Can I accept two offers from universities and decide later on I've received offers from two UK universities (Masters degree), first conditional and second unconditional. There's always a possibility that I won't meet conditions so I'd like to keep the second university as a back-up. Is it possible to do it like this, that I accept both offers and after I meet conditions, I will let the second university know, that I decided not to start studying?

No.

In principle, you could do that, but it's not advisable, for the simple reason that if either school finds out you've accepted another offer, then both schools could end up rescinding their offers, and would be within their rights to do so. (Programs want to know how many spots they have filled, so that they can accept more people if needed to meet their enrollment targets.)

Basically, you need to commit to one school only. If the offer is conditional, then you should weigh the probability of meeting those conditions before accepting the offer.


Etiquette question: is there such a thing as accepting an offer 'too early'? TLDR: Got a PhD offer at top choice, all details checked out, and I want to accept now (much earlier than the April 15th deadline).

A colleague (at the professor level) I mentioned this to said I should wait as it could look 'too earnest' accepting roughly 10 days after notification.

Is there any truth to this claim? I.e. does it 'look bad' (i.e. desperate) if I accept now? I'm just genuinely excited and am ready to lock it in.

Additional details (from comments):

This offer is a 'hard' offer such that it is from the department, many cc'd people, and is in writing
I have other 'hard' offers from other universities and have yet to hear back from a few more

Other relevant questions:

Responding to a prof's email about acceptance in a PhD program

Update:

Thank you all SO much for your input. I went ahead and accepted the offer and got feedback saying they appreciated the rapid response and the PI was eager to arrange a talk for next steps. While this is likely the standard positive response, I have marked Buffy's answer as correct. The first two sentences made the most sense: 'Actually, it is simple courtesy to accept as soon as you know you will do so. This helps the institution deal with its obligations to you and others.' I then let the other universities know immediately after and I hope this helps their search process.

Actually, it is simple courtesy to accept as soon as you know you will do so. This helps the institution deal with its obligations to you and others. It isn't a game you play for "advantage". You hope to develop a long term relationship with this institution. Treat them with respect and expect them to reciprocate.

Don't accept before you are ready, such as when other offers might come in, but don't delay for any perceived "strategic" reason.

Similarly, once you have accepted the offer, extend the other universities the courtesy of letting them know you will not be accepting theirs.


What are acceptable "relationships with referees"? I am applying for a job and need to give referees, and their relationship with me. I am not sure how to phrase things. My referees are:

A colleague in my department I publish with
A previous boss in another university I still publish with
Senior people in my field who I have not published with (yet)

None of those things seem formal enough! Is there standard phrases I should be using?

Perhaps:

Colleague from current university and active collaborator
Former employer and active collaborator
Respected senior colleague from same field


My students compliment my teaching and say they now approach the subject with newfound enthusiasm. Can I ask them to put this in writing? I'm a beginner instructor teaching undergraduates, and I seem to have their attention and am working hard to inspire them.  Recently several of them have told me that they now approach the subject with a newfound enthusiasm because of me.

Anonymous teacher evaluations will probably be an important factor for me to remain employed; yet, I doubt that young undergrads know the significance of the evaluations, and I wonder whether they just circle any ratings on the evaluations form, just so they can get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

So, I am wondering whether I could make an announcement to the students at the end of the semester, when they have to evaluate me, that if they felt I've done a good job, this is their chance to support me and put it writing on their evaluations and to be as specific as possible.

Is this ok to ask of the students?

You may certainly encourage your students to provide evaluations that accurately reflect their opinion of your teaching. You may encourage them to provide detailed information rather than just the bare minimum. You may also explain to them how the evaluations are used by administrators.  What you must not do is to encourage them to make you look good by giving evaluations that don't accurately reflect their true opinions.


Applying for PHD in Europe: getting a recommendation I'm considering applying into an (individual) PHD program, after graduating from a top Russian university (computer science) with moderately high grades in 2013 and 3 years of professional experience.

However, I didn't notice whether mentioning recommendation isan necessary case for applying within the official and semi-official sources, I suppose it would be useful. But I'm not entirely sure how it is technically done.

I have a supervisor at the university, whom I have not stayed in contact with since 2013. Is it appropriate to email him with "Hello, I've decided to apply into a PHD program, could you provide a recommendation letter"? Do I get it correctly: if his answer is "yes, sure", then I will include his email in my cover letter (or CV?) and my potential PHD supervisor will send him an email, if interested in my case? Is it true that I will not see the recommendation, at all?

I also have a job, which is (somehow) relevant to my potential field of study. Getting a recommendation from my employer would be possible, but is it worth it? In one hand, our company is small and not widely known. On the other hand, it is pretty innovative and lead by a professor of the same University, at which I got an undergraduate degree. He personally didn't teach me, but I think he can confirm my research skills, as research is what I mostly do as my job. The output were not academic papers, but improving stuff within our developing tasks.

If the target country does matter: I am interested in German-speaking European countries, primarily Germany.

I have no experience applying to German institutions, but I have applied to programs in the US, Norway, Netherlands.  My answer is based of those experiences.

If the program you are applying to does not specify that you provide recommendations, don't put them in your application.  If the committee thinks you are a strong candidate, and they want a recommendation, they will ask for it.  It is entirely expected however, that you should be able to present at least two strong recommendations upon request, in which case you provide their email and phone number in the application.

Since you have both academic and industry experience, it would be valuable to represent both.  Email your supervisor from the University you attended and ask them if he/she can provide a strong recommendation for you.  Briefly summarize what your research included just to help refresh their memory.  It never hurts to mention why you enjoyed your research and why you are inspired to get a PhD.

Good luck!


Is it legal to publicly share questionnaires from research articles? I've found articles on the development of diagnostic questionnaires that I only have access to through my university. I'm interested in sharing some of them publicly online so more people can have access to these materials, likely on my personal website.

Would it be legal to share these survey instruments as long as I cite them properly? If not, would it be legal for me to reference their questions outside of the context of a survey (so no measurement or scoring) with a citation?

I live in Canada, if relevant.

Thanks for reading!

Would it be legal to share these survey instruments as long as I cite them properly?

You cannot legally share documents without permission in many jurisdictions, regardless of whether you reference the original source.

  If not, would it be legal for me to reference their questions outside
  of the context of a survey (so no measurement or scoring) with a
  citation?

You can probably cite the document (assuming the document's existence isn't confidential), but (in many jurisdictions) you can only quote the question if you have permission to do so, given that the document isn't public.

Ask your institute for guidance.


What could be a possible next step after a bachelors in Economics and Business Administration? I've degrees in International Economics and Business Administration.

I consider myself an entrepreneur, certainly my past degree did give me perspective but I feel it lacked solid practical knowledge, so in my entrepreneurial career it didn't help me much.

I was thinking to go for computer science degree. But having bachelors degree in Economics/BA it will be hard for me to go directly for masters? (even though I've fairly good knowledge of the subject). Restarting bachelors degree in a completely different field could be a total waste of time for 26 years old.

Also I'm aware that allot of students do it the other way around, first they get science degree and than they do masters in business administration. Do you think my way will be harder and more intense? as master in computer science can be much challenging than masters in business administration or computer science bachelors?

I can think of a couple of options off the top of my head:

Apply for a Masters in CS anyway and see how you go, you might get credit for your experience.
perhaps do a postgraduate certificate/diploma in CS (if available) and use that as a stepping stone to the Masters degree that you desire.
Perhaps consider a MBA that has a strong focus on CS (as a major).

It would also depend if you are intending to pursue your proposed Masters by coursework, research or as a mix of the two.


How to select between letters of recommendation It's application season again. I've been a postdoc for two years and that is wrapping up soon. I'm applying for both permanent and postdoctoral positions, mainly through mathjobs.org. Many position advertisements ask for specifically three or four letters of recommendation, often specifying that one letter address teaching. My question is: what should be the pecking order if I must choose a subset of the letters I have?

I have five letters of recommendation on hand:

My thesis advisor
My current postdoc supervisor
A letter addressing teaching (an instructor at my graduate school department; I taught a stand-alone course that this person was the coordinator for)
A well-known, senior mathematician in the field from a prestigious university (this person knows me personally less well than the others)
A mid-career but well-respected mathematician at another university who I've visited

I assume all the letters are quite positive, although there might be some uncertainty for letter (4). If there are other factors that could tip things one way or the other, what are they? (Since this is a public forum, I can't be too specific about things here.)

Another approach could be to simply submit all the letters of recommendation and let the hiring committee decide what to do with them. Is this a reasonable idea?

On mathjobs, you can choose which letters to send to which schools.

For research-oriented jobs, send all those letters, assuming those are the established people in the best position to evaluate your research and teaching abilities.  Five is a good number of letters.  Three is on the low end, even if that is all that is asked for.  Most people submit 4-6 letters.  (On the other hand 10 is too many.)

