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Academia Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [academic-life]

Questions related to academic culture, academic communities, and the coexistence of "life" and "academia."

596 questions
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10 answers

Why do academics prefer Mac/Linux?

In the commercial world, Windows utterly dominates. As of time of writing its market share is somewhere around 85%. I don't have similar statistics for academia, but my personal observation is that most professors seem to prefer Macs, especially on…
Allure
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How does a suspended student deal with an unprofessional university counselor?

I am a suspended student and I have been getting counseling for three months. During those three months, I have noticed extremely unprofessional behavior from my counselor. When I started counseling, he was late each time. The first time he was late…
user23292
44
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6 answers

How does the US government shutdown affect academics?

I hope this question does not offend our American fellows. I've read in news that the US government is partially closed and many agencies and services run by US federal government is no longer available, for example national parks, many websites,…
user4511
37
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3 answers

Is it okay to send a thank-you-for-teaching to a professor who taught a course a few semesters ago?

In my first semester of Ph.D., I took a course about machine learning (ML), because I find it very fancy and interesting (however, my field of research is theoretical physics, far away from ML). The professor who taught ML was an old and super cool…
Luqman Saleem
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27
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6 answers

Why do academics drink so much coffee?

A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems -- Alfréd Rényi All the universities whose staff lounges I've been to have had coffee machines with free coffee. I've seen groups name their meetings after coffee much more than other…
Allure
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How should one handle peers, competition and other social pressure while studying theoretical CS/Maths?

I'm currently a 20 year old undergrad studying CS at a reputed institute in my city. I'm one of the very few from my batch who's interested in studying theoretical CS and mathematics (about 10 students from a batch of 200) and want to pursue…
user2841250
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4 answers

Dealing with loneliness as a professor

How do professors deal with loneliness? I feel that professors, specifically in the STEM fields, have to constantly project an image of seriousness to the public - an image that math and science are no. 1 in their lives. Any projection of any…
user82490
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2 answers

Competition in department among professors

My professor that I've worked for, and other professors that I've met in undergrad, often complain about how it is "publish or death" situation in their department. Specifically, they have told me that they feel like they are under heavy pressure to…
user69180
17
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5 answers

Why do academics tend to be reluctant to ask for help from other academics?

I've seen situations like the below happen quite a few times. Alice writes a paper. It's well-received and receives a hundred citations. Bob also works in the area, and he engages a student Charlie to study the paper. Shortly after starting,…
Allure
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Are Asian-Americans considered an "underrepresented minority" in academia in the US?

As an Asian-American I sometimes feel as though I am "stuck." There are certainly many Asian academics, but only a few Asian-Americans. This is complicated by the statistics. In absolute numbers, I think the numbers of Asian-American academics are…
Mehta
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10
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Dealing with unpleasant people in conferences

My current strategy when seeing unpleasant, toxic academics in conferences is to ignore them, but I'm wondering if people have other suggestions. When I was a grad student, I spent a few months at a research institution. I was in the computer room…
Mehta
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I was absent when midterms were returned weeks ago, but now need it to study for the final. Prof and TA can't help. What can I do?

I was absent when the midterms were handed back for a course and now the semester is almost over but I need the midterm to study for the exam (as neither a copy of the test nor the solutions are available on the course website). I emailed the…
user156973
8
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1 answer

Academic calendar in the USA

How could one characterize the typical academic calendar in the USA? I never managed to understand how it works (from Wikipedia, etc.)! It is so confusing. In Belgium, you basically have this: September-December: class + Winter recess (2 weeks in…
Jeoffrey
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What are the possible pitfalls of a university employee and a student being roommates? Is it best to avoid this situation?

I have two closely-related questions: First: What are the possible pitfalls of a university employee (faculty or staff) and a student at the same university being roommates? And, in the event that I need to take on a roommate as a faculty or…
Thomas Lee
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Is the "meal plan" chiefly a North American thing?

I've noticed that this idea of a "meal plan" among students is pretty common in the US. Usually this involves: Some amount of money (e.g. "flex dollars") that can be spent on any food (or sometimes even other things) that the student desires,…
user34009
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