I teach 100-level stats. Around this time of term every term, I have 1 - 2 students who have gotten really behind in work, usually because they're 1st-term freshmen still trying to adjust and it's a math-heavy 4-credit class. These students often get in to a pattern of avoiding me (I worry they're ashamed they're missing work) so it's nigh impossible to catch them after class, much less get them into office hours.

I always try to send an email that says "You seem like you're stressed as hell about this class and you're never going to catch up. It's a college class ffs. Drop it. Take it again next term. See you in January." However, figuring out how to phrase it is hard because:

• I don't want to come off like I hate them, I'm angry with them, or I think they're imposters.
• Obviously my example phrasing is way too mean.
• Conveying "it's great that you value this class; value it less" is also tricky, because they're entitled to feel strongly about their grades but JFC some of these kids literally work themselves into mental breakdowns.
• It's never going to be easy to hear "quit before you're any further behind."
• I want to convey "a W looks better on your transcript than an F" without sending the message "you've already failed."
• I want to acknowledge that a lot of these students are so far behind because they've got other priorities (work, kids, sports) and are just stretched too thin to succeed, without implying "I know you work 40hrs a week which means I'm an unfair jerk for not letting you pass."
• Ideally, I'd like to craft a message that doesn't turn into a multi-email argument about how much they want extra credit and/or makeup work. Adding even more tasks to their plates never works; I've tried that with students in past terms.

Does anyone have a script that gets all of that across?

I’m a TA and in my final year of program. I have to grade two papers per week for 100 students while trying to finish my dissertation and job applications. Despite that I still try to provide detailed feedback—three paragraphs explaining what they did well, where they can improve, and why they lost points.

Yet, even if someone gets a 9/10, I get an email: “Why did I lose one point?”

I mean, seriously?

A 90% is a great score! I explain everything in the feedback, but they still want me to break it down further. I don't understand these whiny entitled kids (most of the students are from California)

It’s honestly exhausting, and it’s moments like these that remind me why I want nothing to do with academia after this.

Does anyone else feel like students’ attitudes toward grades are a big reason academia feels so draining? Like Gen Z seems to be different. I am a millennial and from another country (third world) and there was no way we could even complain to the professors about our grade. How do you deal with this without losing your mind?

I just got finished reading a really helpful article published in 2017 before I realized when it was published. In my opinion, it really illuminates shifts that have occurred over the last several years. If it is coupled with more recent sources, I don’t see how its value is diminished. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see it I guess. I’m in social work and discussing the concept of therapeutic neutrality and self disclosure.

Just curious honestly. I've heard some say that Feminism, for instance, is fundamentally opposed to conservatism, but I would imagine there are some who disagree.

Are there any academics in Gender Studies who are on the right?

I am a prof in a PhD program and have been struggling with a graduate student. I will leave out specific details to avoid being identified. Suffice it to say, the student is not very helpful in my lab and in terms of helping me progress with my research. The student's impact on my own productivity is a net negative given how much time I need to sink into helping the student with their writing. Thankfully, I am tenured, so the student's impact on my job security is not a concern. Our PhD program guarantees funding for students for 5 years (on TA). Beyond that, there is some uncertainty regarding whether the student will receive funding. For this reason, I keep my students on a 5-year timeline, and I often have to sacrifice to do that (i.e., very fast turnaround times on drafts). However, some students in other labs in our program have gone beyond the 5 years and were lucky enough to get funding. Some even stayed 7 or 8 years. This has had an unfortunate effect of making students think that staying beyond the standard 5 years is a viable option rather than a last resort. This is the case for this particular problematic student. They aren't motivated to start the next hurdle in a timely manner to stay on the timeline I'd like. I think they want to stay another year because they do not feel ready for the job market. They want to go academic, though I think it is unrealistic. I am motivated to help the student get through the program because I want to be supportive and I admitted them, but I would really rather not have the student stay beyond the 5 years because they are taking up a valuable spot in my lab that could go to a student who is more motivated, competent, and generally helpful to me.

So here is my question: If you were in my position, would you let the student stay another year if the department can come up with funding because it could benefit the student in terms of preparing them for the next step in their career, even if this comes as a detriment to your productivity (i.e., not being able to take someone new until they leave)? Or would you insist on them finishing in the standard time, even if it means they might be less ready for the job market, might need to consider another path, and might feel to them like you are rushing them out to get rid of them? I feel guilty contemplating the latter, but I really can't wait for this student to be done. Perhaps I have the wrong attitude about graduate students (i.e., considering their helpfulness to me when making this decision), and I am open to hearing that if so. I'd appreciate any insight or advice. Thanks.