For primarily teaching-oriented jobs, you might try to get 2 teaching letters and 2 other letters (which can address some combination of research/service/collegiality).  At least one of the teaching letters should be from someone who's observed you teach recently.  This latter aspect is also preferable but not required for many research-schools (for tenure-track positions, not so much for postdocs, even if the postdoc involves teaching).


PhD transfer application issue I'm currently a first-year PhD student in the US (in the middle of the first semester). However, I'm not satisfied with the program here and want to re-apply to other programs. While doing that, can I simply exclude the current PhD program in my CV?  Will it be a serious problem of credit? (I have not had any course grade, nor am I asking for recommendation letters from any professors here)

can I simply exclude the current PhD program in my CV?

No. Well, you shouldn't.

Listing your previous education and employment is a standard part of an application for a higher degree.

The fact that you are currently enrolled in a PhD program is certainly information you would be reasonably expected to disclose, and not doing so will look dishonest if this is discovered later.

Keep in mind that it is not just an application form you have to worry about, but subsequent interviews, discussions with potential supervisors, etc.  Almost certainly, you will have to reveal this information to have honest conversations with people.  So either they will find out the information later, making it look like your application was dishonest (bad), or you will have to be repeatedly, systematically deceptive in how you portray your current situation (also bad).

Just don't do it.  Have your application honestly make the case of why you want to switch schools.


Academic integrity problem in PhD proposal to reuse ideas/ self-plagiarize? Is there any integrity/plagiarism issue if I use ideas I developed/argued in my master's essays and dissertation in the PhD proposal? Can I do this? What can I do to prevent potential problems?

Edit: none of those essays or dissertation are published, if this helps clarifying. So even that they're not published, I should cite myself as I would with published work?

You may use the ideas for your PhD proposal. Ideas, unless patented, are free and can be passed between people, projects, institutions, etc.

However, do make sure that the source of the original idea is attributed. Particularly when other people contributed to the ideas, attribution is due (from an ethical point of view).

This might be done in the following way: 'I propose to investigate the method that was developed by my supervisor , my lab partner , and myself, described in my master thesis [reference], in the following way ...'

I would certainly advise to reference your master thesis (even if it is not publicly available), since it is a perfect source where the ideas can be found in an elaborate written form.


What does this Elsevier revision report mean? This is a review report of an article on the EVISE revision status website:

Does this mean my article was rejected? Why there isn't any "Complete and send review" for the second reviewer? And why is the status of the article "Decision Pending"?

My reading is that the associate editor has rejected the article and it just has to be formalized by either the editorial staff or the editor-in-chief.

Prepare for an email with bad news :-(


How many faculty positions should one apply to? Since the start of the hiring season, I've seen around 20-30 job openings that looked interesting for assistant professor positions in my area of computer science.

However, it's somewhat awkward to ask my recommendation letter writers to send letters to 20 different places. (Is it not?) How many places do people usually target simultaneously?

Your chance of getting any particular job you apply for is small. To make your probability of success significant, you need to multiply that by many applications. Your recommenders know this is the situation. Try to make things as easy for them as possible. E.g., they would probably prefer to send out 20 letters at once rather than being contacted by you 20 times in the space of a month.


Why does professor prohibit me talking to people? I'm considering a PhD and asked a professor at my university. I suggested a topic to him that he accepted. I applied and he offered me a position but I didn't accept yet.

Later he changed my project's topic to one that suits his interest. I said I would like to do the original topic that I got accepted with. Then I asked more about the project and it turns out he works in collaboration with another university. They divided the work up between themselves, but what the other university researchers is a lot closer to my personal interest than what he works on.

I asked my professor their contact details, so that I could ask them if I could work with the other university. He explicitly prohibited me from talking to them. He told me I would give bad reputation to him if I contacted them.

I am extremely confused as to why he prevents me talking to people. Even a simply inquiry email is not allowed. So I contacted the other university anyway. They told me that they would be happy to see me but they don't want to poach students from their colleagues.

I keep asking my professor if I could do my original topic with the other university that works on that exact topic that I'd like to do. But he keeps telling me that I either do his topic or I should do my PhD somewhere else.

I am utterly confused now and have no idea what is going on. Can someone please explain?

There are several possibilities for this behaviour.

You're good, he knows that, and the collaboration with the other research group is more formal than you may know (maybe they are in the same funded project because it was the only way to be funded, while the two groups may be in competition). In this case, he doesn't want you to go “behind enemy lines”.
You're not the one he was looking for, he recently discovered that. He is very close with the other group and he don't know how to tell you that you are not a good fit for his group and relatives. So instead, he changed what he said in order to make it unacceptable for you, hoping that you will leave, and that you will also not go to the other group.
He's not reliable, he had a weird idea of what is a student.

By the way, except if you are a recognized genius, this is unlikely that the other team will accept you if they are close to your current advisor and want to stay that way.

In all three cases, only one option: run far away.


How to define the scope of exploratory research? Before asking, it's probably better that I give some background first. I do research on thin films for solar energy applications. A part of that job is to search for new materials that may be suitable for these applications. Basically, I'm somewhat of a glorified (unglorified maybe?) treasure hunter at times.

So, let's say I found a novel material for this application. Let's even assume that I've found a method to synthesize it and turn it into a device. The question is, when do you know to stop and tell the research community about this work? In this particular example, one can set a target efficiency and keep going until they reach it. Suppose that's never achieved though. Does one decide to try a different method until they reach the target or explore the subset of variables deemed important with the current method? If the latter, which variables and how many of them? I don't expect answers to these questions specifically, but rather ask the general question of how one defines a scope when doing such exploratory work.

A good bit of my own research falls into something like your "exploratory" category, and I think my own approach to it would best be described as "publish early and often."

My basic feeling is as follows: if you're doing good work, why hide that work from your community while saving up for the "big paper"?  Every time you hit an interesting and significant milestone, it's worth considering whether to put it into a paper---that way you can get feedback, others in your community who are interested can learn about what's working and what's not working in that direction of investigation, they can start getting interested in your work and start collaborating and citing you, and you also never have to worry about being scooped.

In computer science, where I work, such a strategy is well-supported by the range of peer-reviewed publication opportunities.  Small and preliminary results go into workshops, larger ones to conferences, longer-term "archival" work to journals.  It's also nice that the workshops and conferences turn up on a regular basis with fixed deadlines, so I can look at the state of my work and ask: "Do I currently have chunk of new work of appropriate size for this publication opportunity?"  Journal special issues are great for this purpose as well---just submitting generically to a journal is far to easy to let slip back one month at a time while you wait for "just this one more thing."  I don't know if your field also has meaningful peer reviewed conferences, but I have noticed that in those fields without such, there is a generally some equivalent in journals, ranging from more narrow-community journals that may be receptive to smaller steps to high-impact "big hit" journals.

Now, if you're in a field that worships the impact factor or if you're trying to get patents or build a company, then you may want to save up your big hits instead.  I have been fortunate enough to be in fields / sub-fields that appreciate publications evidencing a research program, and I find that to be a useful and collegial way to behave.


Citing Blogposts from official governing authorities I am revising a conference paper and I in fact have a blogpost from the European Commission. The Post mentions about about Business-to-Business Platforms and Europe's involvement.

A reviewer mentioned this explicitly that

  there is a blogpost cited which is seen as a shortcoming for the literature review.

But the post has some relevant information for the paper since one aspect of the theme ponders upon the B2B platform development opportunities in Europe and current progress.

I have cited it as following:

  Lemke, M.: European Commission. Available Online: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/blogposts/business-business-platforms-race-europe-cannot-afford-lose, last accessed 2019-03-02

But I wish to obtain some insight as to how such relevant blogposts can be used within Academia. There are many examples where the European Commission provides statistics and data regarding different strata of research.

How do I inculcate the information within the paper?

You can cite blog-posts, and whatever citation style you are using will explain the right format. Citation styles are written to be all-encompassing, not just for citing papers. I suggest including an archive link of the page, because blog posts can easily disappear from the internet and then the citation becomes invalid. I actually saw a case where the person cited an article and a few weeks later it was gone, I couldn't even find it by googling.

Keep in mind that blogs are not peer reviewed, and are not afforded the same authority on facts that papers would be. So you should be careful about using the blog as support for your claims. Generally, taking what is said in a blog post at face value and accepting it as fact would be foolish in an academic text. People can write anything they please in their blog, it doesn't make it true. However, the fact that a person has chosen to write that, is a fact. That fact may be interesting by itself. For example, if a senior official claims a certain thing, they may or may not be right, but the fact that they claim it is enough to suspect that they will try to exert their influence to make the claim true. That part is significant.

In the text I would also make it clear that you are talking about a non-peer reviewed source, instead of simply citing it as you would a paper. I find it very annoying when you see a very interesting and cited claim, excitedly go to the reference list, only to discover that the citation is really just some blog so the claim is effectively pulled out of thin air - the citation only proves that the pulling was done by a third party, rather than the citing author.


