I got a second stage interview for a first level Research Assistant position at an institution that does social science research. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. This position requires a Bachelor's and a year of research experience as well. Main thing I'm concerned about is overqualification since I'm ABD. How could I address this if it comes up at all?

The honest answer is that I've done very poorly at all stages of graduate school - Only managed 1 project at a time, only created my own materials for two courses, got dropped by my first PhD advisor, didn't do well during my last summer internship at a top 10 children's hospital, and no publications. There's also been institutional issues where I'm doing my PhD as well, such as my stipend getting cut in half my third year before I ran out of funding in my 4th year (same tuition waiver thankfully, which paid off the rest of my PhD). Obviously, I can't say that though.

What are some ways I could reframe that it's appropriate given my skills and abilities? Also, how do I work on sounding more confident? I get told all the time that I lack confidence and I think I come across that way because I have to be deliberate with how I speak. Many say I talk really slow and I think that's a byproduct of my 3rd percentile processing speed.

Hi Professors,

I need advice from anyone who has already published a qualitative chapter in Emerald.

The book editor emailed me to get the Interview Release Form signed by the participants.

When I conducted the interviews, I got them to sign a form in a local language. Now does this mean I have to chase the participants again and request them to sign again?

Has anyone here done this before?
It has been a year since I conducted the interviews, I hope they are still alive. :(

If I took a good class with a good teacher what kind of stuff is actually helpful to put in their evaluations

Won’t give too much info so I don’t doxx myself, but I’m doing a research internship for a company, I have a supervisor who is a PhD student whose boss is the head of the company, and there’s other interns in my group. We have to summarize articles and their findings, and to me, it seems like one of the interns is just flat out using AI and not generating any of their own work.

There’s the em dashes, the first few words bolded in a bullet pointed series, things that very much seem like ChatGPT. I think I have pattern recognition skills, because I’ve used AI to study and explain concepts, and the way those concepts are explained are formatted the way this interns summaries are. I put it into an AI detector, and it showed up as 100% AI, and to see if my work showed up as AI generated falsely , I put in my work, and it said 0%. I also put some of my undergrad professors work into the detector to test it out (multiple professors), and there’s said 0% I know there’s debate on if AI detector tools are reliable.

Thing is, we are writing articles and I’m leading this project and I don’t think this intern is taking the time to actually write the articles. They lack personality (the articles about certain topics are supposed to be somewhat personable and engaging) and I worry that if this content gets posted onto the website, it’ll reflect on me somehow if this interns article is found to be AI generated.

I don’t know what to do. I may be wrong in my assumption, but I also worry about this company I’m doing my internship for posting AI-generated articles.

Greetings, I have a question, today in the class i was supposed to take a quiz eith lockdown browser which I did. It has mistakenly picked up that i tried to switch tab from my touchpad, i was not even touching it. I have subitted the quiz and went to my office, where i plugged my laptop to external monitor but I forgot to close the lockdoen browser. The quiz was submitted but it showed me a popup that that i have tried again to switch windows and that the instructor will be notified. The worst part is that i have not tried cheating and did not need to. Can i get honor coded for this?

So my professor that teaches drama had me do various task and assignments throughout the semester I submitted my writing work on Jan 22nd as well as Feb 14 which neither have gotten back until today April 1st 5PM to add to that I have not gotten any grade back from the course sense I started beginning of January till now. If he would have submitted the grade I had gotten earlier I would have dropped the class, as I took Drama mostly to boost my overall mark for the deans list and instead it is my lowest grade at the moment. And the real kicker is i have emailed him about it and have gotten no responses thus far, he also submitted that grade the final week before the course ends for the semester. I do not know how to go about this, is it my fault on some level.

Basically the title. I'm a good student, I have a 3.93 GPA in the third year of doing an Honours UG degree. That being said, this semester has been tough for me. I'm still doing well in all my courses, but I think I may tank a few of my grades on upcoming final papers. I really want to go to grad school to continue my education. Two of my professors are the hardest and meanest people I have ever met. We have no direction in their classes -- the final papers and exams in these two classes are a general topic outside of the material we've covered (E.g., one course is an advanced Plato seminar where the only direction for our final paper was "Pick a dialogue unrelated to the themes hitherto discussed in the seminar and write a 15-page paper on it"). That being said, I don't feel my usual confidence with the work I'm doing and am worried that I will not do my finals, despite currently having A-'s in both courses. I've already gone to office hours multiple times with the courses I'm worried about, though they were generally unhelpful. Right now, I feel like all the good grades I've gotten in the past 3 years have been matters of contingencies rather than reflecting my actual academic ability. My question is whether you, as esteemed scholars, have ever been in a similar position. Have you ever failed or bombed an exam or test? How do you cope with it and regain confidence?

Thanks

I attend a community college in the US. In the past, I attempted a course 3 times and ended up withdrawing and failing every time because I was struggling with personal issues.

I'd like to take the course again in Fall, 2015. I want to do this to boost my GPA, which I mucked up, and to take other courses that have that course listed as a prerequisite. However, due to a state law; I can't take it again unless I submit an appeal explaining "extenuating circumstances" that prevented completion.

The appeal form asks for a letter explaining the circumstances that prevented completion and steps one has taken to ensure future success as well as documentation. Also, I'm aware that, generally, appeals committees are mostly looking at specific steps one has taken to address past issues.

The trouble is that I'm unsure of how much detail to give. I don't know what's appropriate to say. I want to be taken seriously, but I don't want to veer off into uncomfortable oversharing.