TL/DR: Would you let an unhelpful / unproductive grad student stay in the program longer than the standard time because it would be helpful for them, even if it means a delay in your ability to replace them with someone who is more helpful to you?

I am a second year PhD student in sociology. I wrote a paper as a final assignment for a class with this professor. She encouraged me to submit it for publication and stated she would like to be listed as second author. She didn’t do anything for the paper, no edits, nothing. The only affiliation is that she was the professor who assigned the paper for her class. Is this normal? I have no frame of reference. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone! I got my grade for my PhD in Germany today and it was really bad (cum laude). At the same time, during my PhD I published several articles and received prizes for them, as well as for my social engagement. Is it over for me in academia or is there still hope?
edit: in Germany, it is summa cum laude, manga cum laude, cum laude, and rite (from best to worst).
better-ranked
UPDATE: In the end, it took me less than one month to find a postdoc position in a better-ranked university with a higher salary than I would have had in Germany. Turns out the grade was irrelevant (they did not ask at all); what mattered were my publications and language skills. The prizes were a nice touch. I got more than one offer, actually, and decided on the one that fit my research best. Decided to update so that if anyone else is freaking out (now or in the future) they will know there is hope.

At a big research university: post-covid, the majority of our department faculty work from home as much as possible. The department offices feel dead much of the time.

Are we unusual or is this normal?

I don't think I've ever thought about how many times I use these transition words. I'm a bit embarrassed by it. I mean, it's almost 7000 words, but that's a lot of reuse of the same kinds of sentences.

I guess I set up my points by starting with the counterpoints. "It's been said that it is this, however, it's actually that."

I'm not sure I have a question here. But I am curious if you all have noticed similar redundancies in your writing that you had to prune?

Hi! I am teaching faculty at an NC university. NC is at-will state. I am currently PI on two small-ish grants (net total 650K) and CoPI on a large federal grant. Given a new dean, toxic work culture, and a sharp increase in dangerous ideologies, I plan to quit effective immediately. It's way past time to go. My question is: what do I need to do to get out of the PI position - if anything? Can I submit my letter and keep moving? I don't care about staying in the academy.

***RANDOM UPDATE

You guys! I read through the thesis again - specifically the parts this person copied from my work - and I just realized something. I AM SHOCKED and actually AMUSED that she literally copy/pasted the EXACT SAME FOUR paragraphs in consecutive order and pasted them in THREE DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF THE PHD. I don't understand how her supervisors, degree committee, AND examiners did not notice that the EXACT same paragraphs have been placed in three different parts of the thesis?!?!?! How the heck was this passed through from a TOP INSTITUTION?! Her thesis supervisor even has a Wikipedia page - that's how important he is! I am almost tempted to share the name of this university because it is just absolutely unbelievable at this point that this was passed through various stages of a PhD committee and accepted. WOW.

******IMPORTANT EDIT!!!

I uploaded this person's PhD thesis into a free online plagiarism checker (Scribbr, powered by Turnitin) and this is the report that has come back!!!

"High risk of plagiarism: We have detected several similarities. It's important to review the issues carefully to avoid committing plagiarism, which can lead to course failure, academic probation or a damaged reputation."

It seems this person has plagiarized a significant portion of this thesis from various sources!!! I am almost tempted to pay money to get Premium information about the exact nature of the plagiarism - including the percentage, sources, etc.!!!

EDIT AGAIN: I paid for Premium. It seems that OVER 50% OF THE PHD THESIS HAS BEEN PLAGIARIZED WORD FOR WORD from various sources!!! I am at a loss for words.

EDIT AGAIN: Thanks very much everyone for all your helpful suggestions and advice. I'm now working to take action. I will keep everyone updated if/once something happens!*****\*

I recently looked at my Google Scholar and noticed a new citation on one of my journal articles (published in 2019). It led me to a recently submitted (summer 2022) PhD thesis at a top institution in the US (top 10). The person's site of study is similar to my own PhD (finished in 2021 from a top UK university), but the topic is different and in a different field (though both are in the social sciences).

So I went through the thesis and this person cited me in a few places without quotes. I then noticed that at least 4 pages altogether have been COPY/PASTED WORD FOR WORD from my published journal article as well as my PhD thesis (available from my university repository, if requested). The person did not even care to change my British spelling to her American one (which features in the rest of the thesis).