How to label a performance profile A performance profile is a particular type of plot popular in optimization. Basically, for each ratio R on the x axis, the y axis shows what is the fraction of the number of total tests that were solved within a ratio R of the best result, under a certain performance measure. See for instance this blog entry for an introduction, or Section 22.4 of Higham and Higham's book Matlab guide.

For instance, in the picture below, the blue algorithm gives the best result on about 95% of the examples, and solves the remaining ones within a factor of about 1.2 of the best algorithm.

What is the clearest way to label the axes of such a plot?

I have included an attempt above, but it might be too verbose for a label. The linked blog uses "problems solved" and "performance ratio". Higham and Higham use no axis labels. Other sources put unenlightening letters such as $\theta$ on the x axis.

Most people call this "cumulative distribution function", or "CDF". A Google image search for "cdf performance" produces many plots of this type with the vertical axes labeled "CDF", which should be understood by people in the field if the field is "mathematically inclined" enough.

A more verbose way for more divulgative works is to label the horizontal axis

Ratio to best performance, r

and the vertical axis

Probability of achieving a (performance) ratio < r.

An additional difficulty of your example is that the measure "ratio to best performance" is not easy to explain in very few words. In such cases, a good idea is to use the caption of the figure to further clarify what the axis labels mean. This way, those who do not understand the labels can quickly get more information from the caption.


Where to get ACM references for MS Word? Does someone know where to get the correctly formatted ACM references for submissions to ACM? Google Scholar and dl.acm.org don't seem to provide the correct formatting.

Managing references can be a tedious task, especially at the proof-reading step of a paper and the usage of software that keeps track of your paper/references library (e.g. EndNote or BiBDesk) can be strongly recommended.

With such software you can have all your references in your paper formated accordingly and automatically to the style that either you choose or the conference/journal wants.

In MS Word there is an option where you can integrate EndNote, insert references and have an automated formating and arrangement/re-arrangement. Integration is done automatically for EndNote and MS Word, just when you install both of software.

ACM style quide can be found here.


Sending my research proposal for a professor or offering to work on their project? I am trying to contact with professors to showing them a research proposal that I want to work on for master degree. Some people advice me to not do this, because professors get fund for their ideas not mine, so if my research proposal was incredibly liked by a professor, then he will have no fund to do this research project. So, I should contacting to offer working on their research ideas. I am not insisting to work on my idea, and to be honest my main goal is to reach a research project in brain computer interface field(I'm interested in any research project in that field) and I'm sure that I will show a great effort, hard working and innovative thinking, Which will supporting me to get a PHD position.

Have saying this; how to know future research projects for a professor to offer working on? or it's possible to work on  project in progress.

Professors can get funding for projects if they write proposals for funding and the proposals are accepted. There are sources for funding for student projects in many places. I do not know about your specific situation, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to approach the professor about your idea. If it's really good, the professor will help you find funding for it. If it is just good, the professor may have you find funding for it.

Full disclosure - I am a professor. :-)


Students staying hours past end of office hours Background: I am a fourth year math graduate student working as a TA for an introduction to proofs course with a focus on analysis.

I really enjoy the teaching component of my position as a graduate student, but this semester I feel as though students are taking advantage of my generosity.

As is typical for a TA in the math department at my university, I hold a couple (in my case, two) office hours per week, plus additional availability via appointment.  My office hours are nearly always occupied, which generally pleases me.  However, my students nearly always stay well past the point when my office hours are supposed to end, even a couple hours worth in most cases.

In addition, I tend to spend nearly all my waking hours at my office, so I have no problem meeting with students at a wide variety of times.  They are well aware of this, and several of them have requested frequent appointments that do not coincide with my office hours.  Again, the main issue here is that these appointments often last much, much longer than an hour.

I understand that the material of this course is challenging, and I am glad that my students desire to improve their abilities.  However, their behavior is seriously impinging upon my ability to progress in my research.

What are acceptable avenues for reaching a compromise between my need to progress in my work and my desire to assist my students?  So far I've considered the following:

I've attempted to subtly imply that I would appreciate less consumption of my time, but I don't want to discourage their eager approach to their work and they don't seem to be getting the hint.
Alternatively, I could lie about having meetings, other appointments, obligations, etc, but I would feel wrong doing so.
I could obviously just tell them that they can't stay late because I have other work that I need to perform, but again, I don't want to directly shut them down.

Ultimately, I would love to find some systematic way to decrease the strain that they place on my schedule.  One trick I have utilized is the deliberate scheduling of an office hour immediately before the taught class, since both me and any students have to leave at that time to go to class.  Are there other things like this I could do?

I'm not merely looking for a solution for this semester, because I'd like to prevent this problem in the future as well.

You don't need a "trick" to solve this problem. They're staying past the end of your scheduled office hours because you have been tolerant of this so far. (I suspect they completely missed your subtle hints.)

It sounds like you have made it too easy for them to use you as a crutch, rather than doing the work on their own and then coming to you with specific, focused questions. (Very much like this situation.) It's not good for you and it's not good for them.

At the end of your scheduled office hours, say (with a smile):

  Thanks, everyone, for coming! Don't forget that if you need extra help, you can also schedule an appointment with me.

You can do the same thing at the end of a scheduled appointment:

  It seems like we made some progress here. If you realize you still have questions after working on this some more, you can schedule another appointment.

Then if you need more of a reason to usher them out the door, grab your jacket and announce that you're going out for some coffee/air/exercise/something to eat.

If you think students are using office hours productively and genuinely need more time with a TA, consider letting the course instructor know - perhaps he/she should hire another TA to offer extra support.


Is anything wrong with hiring TA as a private tutor? I'm an undergraduate student and recently I've been trying to find a private tutor to help me further expand my knowledge (outside of a scope of my courses). I've discovered one of the TAs advertises themselves as a private tutor. Would it be ethically wrong to hire them? Are there any potential issues/conflicts of interests?

As far as I know there is nothing strictly forbidding it in the university codes and I would love hiring them - I'm quite picky when it comes to the teaching style and in case of the TA in question I already know it'd be a great fit.

As a lecturer, I would feel that my TA possibly has a conflict of interests if they are also working as a tutor for one of my students. Among other things, TAs are often asked to solve through the final exam, to check correctness. So even if they are not involved with marking, they have access to confidential materials, and they can inadvertently leak some of this knowledge to the student they tutor.


Will once turning down Master's admission impact a PhD application in the same department I notice there have been some similar questions, like Will turn down a graduate (Master's) program have effect on my application for the same program?.
But my situation is a little bit different.
I once turned down a Master in statistics admission at University A and accept another Master in applied mathematics at University B.
At that time, I think the Master program at University A focus more on the applied statistics but I want to learn more math and theoretical statistics to prepare for applying for statistics PhD program.
So I accept the applied math master program at University B.
I plan to apply for statistics PhD program at University A this fall.
Question 1
Will I be put into a less favorable place compared to other applicants because of this?
Question 2
Should I mention that I once turned down the master's admission?

I think it would be highly unlikely that they would disadvantage you, unless you are applying to a truly small and petty department. The small part is really key here: for most departments of any size, you would likely be one among potentially dozens to hundreds of applicants. That they would even remember your name on a later admissions from an MS application would be unlikely, unless they already felt you were someone special (which wouldn't hurt you).


Alleviating Dunning-Kruger effect without running into impostor syndrome This is a question generally in decision making.

Is a balance between the Dunning-Kruger effect and the impostor syndrome possible for students? As a student one is generally graded on a regular basis, the marks may vary however, depending on the professor (at least where I come from). Is there a strategy to avoid the aforementioned two extremes or is academic life a balance act between both - occasionally hitting one or the other.

I'll give an example specific to my case: I have to decide whether to take a M.Sc. thesis in theoretical physics which will require me to do a lot of mathematics. It's interesting and I have passed math exams geared to physicists with (very) good marks, same for the lecture in physics which would be vital in this case.
Alas! Due to the (perceived) variation in the level of the exams I am not sure whether my knowledge is actually sufficiently deep to try. Especially as the real math (mathematics for mathematicians) results are not so good.

Simply: evaluations suggest "yes" while my gut tells me "meh I think you may be overestimating yourself a bit." (though my mind then responds "f*ck it all, do it just to prove you can!")

A very important fact to be aware of is that Dunning-Kruger is a a cognitive bias that is about skill, not intelligence or ability/capacity to learn. So for instance a person who is a terrible driver may not know they are so bad because of Dunning-Kruger, but none of this tells us absolutely anything about their ability to improve their driving skills with practice and dedicated effort. The Dunning-Kruger effect on the unskilled makes it harder for a person to become aware of their shortcomings, but it says nothing about what happens when they realize they do in fact lack skill! On the other hand, the effect on the skilled is that they falsely believe that what is easy for them is - or should be - easy for others too.

