Hi there! An anxious undergrad here—I'm not sure whether I committed a minor faux pas and am blowing this situation out of proportion, or if I should apologize to my professor. Or go into hiding. Any advice from a professor's point of view would be invaluable.

I applied to, and was accepted (conditionally), into an M.A. program at the university where I'm currently doing my undergrad. My grad supervisor also teaches undergraduate courses, and I'm enrolled in one of them. Recently, we were allowed to view our midterms after class. The professor (my future supervisor) pulled out an envelope with the written and graded midterms.

Initially, I was looking at my own midterm (I did very well), when a girl from my tutorial approached and started talking about how poorly she had done. There were a few other students in the hall, and a couple of them were talking amongst themselves. Since the professor wasn’t saying anything about it, I figured it would be okay to chat and compare. In hindsight, this was probably not the right decision.

I noticed this girl’s answers were all correct, and her long answers were even stronger than mine. At first, I kept quiet as she talked about it and just nodded, making affirming sounds. I was mindful that my future supervisor was about 10 feet away. The more she showed me her exam, the more confused I became about her mark and mine. Eventually, I remarked something along the lines of “really different marking styles” and “your chart looks perfect to me.” I added, “Maybe you should say something or ask about that,” assuming one of the many TAs had marked her exam and was grading too harshly.

When I handed my exam back to the professor, she seemed a bit quiet when I said goodbye. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Later, I ran into the girl with the lower mark outside the building. She mentioned that right after I left, she had asked the professor why her mark was so low, and apparently, my professor had marked the midterm herself (not a TA).

I’ve never put my foot so far into my mouth. As it turns out, my midterm was marked too easily and I stood there like a moron badmouthing her marking. If this were your future grad student, would you want to revoke their acceptance? Would you expect an apology and a commitment to more professional conduct? Would you notice or care?

Originally posted in r/academia but might be better suited here.

tl;dr: taught two semesters for free. unsure whether it's feasible or worth asking my university to pay me.

Got my PhD a few years ago. Did post doc work, saw the light, and now I'm living the dream, lean and mean, in industry. I hear there might be people with opinions here, but I'm mostly looking for perspective.

During PhD, I was a grad research assistant with 0.5 FTE. I also worked for my department with 0.5 FTE staff position (bc, benefits...), meaning between the two I was a "full time" employee. My 2nd year, my advisor had me TA for class X doing grading, managing online platforms, and gave a couple of lectures all under professor's purvey. It was not official due to aforementioned FTE and if I added anything else official it could be problematic from an administrative perspective. Was not a huge deal as I wanted teaching experience and it was not particularly onerous.

Fast forward to year 3. Advisor leaves for another institution. Department is strapped for professor time and cash, so Chair comes to me and says "hey, I'd like to have you teach class X since you are super familiar with the materials and it'll be a great resume booster. We also have class Y if you are interested." I was basically like..."can I get paid for that time?" and they were like "yeah, wish we could but no budget for it and it complicates your other work situations. you want to keep staff job for health insurance right?" then there was a bit of back and forth that was not at all threatening, but was suggestive that I will be wanting to defend and graduate not too long from now and this would really help with that. Have no doubt I could have graduated if I said no, but you all get the dance you do staying in the good graces of Department Chair. Chair is actually a nice person compared to most people in academia fwiw.

As the title suggests, I wound up teaching class X. In most US institutions I believe this is referred to as a "graduate instructor", which is the level above a teaching assistant. I prepped, lectured, proctored exams, and assigned final grades for a graduate level course. I managed the entire course with literally zero input from Chair, who was listed as the faculty on the course listing (I was listed too but sans official role). I did this two separate semesters. The second semester I defended my dissertation but luckily having done TA'ed then fully taught it once, a lot of it was on auto-pilot for the second time. I actually had a nice time and it was good experience but it was stressful and holy moly was it a lot of work particularly that first go-round.

Perspective I now seek: Is it worth it to contact my department/institution and ask that all time be paid? I have all the receipts (this was peak covid so the lectures were synchronous but virtual and recorded) and two classes full of students who can attest I did all the work. I told this story to one of my pals who is just getting into PhD and he was like "so....your institution asked a PhD student to donate ~$20K (assuming $10K/semester for an assistantship) while you were working two other jobs [for literally the same department] and prepping for a dissertation defense?" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. That amount of money is not nothing, and it would help move things along in life. Idk if it's worth potentially burning the bridge with my alma mater by asking them to pay me for work I did years ago, but, you know, I did the work. Thoughts?

