texts: What should I do if the admission committee has missed something in my application and rejected me?

texts:
I applied for a graduate program and I was rejected, but there is evidence suggesting that there was a mistake in reviewing my application. Now the school seems reluctant to reconsider the application. What should I do? Is there any real chance of being reconsidered?

Here are some details about the story:

The reason for rejection was mentioned in my rejection letter, and apparently, it was a very objective and quantifiable admission requirement that they thought I don't meet. But that was simply wrong, and they seem to have misunderstood (or even completely missed) one of my documents. It is a university in a different country, and apparently, they misinterpreted the document, which was issued by my undergrad school, and missed important information. I explained the document to them and they responded with a change in the reason, but the new reason in a way contradicts the previous one and it again seems to be about missing the exact same information related to that document. The new reason is also even more objective and almost purely bureaucratic, so I explained the policy of my undergrad university to them and what the information in the document means, but then I did not hear back from them anymore.

What should I do in this situation? So far I've just been explaining to them how there might have been some confusions, but with their most recent response, it seems to me that most probably, they misunderstood my documents, and might have even completely missed one of them! I'm afraid of pursuing this more seriously and directly because the department is one of my favorite departments and I like to keep the option of going there later in my academic career open.


texts: Academic dishonesty -- math graduate school admissions

texts: I have been somewhat incorrectly convicted of copying another student's test, and the prospects of reversing this seem doubtful. My school's policy is somewhat more lenient here due to it being a first offense so they removed points on questions they think I cheated on and that this happened is kept on file, though it is not on my transcript. How would this affect my ability to get into top math graduate schools (assuming I am unable to successfully reverse this)? In particular, do many ask me to specify such things?


texts: Do postdocs in the United States generally get annual raises?

texts: Do postdocs in the United States get raises in general? (Is this different for postdocs hired under specific grants vs postdocs hired through departments, such as in mathematics?) If there are raises, how are they determined?


texts: Applying to Ph.D. with 5 years in Bachelors

texts:
I will finish my 4 year bachelors program next year, in a total of 5 years.

I had failed many many courses in 2nd year and my cgpa was around 2.4

Then I had that enlightenment and decided to become an academic. Since then, I have increased my cgpa to over 3.5 and turned all F's to A's. For last 3 semesters I get averagely 3.9 gpa each semester

I still have some C's in few courses from 2nd year and instead of graduating this year, I will graduate next year.

I have managed to boost my cgpa amazingly after such things but I want to know if this extra year will cause me any trouble during Ph.D. applications.


texts: Admission to Ph.D. program at U.S. university without guaranteed funding

texts:
Recently I got admission from one U.S. university for my Ph.D. study, and they offered me a kind of scholarship that only covers my tuition fee. When I asked them about other funding possibilities such as RA or TA positions, they said that at this point they are not offering any RA or TA positions to any incoming students, only when you arrived at university, you can find one by yourself.

My question is whether this situation is common in U.S. universities. I have heard that some students can get an assistant-ship even before attending the Ph.D. program.  Although I have an admission letter in my hand, without enough funding for my future study I really do not what to do. Therefore I desperately need suggestions from people who have been through this and have experience.


texts: What should have capital cases in the title of works in the bibliography?

texts:
According to this answer it is a feature that BibTeX converts all characters to lower case for titles in the bibliography. This is confusing for me. What characters in the titles I cite should be upper case?

Here is a screenshot were I marked all characters that I would have written uppercase:

(The first 'r' in recognition was a mistake)

So I think I should write everything in capital that I would write in capital in a normal English sentence. Is that correct?


texts:
I would like to know if it is possible to "publish" in arXiv a preprint non-intended for publication with a journal template?

Example: make an article with AMS Article template (of JAMS) submitting it to arXiv and never submitting it to JAMS?


texts: How to prepare before going to grad school

texts:
I earned my Bachelor's degree in Information Technology this year and I am currently employed in the last 5 months. I am currently 20 years old and expected to be 21 when I enter graduate school.

For my background, I don't think I have something special. I barely passed during the part 2 of my undergraduate thesis. I am just a regular student back then and was not active on any organization or extracurricular activities. A kind of student who managed to pass all my subjects without failing a single unit but some of them just barely passed.

As for the job, according to my employer, on all applicants that they I have, I was the only one who was able to answer their take-home programming exam.

I am planning to take up a Master's degree in Computer Science which is somehow different from my current degree next year.

As for my research project, I haven't thought of it as of now. To be honest, I will enter the graduate school to boost my skills and credentials and also for self satisfaction.

I have roughly around 6 months more to prepare. As a student planning to take up computer science, how should I prepare in entering grad school? I don't want to waste my 6 months to do nothing and I want to prepare that bad. Is there any advice you can give me? Or something to study before entering graduate school?


texts: How to proceed if email asking for a recommendation letter hasn't gotten a response after 3 weeks (during COVID-19 pandemic)?

texts:
I know this question has been asked before but here is the Covid-19 Pandemic Edition:

I emailed my professor asking if they would consider writing me a LOR almost a month ago and haven't gotten a response. Normally after a week or two I'd sent a follow up email but email etiquette seems a little different right now due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  I don't want to pester them or seem out of line but I would really like a response and am not sure what to do. I'm not sure if I should ask again because this professor is not planning on teaching next semester and I would imagine is busy working on other summer projects. And, like most of us right now, is probably trying to deal with the many uncertainties brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. I did very well in the class but the last month of the semester was very disrupted due to coronavirus and all classes had to be made entirely virtual, so I'm not so sure that I'd stand out as a well-performing or memorable student as much as one would under normal circumstances, but I'm not sure who else to ask at this point. I need the LOR in the fall so the deadline is still several of months away. Should I wait another week or two and see if I get a response? Should I send a follow up email now or just assume that no reply means no?


texts: Is there a database or search engine where I can search for databases on a specific topic? For example, how do librarians decide which databases they will subscribe to; is there some central list?


texts: How would you respond if you were forwarded an email by your secretary that clearly wasn't meant for you?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate senior seeking to continue on into academia, and one of the avenues I'm pursuing to accomplish this is through an NSF GRFP proposal. I spent well over a hundred hours agonizing over every word of this, and I'm happy to have three professors that I've done research with who agreed to write my letter of recs.

The deadline for these letters is just a week away, and over the course of the past three weeks, one of my professors stopped responding to my emails, as he is prone to do on occasion when he gets busy. In the past, I had a negative experience where a careless professor forgot to submit a letter on time and this led to my sophomore study abroad proposal being returned without review. In this context, I sent the following email to his secretary (names redacted):

  Hi [Secretary],

  I wanted to inquire about an issue I'm having with Prof. [professor]
  at the moment. I asked him a number of weeks ago to write me a letter
  of recommendation for my NSF proposal (due November 2nd), to which he
  kindly agreed. He asked me for various things, including my transcript
  and statement of purpose, which I provided. Unfortunately, since then,
  I haven't been able to contact him in any way. I've sent him three
  emails over the past two weeks with no response. It is extremely
  important to me that this letter actually gets sent in; to put it
  bluntly, it's my future that's on the line here. I have in the past
  encountered the terrible experience of having a professor miss a
  similarly non-negotiable deadline, and I suffered from the loss of
  that opportunity as a result. I would greatly appreciate it if you
  could gently remind him of the deadline and ask him to confirm that he
  did indeed receive all of the application materials I sent him. If he
  needs anything else from me, I am more than happy to send it to him.

  Thank you very much,

  [Me]

Of course, the first thing she does is forwards this email directly to my professor, even though it was never written with his eyes in mind. I'm now worried that my professor (with whom I otherwise have a good relationship) will think less of me and write a poorer letter of rec on my behalf. I was wondering how academics would feel if they were put in a similar spot, and if I ought to be proactive in rectifying the situation, or if I should just let sleeping dogs lie.

A Socially Anxious Student


texts:
I am a PhD student in computer science (theory). I am currently writing a research paper. It is a short paper consisting of about 7-8 pages. I have written it two time and have taken few advice from research supervisor. I am struggling with the part where we give the overview of our approach.

Problems I am facing :

I can not write much in this part as it is just an overview.
I have to be consistent with the symbol's I used in the main part of research paper.
How much should I give in the overview section?
Should I try to avoid symbols, proofs etc. in the overview section?

Question: How to convey your main idea in a research paper?


texts: How to politely ask my thesis advisor that I want to work independently as the meetings are not productive for me?

texts:
I am a master student, my advisor gave me a topic he is not an expert at, a new field to him.
The point is he is not an expert in the field he throw me in, he doesn't even give me technical advice in the topic when I ask, he is very old and lazy and the topic is a bit different than what he used to publish in so he doesn't understand much of what I am saying and partly because he doesn't have a background in the field, the meetings are not productive. I stopped visiting and now he blames me in front of his colleagues!
I am very irritated, I am not benefiting from the meetings why should I waste my time. I am fine working on my own! Like now it is my mistake really?
How to politely tell him "your meetings are not beneficial and I will work on my own"?


texts: Why should a graduate student complete a whole course?

texts:
A normal process of learning in a graduate school looks like taking courses that include a broad perspective on some subject. This also includes the instruments of control: exercises, tests, problem sets, and exams. Let's suppose this control exists only to show where a student has gaps in his knowledge.