The Impostor syndrome, by contrast, is about how a person assigns causation/responsibility to their own achievements and abilities. A person with Impostor syndrome doesn't say, "I'm at least above-average", unlike the unskilled person under the effects of the Dunning-Kruger bias (who doesn't necessarily think they are great, but just believes they are above average). Nor does the highly skilled person with Impostor-symptoms say "this is just easy, anyone can do this" - because that would actually be acknowledging they are in fact good at something other than fooling people into thinking they are good at something! No, the Impostor thinks everyone else is wrong in thinking they are good or intelligent or did something great.

So while both poles of the Dunning-Kruger bias and the Impostor syndrome are commonly experienced in academia, they don't actually exist on a single continuum where one is forced to try to balance between them. Therefore you actually have the possibility to live relatively free of both of them.

How do you do that?

Um....I'm not sure that I know?

...well, I suppose the best place to start is taking some time regularly to expand your circle and be around a variety of people. Volunteer in community programs (not merely academic ones!), spend some time on a sport, etc. In short, don't spend 100% of your time with students and professors, because you will get a warped sense of what everyone else in the world is really like and you'll tend to get some really unrealistic self-images going. It's the intellectual equivalent of getting your idea of normal physical appearance from fashion/exercise magazines and television. You don't want to get your perceptions all pretzel-like, basically.

There are also specific things you can do - like if you think you are just an idiot and you are just fooling everyone, read some YouTube comments for awhile; if you don't get the feeling that you are actually smarter and more reasonable than a lot of people in the world, seek immediate professional counseling because that's a real problem.

You can also develop some strategies for "sanity checking". For instance, you have taken previous classes and did well, but I'm guessing some of those classes weren't easy and you could have done better in some. Based upon the available evidence, doing a thesis as you propose probably won't be easy. There is also no evidence that you aren't capable of it at all - otherwise you'd have failed all those other classes. Chances are, at your level of math there are no free points for putting your name on the paper - if you got a score higher than 0, you know an awful lot more than you realize.

So you face a challenge - or a threat - depending on how you look at it. If you are interested and excited and don't feel it's a ridiculous impossibility (like, say, being drafted by the NBA) then you have a potentially interesting challenge. Can you do it? It's a distinct possibility, sure.

So now I'd advise the usual general decision-making strategies - pros and cons, risks and Plan Bs if things aren't working out, etc. In short, what you can try to balance is between the extremes of mindless confidence (Leroy Jenkins!!!!!) and constant impending doom (I am so screwed...). And I think that is pretty much just the challenge of life in a nutshell, so if you can master it before you die (or maybe just within a few thousand lifetimes) you'll have done something pretty darn amazing.


What does "upper division" mean in the context of undergraduate classes? I'm in the process of researching graduate programs, and one of the ones I'm interested in prefers their applicants to have a B average in "upper division" classes. I just want to clarify what this means. I'm in a 4-year undergraduate math program, so would "upper division" be 3rd and 4th year courses, or would 2nd year courses be dragged into the mix?

Edit: I am talking about US grad schools, but I go to a university in Canada. Right now, I have a GPA of about 3.3, which I hope to surpass in 3rd and 4th year to look better on my grad school app.

Exactly as you said. In the U.S., undergraduate courses are commonly sorted by level, or the year of study in which they are likely to be taken. See this pattern in the traditional course numbering scheme of 1-99 for remedial courses, 101-199 for first year courses, 201-299 for those of the second year, etc. In this context, "upper division" are those courses for upperclassmen, those past the midpoint of their studies: the ones numbered 301-499.


For a new assistant professor in CS, how to build/manage a publication pipeline I am a new assistant professor in a research institute, where the number of top-tier publications matter a lot. In short, they simply count the number of tier-one papers.

I am highly advised to work out a good publication pipeline, in terms of how many papers are in progress (e.g., implementation), how many papers are under review, and also how many are in the preliminary stage to investigate the feasibility.

So besides "working hard", what are some tips, comments and advices on start to setting up a "publication pipeline"? To concretize a bit, what I can come up with are:

has one or two main research lines such that you can constantly publish your major research output towards some really prestigious conferences in your field, in CS it's like SIGGRAH, OSDI, POPL and so on. But of course, usually preparing such a work takes a very long time; my personally experience is about 1~1.5 year, when I was a Ph.D. student.
Simultaneously, become versatile in terms of skillset and therefore can quickly hunt for some (low-hanging) fruit. This can be much shorter, say 3~5 months, can still target on tier-one conference, but maybe not that "prestigious" ones. I am not going to name such conferences to avoid some arguments here...
What else?

All I can find is a thread here (https://www.chronicle.com/forums/index.php?topic=38427.0), but the message is a bit unclear to me. Any suggestion or advice would be appreciated a lot. Thanks.

Here two pieces of advice:

As a mid/long term perspective you should build a large network with
bright people. In the beginning talk to as many as possible. Tell
them about your ideas and ask them about theirs. This will lead to a lot of collaborative papers. Don't waste too much time with people who are reluctant. Most people will be very open (especially the younger ones).
Do this also with people who are not working in exactly your field. There might be a lot of low hanging fruits to collect i.e. something that is easy for you to do but not for them or vice versa. There is hardly any type of research field that would not like to get some input from CS (buzzword "data science"). e.g. Experimental biologists here or people working in business or geography etc. This will not lead to first-authorships but possibly get your name on many papers by putting only few days of work in.


What should I do if a group project member is not contributing anything but is also depressed? I know these questions have been asked before but I would like some advice and perspectives on what I should do when mental health comes into the equation.

The context is: an undergraduate class with a significant project component (40%). The project consists of a research proposal and a presentation and was assigned on May 6th and due on June 4th.

We have a project that is due in five days (as of writing) that we have largely completed the project. One of our group members has not contributed anything, but is apparently dealing with personal issues and is depressed and very stressed due to the coronavirus. We have largely not been able to contact him and at the same time I have also not seen him appear in any class on Zoom nor has anyone else spoken to him. He's off the radar.

Of the times he came online, he apologized profusely and asked what he can do for the project. I answered and he agreed and I gave a deadline. Then he disappears for two weeks or so.

I am wondering if I should alert the professor or just let it go since he's going through a hard time (in his words, I do not know the actual situation). I know him well and he isn't a malicious person so I trust him but at the same time there is an information asymmetry here so I can't really assume either possibility. I'm also worried about his performance in another class (where an individual project and a final exam is coming up in a week). What should I do (or what would you advice?)

I have been in your shoes in a similar situation when I was in undergrad. Our group member was also going through some hard times and did not contribute much to any of the project reports that were supposed to be written by all of us.

What we did was notify the professor but in a way that showed we were concerned for the student. I think it makes a big difference how the professor is notified, since you definitely don’t want to put the group member who claims to be going through a hard time in a though spot (it is good to give the person the benefit of the doubt). What happened in our case was that our professor has scheduled a meeting with all of us (in your case would be a zoom meeting, I suppose) and we discussed all together what happened so far and what must happen for the group member to successfully complete the class. That worked for the person in my group, although he felt really embarrassed by this situation, he actually contributed more to the project and kind of put himself back together- not only in our project but in all of his other classes.

Additionally to this, I have contacted the person and offered to be there for him if he needed someone to talk to. At the time we were not friends and maybe this looked a bit awkward, but in the end we became really good friends and he actually became a great student for the rest of the undergrad.

So, in short, I know you must be frustrated, as well as your group members, but realize that you have to bury this frustration deep and try to address the problem while being helpful. You guys are still undergrad and have a long way to go ahead of you. You don’t want to discourage your fellow because of a small thing like a group project.

And believe me, you could help change his life by being supportive and understanding in this period.


Why might researchers distinguish their interests between applied math and computational math? I often see PhD students and faculty members describe their research interests on their web pages as something like:

  I am broadly interested in applied and computational mathematics.

What is the difference between applied math and computational math?

Do applied mathematicians not necessarily work on computations and computational mathematicians not necessarily work on applied math?

"Applied" math is in opposition to "pure" mathematics: that is, applied mathematics is used for a specific ("real-world") problem, such as fluid mechanics, statistical physics, or even the biosciences. This need not be computational: in many cases, it involves the study of differential equations and other analytical tools (expansions and other techniques).

In contrast, "computational" mathematics implies mathematics that cannot be solved by "pen and paper" techniques but instead require the use of a computer—either desktop or cluster—to solve.


Can you share some screenshots of editor's control panels? Most journals use similar manuscript handling systems such as ScholarOne. I have seen both author and reviewer accounts (which are similar). I wonder how an editor account looks like. I mean how you search for reviewers, how they are assigned, notifications, etc.

Can you share some screenshots of your editor control panels (of course, sanitizing the sensitive information)? I am sure that many young researchers like me are curious to have a picture of the other side when we submit our manuscripts.

The following screenshot is for Editorial Manager (used by Springer, Nature, APA, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, PLOS).

