers of Flailing University, First off, let me start by making a distracting comment about how odd the situation feels and sharing what I think are some uncanny observations about “these times.” Next, I want to write something that sounds very empathic here. I want to put a lot of emphasis on saying how much I understand all your stresses now, ALL of them, every single one. I understand. Of course, I need to place some blanket praise here about how much we appreciate all that hard work and perseverance everyone has shown. Because this email is going to every single person employed at the school, these statements will feel as personal and uplifting as a sign stating: \"Thank You for Not Smoking.\" Now, I will start to discuss the *hard truths*. I will discuss how enormous our budget shortfall is and how all the previous efforts, which I enumerate in detail, have not been enough to come even close to closing the gap. As a result, surely now you will see that we have no other option than to do the following: (1) Terminate all contract workers, non-tenure track faculty, and 65% of lower-level administrative staff. Fortunately, you will all qualify now for a special Coronavirus inspired extra unemployment bonus that, surely, will make this feel more like a glorious paid vacation if not winning the lottery. You can thank us later. (2) As for fortunate few staff allowed to remain (I bet you'd like to know if you're in this category, but let's keep the mystery), their [paid] hours will be reduced to a minimum. However, we all know their actually working hours will remain the same, maybe increase because now that they are working at home every waking hour is a potential working hour - and someone has to do the work of the 65% we’re letting go. (3) Thanks to all the tenure track faculty who are part of the Flailing University family. That’s why I know they will be more than glad to take on all the extra teaching needed (since we have purged all the teaching faculty, adjuncts, university-funded postdocs, researchers, assistants, and technicians) all while revising their curriculums to be entirely online, including lab sciences. A 25% pay cut will no doubt serve as a terrific incentive to work harder and maybe be able to get back to the barely living wage we were paying before. We all know it really doesn’t work like that, but you’ll try, won’t you! (4) All senior administration will be taking a 4.387% pay-cut. I want to close here but talking about how incredibly stressful, painful, even traumatizing it was for us - the senior administration - to make these decisions. We have screamed, we have cried, we rent our garments, we have gone up to as much as three times a week with our $300/hour shrinks. You see us being on a high perch here, but we're the ones suffering the most - always ready to take one on the chin for FU. I wish you all the best in this difficult time for everybody! We are all in this together! Sincerely, Senior Administrator", "role": "user" }, { "content": "uncanny", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/stem-crisis-or-stem-surplus-yes-and-yes.htm This is a great article that discusses whether US has a STEM deficit or a STEM surplus", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "The US government notice a deficit in supply of STEM graduates that will work in industry, not a deficit in supply of STEM PhDs", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Of course there are efforts to do this. For example, the National Council for Science and the Environment has been lobbying for 20+ years for increases in NSF funding, support for things like NREL, applied research, and investments in energy/climate related work. There are many, many other organizations doing similar work. The problem is that 1) half or more of the Congress are now actively anti-science and opposed to government investment in almost anything that isn't defense-related, 2) that same half is also mostly opposed to higher education, and 3) overall public support for research and teaching reflects (or drives) those divisions. So we aren't going to see any sort of moonshot style investments in science, research, or higher ed probably ever again. There's also a major problem in academia, often labeled as the \"neoliberal business models of university administration.\" Whatever you call it, the basic premise is to run higher ed like a business, to wring profit from all operations and cut costs just like they would at GE or WalMart. This is one of the drivers for admin inflation-- the ranks of VPs and directors and other managers which have proliferated over the last 20 years while faculty lines have been cut. Since labor is the largest cost in running most universities, that's where the cuts have been made--- contingent labor has replaced tenure-track faculty virtually everywhere and those who remain are of course \"doing more with less\" each year. Exceptions for a few elite institutions of course, but for most of us that's the drill. None of this is going to change without a major political/cultural shift in the US. 25 years ago I thought climate change might drive that, but instead we've actually gone in the opposite direction due to our toxic politics.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "People here have pointed out that industry jobs exist. That's nice. But we have a ways to go before we can really claim that our skills are being reasonably assessed by non-academic employers.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Of course there are efforts to do this. For example, the National Council for Science and the Environment has been lobbying for 20+ years for increases in NSF funding, support for things like NREL, applied research, and investments in energy/climate related work. There are many, many other organizations doing similar work. The problem is that 1) half or more of the Congress are now actively anti-science and opposed to government investment in almost anything that isn't defense-related, 2) that same half is also mostly opposed to higher education, and 3) overall public support for research and teaching reflects (or drives) those divisions. So we aren't going to see any sort of moonshot style investments in science, research, or higher ed probably ever again. There's also a major problem in academia, often labeled as the \"neoliberal business models of university administration.\" Whatever you call it, the basic premise is to run higher ed like a business, to wring profit from all operations and cut costs just like they would at GE or WalMart. This is one of the drivers for admin inflation-- the ranks of VPs and directors and other managers which have proliferated over the last 20 years while faculty lines have been cut. Since labor is the largest cost in running most universities, that's where the cuts have been made--- contingent labor has replaced tenure-track faculty virtually everywhere and those who remain are of course \"doing more with less\" each year. Exceptions for a few elite institutions of course, but for most of us that's the drill. None of this is going to change without a major political/cultural shift in the US. 25 years ago I thought climate change might drive that, but instead we've actually gone in the opposite direction due to our toxic politics.