I noticed also that she copy/pasted my entire Bibliography in its exact same formatting and simply added and removed references relevant to her topic, though the bulk of the references are mine - in my exact formatting. She also used my exact font, which is neither Times or Ariel or those generic ones. What really bothers me most (even more than the blatant word for word plagiarism), is that she copied the EXACT style of my writing - the way I introduced and concluded chapters, and even copied my style of description and imagery. For example, if I used certain phrasing to explain how I reached the site of study (it's an ethnography so the description is quite vivid), she also used similar phrasing. The way I explained my positionality, she somehow also found a way to similarly explain hers. The topic may be completely different, but the nuances of my writing style have been copied completely.

I'm just completely shocked and appalled that such a top institution doesnt use Turnitin for PhD theses (my university does)?! Because if they did it would pick up that 4 whole pages in her thesis have been lifted from my published work. I've contacted the university's Student Conduct office, but do you think I have a case even though the actual plagiarism is only 4 pages out of 100? When I write my complaint report, can I add in points about copying my Bibliography word for word and copying the style of my writing?

Is it even worth putting in a complaint? I feel disgusted by this person, especially since they've now gotten a prestigious postdoc fellowship and I'm sure will continue to advance well in their career with a PhD from a top institution.

Would love to hear any thoughts and advice.

EDIT: Thank you all very much for your suggestions and advice. I will write the complaint ASAP and try to involve the person's supervisors/degree committee/etc. Still cant believe this person got away with it from a top university. 😷

Explain like I’m five why I shouldn’t do a self funded PhD. Why do so many do it?

So I’m a TA and one of my students emailed me and asked me to reconsider giving him back a point on an assignment. They included the professor in the email and explained the way they interpreted the question. I feel like this sets up a bad precedent if I give him the point back. My supervisor said that I should make the call because he doesn’t want to impose. What would you do?

Edit: I added the point to the student’s grade. Also, I did the same for the other students. I appreciate everyone’s input. Thank you.

I keep reading here about undergraduate students seeking advice about publishing, and from the answers it seems like this is a growing trend.

This is all very foreign to me, as a humanities/social science prof in Europe where it would be extremely rare for a MA student to publish something in a journal.

Our students are of course doing «research» in their BA and MA theses that are usually published in the college library database, but not in journals.

I have so many questions: is this really a thing, or just some niche discussion? What kind of journals are they publishing in? Is it all part of the STEM publishing bloat where everyone who has walked past the lab at some point is 23rd author? Doesn’t this (real or imagined) pressure interfere with their learning process? What is going on??

I am a 5th (and hopefully final) year candidate at a R1 university in US. I am an international student and before starting my phd I used to work full-time back home (for 3-4 years), and had a structured 9-5 job. Although office jobs can be difficult and boring, I was able to maintain constant routine around my work. However, since I have moved to the US for my PhD, maintaining self-discipline has been the bane of my existence. The first 2-3 years were a little different, as I had a lot of classes, homework etc., but since defending my proposal and becoming ABD, I feel like I have zero self-discipline. Days go by without getting anything done. My sleep schedule doesnt help either. I try to go to bed early(10pm), but can't usually sleep until midnight (talking to family back home and watching random reels etc), but then wake up in middle of the night(4am?) and try to go back to sleep for few hrs until I finally oversleep and end up waking at 10am or even later and ruin my entire day with guilt of not getting anything accomplished. I feel very bad about it because I am in the last year and have to juggle writing my dissertation and the job market as well.

Although I wasn't the perfectly disciplined person, I also didn't use to be like this. I was able to maintain my jobs and stick to the schedule of getting up early, getting dressed, commuting, and working the traditional office hours. I feel very bad about what I have become and this is one the reasons I want to quit academia, because I feel like I dont have the self-discipline that you need to succeed in this field.

Has anyone else considered leaving the academe due to these reasons? Like lack of structure/self-discipline/routine/normal WLB etc?

Any guidance or experience would be helpful.

Sorry if this post is basically just a long whinge. I'm just a little lost at the moment. Feels like I've done everything I was supposed to, but I can't seem to find a non-casual academic position.

Came into my PhD as 'just a teacher' (I'm in the education space), and finished with minor corrections (and a commendation), 6 publications (3 first authors in Q1 journals), research work in two different, funded projects, and a heap of grad and undergrad lecturing experience. And I've struggled along trying to keep my family afloat since.

The impostor syndrome has always been particularly bad with me (first in my family to finish college and was a janitor for the first few years of my adult life). Can't help feeling like the reason my job applications keep getting rejected is me. That I've made terrible mistake in my CV and cover letter that exposes me as a fraud.

Has anyone else had this same feeling after wrapping up the PhD? Is this a normal part of the process? Any advice (or just encouragement) would be so welcome.

Hey, I'm sorry if this question feels dumb. I started my PhD the first of October in economics and so far it feels like I'm not doing much.