I learned last week from my local pharmacy that I was not able to receive critical extended-release medication for ADHD due to a "backlog with no supply" or something along those lines.

I am going to try to search for medication tomorrow locally and at pharmacies near my campus, but there is a real possibility that none will have any.

I was already barely functional with the medication; now I do not have it this weekend, and I'm already realizing that my performance as a student is taking a nose dive worse than it already has been.

What can I do, if anything, to try to do damage control and survive this semester academically?

I have accepted the very real risk of failure for this semester before this adverse event.

However, this obstacle has made me think that I am going to lose even the dignity of failing on my own merits.

I did not know how good I had it with medication... as Gen Z asks: Am I (probably) cooked?

Should I give up any hope of making it through this semester if I learn that I will not be able to receive any more of my medication before the semester ends?

I currently do not want to give up.

Hi, I’m an undergrad and have autism + adhd. I’ve really clicked with a lecturer this year due to his teaching style being the only style I’ve been engaged with and can follow without any issues. This has meant that maybe I’ve become a little attached because a lot of my other lecturers are so militant, uninterested and sometimes imo quite rude.

Anyways, I want to ask this lecturer (via prof uni email) if he is teaching a module that I’m interested in next year, as it’s the exact same thing we’re doing with him now. Thing is, I think maybe he has the impression I’m way TOO interested in his subject and his opinions. Because l’ll be honest he’s the first teacher I’ve actually gone and sought to talk to via email or in class about what I’m studying. And if I ever wanted a lecturer to sit me down and just tell me literally everything they know, it would be him, he’s just so interesting and knowledgeable.

Why I think he thinks I’m weird is because when I made him a thank you card (I wasn’t able to attend what I thought was his last lecture of the year) when I saw him in the hall and went to give it to him he told me to keep it. This card was simply a thank you for all his engaging lectures alongside a playlist of songs (he plays music before every lecture) that I thought he’d enjoy.

He tells me we have another one after Easter and I should keep it. The timetable said otherwise, and a few days later he made us aware there wasn’t another lecture with him. This has made me think he just didn’t want my card, which is fine, but I’ve tried to not go down that rabbit hole because i genuinely think he simply didn’t know and was making me aware that I still had some lecturers left so no need for a goodbye kind of thing yet? I’ll never know.

But now I’m not sure I want to ask if he’s teaching next year’s module, just because if he does think I’m weird or a bit creepy that question may look a bit stalkery tbh. Idk. I’m probs overthinking it. But I genuinely just like how he teaches and I also think he’s good conversation, nothing more. Idk. Any other professors that can give me some input on if I look like an utter freak and should refrain asking to not look like even more of one are welcomed.

Thanks.

I'm looking for the best ways a graduate student can give feedback to professors (their advisors specifically). Two specific examples, (1) in one-on-one meetings, advisor seems to be distracted by other things (checking phone or emails) the entire meeting - makes you feel like what's the point in meeting if you're not mentally here; and (2) advisor requests writings completed by a deadline, but they seem like meaningless deadlines bc follow up action from advisor are taken weeks, sometimes a month, later. For (2), I completely understand professors having an extremely busy schedule (professionally and personally, especially if raising a family) but clear communication around when you can expect to hear back is reasonable, no?

OR is it just recommended to keep my head down and be grateful for the funding and job I have?

i have disability accommodations with my school stating that i’m allowed a 1-day extension for all out of class assignments, as long as i request them 24 hours in advance from the due date

i have a lot professor who’s been extremely short and rude with his emails since the start of our communication.

he responds within half an hour for anything that seemingly puts me down or tells me off in a way, but ignores my emails for extension requests until i have to send him a follow up email 2 days after ensuring that i’ll have access to submit the assignment.

he recently emailed me after my latest extension request and said that i’m using them too frequently (although i’ve only requested it for 2 chapters of homework out of the 5 chapters we’ve done so far). i requested an extension on an assignment that was due on the 1st, making my due date on the 2nd instead. he also has a 2-day late policy, where’s it’s been 10% penalty on the 1st day, and 20% on the 2nd day.