The action links on the left are where everything is done. Brief explanation of some of the tabs:

iThenticate is a program that checks for plagiarism. This particular submission has 16% similarity, which is low. If desired the editor can read the entire report, which includes both where the similarity occurs and where it came from.
"Duplicate submission" checks if the manuscript was submitted multiple times. Sometimes it's in error (author submits twice thinking the first time didn't go through); other times it flags a reject-and-resubmit manuscript.
"History" shows the history of the manuscript from submission till today, such as when it was submitted, when an editor was assigned, when each reviewer was invited, and so on. Every time the system sends an email, it's logged here.
"Edit submission" lets the editor modify the submission (e.g. if the authors later discovered they've not included a source file, this is where to add it).
"Invite reviewers" - self-explanatory. Clicking this goes to another menu that lets the editor both mine the current database and / or register new reviewers to invite. If this submission had a completed review there'd be a "view reviews and comments" button, and if it's ready for a decision, there'd be a "submit editor's decision and comments" button as well.
"Set final disposition" terminates the peer-review process. For this manuscript, since no decision has been made yet, the only option is 'withdraw'. If a decision has already been made (accept / reject), this is also where to set the final status.

The other boxes should hopefully be self-explanatory. In the review status on the right, the first manuscript currently has 3 reviewers who've agreed to do it, 1 who hasn't responded, and 3 who declined. Clicking the "more" button lets the editor see who those reviewers are, when the reviews are due, how long it's been since the reviewer invitation was sent out (for the reviewer who hasn't responded), and the reasons for declining, if any.

The bottom manuscript is showing status "required reviews completed" because the settings for this particular journal is set to flag any submission with 1 completed review as such. Some journals might require two or more reviews before the status updates.


What visa for a short term course in the USA? There is a short term course in the USA in August I really want to attend.
It's a 1 week training at the University of Minnesota. However, I'm not going to enroll as a student at the university.

May I use the B1 visa to do so? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but my understanding is that B1 visas are typically the right visa for academic conferences and similar events.  See this document from the US government, particularly the entries on “Conference, meeting, trade show, or business event attendee” and “training.”


Was it a mistake to act more interested in a potential advisor's work than I actually am I am a prospective PhD student who is applying to several schools.

A couple months ago I spoke with an advisor from a school I was somewhat interested in.  We talked for quite a while, and he seemed really interested in taking me on as a student, to the point where I'm pretty confident about it.

The thing is, especially after researching his background, I'm really only interested in his older work; the project he's working on now doesn't excite me nearly as much as I acted like it did.  I the excitement of speaking to a professor from a prestigious university made me so enthusiastic.

I like much of this Professor's other work, but he seems really passionate about this project and I'm unfortunately not.  I'd be willing to work on it a little, but I couldn't imagine dedicating myself to it.

I guess I really have two questions:

If I did get into this University, how likely would I be to have to work on this project?  Either by getting a different advisor or by working with this professor on something else.  Obviously this depends on the situation, but maybe there's some general advice that applies?
How do I go forward?  I don't want to pretend to be interested in something I'm not, but I definitely don't want to ruin my chances.

Thanks for any advice.

There is something missing here: If you talked to him for a while. I suppose part of this talk should address your research/interests and what you are going to do as a PhD student. Does that mean you acted as if you were interested just for the sake of acceptance? Was it an involving discussion or a one-sided one (the professor talks most of the time)?

If you spoke about your interests and he seemed interested. Then most likely he has something for you within your interests. Even if he is working on other projects.

  If I did get into this University, how likely would I be to have to
  work on this project? Either by getting a different advisor or by
  working with this professor on something else. Obviously this depends
  on the situation, but maybe there's some general advice that applies?

You always have the option of opt-out of the subject and changing the advisor. This happens regularly specially for first year PhD students.

  How do I go forward? I don't want to pretend to be interested in
  something I'm not, but I definitely don't want to ruin my chances.

This depends upon what stage are you in. If you still did not apply to the school, try to be honest and write your research statement exactly as you wish. Try to line the professor research with your interests. IF you did apply, then there is nothing you should do except waiting for the decision.


What is meant when a job says PhD or equivalent required? I saw a job posting that says

  PhD or equivalent required.

What is meant by equivalent? What can be an equivalent for PhD? Expertise gained through work experience and publications?

It could also be an equivalent degree from another country. For example, a degree, equivalent of PhD, in Russia is called 'Candidate of science' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Russia)


Professor refusing to write recommendation letter to make student work longer My friend is on his way to graduate with PharmD (outside US). He wants to apply for PhD program in US, and have asked his professors that he has worked with in the lab for recommendation letters. However, his professors refused to write him a recommendation letter unless he stays in the lab for 1 more year after graduation to work with the current on-going project (2 of them refused, another one has written him a recommendation letter).

The professor also belittled him when he asked for the recommendation letter, saying things along the line of

  Am I, or this university not good enough for you? You must be pompous
  for wanting to go to another university.

That particular professor has also shared the rumor in the department that he thinks he is too good to be part of this university. In the past, they have offered him PhD program with scholarship, but have later retracted the scholarship so he rejected the offer to stay with them. He needs the recommendation letter to apply for PhD program.

What can he do when professors refuse to write recommendation letter for him unless he works with them longer? He definitely do not want to stay in that toxic environment anymore.

EDIT (12/19): All professors have agreed to write the recommendation letter, as long as my friend writes the draft of the letter himself. He has decided to go with this proposal and wrote three recommendation letters for himself, and gave it to his professors.

Your professor is not obligated to write you a recommendation letter.
You should think about getting a letter from someone who will write a good recommendation for you.
Your professors' attitude is highly unprofessional and needs to be exposed to their academic community. When you're clear, file a complaint through proper channels to the dean/HOD. If possible, keep any record of your conversations/emails with the faculty members. Given the fact that such unprofessional behavior exists in your university (that they will ask you to work for them for 1-2 years after graduation as a condition for a recommendation letter), may be the human resource, dean office etc. themselves are unprofessional. So, tread carefully if you plan to expose their behavior. Maybe do it after you have received your degree etc. However, such behavior needs to be exposed in any academic institution for the sake of future generations.
If your foreign university asks (e.g., in future) why your own advisors didn't write you a recommendation then there is no harm in telling the truth. However, tell only the truth not your version of the truth. It's common for students at a certain phase in their career to panic, act hysterically, and believe that everyone is out to get them.


Reputation of Frontiers Journals (Received Invitation Chemistry) A few years ago, the Frontiers family was listed in  Beall’s List of potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access publishers. At the time, there was a lot of backlash by them and a number of publishers about this addition. Since then, Beall's List has been taken down.

Recently, I received an invitation to contribute in one of Fronters in Chemistry's research topics - the journal currently has a decent JIF of 3.994. I was wondering what the community currently thinks of this journal family?

I am used to receiving spam invitations but this is the first where I have received one where I feel it is more legit, however, I would not want this to damage my record if there is a bad reputation. I am an early career researcher so this makes me more tempted.

A similar question was asked back in 2014 with some negative responses, but I would like to see how the times have changed:
An invitation from Frontiers (Frontiers Research Topics)

In my opinion, Frontiers journals are only modestly predatory. They are clearly for-profit, and seem to have a journal for every sub topic, not to mention the constant invitations for submission and ‘special issue’.  However, they’ve done a pretty good job maintaining reputation, though it certainly differs per-journal. An impact factor of ~3 isn’t that far outside middle-tier, non-profit, established journals. If it helps, I have a publication in the top-tier journal Neuron in 2012 with 156 citations and a pub in Frontiers in 2014 with 120 citations. So worry less about it being ‘frontiers’ and worry more about writing a solid work.


Is it possible to ask the identity of a particular reviewer to oppose for future submission? I am in an embarrassing situation. I have submitted my article three times, to three different journals, and always I get the same reviewer who copies and pastes the same reviews which actually make no sense.

With my first submission I had two review cycles, and two of the reviewers recommended accepting the article; however, this reviewer strongly rejected it. I submitted to another journal (it had binary review system), and again the same happened, same reviewer same comments. Now I have received a third rejection (this journal is also has a binary review system), from the same reviewer with an extra comment that now other related work exist. (Of course now other related work exists, because you have been rejecting the paper for two years.)

Before submitting my article for the fourth time, to a different journal, can I tell the handling editor that we don't want this particular reviewer?

If yes, how can we ask the handling editor without knowing the identity of this reviewer? Some journals ask for a list of reviewer to oppose at the time of submission. But how we can identify this particular reviewer?

Or, can we ask the editor who handled of previous submissions to disclose the identity of particular reviewer?

can I ask the handling editor that we don't want this particular reviewer?

No, because you don't know who they are, and you have no way to find out.

  can we ask the Editor of previous submission to disclose the identity of particular reviewer?

No, definitely not.  That would be an inappropriate request.  The editor would likely suspect that you wanted their name in order to retaliate against them in some way.  The editor would surely not comply, and might form doubts about your ethics, which could affect any future interactions you might have with the editor or the journal.