A student takes such courses to learn things she will apply later in her work.

But in practice each course include much material that the student will never apply in her work, even in academic research.

Many notable scholars mention that they pick up necessary tools, while disliking the idea of a university that offers too much in general, so students have to disperse their efforts.

Why does academia use this push process of fixed course program and control for all students in the course, instead of a pull process, when students have their own research interests and just pick necessary tools when the need arises?

Shouldn't students in general use a selective, not linear, approach to getting necessary knowledge? It's obvious that students need some overview, but what prevents them from getting this overview as they work through the problems of their own?


texts: Re-write paper to make it truly double blind

texts:
When I was a PhD student, I wrote a collection of papers that comprised a large portion of my dissertation. These papers were written using grant money from one of my advisors. (I had two advisors. The "second" advisor funded me for two semesters).

After I had graduated, this professor expressed a desire to collaborate with me on publishing the papers I had written as part of my dissertation. However, he wants me to entirely re-write each paper in "new" language in order to make the publication truly double blind. He fears that if someone were to Google phrases from my paper, that my dissertation would appear and that the authorship would be known (thus destroying the double-blind process). Because this professor is only topically familiar with my research (enough to be on my committee, not enough to actually write the papers), I am extremely hesitant to even suggest that he do any re-writes himself. (In fact, he attempted to re-write a new draft of the paper and it contained numerous errors in terminology and theory).

I am currently employed in a private research setting (i.e. non-academia) where publication is still important, but I am not free to devote significant amounts of time to my own research. (I have specific, employer directed, research I need to perform). As such, I am not able to allocate numerous hours to re-writing a paper that I already wrote and that I feel is currently in "submission-ready" form.

The ultimate reality is that Google is a powerful tool that could locate my research no matter how hard I tried to obscure it. I cannot take down my LinkedIn, arXiv, and ResearchGate accounts (plus a website) just in case someone wants to devote hours tracing research back to me. Besides, the whole point is to connect myself to my research and make it easier for people to find my research.

Several of the potential journals I am looking at submitting to require double-blindness.

I have two main questions:

  Is it usual practice for journals/referees to Google sentences from papers and attempt to determine authorship?

  Should I feel inclined to re-write each paper in "new" language in order to avoid anyone from being able to trace my work back to my dissertation?

Added: There have been some questions about authorship on this paper. I am the first author on this paper. The professor in question here contributed what I would consider the bare minimum to be granted recognition as an author. I have already gone through a protracted dispute with my former university over the matter of authorship and they decided that since it was my professor's word against mine as to exactly how much he contributed, they would rule in favor of the professor. (It's much easier to tell a student no than a professor). I was instructed to include this professor as an author on the paper by university administration. I am not directly concerned here with who should be named author on the paper. At this point, dropping the professor from the paper is not an option.


texts: Why would my former colleagues acknowledge me for a nonexistent contribution?

texts:
I spent a postdoctoral period in China, where I faced number of issues with the administration and supervisor. In short, I felt exploited in many ways, from payment and funding restrictions to being constantly asked to provide unfair “favours” and contributions.

During my stay, I was constantly asked to revise manuscripts for language and suggestions. I am a critical person, and the local culture is refractory to open criticism. Still, whilst my suggestions seemed to be typically ignored and made others uneasy, my lab mates would continuously ask for my opinion on manuscripts under preparation. They usually acknowledged my contributions in the acknowledgments section. Exactly why they would ask me for suggestions when they didn’t seem to appreciate them had always puzzled me.

However, since my departure they have published three papers I have never seen whilst acknowledging me for suggestions. For example, this is the latest of these papers they wrote:

  We thank Dr. [other researcher], United States; and Dr. [Scientist], ZZZ, China, for critical reviews of this manuscript.

Awkwardly enough, these are papers directly within my area of expertise, which were surely under preparation during my presence, and first-authored by close colleagues. (Meaning they certainly refrained from mentioning these projects around me, at least in English).

Why would someone acknowledge a nonexistent contribution from a close colleague? Especially on a project that was apparently kept secret? It feels very awkward.


texts: What to write in the email for sending PhD application to a research group's head?

texts:
I am applying for a Ph.D. position in a research group. On the group's webpage, the leader of the group has asked to send him CV and Motivation Letter if someone is interested in a Ph.D. position.

I have prepared the documents, but I am wondering that what should I write in the email by which I will send him the documents?

Should I write about why am I interested in his work?

Should I talk about my educational background?

Or just simply say "Dear Professor, Attachment is my application for Ph.D. position in your group?"


texts: How common is it that publishers withdraw a paper due to incorrect conclusions?

texts:
Today there has been significant news coverage (at least in the UK) that the BMJ are withdrawing statements from two papers on the possible harmful side effects of statins. Here are the Guardian and BBC articles on it.

This led me to wonder how common such issues are in academia in general. In this case it appears the authors made an incorrect conclusion from a study which was not picked up in peer review. I can think of lots of similar possible situations where proofs may turn out to be incorrect or other data may be wrong/not properly dealt with.

In particular I'm thinking about less popular/controversial subjects where such things are unlikely to make the general news. Is it standard practice to issue a retraction if things are incorrect? If anyone has any numerical data on this that would be ideal.


texts: Should / How do I include my school's GPA Scale in my CV / Application

texts:
I'm preparing my grad school applications (CV, letter of intent, etc) and in these I need to include my GPA. My school uses the 4.3 scale and I feel as though not including this information is misleading since my GPA will look better when compared to someone who is actually marked out of a 4.0.

But I have not seen this in any online example nor have I seen it in any of the outlines that schools give for their expected applications.

Should I include the GPA scale and if so how do I do this? Would 3.9 / 4.3 be reasonable?

Update / Solution

By the general look of the comments it is best to avoid ambiguity by stating the scale up front. So, I think the general consensus is GPA/grades should be reported along side their scales.


texts: Advisor interferes too much with my research

texts:
I have an advisor who interferes too much with my research. When I am in the lab he always comes and sits near me telling me exactly what to do even the tiniest details, and most of the time he is just doing the design himself (Actually holding the mouse and doing the design) and I am just sitting and looking at him. The only tasks I am asked to do on my own are the simplest tasks that require no brain abilities at all.

Once, he got angry because I was trying some design I found in a book and he got angry and told that I am wasting time and I should do only what he tells me to do. I come to work at weekends only to find him waiting for me, and doing the same all over again. He calls me at weekends and during work days when I am not in the lab to come and work just to give himself an excuse in front of other professors to sit on my station and design.

I have to submit my thesis very soon, and when he sees me writing it he tells me that I am wasting time and I should do the stuff he asked me to do. I told him the I have an external examiner which have to see a draft very soon when I defend my thesis, and he said "Yes and I am in your committee and you have to make me happy".

Seriously, I just want him to back off! I feel very offended by this treatment and that I am just a "trained monkey" who does only what he asked to do.

What words can I use to tell him that he should give me my space and that I want to do my research on my own ??


texts: How to professionally handle sexist remarks by a student?

texts:
Suppose that you noticed a student saying a sexist remark to you, and the student is completely unaware of it. In the spirit of fighting sexism, I feel that I should maybe say something. But on the other hand, as a person on the higher end of the power spectrum, I feel that I would be bullying the student if I were calling him out on his sexist remarks (which he is probably not aware of).

If I witness a student engaging in a sexist behavior, should I call him/her out? How can I do this without making the student feel intimidated? What would be the professional way to deal with such a situation?

My question is:

If a student commits a clear sexist behavior in front of you, will you call him/her out? If so, how will you approach it so that you don't appear patronizing/bullying?

(I made a major edit, because many answers addressed my "background" story rather than my actual question. I do not see any satisfactory answer that fully addresses my question.)


texts: Should I self-fund my PhD at one of the top 10 universities at UK?

texts:
I will start my PhD in the field of Biomedical Computer Vision soon at one of the top 10 universities at UK. I am an international student from Asia.
But unfortunately I haven't received any source of funding yet (no university scholarship, no supervisor grant) to cover my PhD. The tuition fees alone per year is only slightly less than 20,000 British Pounds, which is something I cannot afford on my own for all my years of PhD.

I am thinking of going there initially for one year with self-funding, by taking money from my savings and some from my parents, and will risk it initially and try to secure a source of funding there after starting my PhD, and if everything goes well will have figured a way to fund myself from some grant or scholarship.

I have been thinking about this since many many days now and am not able to make a decision about whether I should go there or not. And if things go really bad financially, what would be ways out ?

Any comments or help is much needed and highly appreciated.


texts:
I am a third-year Ph.D student of computer science and engineering (I joined a direct PhD program after my bachelor’s in computer science). I am working on theoretical computer science.

In the first two years, I did the course work plus some survey of the field called theoretical computer science. To get anything published in XYZ is more challenging (as well as requires more time) than the abc. I am more interested in the ABC than the XYZ. It is not that I am not interested in ABC side, I am very much. In the first two years I have explored XYZ side. I also did three to four courses related to ABC techniques.