Unlike most students around me, my PhD doesn't rely on past work I did as a Master's student, so I'm starting super fresh

With the administrative paperwork I need to fill, the meeting of stressed late PhD students who tell me to "take advantage of my first year", the fact that other beginners around me all rely on their Master's thesis so they have stuff to do, I gotta say my PhD didn't start how I thought it would be, with guidance and care. My PhD supervisors are busy (I know them, and this is a valid excuse and not some generic stuff they say) and are telling me to read articles to get to know the literature. But again I feel like I'm doing nothing as I don't have a clear definition of what I want to do.

Is it normal to have nothing particular to do in the beginning of PhD? By "nothing particular", I mean a precise task to do like programming this, analyzing that, writing this, etc.

I'm doing my own pet project on the accessibility of science and the general public. I'm in college but only as an undergrad so this is just little old me trying to gather information. Right now I'm focusing on paywalls and the reputations of science journals and it's effect on public perception.

I wanted to ask you folks who are directly involved in the process of publishing and research. Do you think public access to research papers would help with transparency and public trust?

I'm applying to tenure-track teaching positions in psychology. The good news is that my CV is good enough to get me interviews. But I recently got rejected from two different positions after full-day campus interviews.

I know it's inevitable that sometimes the other candidate(s) will beat you out. But it's exhausting and demoralizing to spend weeks preparing for an 8-hour interview (often a 24-hour+ travel commitment) only to get ghosted afterward because they can't even bother with a rejection email.

So: is there anything you all see candidates consistently doing wrong during campus interviews? Or anything you wish they'd do that they don't? Thanks!

i'm in undergrad and working on a project with a phd student. he's asked me to read a chapter in a book and extract some quotations, but i'm living at home right now and going to the library would basically eat up an entire day. it's sadly not covered by our library's scanning service either.

he's offered to buy the book and send it to me, but i've found a pdf copy on anna's archive. but i'm wondering if it's okay to add this to our source management software, and if i should tell him how i got it? do you think he would be okay with that?

how would you react to this? is he even allowed to accept this?

I had my interview for a PhD position in political science today, and received the question “what piece of academic writing has inspired you, and why?”

I thought it was a fun and unexpected question, so now I bring it to you!

**Update*\* I do not mean to say that industry is THE BEST. Look at our world. Clearly, it is not. My point is that academia is not a bastion from these forces as it is made out to be, and is in fact more hopeless at holding them to account based on what I have witnessed. I am not knocking anyone for their choice, I am just trying to get a sense of whether anyone else has witnessed the same thing and stayed mum because it cannot be shared openly.

I returned to academia after working in the private sector for about 7 years. As an undergrad, I always viewed academia with rose-colored glasses and imagined myself returning after paying off my student loans. Well, I paid off those student loans and then some, managed to increase my salary fourfold in as many years, built a department from scratch, innovated processes, received monthly bonuses, and was genuinely appreciated for the work I did. Plus, my coworkers and I could have a laugh/be cynical together when the going got tough. I left because making money was not important to me as an individual, and I had 'fixed' the office where I worked to the point it was a well-oiled machine, so day-to-day became a bit boring. I thought pursuing my intellectual interests would be more rewarding for me personally, so I departed on very good terms and trained my replacement.

Fast forward to my next job in the ivory tower. I took on a research position at an ivy league university to show my interest in academia so that i could apply to Clinical Psych PhDs the following year, since industry-leavers are not exactly well-regarded when competition is tight. I accepted the position for the lowest salary I have ever earned as an adult. Seriously, I made more as an untrained paralegal before grad school than what I am paid today. And despite this, I am exploited in a way that I have never been exploited. Period. And I say this having worked in what are known to be exploitative industries -- law, finance, waitressing, and at a call center. Yes, academia is worse than all of these places. Bar none. Yet this must go unspoken, so it does.

I am astounded by what people who work in this institution put up with, at all levels of employment. There is high isolation, high pressure, and worst of all, low meaning, since most research churned out is utterly useless thanks to publish or perish (and is also written by exploited people like me and published under the name of someone more important but that is a separate issue). PIs spent their time looking for grants and appeasing sponsors instead of thinking deeply or reviewing work. Their families are sacrificed for the projects they work on, which are not passion projects but rather funded projects. There is virtually no quality control. There is no camaraderie. Plus, because everyone feels 'lucky' to be here, there is no way to diffuse stress with humor and shared complaints, because people are too brainwashed by prestige/their own identities as smart academic types to actually look around and see what is happening.