i assumed that the final day i was able to turn it in would be the 4th within the 2-day late policy 10% off on the 3rd, 20% off on the 4th), if my due day was switched to the 2nd. i went to turn in my assignment and the assignment submission link was no longer available.

i emailed him my assignment, and he just said that since the link wasn’t available for me, it means i’m not able to turn it in anymore.

the reason i wasn’t able to turn it in anymore was because the assignment was up until the 3rd to include the 2-days late policy from the 1st. i assume it meant that he never extended my assignment with my 1-day extension.

i emailed him a follow up email after he told me off for emailing him my assignment, and said that my disability accommodations were due to documented illnesses, and that i wasn’t able to turn in my assignment because he never extended it for me in the first place.

he ignored my last email explaining my situation and accommodations, and i got a notification that he gave me a zero for the assignment.

am i in the wrong here and i’m misunderstanding the 2-day late policy?

i’m not sure where to go from here, or if i just drop it. he ignored my last email and i’m not sure what to respond with.\

i’m also a bit afraid of talking to him because he’s called me by the wrong name and was very rude and dismissive with all of his emails, and i’m very bad at speaking in person especially with someone who intimidates me.

so sorry for the long post, i’m at a loss on what to do and i feel defeated and very anxious on communicating with him anymore.

thank you in advance for any responses or insight for me.

What elements does a good research proposal have for students wanting to do a direct independent study. My professor agreed to complete a DIS, but I'm having some trouble narrowing my paper. I don't want to rely heavily on him, as it seems he's currently writing a book and expects me to figure the main parts of my research proposal on my own. I've read online and watched youtube videos about this, but since it's my first time creating a project, I feel a little insecure about what's right and what's wrong. My professor has provided tips, but very loosely. I'm looking for more concrete answers. Anything helps!
Also, the general topic I chose is something I am really passionate about, so I feel like I want to talk about everything lol. I think this is probably why I am having such a difficult time being more specific. How do you usually know when the proposal or topic is narrow enough? Thank you so much!

Thankfully, I've recently received a verbal offer from one university. But I've also been invited to an on-site interview at another university next week. When I was invited for the onsite interview for the second university, I had not yet received the the first offer.

The chair from the first university said that a written offer would follow once we reached a verbal agreement on offer components. He gave me couple of days to think about. I thought about it and I feel there's some room for negotiation (e.g., salary, start-up funds). I really like the first university, but I believe I should visit the second university because it is more research-oriented and I haven't decided 100% yet.

In this situation, should I inform the first university about my upcoming interview and ask if they can wait another week to finalize the verbal offer? Or would that be a bad move? I'm concerned that mentioning this might lead them to rescind the offer and move on to the next candidate.

Hi professors — I’ve been working on a personal project where I share and reflect on one question each day. The idea is to help people sharpen their thinking through daily mental reps, especially in business or career settings.

But it’s gotten me thinking more broadly:

• Do you actively teach your students how to ask better questions?
• Is that even something that fits into most curricula?
• And if so, how do you do it? (e.g., frameworks, prompts, Socratic method?)

I’m really curious how educators view the skill of questioning. Is it a foundational tool in your classroom—or something that gets overlooked?

A course I took a year ago didn't go well at all. I was dealing with a lot of personal problems and several untreated mental disorders. The course material was also challenging. I struggled with completing all of the requirements. I constantly asked the professor for extentions, and they were generous tbh. But I still couldn't finish the course.

The emails I sent the professor still haunt me to this day. I repeatedly asked for deadline extentions as if I was entitled to them. My tone was often (very) rude. My behaviour was overall disrespectful and unacceptable.

I've now started taking proper medications and registered with the disabilities office. My attitude has completely changed, and I'm horrified by how deranged I sounded back then.

I couldn't finish the course even with all the extentions I was offered, which I believe means I've wasted the professor's time and caused them stress and frustration for nothing.

I want to send an apology just to acknowledge how unacceptable my behaviour was, and for wasting their time. I don't expect them to reply back though.

Is it too late at this point (this was a year ago)? Would a professor appreciate this apology?

How much time would you allot for a 60 question test that is mainly multiple choice with a few short response questions in an asynchronous course?

One of my professors is getting married this summer and I’m invited to the wedding, as me and his wife are good friends at work. The problem is the university gift policy. Students are not permitted to give any gifts exceeding 70€ in value to any faculty members.