Now my supervisor is saying that I should “be open to both XYZ techniques as well as ABC techniques”. I am confused what to do. Is it normal? I have not started my thesis yet.


texts: Is there a bias against mentioning your name on presentation slides?

texts: Is there some sort of unwritten rule in academia that you shouldn't mention your own name explicitly on presentation slides? I have seen this time and time again, if you cite work in the middle of the talk and it happens to be your own work, people abbreviate their names. For example, they only write their first name. 'Miller' is abbreviated to 'M.', but all other names are spelled out in full.


texts:
For a long time I thought that when I start my PhD, my field of research is fixed for the rest of my academic career. However, I've encountered multiple people who have a PhD in space science or particle physics, and have later moved to atmospheric science or remote sensing — one of them even after already having tenure, starting an entirely new topic while remaining at the same institute. How common or uncommon is it to change to an unrelated field within natural science? How much chance would one have of a post-doc if the newly graduated PhD has no experience with the actual topic whatsoever? Is it expected that a Postdoc spends the first 3–6 months getting into the field, or that he/she can dive into the depth right away? Of course, a lot of scientifically relevant skills (data analysis, critical thinking, programming, statistics, etc.) are in common between different fields, but how important is the content of ones experience, really?

Related but different question: How might changing topic affect a career in academia? (different because from e.g. particle physics to climate science is more than just changing topic)


texts: International Collaborative Research - How to coordinate grants and principal investigators?

texts:
I am coordinating a cross country, cross-university research project on social mobile learning. The research touches on a new learning style that early adopters are trying out. I am the tech partner and support these early adopters (users / lecturers / profs) are sitting all over Asia. To document the 'journey', we are putting the output into academic journals.
A bit more of details:

To maximize the amount of grant support, it makes sense to apply to both region level (for me its Asia). As well as school level.
I have participants from different countries (eg. Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong) and different universities
In the best case scenario, in my opinion (and my original thought) - i have 1 paper that puts all together as a form of comparison and everyone are co-authors.

But then realistically, each grant requires its own requirement in its principal investigator. And not everyone in other countries may see the benefit to be a part of it.
In hindsight, and this is my current plan -

It is probably not possible to go one big bang anyway. The resulting research will be too big too early. The results will not be able to be developed well enough.
It would make sense to break things up into smaller chunks that are manageable to build up the research model, theory and experiments. Probably start with some qualitative. In these attempts, i can group lecturers on the same stage, and topic and do them together.

Please help share your experience (and or examples) if you have coordinated international research projects before especially if you only had 1 paper output (for eg to meet a scopus Q1-2 journal)


texts: What is the best way to start learning a new course?

texts:
For learning new courses by one's self is it better

to read the related text
to attend online courses such as from sites like Coursera
to combine the two
or use another method altogether

In general, which is the better strategy for a motivated adult learner who is entering a new area?


texts: Is it appropriate to attend a friends' dissertation defense/FPO (USA)?

texts:
My initial reaction would be that it would be highly inappropriate to attend someone's defense unless explicitly invited, and you should never ask someone for and invitation to anything. It should be something very private.

However, it referred to as a "Final Public Oral Examination" and the time, date, and location (i.e. Zoom link) is shared by the department and the university. I have been told that some things I would find mean and offensive are actually supportive and kind things to do, so I do not know if my initial reaction is the "correct" one.

I want to be supportive, while not going where I am not wanted/should not go. At the same time, I am not sure if there is just some level of unspoken assumptions/norms that I am unaware of.


texts: Should a graduating doctoral student "care" about his or her advisor's tenure considerations?

texts:
I am a doctoral student in a large state university in the eastern US. I'm in my final year of work and will likely defend my dissertation shortly. I already have a job in "industry" (i.e. non-academia) lined up.

My advisor would prefer that I stay for another semester to finish up another publication with him. My contributions to the publication are relatively minimal now, but I am the last remaining person on the project that knows any of the details about it. My advisor, while topically knowledgeable about the subject, would need to put in significantly more time to produce the paper.

Because I anticipated this, I wrote a document to allow for a transfer of knowledge to anyone who joins the project when I leave. It assumes the person is familiar with Python, R, or MatLab. My advisor knows none of those languages, so he cannot immediately pick up the work himself.

Long story short, my advisor wants me to stay and finish up one last project with him so he can include it in his portfolio for tenure. If I leave before the project is complete, he will likely be unable to complete the project in time to have it considered for his tenure evaluation. This would weaken his tenure application and could also lead to the loss of a grant.

As such, he offered me a small stipend of $5000 or so to stay on and complete the paper with him. I would need to turn down a job offer that would likely pay four times that, plus an offer that would place me in a long term job in a field I want to be in. I would also have to go without dental and vision insurance for another semester.

Is there a tactful way to tell my advisor I really couldn't care less if he doesn't obtain tenure because of this? It's not that I hate my advisor, but I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of still having to work under him. (Especially for a quarter of the salary.) It's nothing personal, it's just that I don't want to write a paper for the advisor just so that he can obtain tenure.

In all, how much I care about my advisor obtaining tenure?

Added While it may be feasible for me to contribute to the project while also working in a full time position, this is not a desirable outcome. To be blunt, my advisor should have figured this situation out before now. He has had several opportunities to become involved in this project more fully. He has resisted learning the necessary theory and technology relevant to the project. As can be inferred by his current pursuit of tenure, we are not talking about someone who technology has passed by. If you got a PhD after 2010, yet cannot deign to learn new technology....it's hard for me to feel very inclined to continue to help you write a paper that you should be able to oversee on your own. Ultimately, I am wondering how I should go about telling my advisor that I am not going to become more involved in a project at the very end of my work with him, when I in fact want to distance myself from working with him in the future.


texts: How to recognize/ judge whether the PI/ recruiter has selected me as post doctoral fellow?

texts:
I applied for a position doing interdisciplinary research work in my field. The PI contacted me, took my interview and told me he would contact me again for my presentation. My interview went for one hour.

After three months the PI returned and asked me to present my work on Skype. My presentation went for one hour and I answered all possible questions except for my experience with in vivo applications. I answered that being a foreign national I was not allowed to handle in vivo techniques. Finally he mentioned that he would get back to me.

I am not sure whether he selected me as post doc fellow. How can I recognize if he selected me?


texts: Do grad schools look at the overall GPA in applications, or do they look at particular courses?

texts:
I'm wondering whether it'd be worthwhile to spend an extra semester in my undergrad or two getting my grades up. Unfortunately I've taken all the courses relevant to my field, so this would mean using unrelated courses to boost my GPA.

But I'm not sure if the unrelated courses would actually serve to raise my GPA in the eyes of grad school application boards: would they be pleased with the higher GPA, or would they disconsider it since it was obtained using irrelevant courses?

My GPA isn't too bad, but I luckily can afford to spend another semester or two getting it up if it'd make me a more competitive applicant (and might as well if I get rejected from the schools I want to go to).

Edit: apologies, I had no idea that some countries don't employ the GPA measure. GPA stands for "grade point average" and is essentially your average grade across all the courses you've taken during your time in undergrad (and possibly Master's).


texts: Difference between UK honors and pass degree from Indian degrees

texts:
I am from India and we have two different degrees. One would be honors and other would be pass. I graduated with a Bsc(pass) degree. Now this degree included studying Physics, Mathematics and Computer Sciences at breadth. An honors degree would require me to complete a depth requirement in only one subject.

Now as I was looking for the eligibility for a masters' degree, I am finding it difficult to find the equivalent of my degree in UK.


texts: Whether or not to include declined fellowship in CV

texts:
Problem

I am now applying for a Ph.D. program in United States.

I know a similar question has been answered here. But my situation is a bit different. Here is the difference

I managed to get a postgraduate recommendation in my home country. This means I could get enrolled in graduate program without any examination. This examination is very selective. Many people need to do it more than one time to get admitted. Moreover, this postgraduate recommendation opportunity is scarce, less than 10% of students in decent institutions could get this.
Accompanied with this recommendation, I am automatically entitled to a full scholarship worth of 5000 dollars, which is a considerable amount in my home country.

I am aware of the issues listed in already answered question. But could my case be anything different?

Thank you in advance.


texts:
I'm an early career researcher who would like to conduct interviews for a research project on my own, and I was hoping to get some advice about whether this sort of thing is advisable.

I recently graduated and published my work in a peer reviewed journal, and I'm planning to continue my research through a PhD sometime in the next couple of years. However, I would also like to work a documentary type project related to my field of study, not for an academic audience but for the broader general public.
I'm not currently affiliated with a university though, and have never conducted any interviews before (all my work so far has been archival), so I'm a little concerned about the ethics of my doing so without any kind of official backing. I'm not even sure if this is something I COULD get backing for as it would be a side project anyway.

Due to my area of research the window of opportunity for conducting interviews is rapidly closing, and I'm concerned about missing the chance. It wouldn't be feasible for me to wait until I'm more established, as the younger interviewees are already in their early 80s.

Would it be possible, and more importantly ethical for me to be doing this? Could I get funding for this? And should I be getting a university or other academics involved?


texts: If my friend sent a recording of his lecture; Is it against the law?

texts:
I don't attend university, but I would love to learn to further my IT skills, is my friend allowed to record his lecture and send it to me? Is there any law against this... Or is he free to do what he wants for example post it on YouTube?