You could mention in your cover letter that you have had a problematic reviewer who said X,Y,Z, so that the editor would be forewarned.  However, I think this only helps if objections X,Y,Z are self-evidently absurd, which is probably not the case because three previous editors apparently took them seriously.  Also, it tends to draw attention to the fact that your paper has previously been rejected, which although it should not matter, may in practice bias the editor against it.

I would suggest instead:

Edit your paper to address the reviewer's objections as much as possible.  Even if their objections are completely wrong, you can clarify the paper to make it more clear that they are wrong.  "One might think that X is a problem here.  However, this is not the case, because of A."
Regarding the "related work", you need to update your paper to discuss this work.  Even if it didn't exist when you originally wrote the paper, it exists now, and when you sumbit to a new journal, it is your responsibility for your paper to properly address related work in the field as of the date of (the new) submission.  You can say something like "After our work was substantially finished, we became aware of X" in order to assert that you had priority.
Otherwise, be prepared for the possibility that you may get the same reviewer yet again.  If so, you can make the case to the editor that their objections are invalid, and ask for reconsideration.  But of course it will be up to the editor to judge.


Graduate Student Co-authorship Etiquette (Dissemination of Student Papers Not For Publication) I recently finished my masters degree and co-authored a lengthy paper (It was my idea and I took the lead on the research and writing). The paper is not for publication but provides valuable information and research for the the department faculty and dean.The paper is a program development proposal that our academic department would like to implement. Our group discussed sending the paper to the Dean in conversation with her, and one of the co-authors brought it up with her again at the end of the semester and offered to send it to her individually without consulting our group.

I'm okay with her sending it, however, I felt that she acted independently and did not consider the time-lines of the other co-authors for doing final edits, or offer to CC us when she sent it.

My name comes last on the paper (alphabetically) even though I wrote and researched more than the other two authors combined. I have the sense that my co-author is taking more credit than she is due on this project since her name comes first and because she acted independently.

I requested that I be provided an opportunity to review the paper and to be CC'd on any future sharing of our work with others.I think my co-author was offended.

I am interested in asking my two co-authors if it is okay to have my name as the first author on this paper (then she can send it).

Please advise if I am being petty or if this is a reasonable concern on my part. I would like for the Dean and faculty to remember my contributions. The co-author who offered to send it has already made her mark on the program in other ways and I am not sure I have stood out as much.

I understand why you are a little peeved that she offered to send it to the Dean without checking with you first, but I think you need to swallow your frustration on that point.

Instead, you need to figure out what your goals are.  Right now you are reacting: you are letting your emotions control your reactions.  Instead, you should figure out what end goal you want to achieve.

Do you want to make sure that the paper is in good enough shape, before it is sent to the Dean?  Then negotiate a timeline with your co-authors.  This might mean you both have to give a little: you might have to work extra hard to get your revisions in; and they might have to be willing to delay sending the paper a little bit until you've all had a chance to revise to your satisfaction.  That's a perfectly reasonable request.

Do you want to be listed as first author?  If so, why?  You said the paper is not going to be published.  So why do you care?  If you think your contribution means it is appropriate for you to be first author, and you care about it, then raise the point with your co-author.  But approach it with humility and gentleness.  Remember that we're human; we have a tendency to overestimate our own contribution and underestimate others, so you need to correct for that.  Also, definitely do not ask to be first author as a way of getting revenge; that is petty and beneath you.  Take the high road.

And, take this as a lesson.  Generally, it is best to discuss authorship early in the project, not wait until the very end.  In my collaborations, there is often an understanding from the start about who is the lead on the project; the expectation is that the lead has the overall responsibility and will most likely put in the most work, and in return will likely end up as first author.  These discussions about authorship are often easier to happen earlier than later.

Anyway, bottom line: Figure out what you want to achieve (what you want the end state to look like).  Then, figure out how to ask for that.  Set aside your emotions and your negative reactions to your co-author's initiative in moving things forward without checking with you first, and focus on what end state you want to achieve.  I suspect you might find that you share pretty much the same goals as your co-author, and there's no need to get upset or strain your relations with her.


Who decides which, if any, solutions are publicized to students? For students, some textbooks publicize no solutions, some just half (either odd or even numbered exercises), and some all. How's this decided? Does the author have the final say? Can publishers override an author? A debate between both?
I'm not asking about instructors' solution manual that divulges solutions just to instructors.

I would be surprised if any publisher required a particular outcome or, especially, overrode an author's decision. It would make for an awkward relationship with the author.
They might, however, make suggestions, since the commercial value of a book might be affected by the decision. But the commercial value and the educational value might be at odds. I've never had a discussion with an editor about this subject and have published with several.
I do know of one case where a grad student was paid to produce solutions. I believe the funding came from the publisher, but it has been too long ago to remember details. But this is something an author could request of the editor. However, such payments usually come out of future royalties to the author, I'd expect.


How to format a paper accepted to a conference? I was second author on a paper that was accepted to a large and somewhat prestigious conference--the first author was the one who presented it (as part of a panel, not a poster), but because I'm early in my career I'd still like to highlight it somewhere on my CV. I think I'll create a section like "Other Research" or "Other Papers" or something so it's not misleadingly put with peer-reviewed publications.

Does this sound like a good strategy? And how should I actually format the citation itself? Do I put "accepted at Conference X, presented by Name"?

Of course you should list a conference paper as part of your CV. Just make sure that, as you suggested, that it’s separate from peer-reviewed publications. Usually, “conference proceedings” or “presentations” or a similar section heading is used, depending on what records are available.

As for format, use whatever is the accepted practice and format in your discipline.


What are the pros and cons in sending a research paper to well-known author, before publishing? Currently I am reading a research paper of a well-known author published in 2011. I did a slight modification in his method and the new method is very efficient.

Is it reasonable to send that paper first to the author before sending it to any journal?

I've worked on a few method development projects and I'm of the opinion that it is a good idea particularly if the author is well-known and well-liked (if they are a dick or you don't like them, that's a different story).

The obvious reason why is because when they happened to see your paper going out for review which claims a "massive improvement" over previous methods, they aren't going to get upset at you and pull strings to make your life miserable. Furthermore, they might have insight whether or not the new method is useful or merely enhancing a particular error which makes it look good.

The only instance where sharing the paper might be a bad idea is if they happened to be working on a similar improvement. Receiving the paper may motivate them to scoop you.


To pursue research career in physics; How much physics courses should I pass in my undergraduate engineering degree? I am an undergraduate student of electronics and telecommunication engineering in a govt. college in India. But I am extremely interested in physics and mathematics. I want to pursue a research career in physics and mathematics. I generally receive suggestions like taking the GRE test. But I have the following questions:

What is the minimum amount of physics I am supposed to have mastered at the end of my engineering?
How much of physics or physics related subjects should I have in my UG course?
How much is an adequate grade (What puzzles me most is that if I am intending to do physics why should my grades in engineering should be considered?)

Cross-disciplinary movement does happen fairly frequently, particularly between engineering and the mathematical and physical sciences. Unfortunately, as the academic disciplines themselves become more cross-disciplinary, it becomes much harder to say what specific training one needs to move from one field to another between the undergraduate and graduate levels.

A good way to check for the qualifications you are likely to need is to examine the course requirements of schools you're already interested in attending as a graduate student—if your undergraduate program has sufficient depth in math and physics to allow you to take those courses as a graduate student, then an admissions committee will likely be OK with the lateral movement.

If you have questions about what is necessary, you can contact the person in charge of admissions at some of the departments you're interested in for further clarification.


Paving one's way out of academia The current research climate favors the proliferation of many early-career-stage researchers (PhD students, postdocs) who have not enough places to go if they want to stay in academic research (recent Nature article on the issue). The amount of research-based positions in industry is arguably even more limited.

The limited amount of overall positions available make competition fierce and, even when successful, often one needs to be flexible to relocate, including moving to a new country. This all gets increasingly difficult as one becomes older and family, mortgage, etc. start to be parameters in the equations.

Doing a PhD + (one, two, three...) postdoc(s) usually makes you highly specialized in a field/discipline, but also gives you skills that can potentially be very valuable in the general job market: dedication, technical writing, analytical skills, ability to quickly learn new things, possibly proficiency with computers including coding... to name a few. I am however a bit skeptical of how much these abilities are appreciated by the average employer, and there is also the issue of how to adapt to (i.e. how to feel motivated at) a "boring" "normal" job after spending several years in the exciting and challenging world of research.

While I would ideally like to keep doing research, all the points above make me fear that at some point I will just need to seek a job outside academia, and I want to be prepared. My question is for those who have made the transition out of academia or are in senior positions and have witnessed people (un)successfully making it out. How does one pave his way out of academia? What skills are useful to develop in order to have good chances to make a successful transition? What strategies to follow and which behaviors should be avoided?

I work in condensed-matter physics, so answers specifically pertaining to STEM disciplines are particularly welcome.

How does one pave his way out of academia?