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "The US government notice a deficit in supply of STEM graduates that will work in industry, not a deficit in supply of STEM PhDs", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think you will find that a lot of industry is really resting on a academic foundation. The erosion of that academic foundation is a huge problem. Every paper and technique we used in the drug company and in many biotech companies were academic. Maybe you took those 100 papers and that federally funded training and those first pilots and paper and ran with it and started your own company, but you weren’t going to get that in the company. All the drug companies, including the ones that made the vaccines , are relying on years of federally funded basic and clinical research. So as more people flee the system and funding to basic science is eroded you will lose that also.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": ">Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science? Yeah we complain about this all the time. The funding agencies (primarily NSF, NIH, but also DOE, DOD, etc) are basically the ones that determine it, and that's based on how much money they're given by the federal government... But the academic job market can't grow indefinitely and faculty turnover is greatly outpaced by the rate at which students graduate. If there is one graduate student per professor, they won't find jobs unless professors retire after six years. And they don't. But science wouldn't get done without graduate students, so we're stuck under the current model. Thankfully there are plenty of non-academic science jobs as u/drsomewhatevil points out and that's the saving grace for the academic job market.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "All I can say is that I studied biology instead of English in college because of the « study stem! You’ll have a job! » push, and when I graduated it was nearly impossible to get a job as a biologist. People that have a BA in STEM and don’t want to be a computer scientist can get a job as a teacher pretty easily. But who wants to be a science teacher? In addition to trying to do all of the things most teachers have to do (that could easily be multiple people’s jobs), they have to set up labs, get materials, organize materials, clean up labs... All of this to say I wish I had studied English, so I had at least struggled to get a job in a field I loved most...", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "So much effort about encouraging young people to do science, what about creating more jobs in academia? I am watching this increasing trend of scientists encouraging youngsters to become scientists for the last couple of years. However, whenever I visit the r/AskAcademia subreddit, I find some posts about the poor condition of the academic job market. Now, what's the point of telling young people to become scientists, when there's not much scope to really do so. Now, my question do academics reach out to the authorities to fund/ create more academic jobs or not? If yes, do you know about the details of this effort? If no, why don't academics do more to really promote science?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "The US government notice a deficit in supply of STEM graduates that will work in industry, not a deficit in supply of STEM PhDs", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I stopped reading the article after “kiddo”", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think the thesis here is that the WSJ is a trash publication that exists for risky clicks. I don't get why it's \"fraudulent\" for a person who has a PhD to call themselves Dr, so I feel like his whole argument is moot.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I stopped reading the article after “kiddo”", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I am always hesitant and sometimes feel odd about using “Dr” because of the confusion. I don’t work in academia ( but it is a setting with a good deal of MD’s) and everyone uses first names except in the most formal of meetings with those outside our organization.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Beyond the misogyny and everything else commented here, the op-ed belittles her dissertation, \"Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students' Needs\", calling it \"unpromising\" based on its title. (1) Fuck you. Community college is an incredibly important dimension of US Higher Education, serving over 40% of all college students, and studying retention at CC is very valuable. (2) Being given a platform to judge a dissertation by its title, as opposed to its content, is the epitome of \"sound\\[ing\\] and feel\\[ing\\] fraudulent, not to say a touch comic\".", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I am always hesitant and sometimes feel odd about using “Dr” because of the confusion. I don’t work in academia ( but it is a setting with a good deal of MD’s) and everyone uses first names except in the most formal of meetings with those outside our organization.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would add there’s a third layer here that isn’t being addressed: The author’s clear mocking of community colleges and their role in higher education. He insults her dissertation, which focused on community college retention - a critical issue facing higher education. He overlooks her decades of teaching experience in community colleges - a vital part of the picture. And he broadly considers the analytical and service work of Ed.D. holders to be meaningless enough to mock. What a prick.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Doctor meant teacher and well-educated a lot longer than it meant medical professional. You've earned the title, you use it when you want.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would add there’s a third layer here that isn’t being addressed: The author’s clear mocking of community colleges and their role in higher education. He insults her dissertation, which focused on community college retention - a critical issue facing higher education. He overlooks her decades of teaching experience in community colleges - a vital part of the picture. And he broadly considers the analytical and service work of Ed.D. holders to be meaningless enough to mock. What a prick.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Is misogyny the only problem with the WSJ op-ed on asking Jill Biden to not use 'Dr.'