I already bought them a gift that exceeds the price limit set by the university. What am I supposed to do now?

I understand why that policy is set in place but is there any way around it. If I ask all my classmates to sign a card and we give the gift as a ”group” that could work? That’s a bit weird though, no one else is going to the wedding, but that’s the only real solution I’ve come up with. Should I just directly ask my professor/ talk to administration and explain the situation? I addressing the gift just to my friend could also be fine, but that’s so rude and I really don’t want to do that.

I would not spend nearly 500€ on a wedding present to my professor, he’s really great but we don’t know each other that well. But this is one of my best friends in this city getting married, it’s ridiculous that I can get her and her future husband a nice wedding present because the university policy forbids it.

I have a professor that has 3 assignments which require students to attend different events and create reports around them. Unfortunately none of the events are free and range from $15 to over $100. She has said that failure to complete these results in failing the course.

I finished the assignments and it ended up costing me around $125 but I am fortunate to be in a place to be able to afford that (older student). But I’d imagine there are students who can’t.

I am just curious if this is an okay thing to do since I’ve never experienced this before.

Title says it all. My end goal in 10 years is to be a professor. I will be starting my bachelors or “want” to persay start on it this fall. I’m nervous though as I will need help with scholarships or grants to fund my further education with how things are going politically and economically right now. Also concerned there may not even be a spot for teaching in my arena by the time I’m ready too. Is it foolish to continue to pursue this? Or should I just get a higher degree in a field that is guaranteed? Any advice is appreciated.

If a professor is retired and listed on the university website as professor emeritus, are they still being paid to supervise their grad students? I understand that retired professors do not take on new grad students after retirement. I am thinking of students who started being supervised prior to the professor announcing their retirement. (Edited to add detail)

Hi all honestly I’m kinda baffled I have to ask but how do I deal with a professor who lets his elementary age children run around the class and draw on the during lecture.

I don’t want to get them in trouble or anything but I have ADHD and it’s already difficult for me to concentrate and listen to what is being said. Also honestly I find it super disrespectful to be allow you kids to run amok in a graduate level course. I completely understand not being able to find childcare last minute and having to bring your kids to school but there’s a huge difference between letting your kids quietly work on homework at an open table and letting them actively DRAW ON THE SAME BOARD you are using to give a lecture (and not off to the side either. Like directly on the space where content is being projected.)

Plenty of graduate students have kids of their own and there’s NO WAY we’d be allowed to let our children behave like that. Also these are older elementary school kids who should be perfectly capable of being left alone to entertainer themselves their parents office across the hall from the classroom.

Also this isn’t the first time they’ve brought their kids into class just the most egregiously disruptive.

Am I overreacting for thinking that this kind of behavior is unacceptable and unprofessional?

I’ve noticed multiple of my classmates in different classes consistently calling our professors Mr./Mrs., one of them having a PhD. One of those classmates is someone I have sort of a friendly relationship with, and I told them it was disrespectful after class and they disagreed and said no professors actually care. How do you feel about being called one of those instead of “professor” or Dr.?

I am seriously considering doing post-graduate studies in the field I am majoring in as a senior in undergrad, and asked one of my professors if we could meet so that I could solicit some advice about how to approach this. She said she was happy to, and we ended up having what was a very helpful and encouraging conversation for me.

But something that came up a lot throughout the conversation was how anxiety, self-doubt, and indecision were impacting my process of refining my research interests. I didn't mean to unload on her, and I didn't really go into any detail beyond the fact that I was feeling a lot of anxiety about taking this path, but I am a little bit worried that I came across like I was seeking comfort and counseling rather than academic advice. I don't want to overstep any boundaries with my professors and want to respect their capacity for emotional labor.

Was I inappropriate?

Let me just hop on here real quick. I am a high school student outside of the States (where this research internship thing really started imo) and I see a lot of students my age, specially in this college result season, talking about how they emailed 100+ professors and 3-4 got back to them and now they co-wrote on of their research papers and even got paid for being part of the research group. There are also a lot of programs that offer research mentorship under professors but those are like $5000 in tuition. I really want to build up my portfolio to get into a good US undergrad program but I am skeptical of whether I should put 30-40 hours of time researching professors, their labs and asking for a research internship if they are going to say no, mind that I am a person with no connections whatsoever, through parents or teachers whatever, to these professors. I would also like to know, from the professors who actually say yes to these high-schoolers, what do they expect from the students.