Any feedback is appreciated.


texts: How important is the meeting with the dean in a faculty interview?

texts: I was invited to a campus interview for a tenure track faculty job. The chair just told me that the dean might not be on campus on the date I chose and he/she would talk with me on the phone. I am wondering how important is the meeting with the dean? Should I reschedule the visit so that I can meet the dean in person?


texts:
The answers and comments to this question along with the wikipedia entry suggest that the DTech degree is "higher" than a PhD in the UK.

This is the first time I've heard of an academic certification being considered higher than a PhD.

What makes a degree higher than a PhD? Is it merely a governmental classification, or is there some other property (perhaps having a PhD as a prerequisite?)?

Is there any consistency to which degrees have this property acorss different nation and system? Which ones do?


texts: Before submitting a paper, should I remove acknowledgement for the sake of anonymity?

texts: I have this paper to submit. A professor has given great comments on a previous version of my paper. To submit I need to make it anonymous. Should I also remove my acknowledgement. I think that to mention a name in my paper might be regarded as producing a bias in my favor.


texts: How to react to this editor response after a long fruitless review phase?

texts:
We submitted a paper 26 months ago.  Until now, more than two years have passed, but we have not got any information of our manuscript. Several times we wrote emails to the editorial office and current editors-in-chief   to ask them of about our manuscript but the status of the paper is still under review.

Yesterday, we sent a letter directly to the editor-in-chief to say that:

  We can wait one month more. After this time if we shall not obtain the first reviews then, please, permit us to  withdraw our submission from the journal.

The answer we received was:

  The better think is what you are proposing...

How should we respond to them in this case?


texts:
I will be applying to PhD statistics programs this upcoming fall and really enjoy statistics. But, I also love physics (started as a physics major) and am wondering if there is opportunity post-PhD to work in a physics (or astronomy) department. I am aware of some programs (such as CMU) that do research in astrostatistics and some of those professors got PhD's in physics or astronomy, but did not know if it was possible to do the opposite.

I honestly cannot give a good reason why I ended up switching from physics to math, but do not take this as regretting it, I love math and especially statistics.


texts: Poster Presentations: Is it acceptable to present an update to a currently ongoing project as a poster at a conference?

texts:
The project has been going on for about 5 years, but we have made large strides in the past year. We already presented the project last year at the same conference, but would it be acceptable to present the major updates at this year's same conference?

Thank you all.


texts: Following academic development, citation, new publications - From a pre-existing "library"

texts:
"Library" in this context means the papers/books that you have in program X (Zotero, Mendeley, etc.) forming the literary core of a project or topic.

Is there an already-established method to automatically get the latest citations (from papers in your library) or new publications (from authors in your library)? I picture something like having a "Latest developments" panel in the program X showing a list of the newest items which could be of interest according to your library.

I have never seen or heard of something like this and it might well just not exist. However I can see how this could be something very valuable for researchers looking to optimize how they keep up with literature, so maybe there is an app already out there which I might have missed so far.


texts: How should one turn down academic job applicants?

texts: What's a tactful, respectful way to notify job applicants that you won't be hiring them?  I see a lot of angry online discussion of this issue.  Nobody seems to like the common "if you don't hear back, you're not hired" approach, but it's easy to go wrong in other ways (too short, too long, too condescending, too cheerful, too early in the hiring season so it seems insulting, too late so it's no longer useful, etc.).  Of course, part of the problem is that being rejected is intrinsically painful, so nobody's ever going to enjoy a rejection letter.  The question is how to provide useful and timely information while avoiding adding unnecessary pain.


texts: How to prove episodes of academic misconduct?

texts:
My former PhD supervisor asked me different times to produce false results, including complete fabrication from scratch of otherwise non-existent results. I always managed to get away from that and I have never published nor submitted anything falsified. However, I still think that this must be reported, partially because he may do that again with other students. Also, the other coauthors (including professors) have never known about this.
Unfortunately, I have no written proof of his behavior, not even email, as he has always asked me in person.
How can I proceed in such a situation?


texts:
As a young scholar I frequently struggle with knowing the extent to which I should be critical of particular components of papers I am reviewing. I can formulate a rough hierarchy between major concerns (things that need to be changed or this shouldn't be published) and relatively minor concerns (things I think would improve the manuscript, but aren't substantive enough to affect whether the paper is publishable or not).The question here concerns the latter, in essence I don't know where the cut-off in reasonableness should be for minor concerns.

For one example, being curmudgeonly I would say bad graphics are the norm rather than the exception in my field, although they aren't frequently so bad I can't figure out what the author is trying to say. Are minor critques of graphs appropriate (e.g. your gridlines are very obtrusive, the aspect ratio of your chart isn't appropriate, your colors/patterns are hard to distinguish, you should use a dot plot instead of a stacked bar graph, etc.) Frequently my suggested improvements would be somewhat arbitrary though, so I frequently hesitate to give such advice.

Is there any advice to guide the role of the peer-reviewer? Another side question too, does the scope change if I'm doing this for a colleague versus as an anonymous reviewer for a journal?


texts: Is there a biological age drawback for comparable academic experience in order to get permanent position?

texts:
I wanted to know if there are (potentially unofficial) limits about biological age in order to get permanent positions.
For instance let's say that you started your 3 years PhD about 27 (where people usually start it on their 23-24), for a comparable post-doc experience (quality of research, years of research), will the person that started "later on" its academic carrier be disadvantaged for permanent position recruitment?
For my example, I started 4 years "late" because I was a bit hesitatant about what to do for the future so that I completely switched of fields during my graduate studies.
Possibly in an unofficial manner?


texts: Can an advisor write a student's PhD thesis?

texts:
I've recently discovered a strange situation.  A few years ago, a senior mathematician published a certain solo paper X.  A few years prior to that, one of his students wrote a thesis Y on the same topic, and large parts of paper X are copied verbatim from thesis Y.  In the thesis, it is indicated that the work is intended to be a joint publication between the author and the student, however neither the student's name nor the thesis are mentioned in paper X.

Note: I am not concerned about the general issue of duplicating material from a thesis in journal papers (this seems to be considered acceptable, e.g., How much overlap is permitted between a submitted journal article and a thesis? and How to avoid self-plagiarism when adapting dissertation into a paper?), but here the authors of X and Y are different.

This suggests some possibilities, none all that great:

the advisor plagiarized the student's thesis
the advisor didn't plagiarize the student, because the advisor actually wrote the thesis, and later decided the student didn't deserve co-authorship
the advisor and the student wrote the thesis together, but the advisor just claimed sole authorship (I believe the student left academia)

I know the advisor was working on this project before, so I suspect one of the latter two is closest to reality.  I certainly thing something about this situation is wrong, but I don't know the details of what, so my question is:

  To what extent is it acceptable for a student's advisor to physically write their PhD thesis?

I know sandwich theses are okay (depending on school), and in many areas theses comprise joint papers.  So I suppose it happens that in certain fields, that a student might not write any of their "thesis", except the introduction.  (In this case the introduction was copied also, but that's beside the point of this question.)

Note: In math, it is rare that the whole of a student's thesis work is published jointly with their advisor, even if the advisor did a lot of the work.  However, in math my personal expectation is that thesis should largely be written by the student; even if an advisor does most of the work for the thesis, it should be largely written by the student.  I'm interested in an answer for both math and non-math PhD theses, if there's a difference.


texts: If I am interested in specializing in theory of computation, should I be looking for a PhD program in CS or math?

texts:
I took a Theory of Computation class years ago through my university's math department that I really enjoyed and found interesting. If I wanted to further pursue study/research/specialization with Theory of Computation what what kind of Ph.D program should I be looking for? Computer Science or Math. I am leaning towards Math grad school since I not inclined to take take classes about Database and OS design.

Has the prevalence of computer science programs in major universities during the past 30 years made the new researcher in the Theory of Computation normally a CS grad student or is it normal for pure math grad students specializing in theory of computation?


texts: In the US, instructors sometimes ask one or two students to take notes for a given lecture, in view of releasing the lecture notes later on for the rest of the class. Such students are sometimes called "scribes". Is "scribe" a pejorative or a neutral term? If pejorative, is there any neutral or positive term? (I am asking as in French "scribe" can sound somewhat derogatory)


texts: I want to be a guest speaker at a university

texts: Currently, I am doing a PhD and I want be a guest speaker at one of my previous universities. The topic of my PhD is very similar to what I studied at the university and therefore, I want to give a small talk to the students there. How can I ask the authorities at my previous university to do the same?


texts: How to respond to an editor's post-review comments suggesting major changes I'm not willing to make?

texts:
I submitted a paper (in applied mathematics) to a journal about a year and a half ago. I received the first feedback from the Editor in Chief about a year later (the reviewing process for this journal is usually long): the two reviewers were positive and suggest minor revisions (clarification, typos, etc.). At this point, the EIC wrote me that he would keep his comments for the next round of reviewing.

The second feedback came 6 months later. The two reviewers replied very shortly, saying that their requests had been satisfied and one of them recommended publication overtly.
At this point, the EIC wrote a lengthy set of comments on the paper which can be roughly divided in two categories:

On one hand, revision of typos, clarification of some paragraphs, etc., that the reviewers had missed.
On the other hand, he commented on the theoretical framework used in the paper, saying that it was unnecessarily complicated and hoping there would be a simpler way to achieve the same goal. He suggested to cut most of the parts where this theory would be used and to rewrite the paper accordingly.