? Edit: I do not often post. And looking at the options for flairs, I have a feeling this might not be the right subreddit for this. I apologize if that's the case. So recently there has been a furore over the op-ed by Joseph Epstein asking Jill Biden to not use the title of 'Dr.' and even calling it fraudulent. The article is absolutely misogynistic and should be condemned. However, I was also offended by the denigration of PhDs in general. I have listened to people talk about 'real doctors' and it gets annoying. As a PhD in computer science, I do not go about touting my title in a hospital. In fact, I rarely use my title, unless required on a form. However, I feel that people who choose to do so are completely in the right. If a PhD goes about using the title with their name, the only flaw that can even be alleged is vanity, not fraudulence. I do not know whether the author chose to disparage PhDs only to help his misogynistic agenda with regards to the next first lady, or that he felt envious of people with higher degrees while he worked in academia. However, I think that the article can be condemned from an angle other than misogyny. The reason is that both WSJ and the author will double down on saying that they are not misogynistic, but in my opinion find it harder to objectively defend why a PhD should not call themselves a doctor. This is just the thought that occurred to me. I would love to hear what other people's approach is towards this and learn from that. Thanks.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I am always hesitant and sometimes feel odd about using “Dr” because of the confusion. I don’t work in academia ( but it is a setting with a good deal of MD’s) and everyone uses first names except in the most formal of meetings with those outside our organization.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "OK - first, my wife died over a decade ago. I understand your pain. It is immense. It's not going away soon. In some ways you will actually do things that others will see as \"crazy.\" There will be times that you cannot function. That's all normal. It took me about 6 months to feel at all consistently functional. But there will also be times when you can do all right and be wanting to move forward. Like when you wrote this message to all of us. Take whatever time off you have been given. This is not giving up or giving in. Your entire psyche has been shocked badly and you cannot function at your best. You need the time to recover, even if all you want to do is bury yourself in work to distract you from the pain of it all. It sounds like both institutions are doing you a solid and giving you the time. Take it. You need it. I was trying to finish my dissertation when my wife died. My first draft was completely finished. It actually took me another 2 years until I got to my defense. OK, that's what it took. I simply could not have gone any faster. Try to remember that your parents are trying to help even when they're not. You can also say, \"no, I don't want that.\" They might actually hear you after 45 tries. No one you want to work with will look badly at deferment for this reason. When you're ready, you'll know.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I am so, so sorry. Grief is a heavy thing and it can’t be gotten over. You will learn to live with it, but you need support. I think you should defer, take some time, and care for your own health first. I am so, so sorry. I can’t even imagine. I do know that when you’re experiencing grief you should avoid making huge decisions for several months. If funding and admission is the same, don’t jump in just yet. You may feel like you’re in a fog during the first year of grieving, and I’m not sure doctoral work will help. Also think about your studies as an investment in yourself. Are you ready to invest all that’s required right now, or would you be better suited for the work after taking some time?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "OK - first, my wife died over a decade ago. I understand your pain. It is immense. It's not going away soon. In some ways you will actually do things that others will see as \"crazy.\" There will be times that you cannot function. That's all normal. It took me about 6 months to feel at all consistently functional. But there will also be times when you can do all right and be wanting to move forward. Like when you wrote this message to all of us. Take whatever time off you have been given. This is not giving up or giving in. Your entire psyche has been shocked badly and you cannot function at your best. You need the time to recover, even if all you want to do is bury yourself in work to distract you from the pain of it all. It sounds like both institutions are doing you a solid and giving you the time. Take it. You need it. I was trying to finish my dissertation when my wife died. My first draft was completely finished. It actually took me another 2 years until I got to my defense. OK, that's what it took. I simply could not have gone any faster. Try to remember that your parents are trying to help even when they're not. You can also say, \"no, I don't want that.\" They might actually hear you after 45 tries. No one you want to work with will look badly at deferment for this reason. When you're ready, you'll know.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I’m sorry for your loss. I know it’s not the same, but my roommate took his life while we were living together. My biggest regret wasn’t taking time away from to school to process the event.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Deferment is not a bad idea, in fact, I'd say it's a GREAT option. The only people that would possibly care about this deferment (or a gap year) is a PhD program. If you show up to the PhD program and are still a mess it is hard (not impossible) to recover from. My dad died unexpectedly two months before my PhD program started and I wish I would have deferred for a year. I was a mess and I can only imagine you're worse off.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I’m sorry for your loss. I know it’s not the same, but my roommate took his life while we were living together. My biggest regret wasn’t taking time away from to school to process the event.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Sorry for your loss OP. This is unimaginable. I would absolutely defer if you have any means of supporting yourself over the next year. Fall 2020 is going to be a real mess on campuses everywhere, and I can't imagine starting a Ph.D. program in the midst of that. You'd be better off almost anywhere else IMO, for both personal and professional reasons. Give yourself a break and do what you need to in order to reset...grieving during a pandemic is hard as hell (as I and many others now know). Being a grad student ain't no picnic either. If you can take some time to focus on yourself and to heal you'd probably be in a better place in fall 2021, and it's all but certain that's true for higher ed in general as well.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I’m sorry for your loss. I know it’s not the same, but my roommate took his life while we were living together. My biggest regret wasn’t taking time away from to school to process the event.