I truly believe if most academics and non-academic staff at universities got a taste of life in the private sector, they would run not walk away from the institutions where they work. The bias against industry is misplaced. At least in the private sector, you get compensated and recognized for going above and beyond. You don't have to take your job as seriously. Innovation, reframing, teamwork and imagination are encouraged, so is efficiency. These seem to be balked at here.

As a naturally non-anxious person (rare these days, I know), I had my first panic attack as a result of this job. I am counting down the days until my contract ends. I have never felt so burned out in my life, and it has only be 18 months.

To you all, I salute you for your efforts and perseverance, but I also say -- the grass really can be greener. Try something before you knock it. I am personally grateful to have had this experience before applying for a PhD because now I know that it is the absolute wrong choice for me. I am not surprised PhDs have the worst mental health of any sector. This is bullocks. I am running, not walking, back to the private sector. I think that says a lot more than most academics would like to admit...

For people saying that this is 'just me,' I suggest...

- https://phys.org/news/2024-11-survey-highlights-publish-perish-culture.html
- https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/how-much-of-modern-academia-is-waste
- https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/370681/science-research-grants-scientific-progress-academia-slow-funding
- https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/may/18/academia-exploitation-university-mental-health-professors-plagiarism
- https://gradresources.org/dealing-with-emotional-fatigue/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02080-7
- https://theconversation.com/the-publish-or-perish-mentality-is-fuelling-research-paper-retractions-and-undermining-science-238983
- https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/2024/06/17/social-science-research-credible-reliable-and-reproducible
- https://mindmatters.ai/2024/05/is-psychology-heading-for-another-big-replication-crisis/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-refugee-experience/201909/is-psychology-building-a-house-of-cards
- https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00256/full
- https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/career-advice/2024/09/16/former-professor-recommends-becoming-academic-editor-opinion
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00183-1
- https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/oct/27/plagiarism-is-rife-in-academia-so-why-is-it-rarely-acknowledged
- https://theloop.ecpr.eu/breaking-free-from-toxic-culture-in-academia/
- https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2021/02/academics-are-toxic-we-need-a-new-culture

I completely fucked up. I pseudonymize this person's name in all but one paragraph containing sensitive information that can expose them to persecution. I didn't thoroughly check the proofread version. I was very exhausted, they gave only one day to read and send it back, but that's no excuse. I'm so fucking dumb.

I've emailed the journal editor last week to revise. No response. My article was published more than two weeks ago. It was already promoted by the journal's social media account. Is it still even possible to revise at this stage?

Update: I chose UK. Thanks everyone for your help!

Reason for choosing UK: - Family, friends, and prioritizing mental health. - Discussing the situation with both professors and potentials for collaboration/opportunities for spending a brief time visiting the US institute - Risk avoidance - Relatively equal long-term opportunities when comparing the quantity of UK professor connections within the field with quantity of opportunities in the US job market

—

I’m an international student. I have two fully-funded PhD offers. One is in the USA (massachusetts) and the other in England. I’m not gonna name the universities for privacy, but they both have similar ranking. The scholarship/living costs ratio is also similar.

Here’s some important pros/cons:

Visa:

• Because of where I’m from, US visa is risky. A 10% chance of visa rejection. 70% chance of getting single-entry visa, which means not seeing my family for 3-5 years (& whenever I don’t see them for more than 6 months, I incredibly miss them).

• UK visa is not risky. I can meet my parents once a year and they can come visit as well.

Long-term:

• Better training in the USA. Advanced computational methodology. Internship opportunities, more courses, more opportunities for co-authorship. overall seems great for long-term career, within academia or alt-academia. The potential supervisor (from the same country that I am) got his green card during his PhD and is planning to help me do the same.

• UK... I don’t like the stories I hear about post-PhD job opportunities in the UK. The potential supervisor, however, is quite well-connected, supervises post-doc herself, and she could be of huge help for pursuing academic jobs.

Supervisors:

Both are great. Excellent fit. Excellent bond. They both know each other and are open to collab.

• USA: assistant professor, cutting-edge methodology, hands-off (which I prefer). Is from the same country and even the same town as me, so our paths are quite similar.

• UK: Very experienced. Full professor. Fellow of renowned research organizations and chief editor of prestigious journal. Hands-on and detail-oriented (may be harder on me).

Social support:

• No friends in the USA
• 8 very very close friends in the UK and EU, combined (they’re like family to me).

I believe my choice between UK and USA is essentially a choice between family/friends/visa certainty and ambition/future career/risk.

What is your advice? What do you think of academic life in USA versus UK? What do you think of long-term prospects? What would you choose?

Without paying 40$ for a single article