I feel being in a delicate situation, where I'd like to have this paper published, but not sacrifice its background and the main ideas it implies. For me, the theory which is proposed provides a very simple way to deal with the examples. I am considering writing to the EIC to essentially ask him if he's ok to keep the theoretical background (with justifications from parts of the paper) in which case I'm willing to make the revisions he requested for clarification (I'm considering withdrawing the submission in the other case).

What do you think would be the best way to handle this situation ?


texts: How do I politely ask a convenor to not publish my name on the conference website?

texts:
I will be presenting a paper at a major conference in the Spring: this will be my academic debut!

The issue is that I have a permament teaching job (middle school) that does not permit time off to pursue academic pursuits: how ironic.  This conference entails an inter-continental trip and hence, three "sick days" off. Cough, cough.

My name is already up on the conference website for anyone to Google, i.e. my employer.

How do I politely ask the convenor of my session to hide my name or alter it in some form? Withrawal is not an option.


texts: Is it wrong to impose a challenging time constraint on exams?

texts:
I've noticed that many professors seem to impose extremely tight time limits on their exams, even though the subject in question would never have such extreme time constraints in real life. For example, I cannot imagine a situation where I have to write 50 lines of code on a piece of paper in less than 15 minutes.

Is it reasonable for me to complain about such constraints or is it normal to expect fast exam performance from students?

Note that I'm not talking about the actual exam difficulty, just the time constraint built around it.


texts: Major changes needed to paper "in press"

texts: I recently submitted a paper in a decent journal (published by Elsevier) and it got accepted after 6 months. The referee asked for minor modifications which I did. The final version was accepted for publication and is now in press. However when I received the final version of the paper to check before it is published I discovered a small loophole in one of the proofs. Upon working on it for many days it seems to be un-fixable. The only way out was to add an extra regularity condition to the theorem which "waters down" the result. My question is what procedure will be adopted by the journal to resolve this? And can my paper be rejected at this stage?


texts: Is getting an oral recommendation from a professor who has known me since childhood a conflict of interest during graduate admissions?

texts:
My parents know a Professor A who knows another Professor B. Professor A has known me since I was a child. I applied for a Ph.D. position in Professor B's group and got admitted. Before admission, Professor A recommended me to Professor B orally but without writing a formal recommendation letter. I used the recommendation letters from other professors I really worked with.
Now, a Ph.D. student in our group learnt about this (my bad, I exposed this myself) and says I was cheating. And he just told everybody because of jealousy. I think I was fairly exploiting my personal network and also I don't know how much the oral recommendation was taken into account during admission. I also don't know what Professor A said to B. Whether he even really said something about me is a mystery to me. But I am totally qualified to get this position on my own.
Now many different versions of this rumor have come out. This is not the expected start of my Ph.D. life. I thought that everybody in my group might be friendly. But really, was I cheating during the admission? I might think about transferring to another group after all this.


texts: Explaining inconsistencies in literature in thesis and/or supporting information of journal article

texts:
I've found a model which explains my results excellently. However, the actual equation and parameters of the model have been interpreted and treated differently by different authors, sometimes leading to vague and/or inconsistent interpretations and parameters resulting from a fit of the model to the data.

Additionally, the original article which derived the equation did not capture a scaling with the equation that was obviously there experimentally. This scaling is very important for the interpretation of my results.

Unfortunately, these inconsistencies haven't been pointed out by any authors, and I am probably the only person who has studied this model well enough to have realized them.

My thesis and a journal article I am preparing hinge on correcting these inconsistencies, but doing so may create some controversy with the reviewers of the article and will definitely take up a good 20 pages of my thesis  and maybe more in the SI of the article.

Any advice for how to deal with this in a thesis and article-efficient way would be highly appreciated.


texts: Conflict of interests and the assignment of referee for a very narrow field

texts:
Consider a very small scientific field with three major contributors and a total of 15 authors, all of them had coauthored with everyone else.

In this field how could the editor choose referee for new papers, if he must adhere to the conflict of interests policies?

I know that some editors handle coauthor/students' paper or assign the paper to the previous coauthor of the author. Is that a common practice for a small field?

The small field was naturally extended from some important results back to 50s -70s, some of those researchers are still alive, but inactive. The importance cannot be doubt by the larger field, also because of those important results historically.


texts: What happens if a conference doesn't get enough submissions?

texts:
A fairly well known yearly conference is being hosted in a location this year. It turns out this location probably isn't the best and is impacting submissions.

Proceedings are being published in a IEEE/ACM/Springer book.

I thought to myself: What happens when a conference of this calibre does not get enough submissions? (after extending, and extending the deadlines)

Do they just stop the entire event? Or do they suffice with a crappy proceedings?


texts: What does ‘content’ as part of a degree mean?

texts:
I have just received a letter of recommendation from my supervisor from two years ago, and in it, they* present me as ‘M.Art.Content’ (magister artium [?]). Searching online for various key words + content, unsurprisingly yields no good results. I know they are highly qualified in Latin, and am sure there is a reason for it.

Currently there is only one good idea (as suggested by @BryanKrause): That it might be a reference to performance, i.e. magister artium contentus (master of arts, satisfactory), similar to the old Norwegian system of laud (from Latin laudabilis). This makes sense. If anyone has more knowledge of how one reports a candidate’s capabilities internationally, and could elaborate on the meaning and tradition of this usage, it would be of great aid.

*Singular (unsexed) they.


texts: Does a reference to a work inside a footnote have to be in the bibliography?

texts:
If in a footnote I write something like, "For more on the debate, see... so and so"

Does that work I referenced in the footnote go on the bibliography page even if I did not reference this work directly in the essay?


texts: Uncertain graduate study plans due to timing problems with visa and professor's funding

texts:
I applied for the university of Alberta.Fortunately I have got funding opportunity through my prospective professor's grant. I have applied for a visa expecting to go with the January intake, and waited for 6 months to get the entrance visa. As my visa came late I decided to start in the spring semester (May). I contacted my professor 3 weeks ago (in March) and he said he had a good job for me if I can come by May.

Yesterday, I finally got my visa and thus I contacted him again. My prof told me not to come for the May semester as "I have to give your project to other one since your visa delayed". And it seems he is on a sabbatical leave.
He says he does not have funding for me until September and my funding status will be clarified in 3 months. I already have my visa and I have done all the things that I needed to go. Now I am up in the air.

If I accept that I come in Aug/Sep, how can I make sure that he is going to fund me in 3 months? What he decided devastated my plans for starting my term in May. How can I ask for a guarantee? I think he should assure that he will give me the fund in 3 months since I have been waiting for 1 year now.

+from India and I need an entrance visa.


texts: Is it a good strategy to reproduce figures from related articles in NSF proposal?

texts:
I am starting a tenure-track position soon and writing a NSF CAREER proposal for the first time. I have no preliminary data on this topic; therefore I am using a number of figures from related papers to illustrate my idea.

Without preliminary results, is it a good strategy to use others' figures at this stage (this is a bit philosophical question, but I am little worried about the impression I make with the reviewers)?


texts: An academic who died over 50 years ago still has Google Scholar profile with verified email. How can this be?

texts:
I'm surprised to see that an academic who died over 50 years ago has a Google Scholar profile with a verified email (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=5qvdHjQAAAAJ):

How is that possible? I see the email domain, melipona.org, is some online shop.


texts: What to do after receiving poor academic recommendation(s)

texts:
I was recently applying for a number of PhD programmes, and I asked a number of my previous professors for recommendation letters.

However, after the results of these applications were released, it was found that one of the professors has written a clearly negative recommendation (in comparison to the others), despite the fact that I felt that the academic relationship was good and on comparable levels to the other professors, and that he specifically agreed to write me a strong recommendation letter.

I even noted in the request letter that "If you feel that you would not be able to write me a strong letter of recommendation, you should feel free to decline to write a recommendation". As other questions on this site have shown, it is not generally considered good form to write a negative recommendation, whatever the reasons.

I came to know about this, because the said professor submitted a number of recommendations late, and one of the interview requests from one of these universities was withdrawn, with the admissions department stating that it has been withdrawn after "reviewing recently submitted recommendations".

Furthermore, after speaking with some of my other recommenders regarding my other interviews and asking for advice regarding further steps, they mentioned that they received calls from admissions departments regarding "inconsistent recommendations".

As someone who would like to understand what went wrong during the process, what would be a good course of action in this situation? Should I approach the said professor and ask what went wrong, or would that not be a socially acceptable action?

I believe any answers should probably be relevant across all fields, but I am personally applying for a PhD in the US in the biosciences field.


texts: I took some solitary graduate-level courses as a non-degree student at some US schools and plan to take further modules in England. These courses relate to my other degrees and certificates, but are from more elite institutions and provide more advanced, specialized training not easily found elsewhere. Is it acceptable practice to list solitary courses on an academic CV? What section and in what format might this appear in?


texts: How much information should I divulge about on-going unpublished research at a conference?

texts:
I'm developing a paper right now based upon some of my preliminary results, and I'm attending several conferences to present and get some feedback on my results from other experts in my field.  A thought occurred to me that because my work is yet to be published, I there is a potential for others to steal my idea and publish before I get a chance.