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Deferment is not a bad idea, in fact, I'd say it's a GREAT option. The only people that would possibly care about this deferment (or a gap year) is a PhD program. If you show up to the PhD program and are still a mess it is hard (not impossible) to recover from. My dad died unexpectedly two months before my PhD program started and I wish I would have deferred for a year. I was a mess and I can only imagine you're worse off.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "My fiancée passed away on the 1st and she was going to come to my PhD program with me. Is deferment bad? I'm at a loss and I don't know what I should do anymore. I got into my dream PhD program in January and my fiancée and I were making our plans to move there soon. However, my fiancée passed away unexpectedly on the 1st of this month and I've been a total wreck. I can't concentrate on my last semester of undergrad and a huge reason I chose this school was because she would love the area/things to do there. I want to still get my PhD but now I'm feeling lost and scared about moving forward. I contacted the school and they said I can defer up to a year and keep my RA-ship offer and everything and my current university is offering me incompletes to finish over the summer, but I don't know what I should do. My parents have taken me back to my childhood home and they are trying to \"get me over\" the death of the love of my life. They want me to finish my undergrad on time (by May 1st) and start grad school on time (June 1st), but I'm having trouble just typing this let alone thinking about math. My end goal is to become a professor at a PUI. Would deferment be looked at negatively? Does anyone know how I can transition back into my life/school? Is it okay to not be able to do any work right now? I'm also feeling guilty to move on with my life without her. Does anyone have any advice? I'm only 22 and my lover has already passed away. Thank you for any advice.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I am so, so sorry. Grief is a heavy thing and it can’t be gotten over. You will learn to live with it, but you need support. I think you should defer, take some time, and care for your own health first. I am so, so sorry. I can’t even imagine. I do know that when you’re experiencing grief you should avoid making huge decisions for several months. If funding and admission is the same, don’t jump in just yet. You may feel like you’re in a fog during the first year of grieving, and I’m not sure doctoral work will help. Also think about your studies as an investment in yourself. Are you ready to invest all that’s required right now, or would you be better suited for the work after taking some time?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Inform your adviser? That's the first thing I'd personally do. So they'd know I won't be able to submit any revisions or further requirements as quickly as I can under normal circumstances. Anyway, congrats op! I hope your case is mild and it goes away fast. Take your vitamins and other over the counter medicine for symptom control.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats it’s big thing to celebrate!! Drink a lot of water and rest up. Find some good books or movies to relax as you recover. It’s a lot (really a lot) of physical pain so I’d totally say find some distraction would be nicer. Defended Feb 13, 2017 but got super ill soon after Christmas. Major symptoms relieved within a week but never was a day without coughing before I hand in revised thesis. Stress makes immune system not working well is so true.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "First of all: Congratulations! Please inform everyone you have met yesterday and days prior to that that they should get tested! Speedy recovery!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You’ve gotten to powerful, the universe is trying to nerf you", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "First of all: Congratulations! Please inform everyone you have met yesterday and days prior to that that they should get tested! Speedy recovery!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats it’s big thing to celebrate!! Drink a lot of water and rest up. Find some good books or movies to relax as you recover. It’s a lot (really a lot) of physical pain so I’d totally say find some distraction would be nicer. Defended Feb 13, 2017 but got super ill soon after Christmas. Major symptoms relieved within a week but never was a day without coughing before I hand in revised thesis. Stress makes immune system not working well is so true.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Did you tell everyone at your viva that you exposed them?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I was COVID-19 positive when I gave my final honors presentation in undergrad, but didn’t know it till the next day. Just assumed it was a really bad cold, but ended up in quarantine the next day.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "PhD's cause Covid, n=1", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successfully defended PhD yesterday. COVID-positive today. So much to do to submit this paper, but I feel like death. Any advice?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! Hope for a speedy recovery Dr !", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats! Did you need to defend remotely?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations Dr. Futile_cup!!!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! Mine is two weeks from today (via video)!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats! Did you need to defend remotely?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats! This is good news to hear. I'm still waiting on a reply back for my research degree, covid19 has delayed the process.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats! Did you need to defend remotely?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Well done Doctor!!!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats! Did you need to defend remotely?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Successful defense! Today I defended my PhD dissertation, and it was accepted by committee with revisions. I'm so relieved I could cry. I'm so glad this stage is over. To be honest, I had been worried the pandemic was going to affect my defense process negatively, and I'm so relieved it's done with.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats doc", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! This marks (in theory) the point where your committee is on your side: supportive rather than antagonistic. Excellent work! I wrote up my experience while it was still fresh in my mind; maybe you'll consider doing the same to dispel some of the common fears that new grad students face regarding the qualifying exam?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations!!! That’s a wonderful achievement!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! This marks (in theory) the point where your committee is on your side: supportive rather than antagonistic. Excellent work! I wrote up my experience while it was still fresh in my mind; maybe you'll consider doing the same to dispel some of the common fears that new grad students face regarding the qualifying exam?