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1500 questions
53
votes
16 answers

How do so many people here on Academia.SE, and in general, afford lavish higher education programs?

I graduated last year with a BS in Computer Science. I do not come from a particularly wealthy family, (very low middle class), and was only able to afford my education via school loans/scholarships and working low-wage jobs, with no support from my…
Programmer
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53
votes
5 answers

Should I cite author names as they appear in the journal or as I know them to be complete?

Since I've been using Mendeley to manage and extract metadata from my PDFs, I've come to notice that authors are sometimes denoted with all their initials and sometimes with just one. I assume this has to do with different journal's rules on…
Waldheri
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53
votes
12 answers

Why is PhD GPA considered irrelevant?

The importance of a recent PhD’s GPA was recently dismissed in another question (What does an industry recruiter want to know my Ph.D. GPA for?). Why isn’t GPA considered relevant for graduate study?
Stack Tracer
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53
votes
8 answers

Is talking to a professor about personal issues acceptable?

I've been struggling a lot recently with stuff thats been going on, I'm in therapy and receiving help but I'm still having a really hard time. I have a professor who's always asking if I'm doing okay even though I've never told him anything about…
Elise
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53
votes
6 answers

What are the differences between viXra.org and arXiv.org?

What are the differences between viXra.org and arXiv.org?
NuminousName
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53
votes
5 answers

Leaving a conference immediately after presenting a paper?

I work as a full-time employee in industry. Recently, I've been invited to present at a conference in an area not closely related to my degree. My employer approved me being absent for two-three hours and I accepted the conference…
escplat12
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53
votes
11 answers

Why would a professor (say in pure math) want to take PhD students?

Why would a professor doing pure math/ theoretical computer science want to take PhD students? I understand that in computational and experimental sciences taking students is at least beneficial to them. However, in subjects like pure math, it is…
k99731
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53
votes
9 answers

What to do if I'm being bullied by students?

I've recently been the subject of bullying by a group of students. I taught a difficult module alongside another module, which was taught by somebody else. The other module was much easier and offered huge amounts of support. Students described…
Dharma Jane
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53
votes
8 answers

Dealing with aggressive student suspected to be cheating

In a previous test one of my TAs discovered a fraudulent pattern in six of the exams. The answers were uncomfortably similar, actually identical in many places. I called the students to my office and brought two colleagues to help me "interview"…
user85612
53
votes
6 answers

Writing ads to attract female PhD candidates

As a researcher in computing science in Western Europe, I get depressed seeing the number of female students in our department. (Hint: near-zero.) I recently heard that certain words in a PhD candidate ad seem to "scare" female applicants off, for…
user1202136
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52
votes
6 answers

How to prepare a presentation if there is a visually impaired person in the audience?

When preparing a presentation, I usually avoid putting a lot of text and then read the slides. To me, the best presentation contains very good figures with presenter explaining them, and not reading what is already written. Thus, I prefer using…
padawan
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52
votes
4 answers

How to contact professors for PhD vacancies?

I know many master's students who get an opportunity to talk to their potential PhD advisors well before applying. In most cases this opportunity is available by the professors with whom they worked for their master's. Moreover, there are many…
Bravo
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52
votes
6 answers

When / how should I ask about a manuscript's status in review?

I have a manuscript that has been in review for 60 days. The journal asks for reviews within four weeks. At what point is it acceptable (and not detrimental) to contact the editor for an update? How should I phrase the request?
Abe
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52
votes
4 answers

What lessons have you learned over the years as a TENURED FULL Professor that you wish somebody had told you when you started as an Assistant Prof?

As a Tenured Full Professor and given your long experience in Academia, what valuable lessons have you learned over the years that you wish somebody had shared with you earlier when you started as an Assistant Professor? Given these experiences what…
blackace
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52
votes
3 answers

When refereeing a paper, stating I am not an author of suggested literature

When getting reports for papers submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, referees sometimes suggest that some missing items be added to the list of references. In my short career I have seen all possible cases, from honest additions that were clearly…
Miguel
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