I'm probably over-thinking this, and there is little chance of it actually happening.  But I'm curious how frequently this happens in scientific domains.  Do people go to conferences to steal ideas?  If it does happen, how can I best prevent it from happening?  Obviously, I want to share my ideas with the world, but I don't want to lose a chance to take an idea into fruition.  What should/shouldn't I share about my research before it is published?  Should I simply wait until my paper is accepted before I go on the conference circuit?

Update:
My field is computational science (not to be confused with computer science).


texts: Distributing published papers if I am the first author

texts:
In some interviews for industry positions, I have been asked about my prior (applied math) research experience and to go into detail about the models I have constructed. After I gave him a high-level overview, the interviewer asked that I send him the paper so he can see some minute details. The paper is published in a Springer journal and costs 39.95 to see without journal subscription. My questions are

  As the first author of the paper, am I legally allowed I send him a downloaded version of the paper over email?
  If not, am I legally allowed to send my personal copy of the manuscript (i.e. the version I submitted to Springer)?

N.B. the paper is not on the arXiv.


texts: How to calculate person months for postdoc proposal when planning to work full time on multiple work packages?

texts: I am currently in the process of preparing my proposal for a postdoc position. In specific parts of the proposal I need to refer to person months for each work package. I will be the project coordinator and the leader of all six packages, as this is a small, qualitative research project that requires only me and my mentor. I assumed that I will work full time = 12.00 for each work package, but the sum comes to 72 months! How should I complete this section?


texts: Are there US universities that do not need GRE and TOEFL score for admission in PhD in Mathematics?

texts:
I have completed my Bachelor's degree (3 years) in Mathematics and pursuing MSc(2 years). Currently I am in final year and expect to obtain MSc degree in next May. I am willing to do my PhD (in Mathematics) in USA.

From the information obtained from my seniors and friends, I found that most of the USA institutions ask for GRE and TOEFL score. But are there universities of USA which do not need GRE and/or TOEFL score for admission in Phd in Mathematics?


texts: What to do if there is no book about a certain topic?

texts:
I am currently researching the foundations of graph theory (math). I have noticed two kind of things in introduction books.

There are results seemingly so obvious nobody writes about it.
There are variants of the topic mentioned in almost any book, but covered in detail in none.

At the time of writing this question, the stack exchange community was unable to help me with my observations in my specific case. Since I think very highly of this network, I'm starting to believe that currently there are no suitable books about these topics.

But I feel like there ought to be books about it. The question is, what do I do in this situation? How can I "help" that such a book gets written? The most obvious answer would be "Write the book.". Although I like the approach, this is not possible. For simplicity's sake let's just say I lack the time. So what to do? Like, can I just mail a publisher "Why don't you already have this kind of book?", although I don't know anyone working at any publisher? Do I ask a professor at my university if (s)he would like to write one? Btw I'm  a graduate student, but I don't think it is relevant for the question.

Please note this question is not about how I can research a certain topic. It is really about how books of some topic do not exist. Please assume for answering that they don't. If you happen to know about books about the exemplary example topic I provided here, please answer in my linked question, not here.


texts: Can I get code reviewed if it might be published or referenced in a publication?

texts:
I am a recently-graduated high school senior in the United States who is currently doing research with a professor in a lab at the university that I will attend. One of the components of the project we are working on is writing code to analyze sequences of DNA for certain characteristics. Even though I am a beginner to coding, I'm the only one in our group who has any experience writing code. I like to ask friends or Code Review.SE for help improving my coding style, as I would like to do for this set of programs in particular. However, I have some concerns about doing that here, as I believe that the code will be referenced in the paper we will write at the conclusion of the project.

If I share the code with people who are otherwise not affiliated with my project to review, do I have to

mention that I had the code reviewed in the code / paper?
list the reviewer as a contributor to the project on the paper?


texts: Research adviser is trying to give my thesis to another student. What to do?

texts: Going to sound dramatic, but something just isn't right about my research adviser who is trying to give my research to another student.  I don't know the student at all, but they are attempting to force me into a "partnership" with them.  The student has zero research accomplishments in my research area, but I've been told to tack them onto my research and share a years worth of findings with them.  Yes, really.  What would you do? Have you even heard of something like this before?


texts: Would the announcement of penalty for blank answers in a test improve the global results of the class?

texts:
In a multiple-choice test evaluation, normally (as far as I know) the wrong answers are penalized, but blank answers not.

This makes some students afraid to answer given questions, prefering to leave them blank, even if they can more or less guess the correct answer.

On the other hand, it can also happen that students intentionally do not study a part of the contents, since they know that a lack of knowledge of that part will not be penalized.

So, taking into account these two circumstances, would the global results of a test improve if the teacher announces penalty for blank answers?


texts: What to do when two months after submitting a major revision, its status is still "Editor Assigned"?

texts:
I have submitted a paper to a journal, and received the editors decision (Major Revision). One reviewer suggested minor corrections and one reviewer suggested major corrections. I then resubmitted the paper a month later.

However, two months after submitting the revisions, the status of the submission is still "Editor Assigned".
I sent two emails to the "handling editor" asking if there is any problem with my paper but no reply.

What does it mean for a submitted revision to have a status "Editor Assigned"?
What should you do if that status has not changed two months after submitting a revision?


texts: How do I convince professors that I have enough math for the PhD position?

texts:
It has been a month since I received the rejection email. I gave it a long thought for a month, about whether to pursue another try at the position, while applying for other PhD and job opportunities. I would still like to give it a shot, and the following email is what I am about to send. Please let me know if it sounds okay :) I took out the part pleading for a lower position (i.e. research assistant), as some comments pointed out that it sounded too desperate.

Dear Prof. A,
Despite my big disappointment about the decision, I would still like to thank you for taking your time to consider my candidacy and getting back to me with the result.
It took me some time to get back to you, because I just could not get over how much I find this project ideal for my research interests.  Hence, after a long thought, I decided to make my last attempt in convincing you to reconsider my candidacy for the position.
While I acknowledge that the "Z" project is a challenge, I also see it as a great opportunity to hone my mathematical training. I have proven records of success in facing such a challenge: I did not have solid mathematical or programming background for the Y master program. However, I put in a lot of efforts both prior to and during the program to thrive in mathematically rigorous courseworks (on my own and with the help of a mathematics professor affiliated with the Y program, Prof. X) and successfully completed a computational modelling project for my thesis. I am more than willing to do the same for the "Z" project, and I feel confident from the previous academic experience that I will not disappoint you if given a chance.
You could also provide me a test problem/project, with which you can gauge my abilities to work on the project.
In case you decide not to reconsider my candidacy, I would like to thank you anyways for the consideration and the close call again. I will remain dedicated to obtaining a PhD degree in the field of decision making under uncertainty and hope to meet you some day in a conference.

Below is the rejection email I've got last month:

"...Unfortunately, I can not bring you good news. Among all candidates you were the one with the highest scientific ambitions which really set you a part from the rest. However, our concern remained that your mathematical training is not enough for the specific problem that is subject of this position. We wish you all the best and especially that you keep up your inspiring passion for science...
P.S. If that helps you somehow: We finally concluded that none of the other available candidates fulfilled all necessary requirements and hence the position remains open."

This was my initial reaction to the rejection email:

I really want to work on this project! Is it a good idea to tell them that I am willing to go down the hard road? (e.g. taking online math courses or working as an intern/assistant at their lab before the PhD studies to meet the mathematical requirements for the position)? Also, should I make a case that my master's program was in fact mathematically rigorous by outlining the course syllabi and requirements? I have already sent them a transcript for this purpose, but I feel that listing only course names and grades do not really tell them much about what kind of and how rigorous math I worked with.


texts: I believe my classmates plan to hand in a plagiarized project, how should I handle this?

texts:
In my class, we have project groups of 4 or 5 students. This period has everything to do with game development. The project is to build a XNA game for children at primary school.

Now, there is one group of students in my class, who snitched a game from the internet and are going to hand that in. I saw a Facebook post from one of the students about "their" game, and a fellow student found almost the exact same game on a Dutch game site.

What is according to you the right way of handling this -in my eyes, plagiarism? Should I inform the project teacher, to have them exposed to the exam committee?


texts: Put an AMS offprint (of my paper) on my academic page

texts:
I have an article published in AMS Contemporary Mathematics.
I want to put my publications on my academic page.
So I went to AMS site, log in, download an offprint, upload to the server which
hosts my page, and gave a link to it.

However, this offprint has the following statement at the bottom
of each page, in red color.

This is a free offprint provided to the author by the publisher. Copyright restrictions may apply.

I am not sure what I did is proper. Besides asking AMS directly, do you have
any thought about this?


texts: Acknowledgements in a bachelor thesis: Is it etiquette conform to thank for non thesis related things?

texts:
As I'm about to finish my bachelor thesis, I'm at writing the acknowledgement section.

How far can I go here in terms of non-thesis-related stuff?
Is there room for humorous acknowledgements (like thanking my coworker for his great taste in music or bad puns), or is that rather something to be left out?


texts: When emailing a potential supervisor, should I offer to send them my researched material?

texts: I am currently finding a supervisor for an MSc program. It is incredibly difficult to get research experience as an undergraduate student (especially since I attend a large school with an incredible amount of competition). However, I make the best use of resources available to me. I have joined several organizations at school which are directly related to my masters program. As a member, I have researched and published several student papers (not in scientific journals). These papers are well written and researched (as they go through an extensive editing process) and demonstrate my passion. I will mention these projects in my emails / CV. However, in my emails, should I mention that these are "available upon request"?


texts: Is having two MS degrees in the same subject, from different depts, useful?

texts:
This question came up after reading some answers to this one.