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yay, congrats! I'm taking my exam next week!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! This marks (in theory) the point where your committee is on your side: supportive rather than antagonistic. Excellent work! I wrote up my experience while it was still fresh in my mind; maybe you'll consider doing the same to dispel some of the common fears that new grad students face regarding the qualifying exam?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I really really needed to read this. I have my preliminary exam the first week of May and my imposter syndrome is really getting the best of me even though my advisor is the most encouraging person ever and says that he wouldn’t send me into this without knowing that I’m ready. I have a group meeting practice next week and I think I’ll feel better once that happens...", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! This marks (in theory) the point where your committee is on your side: supportive rather than antagonistic. Excellent work! I wrote up my experience while it was still fresh in my mind; maybe you'll consider doing the same to dispel some of the common fears that new grad students face regarding the qualifying exam?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations that is awesome!!! The qual is a terrifying nightmare, till you pass and the it’s such a sense of accomplishment. Keep up all the ass kicking, and crush your proposal!! Great job!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congratulations! This marks (in theory) the point where your committee is on your side: supportive rather than antagonistic. Excellent work! I wrote up my experience while it was still fresh in my mind; maybe you'll consider doing the same to dispel some of the common fears that new grad students face regarding the qualifying exam?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I just passed my Qualifying Exam. I’m officially a Ph.D Candidate!! As many of us, I’ve had imposter syndrome since I started grad school. Until my exam, I honestly thought I would fail my QE as I really didn’t belong and didn’t think I knew enough. I thought they would hate my proposal and rip it apart in front of me. However, after today’s exam, I finally feel more confident in myself. Having a discussion about your proposed project with other researchers really does help bring things into perspective, and can be thought provoking. Having your thoughts and ideas supported by other well established researchers is something that I never thought would happen. To everyone going through comprehensive/qualifying exams: you can do it!!! We are our own worst enemies, but believe me when I tell you that you know a lot more than you think you do! You’re going to kill it!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "For me, the qualifying exam was great because I felt like my committee was on my team. I wasn’t defending myself to them as much as it was a conversation among colleagues. Congrats!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Just wanted to say thank you. I'd read several times on here that the best way to gain access to most papers is to ask the author directly. I tried it yesterday and it worked. Not only was the author happy to send me her paper, she also sent me another related paper of hers and offered to send me more of her research if I wanted it. The papers are fascinating, it's exactly what I needed for my current research project (writing a high-school textbook), and on top of that, the author is a lovely person. So thank you, AskAcademia, for helping me dare to do something I would never have done otherwise.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Can't speak for everyone but I know for me as an author publishing feels like throwing things into the void sometimes. So getting an email from someone who's actually interested in what I'm writing about is such a great and validating feeling. I'm sure that the feeling is the same for most other academics. Plus... not like we get a cut of what publishers are making.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Just wanted to say thank you. I'd read several times on here that the best way to gain access to most papers is to ask the author directly. I tried it yesterday and it worked. Not only was the author happy to send me her paper, she also sent me another related paper of hers and offered to send me more of her research if I wanted it. The papers are fascinating, it's exactly what I needed for my current research project (writing a high-school textbook), and on top of that, the author is a lovely person. So thank you, AskAcademia, for helping me dare to do something I would never have done otherwise.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I've asked numerous authors for pdfs of their papers, and have been asked for copies of mine. It seems like a professional courtesy -- plus hey, someone else is interested! I've never been turned down and certainly would never turn down such a request. I'm glad you had a similar experience.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Just wanted to say thank you. I'd read several times on here that the best way to gain access to most papers is to ask the author directly. I tried it yesterday and it worked. Not only was the author happy to send me her paper, she also sent me another related paper of hers and offered to send me more of her research if I wanted it. The papers are fascinating, it's exactly what I needed for my current research project (writing a high-school textbook), and on top of that, the author is a lovely person. So thank you, AskAcademia, for helping me dare to do something I would never have done otherwise.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Can't speak for everyone but I know for me as an author publishing feels like throwing things into the void sometimes. So getting an email from someone who's actually interested in what I'm writing about is such a great and validating feeling. I'm sure that the feeling is the same for most other academics. Plus... not like we get a cut of what publishers are making.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Just wanted to say thank you. I'd read several times on here that the best way to gain access to most papers is to ask the author directly. I tried it yesterday and it worked. Not only was the author happy to send me her paper, she also sent me another related paper of hers and offered to send me more of her research if I wanted it. The papers are fascinating, it's exactly what I needed for my current research project (writing a high-school textbook), and on top of that, the author is a lovely person. So thank you, AskAcademia, for helping me dare to do something I would never have done otherwise.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "It's great that authors share their papers and it is the very least they should be doing. It is not a sustainable model for dissemination of publicly funded scientific work though. It should all be open access.