Ideally you will want to get a non-academic job. You should start listing possible careers which you might consider. Contact friends or former lecturers who have quit academia and learn about what they have done. Maybe get involved in something on the side. For example, a friend of mine, who is now a lecturer at a university, previously did an internship at an investment bank while he was a postdoc in the US. It gave him some credentials for his Plan B, even though he didn't execute it.

It is important to have non-academic connections. Maybe go to some meetup groups in different areas. I got my job while I was a visiting lecturer because one of the profs at the university at which I was working took pity on me and mentioned to a friend of his that I was looking for a job.

  What skills are useful to
  develop in order to have good chances to make a successful transition?

In STEM areas, computing is essential. If you have never coded, learn how by trying a small project. If you have, consider learning more languages. Look at job ads to see what skills they are looking for.

  What strategies to follow and which behaviors should be avoided?

It is perfectly possible to work on a Plan B without committing yourself to leaving academia. I've seen a lot of people do this. For example, one of the best graduate students I've ever seen used to attend seminars to brush up on his mathematical finance, in case he needed it. (He never has.)

For me, the biggest obstacle was the sunk cost. All those years of study and the sacrifices made in order to do a PhD in "my" area wasted.


How long should a professor stay? When you accept a tenure-track position in the USA, how long are you expected to stay? Does it look bad if you change jobs a couple times after a few years at each university? Is there an unspoken standard?

This can be a little tricky.  There are two issues: what your obligations are to the university, and what could look bad on your CV and hurt future job searches.

Your legal obligations may vary depending on the country or the details of your contract, but my understanding of the U.S. social norms is the following:

Once you have accepted a job, you must show up for it.  (I.e., you will offend people if you try to change your mind and accept another job instead.)  You should stay for at least a year, except for health emergencies and the like, and preferably for a couple of years, since it looks bad if you apply for other jobs immediately upon arriving.  Beyond that, the department may be unhappy if you leave, but you won't be doing anything offensive.

On the other hand, you shouldn't make a habit of this.  When a department hires someone for a tenure-track job, they are looking for a long-term colleague.  It's still possible to get hired even if the department knows you are unlikely to stay long, but you have to be extra-brilliant to make up for this.  If you leave a couple of universities quickly, then it will look like a pattern, and everyone else will be less interested in hiring you than they might otherwise have been.

If you end up in this situation through bad luck, then the next time you apply for jobs you should try to explain what happened in a way that makes it clear why it is unlikely to happen again.


Student asks for letter of recommendation: I can't remember the student I have already had this issue a few times. I just received an e-mail from a former student of an undergraduate course, asking for a letter of recommendation to apply for graduate studies. This course took place almost 5 years ago. I don't think I had any contact with the student after the course, although it's hard to say: I can't remember the student, and I don't even work at the same university anymore, so I don't even have access to grades, etc. He sent me his transcripts but can I write a letter only with that?

What do people do in this cases? Write a standard letter quoting some of the grades (from the transcript)? How can that be useful to anyone?

I would try to accommodate the student. Most faculty were traditional college students, so this  might seem like a weird request from our point of view, but many students don't have the same backgrounds, expectations, and economic resources that we do. Some students may need to take a long break from school due to economic setbacks, or because they've had a kid, or because of health problems. Also, keep in mind that not all grad schools are elite PhD programs, so the function of a recommendation letter may not be to vouch for the student's brilliance and ability to do groundbreaking research. For many programs, the purpose of the letter may be more to make sure that the student isn't a cheater or a psycho.

Be up front with the student. Explain honestly that you don't remember him. Let him know that if he has other possible recommenders who would have had more recent interactions with him, he would be better off with them. But if that's not possible, ask him for more detailed written info about his life and plans, and write the best letter you can. You may want to show the student the letter before you send it out, so he has an idea of what he's getting.


Can blogging about research results first affect your ability to publish them later? There are the obvious worries about getting scooped (discussed here http://www.quora.com/When-is-it-wise-to-blog-or-talk-about-your-academic-research-work-before-you-submit-it-for-publication).

But I'm wondering if there are more subtle concerns. Could it hurt your chances of publishing in a venue that doesn't allow preprints?  Should I cite myself if I copy text?

I remember very clearly when an editor for Science was asked about whether or not they would publish work if it appeared in a blog post, the editor replied with "so long as it has no more than 70 likes, 20 share, or 30 re-tweets".
She was actually being satirical, and ended up having to restate that Science doesnt care so long as "the core scientific message" is novel in their publication.

Truth is, I hear a lot of stuff like this from journals claiming to be all about the dissemination of science. What i DONT hear is people who's work was rejected specifically because of a blog post. Probably because the rejection letter is the same old standard "Better luck next time." and the real reason is never known.

Long story short, if you want to keep publishers happy, do whatever you can to make the article valuable...


Is it possible to pursue masters degree in the US university without getting financial back-up from family? I am a undergraduate student majoring in Human resource management and planning to get admitted in such a university where I have great opportunity to do research.
Is it possible to pursue masters degree from US university without taking financial help from family?
In what extent does US university provide financial aid for MS students?
What are the benefits of getting TA or RA facility in US university?

In general in the US, masters degrees which are not on a PhD track are not funded. That is there are not really opportunities to work as an RA or TA. As master's programs tend to be more professionally oriented, the expectation is that the student will take out student loans. In contrast, in PhD programs, the student does work for their professor, and therefore receives funding.

My understanding (and this may be more true of the sciences than other fields) is that PhD students are strongly preferred for TA and RA positions. Both TA and RA positions build useful experience for PhD students by giving the PhD student experience with teaching and academic research.

As to the more general question of funding for masters programs, I would guess that you will probably have the most luck looking for opportunities specific to your situation (e.g. field of study), however in general masters students are expected to pay their own way.


Transferring to a Top-10 PhD program in Theoretical Physics from a Top-50 program in US for better job prospects in Academia? I will be soon joining a Top-50 school for a PhD in High Energy Theory. They have some very good professors who have published top quality journal articles in their area of expertise (even with some Nobel Laureates as co-authors). They are not as famous as Nathan Seiberg, Leonard Susskind, etc. though. I would like to know, given the job scenario in academia (especially in high energy theory), is it worth transferring to a top school like Harvard or Princeton after performing very well at my current school ? I mean, is their any huge advantage in the academic job market to be at a Top-10 school compared to a Top-50 school ?

I do not really care about going to a brand name school as far as my studies are concerned. I just want to make sure that if I work hard and succeed, I do not face problems in getting an academic job just because I did not attend Harvard or Princeton. Academically, my current school is very good too but it doesn't have that IVY kind of brand. My concern is only about the people in the hiring committees otherwise I am happy going to my current school.

Also, I have earlier worked with Professors who graduated from such top schools and they say that famous advisors are like "King-Makers" who get their students well placed in academia after PhD since they have influence in the field. Personally, I have no issues being at my current school if I get good people to work with. Also, is it ethically good to change schools like this ?

Well, better is better, in academia just as anywhere else.  Certainly if you got admitted to a Top 10 program and a Top 50 program then all other things being equal you should enroll in the Top 10 program.  (In fact, even things being only mildly unequal, you should enroll in the Top 10 program.  You should seriously consider the Top 50 program only for serious personal considerations -- e.g. if because you are caring for a family member, you cannot leave your hometown -- or because you have a preternaturally good fit with a particular faculty member.)

But that's not what you're asking; you're asking about transferring later to a top program, which presumably means that you have not yet been admitted to one.  That is not a good plan.  The competition to get into the very top PhD programs is of a roughly similar level of difficulty as the competition to get a post-PhD academic job.  The main difference is that the former competition is more cut-and-dried whereas the latter competition has great amounts of uncertainty and randomness.  In other words, it's actually pretty easy to make most admissions decisions at top ten places: there are certain agreed upon metrics that most or all graduate programs take into account, and the top programs pick from the top applicants according to these metrics.

This has the following important implication: if you applied to the top programs in year N and didn't get into any, it is very difficult to transfer into them in year N + 1, N+2,...The idea of "transferring from one graduate program to another" is already not very standard, and when it is done it is often done to deal with a problem rather than by virtue of exceptional success.  The one exception is that it is common for one to transfer from a master's program to a PhD program.  However, in many STEM fields in the US, the best students just enroll into a PhD program straightaway: their undergraduate preparation is just as good -- or more often, better -- than what American students graduating with master's degrees get.  (In other parts of the world, a separate master's program may in fact be mandatory, so things are a bit different.)  Most American STEM master's programs that I know of are "PhD lite": they are for students are either not as strong, not as prepared, not as committed, or some combination thereof as the PhD students, so getting a master's degree is -- relative to the desired goal of transferring to a top place -- no great distinction.

To be able to transfer from a top 50 HEP program to a top 10 one, you would have to do some truly excellent research at the beginning of your career.  Transferring out of a program in which you've had such sterling success is worth some second thoughts, but if you did this work largely or entirely on your own and the continuation of it would be aided by transferring to a top program: OK, do it.  However, this is very rare, and if you do something that great, then you're on your way to success independently of your transfer plans.