Is it useful either for applying for a job or for applying for a PhD position to have two degrees in the same area on two different universities without needing more time than usual for the degree (in case of master: two years, or maybe two and a half year)? Are there advantages, are there disadvantages?


texts: Paper review: The editor is from the same university as the first author and asking for a meeting

texts:
I was asked to review a paper for a rather important Journal in my field (engineering discipline). The editor (professor) who assigned the review to me is based at the same university as the first author (PhD student). The two do not come from the same chair, but the university is quite small and it is likely they do know one another personally.

Furthermore, the editor suggested a meeting to discuss my opinion on the manuscript in person. He is currently in my area. Since I know him from conferences it would be difficult to decline his meeting request.

So now I am not sure if this represents a conflict in interests or if I am being too paranoid here? If this is critical, how should I react?


texts: Academic value of patents versus published papers

texts:
What is the general viewpoint held in academia regarding patents, as opposed to published papers? Are patents regarded as similar in credibility to papers?

As a software engineer returning to graduate study after a long professional career, I have collaborated with colleagues on a number of patents. But I do not have any published papers. Since I want to resume my academic pursuit, how important is publishing?


texts: Should the personal/research statement be technical?

texts:
Related: Choosing research ideas to include in a statement of purpose

I know I must describe my past and current research in my personal/research statement or statement of purpose. But do I use technical terms?

I was given the advice that since the people reading my statement are mathematicians (I am applying to US for applied mathematics), they should know what I am talking about.

Although I am applying to applied mathematics, it would also be nice to hear from other fields (biology, computer science, engineering etc) about this.


texts: Contacting professors about research: if they don't respond to my emails, how long should I wait to follow up?

texts:
I am starting a MS in CS program this summer. My department is small and my particular concentration is both narrow and new. Currently only 3 professors at the school are listed as having research interests in my area of interest.

I have contacted 2 of them. One is tenured and one is an assistant professor.

I know that the tenured professor has lots of published work in the field already and would probably be the better recommender come PhD application time.

I'm not eligible for assistantships yet until I finish some prerequisites I lacked from my undergrad. But I want to get in and prove what a good little research assistant I can be as soon as I can so I can beat out the other assistantship applicants when the time comes.

My question is: If they don't respond to my emails, how long should I wait to follow up with them as not to be annoying? Should I just wait until classes start and go talk to them then? I'll be taking a class from the assistant professor this summer in a subject outside my research interest. What's the best approach to get people collaborate with me?

(Sorry this sounds like lots of questions in one, but I only have a year and a half to become the best PhD applicant ever and I want to make sure I do it right!)


texts: How to cite paper when there is a gap between conference date and publication date

texts:
We are preparing conference proceedings of a research unit to be published online for the first time. Their first conference was in 2010. We are developing their website with export citation options for each paper. But due to the gap in time between conference date (e.g. 2010) and online publication date (2016) we are confused how to build the citation style basing on APA. Especially that they will publish those papers within proceedings of special issue in their proceedings website under ISSN and not ISBN which mean serial volumes each one designed for one conference proceedings.
so, what is the best format of such citations please?


texts: How do I convert my PhD dissertation so that it can be published as a book?

texts:
I have just completed a PhD by research, which I think has some merits in being available as a book (This is, of course, my personal opinion). The research cuts across several fields (e.g. sociology, public policy).

I am wondering what I need to do to take the next step.

In particular:

How do you turn an academic piece like the dissertation (which is written for the examiners) into a book (which is for the general public)?
How do I find publishers who specialise in my field?


texts: Manuscript was accepted for publication but recommended with "Major revision"

texts: Recently my invited manuscript submission was finally recommended by the Editors and reviewers for publication after one round of revision and changing the manuscript type. However, I am both concerned and confused that the Associate Editor appended revision comments and declared the MS requires "Major revisions". Any advice on how to deal with this?


texts: Assessing a potential supervisor who had a fallout with a previous PhD student

texts:
I am a PhD student and I have been thoroughly searching for future supervisors.

I have been speaking with current PhD students about a certain professor to get to know more about them, and they let me know their experiences as well as the experience of a previous student.
Apparently, it seems this previous student had some major problem with the supervisor and left in an ill manner (e.g., as soon as the PhD was finished, they left not teaching the new students after them how to use the equipment they built).
The PhD Student I had this conversation with is a respectable one, and I strongly believe they were having a serious conversation with me.

This professor under question so far is a great person, and I am incredibly happy to be working with them soon, and as far as I know and can see, they are attentive, supportive, encouraging and very willing to take suggestions from their team.

This conversation I had with the PhD student worries me slightly and due to the professor’s kindness, it makes me even more anxious to find out the professor’s side of the story, and what they thought about it.
However, I am too anxious/embarrassed to bring it up.
I have been thinking of having a one-to-one meeting with them and asking them a few questions I could frame as a “mini interview I like to take of future supervisors”:

  Have you had any unpleasant experiences with PhD students in the past?

but I was wondering if the academic community on here would have better/more suggestions?


texts: Will ISIS attacks hurt my PhD application as a Muslim?

texts:
I'm a dedicated person, very passionate about physics and pursuing my PhD at a good school is crucial to my life. I've been preparing my application documents for a while now. GPA is almost 4 and Physics GRE is 980. My general GRE is at the 97 percentile. Good recommendation letters. I have other few decent ranks since high school as well. HOWEVER, I'm from the Middle East, and yes, my name is Mohammed. I can feel how the world is infuriated about the Islamic community in general, though the vast majority of Muslims are vulnerable to (and on daily basis thousands are already subjected to) similar attacks from ISIS. The majority of us, including myself, are terrified by ISIS, sorry for and mortified by these attacks by ISIS.

My question: Will these events perhaps hurt my application? If you were to decide on my application on the admission committee, how would my citizenship, religion and name affect your decision?

So grateful for any attempt to help. In fact, I'm sort of developing anxiety due to this issue.

EDIT: For those wondering, I'm applying only for universities in the USA.


texts: Join a research group at a university I do not attend

texts:
I work as a data scientist and many of the problems I am presented with require a non-trivial amount of research to solve, and so, a portion of my work week consist of reading relevant literature.

I throughly enjoy doing this, and in doing so, wonder if there is a contribution I could make to a local research group.  More specifically, would it be completely out of place to write a local university and ask to join a research group or is this something that is frowned upon?

In my head I envision this as an interesting symbiotic partnership where students could be exposed to methods from the private sector and I get to scratch my academic itch, but I certainly don’t want to step on any toes or have the appearance of taking someone’s place.

EDIT:

By "join a research group" I mean finding a lab that is working on a problem I am interested in, going to said lab, meet the members, help solve a problem in anyway I can (writing code, discussing ideas, etc...).

Also for context, I am in the US.


texts: Is it common practice to a write recommendation letter for oneself and let the professor sign it?

texts:
I am an undergraduate student at a Chinese university. Recently I asked for recommendation letters from two professors at my university, one Chinese and the other American, in order to apply for a summer program at a US institution. I have taken courses from both of these professors and performed quite well.

Upon hearing my request, the Chinese professor asked me to first write the recommendation letter for myself and then send it to him so that he can modify and sign it. The foreign professor, on the other hand, wrote the whole letter all by himself. I was later told by my classmates that it is the "common practice" for many professors in China to ask the student to write the recommendation letter for himself and then sign it.

Now my questions are: (1) Is the same thing a "common practice" in western universities? (2) Is it ethical for professors to transfer the load of writing the recommendation letters to students themselves? (3) I feel extremely uneasy when trying to write something that is supposed to praise myself. Is there any method for overcoming this uneasiness?

I would sincerely appreciate any help in answering my questions. Thanks!


texts: Fixing insignificant errors of an article after publication, only in the preprint version

texts:
Consider that a paper is published in a journal. It contains some insignificant errors which are not worth asking for an erratum. I was wondering in such a case would it be acceptable to fix those errors in the preprint version (for example on arXiv.org)? Since in this case it will be sort of a “post-print” version of the paper and technically an improvement on the paper, would it create a problem with the journal in a typical situation?
Edit: Let’s assume that the editor agrees that the errors are too minor for an erratum. What I want to know is if there will be any legal issues and more importantly: if it is a good idea scientifically?


texts: How important is it to have a personal website, when applying for a PhD?

texts:
I have read several questions regarding the importance of a personal website when applying to Posdocs and other academic jobs. However, I have found little stating the importance of it when applying for a PhD.
In general, how important is it to have a website as a PhD applicant?

In my case, I have done a bachelors and master in Chemical Engineering. However, now I am doing a master in Pure Mathematics and I am planning to apply for a PhD next year. From what I have read about admissions, the focus is on the SOP and the references, a website is hardly ever mentioned. These are the things I would like the admissions committee to know but might be too much detail for the SOP:

I feel it is important to explain why the change of fields. But I don't want that to cover much of the motivation letter. So I think of having a short post on my website explaining in detail how and why I changed fields.
I would like to show how invested I am in the field (differential geometry). So I was planning on including a section with the conferences and schools I have attended during my master, and to showcase a student seminar I have organized at my university.