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yes.I’m the professor so it’s a problem.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You can make it for 20 whole minutes!?!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Absolutely... and the NY Times had a great article on this about 6 months ago as to why. It turns out that, when we engage with people in real life, our brains are absorbing a *massive* amount of almost-imperceptible information (small gestures, posture, foot-shuffling, smells, pheromones, etc.), most of it subliminally. (Because our lizard-brains need to know: is this person about to attack me? is this person a potential mate? is this person a member of my in-group? And our civilized-brains are constantly-evaluating on every level, from the utilitarian to the social to the abstract.) But even on a high-quality, non-lagging Zoom call, practically NONE of this information is being captured by the software or otherwise conveyed. You can't see their posture; you can't smell their pheromones, etc. So, your brain starts revving up to try to pick up the signals... and this is exhausting. (It's sort of like how your cell phone battery drains faster when you're in an area of poor coverage, as it tries to grasp onto a useable signal.) It goes the other way, too: when I was Zoom-lecturing, I quickly learned to \"over-emote\"... to exaggerate the facial expressions emotions I was trying to get across, because the students seemed to respond much better when I did. But this itself was exhausting... a 50 minute Zoom \"lecture\" felt as exhausting as giving a 2-hour in-person lecture.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "yeah :/ it’s rly hard for me to go to talks and symposiums now, especially when they’re webinar format and i cant even discuss things or see others’ responses", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Absolutely... and the NY Times had a great article on this about 6 months ago as to why. It turns out that, when we engage with people in real life, our brains are absorbing a *massive* amount of almost-imperceptible information (small gestures, posture, foot-shuffling, smells, pheromones, etc.), most of it subliminally. (Because our lizard-brains need to know: is this person about to attack me? is this person a potential mate? is this person a member of my in-group? And our civilized-brains are constantly-evaluating on every level, from the utilitarian to the social to the abstract.) But even on a high-quality, non-lagging Zoom call, practically NONE of this information is being captured by the software or otherwise conveyed. You can't see their posture; you can't smell their pheromones, etc. So, your brain starts revving up to try to pick up the signals... and this is exhausting. (It's sort of like how your cell phone battery drains faster when you're in an area of poor coverage, as it tries to grasp onto a useable signal.) It goes the other way, too: when I was Zoom-lecturing, I quickly learned to \"over-emote\"... to exaggerate the facial expressions emotions I was trying to get across, because the students seemed to respond much better when I did. But this itself was exhausting... a 50 minute Zoom \"lecture\" felt as exhausting as giving a 2-hour in-person lecture.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "For me, Vitamin D deficiency was the culprit.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yes.I’m the professor so it’s a problem.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "All the time. Writing notes during the call definitely helps me stay focused.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Absolutely... and the NY Times had a great article on this about 6 months ago as to why. It turns out that, when we engage with people in real life, our brains are absorbing a *massive* amount of almost-imperceptible information (small gestures, posture, foot-shuffling, smells, pheromones, etc.), most of it subliminally. (Because our lizard-brains need to know: is this person about to attack me? is this person a potential mate? is this person a member of my in-group? And our civilized-brains are constantly-evaluating on every level, from the utilitarian to the social to the abstract.) But even on a high-quality, non-lagging Zoom call, practically NONE of this information is being captured by the software or otherwise conveyed. You can't see their posture; you can't smell their pheromones, etc. So, your brain starts revving up to try to pick up the signals... and this is exhausting. (It's sort of like how your cell phone battery drains faster when you're in an area of poor coverage, as it tries to grasp onto a useable signal.) It goes the other way, too: when I was Zoom-lecturing, I quickly learned to \"over-emote\"... to exaggerate the facial expressions emotions I was trying to get across, because the students seemed to respond much better when I did. But this itself was exhausting... a 50 minute Zoom \"lecture\" felt as exhausting as giving a 2-hour in-person lecture.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Does anyone else get really sleepy about 20 minutes into any Zoom call? I find it's impossible for me to stay alert during colloquiums or presentations, and sometimes even for more dynamic conversations where I'm actually participating, for more than about 20 minutes into a video call. I feel like my brain gets exhausted very quickly by the low-quality, compressed audio/video. I'll have a coffee during these events and that still doesn't help. Has anyone else suffered from this, and do you have any tricks for remaining alert?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Every time I'm on a call.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm an ECR (postdoc) so I'm still polishing my writing. I was lucky to work with very prolific co-authors who taught me this approach and so far it's the best for me. I always find it daunting to begin a paper. 3 key points: 1) Break everything down to the smallest task, 2) start writing and annotating as early as you can and try to be consistent, and 3) set clear goals with your co-authors early on, I find turn-over is more important than \"perfection\". Starting from scratch is always daunting for me, so I have a word template with the classic IMRaD structure (see below). This gives me a skeleton and feels more \"manageable\" than a white page, even though I don't know which will be the target journal. I scribble down the Methods section and add relevant publications for the intro and discussion as soon as I start the project. Once I have the results and I know the target journal, I change my template to the journal's structure. Having a couple of examples is useful to identify the overall length of each section (e.g., some journals prefer 3 paragraphs in the introduction, others 4 or even 5; same with the discussion, some use 1 closing paragraph \\[conclusion\\] other journals just 3 paragraphs). Then, I create subsections with \"*paragraph topic*\" which I remove after a couple of draft versions. This