I think that if you spend the first few years in your PhD program with the express goal of transferring out as soon as you can, there is a substantial risk of that showing through as a lack of commitment to your current program, which could really work against you.

  I mean, is [there] any huge advantage in the academic job market to be at a Top-10 school compared to a Top-50 school ?

It is an advantage, yes.  The advantage can be overcome by your own work, and if you want a very distinguished post-PhD academic job, then getting a PhD at an absolutely top program with a world-famous advisor is not a golden ticket.  (I know this as well as anyone: feel free to look up my academic past.)  If you go to a top program and do "about average" there, then you will probably not get a top academic job because you will not be getting the top drawer recommendation letter from your famous advisor.  However, that same advisor could help you out getting placed at a lesser institution, or the pedigree of the institution could help (a lot, in some cases) if you wanted to get a non-academic job.  Better is better.

  I have earlier worked with Professors who graduated from such top schools and they say that famous advisors are like "King-Makers" who get their students well placed in academia after PhD since they have influence in the field.

The people that the King-Makers make kings were doing pretty well on their own.  A truly eminent advisor can probably place some of their students in very good positions.  But not all of them.  The important thing to remember is that the quality of your own research -- as perceived by the academic community -- is what will get you or not get you an elite academic job.  If your work is superior, it is superior no matter where you are, and the community will recognize that.  If your work isn't that good but is still strong by the standards of the top institution, then having an eminent advisor really comes in handy.  If your work is not as good as many other students of that advisor, then you are not going to get a big career boost.  In some situations, having an advisor who is still well known and recognized by the community champion you as they have never championed a student before, could work out better.

  Also, is it ethically good to change schools like this ?

I see no ethical problem with changing schools in this way (although as ever there are more and less gracious ways to proceed); leaving a program for a much better one is easy to understand and I think few people will hold it against you.  But as I said above, effecting this kind of change is just very unlikely;
the real concern is what will happen to you while you are angling for it.  If you are just working that much harder to do your best work: great, and great whether you transfer or not.  But don't make plans or behave in a way which will only payoff if you transfer.  E.g. you might reason that merely doing well in the coursework and qualifying exams is not going to be nearly enough to allow you to transfer to a top program (correct) so that instead you should blow off your coursework while you try to solve the hardest problems in the field (disaster).  Learn to grow where you're planted.


Received a mail from a collections agency This is slightly long so please bear with me. This is for a friend and I'll be writing from his perspective.

I am an international graduate student at the University A. In 2016 when I was receiving decisions from grad schools about my applications, I got accepted into University B. I enrolled in a few courses(12 credits) while I was waiting for other decisions. Before I even requested an i20 (a document that international students request when they wish to go to a certain university in the US after being accepted by that uni) from B, I got accepted into A and went there instead for grad school, and consequently never requested an i20 from B.

This week I got a mail from a collections agency stating I owed 22k in fees for the courses I enrolled in all the way back in 2016. I checked every bit of mail, physical or electronic, that I may have received from B in regard to these courses in all my email accounts and residences, which I never did. In fact, the only emails that were found in my gmail were those of my failure to check in after my acceptance from them.

I contacted student accounts at B asking them about this issue and they asked me to get a tuition exception recommendation from the school of engineering. The school of engineering is recommending me for this exemption. The next step in this process is me submitting an appeal to the student accounts department.

This is where the issue arises. Student accounts states within its tuition exception process and guidelines document that appeals for tuition exception must be made within the same term as the courses. I am worried that they won't accept this recommendation from the engineering department despite them knowing the details of my case and never having raised this rule when I spoke to them earlier.

What recourse do I have if they refuse my appeal? I never requested an I20 from B which indicates I never checked in despite their emails to my gmail account they created for me. And most notably, they never sent me any course material or any TA emails for those courses, as is the norm for any courses that people are legitimately enrolled in. I don't have 22k to pay these people.

Here are some educated guesses:  B has a collection agency which they regularly use.  They sell their bad debts to this agency at a (deep) discount and now that agency owns the debt.  They're taking a gamble that they can collect the debt.  (It is very possible that this "separate" collection agency is really just an office on campus.  But that makes little difference.)

I would write the collection agency and tell them that I have never set foot on B's campus and that I don't owe any money to them.  I would make a sentence like, "As an international student, I could not be enrolled at an American university without an i20.  If B cannot produce my i20, that is proof that I never attended there."  I would guess that at this point the agency would realize they lost their bet and go on to the next victim.

If not, things have entered the "nasty" stage.  I doubt it gets so far, but if necessary, write a letter to B accusing them of fraud.  Your premise is that they know that foreign students are typically naive and apply to many American schools.  If they find that a student applies at B and but attends another American school, then they send a bill hoping the student is afraid of running afoul of obscure American laws.  They use scare tactics to try to collect tuition and fees to which they are not entitled.  Fearful of being deported, many of the foreign students pay the bill.   Something like that will at least get their attention and a human will check the records carefully before they make another move.   The last thing a university wants is an investigation.  At the moment, some bored peon is glancing at your letters or day-dreaming during your phone calls.  You need to get them to sit up and pay attention, and such a letter will do that.  If they look at the record seriously, that should be the end of it.

If not, send the same letter to the local county attorney and/or the district attorney.

Let me repeat that I'm just guessing my way through this given the data at hand.


Conflicting views with my supervisor on how a thesis should be written My supervisor gave a lot of feedback (in actuality they are mostly complaints) about a part of my thesis (while I have let others read my work and they were more understanding of what I wrote). There are a few helpful things but overall I found lots of her comments are related to not having a deep understanding about the science and the "end goal" of such experiment i.e. how the data can be used to best contribute the world (She is not a big expert in this area of research albeit having some experience).

She seems to dwell excessively on the "writing side" i.e. simply write a publishable "technical report" following what others have reported in similar experiments (which there are tonnes of things I dont like and I am not alone, there are numerous critique papers in this field of research that criticizes how things are unreliable. She attributed it as I have not read others' works because my format and content seem to deviate from others, but in fact I have read tonnes of them but I just found too many flaws).

I am more on writing for a full account and for the sake of science and advances (I know it may sound naive, but I really gave a lot of thoughts before I decide how my data should be used and interpreted but she thought they are excessive and didnt understand why I need to write them). While her comments may be useful in the sense of publishing a manuscript in a certain journal, however, I am under the impression that a thesis should be more free and more of a full account of what I can make the most out of my research, rather than straight up a manuscript catering to a certain journal.

However, there is no way I can pass my thesis without passing my supervisor, so how should I approach it?

Would you rather pass your thesis, get a degree, and start to get control of your career or get blocked? It seems to be an easy choice.

Don't lose track of the fact that this work isn't, hopefully, going to be the best work you ever do in your life, only the first (or an early one).

Fighting with a supervisor who can be a block is seldom (never?) a good path to success.

Take her advice on this. Get finished. Get a good letter of recommendation. Move on. Make you own choices then, when it doesn't have negative consequences.

Think of "getting done" as the big win, not winning an argument.


For those who study in the humanities, have I made a mistake in doing my Master's abroad? I'm an American student currently earning a Master's in American cultural studies in Germany. Why study American culture in Germany? Firstly, I wouldn't have been able to afford a U.S. Master's in this field, and secondly I'd like to learn/improve my German with the ultimate goal of (possibly) pursuing a PhD in comparative literature.

However, since classes have started here, I'm beginning to regret my decision for the following reasons:

A) classes are incredibly large, direct contact with professors is scant, and so, among the obvious academic disadvantages, I'm ultimately worried I won't be able to get good letters of rec.

B) even at the graduate level, many students don't take their studies seriously (probably because there isn't the pressure of student loans and because education is quite open here [a good thing])

C) classes are not as rigorous as they were in my B.A. literature program, and so I don't feel like I can grow as a researcher/scholar, which is my goal

Does anyone have a similar experience applying to American PhD programs after doing a Master's abroad? Should I just stick it out and try my best to befriend some professors and make the best of my time here?

At this point, I regret not applying directly to American PhD programs sans Master's degree since my undergraduate grades and professors were quite good.
Thanks in advance!

You may have made a mistake, but it isn't a fatal one. You need a path forward.

First, your undergraduate professors can still have credence in writing recommendations, but you need to keep in contact with them so you aren't forgotten. They can probably give you advice now on your current situation.

I assume that you are early in your European studies. Abandoning and starting over in a US doctoral program might be an option, though perhaps as last resort.

The B) issue can, perhaps, help you with the A) issue. Professors might be a bit tired of lazy students and could possibly appreciate an approach from a student who wants to do more, both helping with the letters of recommendation issue and your C) problem.

But, it won't work if you are passive. You need to take charge. If one of your current professors does something interesting, you could make an approach and offer to help in some way. This solves all the problems. But don't just "stick it out". Take charge.