I do not know how to put this information in my PhD application. So I think a website might be a good solution. Is this a good idea? what would be best for me to do?


texts: Accidentally addressed lecturer as Mrs instead of Ms

texts:
I accidentally addressed my lecturer as Mrs instead of Ms in an email.

Should I send a follow-up email explaining it was a typo or should I leave it be?

Since requested multiple times in comments: The lecturer does not hold a doctorate or any other academic titles. She also did not specify how she prefers to be addressed before.


texts: Should I (as a reviewer) ask an author to cite my work where I proposed a core hypothesis, when they have already referenced other points?

texts:
In a paper from two years ago I explored a general line of inquiry and identified an explicit and specific hypothesis for future research.

I'm currently reviewing a paper where the authors explore precisely that question, and find the hypothesis is strongly supported by their data. They cite me multiple times in the literature review, methodology, and conclusions, so they're giving me plenty of credit. But they don't cite me for proposing that core hypothesis.

Should I point out to the authors that they should cite that idea? Or can I not claim it as I only hypothesized it and did not explore it myself (and I have no future plans to do so, so it's not like they're planting a flag on my turf). Or should I just be happy that people are reading my stuff? Or should I let the editor know and let him make the call?


texts: If I get an HND then a BSc, can I then go and specialise in any area for my Masters?

texts:
I am currently in an apprenticeship for Software Development; however, I want to change my future career after doing a job as a Software Developer.

I would like to know if I would be able to go and do a MSc in Astronautics if I get a HND in Engineering and the do the top-up course for the Bachelor's Degree. I didn't get the best GSCEs although I do have my 5 C's and did not do any A-levels. Would this still be possible?

For anybody wondering, I live in the UK.


texts: Should I keep generic reference letters from my supervisors?

texts:
As for reference letters, I have come across distinct policies.

Some recommend to only give a reference letter for a particular application - it might be tailored to the particular position which the applicant soughts for.

Other do not seem to have a problem with providing generic reference letters. I personally prefer this one, because it is clearly less work for all parties involved.

So, which kind of reference is appropiate to ask for from your supervisor? Which one is socially accepted? (I am a former student that needs a letter of reference from his former professor).


texts: Should a Statement of Purpose for a PhD program concentrate on facts or emotions?

texts: I am applying for Ph.D. programs in pure mathematics. One of the confusions I have about writing a Statement of Purpose is whether I should concentrate on the things I did (mentioning facts: REUs, Courses, Talks, Putnam exam, Teaching) or whether I should be more poetic and write about why am I a person who wants to do research, why am I capable of doing it, and why do I love mathematics. If I have mentioned some information already in one of the parts of my application, is it bad if I write about it again in my Statement of Purpose?


texts: Are there any mobile application for conference attendees?

texts:
I'm currently attending a conference, and considering that (almost) everybody has a smartphone, but not necessarily an Internet access (because of roaming charges), it could be nice to have an application that could cache the program, the local map, the list of attendees, that could be updated with program changes.

Does anyone know such an application? Ideally, that should be a "meta"-application, that could be instantiated for specific conferences (a bit like Easychair).


texts: What is the likelihood of a PhD-holder from the USA remaining unemployed?

texts:
In our country (Bangladesh), a PhD from the US is considered as a pinnacle of achievement in one's life. But, in some of my discussions in one of my previous questions I learnt that even a PhD from a US university is not enough to secure a job.

My question is: are there any statistics on the rate of employment amongst PhD graduates trained in the US?


texts:
I received this comment from a reviewer in journal of "Optimal Control Application and Methods": "The notations need to be added in the revision to add the readability, because many symbols appeared are not very familiar with the readers. For instance, what is the meaning of <…> in (2) and (3)?"

Is it necessary add a nomenclature with a list of used symbols of variables, operators and abbreviations?
Is there any specific position for this section ?


texts:
Mostly for fun, I've been working on an exposition about some ideas in my area of math (algebraic geometry).  As far as I know there isn't any elementary introduction to this particular topic already out there. It's at an early undergrad level.  I'd like to make it available, but I'm just not sure how best to proceed.

What are my options for disseminating it, and what are the pros/cons of each?  I'm especially interested in what sorts of articles are suitable expository journals, vs what usually lands on a math blog.  (I could also just put it on my site, but I hope someone and than my own students (and my parents) will actually read it.)

Other relevant info: I'm currently a postdoc at a research-intensive place.  I'd like to be competitive for teaching jobs at good liberal arts colleges when I'm done in a couple years -- if any of these options would help with that, it's a point in favor.


texts: Does it violate academic social norm to email someone around midnight?

texts:
I do this often because this is when I wrap up the stuff for my day. But I wonder if it is considered intrusive.

I imagine a scenario where a phone that is linked to gmail rings due to my email, and that wakes up the person I intend to email.

Can people chime in whether it is out of the norm to email around midnight?

Should I try to refrain from doing this?


texts: What incentives do researchers have for applying for NSF grants?

texts:
I do not understand NSF grants.

Does the researcher make any money from them?  I mean, if they spend 10 hours a week working on the project, are they compensated? Can they be compensated directly from NSF funds? Not to sound greedy, but let's say I'm a tenured professor who's perfectly capable of doing outstanding research on my own.  What incentive would I have to try to get a NSF grant, if it's just for my department to distribute to other people to work with me?  I want some money.


texts: Is it normal that research institutes do not hire their own PhDs for postdoc positions?

texts:
The institute where I'm doing my PhD has a formal policy not to hire local PhD graduates as postdocs. Is this normal?

I live in Europe.


texts: Revising timely submitted paper after hard deadline

texts:
I have submitted a paper to the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) 2016. The submission and revision deadline has passed yesterday, but the system is still accepting new revisions. Is it OK to revise my paper now? Is there any chance that they will reject it for this reason?

UPDATE: I have revised my submitted paper.

Have I done something unethical here?

LATEST UPDATE on 5 Feb 2016: Revision deadline extended till 8 Feb 2016 :)


texts: Dealing with burnout from long review process

texts:
There are a number of other questions about dealing with non-response or the length of the review process and some here about burnout in academia. I'm in the end of getting a paper accepted, but (thankfully) the reviews have been reasonably prompt.
I just sent in a finalized manuscript, which is the fourth version of the paper I've turned in. (Maybe this is normal and I just had unrealistic expectations?) After this I also anticipate receiving a typeset version to review, as well as dealing with any correspondence on the figures or tables from the paper. I'm just feeling quite burned out by the process and wanting it to be through.
What advice do you have for dealing with a long, intensive review process? How do you approach each phase of the process with a healthy mindset?


texts: Lecturing (teaching methods) for a diverse group of students with weak science backgrounds

texts:
I just started teaching three courses at small medical training college: anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, and microbiology. Most of the students have a weak background in the sciences, and come from varying professional/educational backgrounds.

I currently end up preparing 4-5 hours for each hour that I end up lecturing. But find it difficult to keep the students engaged for the duration of the lecture. Any advice on improving teaching/ lecturing methods?


texts: Reviewers asked me to make my conclusion more "analytical" - how?

texts:
The editors of my peer-reviewed article asked me to write a more analytical conclusion, one that is more conclusive...Any pointers on how I can make it more analytical and less of just a synthesis?

PS: My field is educational science and my article is part empirical, part conceptual


texts: Can you be dismissed from a graduate program for attending jury duty?

texts:
From what I’ve read, an employer can’t legally fire you for attending jury duty, although they don’t have to pay you.

I’ve been called before but never had to serve more than a day.  However, a grad student friend of mine was called, had already deferred once before, and is concerned that if he has to serve for an extended period, it would set his work back so that he couldn’t graduate in time, and his department told him that he can’t request another extension.

Can you be dismissed from a program for fulfilling your civic duty?

This is in the US, and the university is public if that has any bearing.

* UPDATE * - I'm really glad that I asked this question.  Today I received a summons for jury duty, and I am to appear in court at the EXACT date and time of my defense.  It can happen to you!!!

* UPDATE 2 * - Here is how I dealt with it.  I told my advisor that I had been called and asked if he would contact someone in the university administration to write an official letter asking to excuse me from jury duty on that day.  A few days later, I was given a letter to that effect.  The county I live in has a Jury Commission where you can go and "plead your case" to be excused.  I went to the Jury Commission and brought my letter, at which time they asked me when I would be able to serve.  I gave alternate dates (after my planned deposit date ;-) ), which they accepted.  The Jury Commission really appreciated that I had brought an official letter from the administration, as they had received excuse letters from doctoral student's advisors, and rejected them.  Having something from the university administration itself carries much more weight.  Thankfully, it all worked out!


texts: Can I ask for a manuscript status after I submitted a revised version?

texts:
I submitted a major revision of my manuscript on March 12th and the manuscript's status changed to "Editor Assigned" on March 19th. The journal does not allow a second "major revision," so I'm awaiting a final accept or reject decision, which I've been advised will be provided from the editor as soon as possible.

Can I ask for the decision now?

I really really need an answer for a grant application