approach helps me to keep in mind the logical progression of the paper. I also use \"*sentence topic*\", just in my words not worrying about grammar nor style to start putting words on the page. I usually write 5-6 sentences for each paragraph. Then I add the figures. Figures are super important, so I usually have a PowerPoint with several iterations of the same analysis but presented in different ways. So, I begin with the Methods section, then Results, Intro, Discussion, and finally the Abstract. The abstract is just a well-thought summary of your publication so I find it easier to write once I have the other sections ready (writing the abstract is just another way of writing your paper in 250 words, it has its own structure). After that, it is just a matter of polishing and working with your co-authors. One issue I constantly have is to know when the manuscript is \"good enough\" to be submitted, this is when senior co-authors are key to just tell you to stop and submit it. I'm a veterinarian, so papers aren't a big task during your undergrad. I had to learn from scratch when I started my PhD, don't be afraid of bad reviews and try to maximise the times your co-authors provide feedback, I learnt a lot even though it was kinda painful and discouraging in the beginning. I hope this is useful :) This is how my template looks: **Target journal info:** type and length of the article **Title1**: \\[the title I prefer\\] **Title2/3/4:** \\[alternatives\\] **Abstract:** \\[Number of words\\] **1. Introduction** * Paragraph1: Intro to the field * Paragraph2: Specific field details and intro to the project * Paragraph3: Why's the project relevant to the field? * Paragraph4: Closing and the relevance of the study **2. Methods (begin as soon as you can with this)** * Paragraph1: General description * Paragraph2: Location/case study * Paragraph3: Data collection * Paragraph4: Data analysis **3. Results (ID key results and keep it to the point)** * Paragraph1: Main result * Paragraph2: Result2 * Paragraph3: Any extras **4. Discussion (3 arguments max)** * Paragraph1: General recap and key results in context * Paragraph2: Result2 in context * Paragraph3: The project in the field's context * Paragraph4: Caveats/Issues/What's next? * Paragraph5: Closing **Extras (or in a different document):** * co-author details (not in order) * funding details * acknowledgements I always have 3 documents by the end of the project: 1. The word doc with the manuscript 2. A Powerpoint with figures 3. A word document with all the paragraphs we removed", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I start with the research questions/hypothesis then literature review to show the gaps that highlight my research questions. Then I move to the methodology and results, making sure the research questions are addressed well in those sections. From my experience writing and reviewing papers, these are what will drive the decision to accept/revise/reject the paper, so I work on them first to make sure rest fo the sections align with these sections. Intro/motivation is next and then I work on discussions and limitations. Conclusions and abstract are the last things I write because these are probably what reviewers will read first and you want these to highlight everything on your paper . I feel that this sequence helps me focus more on the contributions of my work and keeps that chain of thought throughout the paper.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Lots of good comments here already but adding a few because why not: * Schedule 3-5 days when you are literally doing nothing else other than the paper. No meetings, no experiments, just figures/writing. It usually takes me hours to get \"in the zone\" but once I'm there, the paper gets done super quickly. I've never had a manuscript take more than a week to write when I set it up this way and tell everyone to go away, block email, etc. * Bullet point the main idea of any paragraph before writing it. Also, please no more than 5 sentences per paragraph and no more than one or two commas/\"and\"s per sentence. If you need more than that, you're probably rambling. * Secret magic trick: once you finish writing a paragraph, take the last sentence and move it to the beginning of the paragraph. Your paper is now 100% more skimmable = better! * Whatever order works best for you, but I do results (figures, bullet points for each paragraph, then text), discussion, intro, methods. * Definitely use LaTeX. Use overleaf if you don't want to set up the compiler on your computer. * Coauthors - give definite deadlines, and send many reminders. But in practice, just do all their work for them and coauthor them anyways. Almost all coauthors are dead weight at the writing stage. The few who aren't are gold. * Proofreading - have some text-to-speech software read the paper to you. It takes some time but its worth doing once. You'll immediately notice typos and cringe-bad sections :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm not in STEM but like STEM my field uses LaTeX which I've found extremely useful for paper writing. I often think of bits of language that work in different parts of the paper and keep them along with notes and possible sources commented out so they can be incorporated later. With Word I felt more pressure to write in order instead of letting my mind go all over the place, since there's no hiding content.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm an ECR (postdoc) so I'm still polishing my writing. I was lucky to work with very prolific co-authors who taught me this approach and so far it's the best for me. I always find it daunting to begin a paper. 3 key points: 1) Break everything down to the smallest task, 2) start writing and annotating as early as you can and try to be consistent, and 3) set clear goals with your co-authors early on, I find turn-over is more important than \"perfection\". Starting from scratch is always daunting for me, so I have a word template with the classic IMRaD structure (see below). This gives me a skeleton and feels more \"manageable\" than a white page, even though I don't know which will be the target journal. I scribble down the Methods section and add relevant publications for the intro and discussion as soon as I start the project. Once I have the results and I know the target journal, I change my template to the journal's structure. Having a couple of examples is useful to identify the overall length of each section (e.g., some journals prefer 3 paragraphs in the introduction, others 4 or even 5; same with the discussion, some use 1 closing paragraph \\[conclusion\\] other journals just 3 paragraphs). Then, I create subsections with \"*paragraph topic*\" which I remove after a couple of draft versions. This approach helps me to keep in mind the logical progression of the paper. I also use \"*sentence topic*\", just in my words not worrying about grammar nor style to start putting words on the page. I usually write 5-6 sentences for each paragraph. Then I add the figures. Figures are super important, so I usually have a