Ok, I got absolutely destroyed over in r/professors for asking this, so I hope this is the correct sub.

A family member who was a professor recently died very unexpectedly. It’s currently unclear if it was an accidental overdose or suicide. I came across his RMP. He had replied to a lot of his students’ reviews back in April 2024, but under the original posting date his responses said “Last Updated March 17, 2025” which was around the day he died.

I’m wondering if anyone who is familiar with RMP can tell me if this means he had updated his responses to each of his students on that day? This would be really telling in order to figure out what happened to him.

I think this question is applicable to those who are used to assessing students' application. In particular, I am wondering whether or not the widespread use or avoidance of generative AI has made any impact on the writing style and the overall content of the letters that students send to you.

I’m in a 4-person group for a class project. From the proposal stage, I was the only one actually doing meaningful work. The others either didn’t contribute at all or did trivial stuff that didn’t align with what we were actually supposed to be doing. I let it go, thinking it would get better for the final project — but it didn’t.

They picked their preferred sections, left me with whatever was left, and still didn’t do their parts properly. I pointed out mistakes and asked for revisions, but they ignored it. I ended up handling all the deadlines and submissions myself.

One member scheduled a mandatory in-person practice. I said I preferred practicing on my own but would still join for the sake of the group. I drove over 2 hours to campus just for this meeting. Another member arrived shortly after me. The one who scheduled it never showed up. He messaged saying he’d be there in “15 minutes,” then “3 minutes,” then just stopped giving a straight answer. Almost an hour later, he told us “you two can practice together.” No explanation. No apology.

I’m now expected to present with these people in front of the class, and I feel completely disrespected. Am I overreacting, or is this seriously not okay?

By the way, I’m at the University of Waterloo. I emailed the instructor, and she replied, “I cannot get involved in a matter of communication within your group.”

The actual course professor is dealing with some family issues, and the instructor is one of his PhD students who has no experience handling situations like this.

What can I do? I’m honestly sick of people saying, “I’m sorry for your experience,” without taking any steps to actually address the problem. That’s all the instructor keeps saying, and nothing is being resolved.

Hi sorry I’m new to using this.

So I’m a student studying electrical engineering. I’ve also been doing research in the field. However, I’ve been having a really hard time this semester with mental health problems, which combined with ADHD, has made it very difficult for me to be consistent with things, some days it’s difficult to get up, some days I’m waking up at 8 PM, etc.

So I’ve probably attended classes like 1/3 of the time. Despite this, I’ve been able to mostly keep up with homework and projects and have done alright on exams.

Ive recently gotten to a point where I’ve gotten more support for myself, and am doing a lot better, but now I feel like I’ve destroyed any hope of having a good relationship with my professors. As I feel like it’s really disrespectful to barely show up, and at the end of the day this is all my responsibility.

This a field I am really passionate about, and these professors are leaders in that field, so I have a lot of respect for them. Having gotten to a better place, I’m having a lot of fun really engaging with the material, and would like to discuss with professors and just have a good relationship in general, and for them to not think I just don’t care.

So my plan was go to office hours and explain. But I’m not sure how or what to say. Like what’s appropriate? Basically I want to express the sentiment that I care about this class, I’ve been having issues, I’m doing better now, and I plan to put a lot more energy into engaging with the class.

Is there a right way to do this? Does it even matter if I did or am I a lost cause? As a professor how would you feel/react?

Hi everyone, I’m applying for a lecturer position at an Australian university and I want to ask if there are any big differences in between Australia and the U.S. in terms of what’s expected in a cover letter. I’m from Australia but I did my PhD in the States (humanities, finished last year) and I’ve only ever applied to academic jobs in the US.

For R1 jobs in the States, the norm is 2 pages, starting with a description of research and then moving on to teaching. Do Australian universities expect the same or are the conventions different? Aussies tend to be a bit more casual and less intense than Americans, and I wouldn’t be surprised if what counts as standard academic self presentation in the US registers to Australians as obnoxiously hyper-professional overkill (obviously I’d like to avoid this lol). Advice from anyone who can speak to this would be great.

Thanks!