PowerPoint with several iterations of the same analysis but presented in different ways. So, I begin with the Methods section, then Results, Intro, Discussion, and finally the Abstract. The abstract is just a well-thought summary of your publication so I find it easier to write once I have the other sections ready (writing the abstract is just another way of writing your paper in 250 words, it has its own structure). After that, it is just a matter of polishing and working with your co-authors. One issue I constantly have is to know when the manuscript is \"good enough\" to be submitted, this is when senior co-authors are key to just tell you to stop and submit it. I'm a veterinarian, so papers aren't a big task during your undergrad. I had to learn from scratch when I started my PhD, don't be afraid of bad reviews and try to maximise the times your co-authors provide feedback, I learnt a lot even though it was kinda painful and discouraging in the beginning. I hope this is useful :) This is how my template looks: **Target journal info:** type and length of the article **Title1**: \\[the title I prefer\\] **Title2/3/4:** \\[alternatives\\] **Abstract:** \\[Number of words\\] **1. Introduction** * Paragraph1: Intro to the field * Paragraph2: Specific field details and intro to the project * Paragraph3: Why's the project relevant to the field? * Paragraph4: Closing and the relevance of the study **2. Methods (begin as soon as you can with this)** * Paragraph1: General description * Paragraph2: Location/case study * Paragraph3: Data collection * Paragraph4: Data analysis **3. Results (ID key results and keep it to the point)** * Paragraph1: Main result * Paragraph2: Result2 * Paragraph3: Any extras **4. Discussion (3 arguments max)** * Paragraph1: General recap and key results in context * Paragraph2: Result2 in context * Paragraph3: The project in the field's context * Paragraph4: Caveats/Issues/What's next? * Paragraph5: Closing **Extras (or in a different document):** * co-author details (not in order) * funding details * acknowledgements I always have 3 documents by the end of the project: 1. The word doc with the manuscript 2. A Powerpoint with figures 3. A word document with all the paragraphs we removed", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I try to write really good notes as I work on the project. Why we decided to do it (incl relevant papers it's building on), what our goal/question is, all the details about the method & analysis, etc. The first draft is just making that into full sentences and then you're just editing.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm an ECR (postdoc) so I'm still polishing my writing. I was lucky to work with very prolific co-authors who taught me this approach and so far it's the best for me. I always find it daunting to begin a paper. 3 key points: 1) Break everything down to the smallest task, 2) start writing and annotating as early as you can and try to be consistent, and 3) set clear goals with your co-authors early on, I find turn-over is more important than \"perfection\". Starting from scratch is always daunting for me, so I have a word template with the classic IMRaD structure (see below). This gives me a skeleton and feels more \"manageable\" than a white page, even though I don't know which will be the target journal. I scribble down the Methods section and add relevant publications for the intro and discussion as soon as I start the project. Once I have the results and I know the target journal, I change my template to the journal's structure. Having a couple of examples is useful to identify the overall length of each section (e.g., some journals prefer 3 paragraphs in the introduction, others 4 or even 5; same with the discussion, some use 1 closing paragraph \\[conclusion\\] other journals just 3 paragraphs). Then, I create subsections with \"*paragraph topic*\" which I remove after a couple of draft versions. This approach helps me to keep in mind the logical progression of the paper. I also use \"*sentence topic*\", just in my words not worrying about grammar nor style to start putting words on the page. I usually write 5-6 sentences for each paragraph. Then I add the figures. Figures are super important, so I usually have a PowerPoint with several iterations of the same analysis but presented in different ways. So, I begin with the Methods section, then Results, Intro, Discussion, and finally the Abstract. The abstract is just a well-thought summary of your publication so I find it easier to write once I have the other sections ready (writing the abstract is just another way of writing your paper in 250 words, it has its own structure). After that, it is just a matter of polishing and working with your co-authors. One issue I constantly have is to know when the manuscript is \"good enough\" to be submitted, this is when senior co-authors are key to just tell you to stop and submit it. I'm a veterinarian, so papers aren't a big task during your undergrad. I had to learn from scratch when I started my PhD, don't be afraid of bad reviews and try to maximise the times your co-authors provide feedback, I learnt a lot even though it was kinda painful and discouraging in the beginning. I hope this is useful :) This is how my template looks: **Target journal info:** type and length of the article **Title1**: \\[the title I prefer\\] **Title2/3/4:** \\[alternatives\\] **Abstract:** \\[Number of words\\] **1. Introduction** * Paragraph1: Intro to the field * Paragraph2: Specific field details and intro to the project * Paragraph3: Why's the project relevant to the field? * Paragraph4: Closing and the relevance of the study **2. Methods (begin as soon as you can with this)** * Paragraph1: General description * Paragraph2: Location/case study * Paragraph3: Data collection * Paragraph4: Data analysis **3. Results (ID key results and keep it to the point)** * Paragraph1: Main result * Paragraph2: Result2 * Paragraph3: Any extras **4. Discussion (3 arguments max)** * Paragraph1: General recap and key results in context * Paragraph2: Result2 in context * Paragraph3: The project in the field's context * Paragraph4: Caveats/Issues/What's next? * Paragraph5: Closing **Extras (or in a different document):** * co-author details (not in order) * funding details * acknowledgements I always have 3 documents by the end of the project: 1. The word doc with the manuscript 2. A Powerpoint with figures 3. A word document with all the paragraphs we removed", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "People who write scientific research papers quickly, what’s your secret? For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm not in STEM but like STEM my field uses LaTeX which I've found extremely useful for paper writing. I often think of bits of language that work in different parts of the paper and keep them along with notes and possible sources commented out so they can be incorporated later. With Word I felt more pressure to write in order instead of letting my mind go all over the place, since there's no hiding content.", "role": "assistant" } ]