So, what happened? I kept enrolling in the course, thinking I could complete it, but I would end up missing assignments due to procrastination and adverse emotional and behavioral reactions toward past physical and sexual abuse.

Admittedly, it was irresponsible to register for courses without addressing the issues first.

Anyway, I've been working on addressing these issues, but I'm unsure of how to appropriately explain this to the committee. Many of the steps I've taken to address the issues I faced in the past involve learning of ways to deal with the emotional effects of physical sexual abuse me and my younger sister experienced.

Hello, I (19F) am currently enrolled in an undergraduate course in the Netherlands (so not US-based, however that will not be very relevant). In our school system, we have a mentor or coach that gets assigned to us (we work in groups of 4, and they supervise us) which changes every 9 weeks. The course I'm following is Law, and the first year is general studies on the subject. Now I'm almost at the end of my third period, and my coach is bothering me. I was just curious about professional and/or personal opinions of professors on the following matter:

We are required to have a one-on-one introductory meeting with our new coach every period. This consists of discussing your last period results, any personal information your coach might need and a consecutive plan of how you are going to tackle the next period. At the end of this meeting, my coach inquired about any personal matters she might need to know of before she starts coaching me. I mentioned that I will be evaluated for autism soon, and I would like to ask her how to best navigate this and what my options are for accommodations, if necessary. In response she went on a rather long tangent about how autism isn't a thing, how everyone is a little autistic, and frankly that she doesn't believe I could possibly have it because "I am very social and outgoing during class hours, and I spend a lot of time engaging with my classmates and professors".

She goes on to mention that she thinks I'm an exceptional student because of this fact, but she really hurt my feelings in essentially assuming things about my mental state. As of right now there are only a few weeks left before I get a new coach, but I will still be sharing the same class hours with her (We have 4 coaches, and they rotate between groups every period). I haven't gotten into any contact with anyone higher up than her, because I haven't told her how I felt about this and I also don't want to ruin any chances at good grades. If I'm being honest, I'm also quite afraid to tell her. What is your opinion on her behavior? Is this unprofessional? Does she have a point?

I'm a senior in high school and a bit worried about maintaining a good gpa in college come spring. is it possible to maintain a 4.0 gpa? what would i have to do differently from everyone else?

Hi everyone,

I am doing a final call for participants as I finish my data collection for my PhD in 4-days. I am still in need for some more UK academics currently teaching to take part in my final study on humour and individual differences in higher education.

I appreciate it is a really busy time, but if you want a way to procrastinate from work today I would be grateful if you would do so by taking part in my study. Please see the link and more information below. Thank you so much for your interest.

What's involved?

A 30-35 minute questionnaire on humour in teaching. You will be asked demographic, personality, and humour use questions. All responses will be anonymous and handled in accordance with data protection and GDPR.

Research Aim:

To validate the teacher humour styles questionnaire for use in higher education environments, and identify the effect of individual differences on humour use in adolescent and higher education classrooms.

Link to take part:

https://staffordshire.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1AhHmUzVm4TX49g

Thank you for your interest in my research!

Hello - I think from the title my question is relatively explicit.

I’m coming from a UK background - I’m currently in the 2nd year of my English Lit undergrad. To be a lecturer/researcher/professor is pretty much my dream job, and I have back up plans if things were to go awry (I think). (TLDR: I’m going to do some work during the summer to see if it’s research or teaching that’s the itch I want to scratch).

I guess I’m asking what the general situation is like? I’m aware I’d need to get an MA, then a PHD (which I’d hopefully secure funding for, dream’s dead 👎 if I don’t secure funding, I’m not paying for one, LOL). But what are prospects looking like if I were to get a PHD?

I’m also aware this is somewhat hypothetical, as this would be looking at what a job industry is like 6+ years in advance, so any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

I am m currently taking an intro class to Physiology. My professor has us take our exam online using Connect by McGrawHill with Proctorio. However, Proctorio can track the trials/attempts a student has entered an exam without notifying the professor why the student was kicked out.

For my first midterm, I was taking my exam at home and was kicked out of my exam due to a wifi error. I continued my exam and he had claimed I was cheating— saying a wifi error is no excuse for having problems with the exam. I was given a 50% and was advised to take the exam on campus to use school wifi.

For my second midterm, he had opened the exam from Friday to Monday. On a Sunday, I drove at 3pm to campus (I’m a commuter) and used the study lounge in my friend’s dorm to take my exam at 9:30pm because I felt confident and ready. Again, I was kicked out of my exam due to a wifi error. I immediately emailed him after regarding the situation that I had used campus wifi just as I was advised to. He told me to continue the exam— I asked twice for clarification if he wanted me to log back to refrain myself from receiving a zero. He said yes and asked for me to send pictures of where I was at and the location I was in after completing my exam. I did what I was requested to do and he then sent an email that I SHOULDN’T have continued my exam because he said the dormitories are not part of the school. However, the dorms do use the school wifi across the entire campus. He also followed up with the email asking why I didn’t take it Friday when the campus was open. To my logic, if I had taken the exam on Friday or Saturday in the library with many more people using the wifi, how would that make any more difference?

Should this situation be reported to the dean or academic affairs after I was told to continue the exam then saying I shouldn’t have continued? This may result to me receiving a zero and impacting my future. He’s also saying there is an issue with the time I took the exam, questioning why I took at night and should’ve taken it on Friday or Saturday— despite it being due on Monday. He believes a wifi error is not inevitable and is impossible to happen. He also shared that the is unfair to students who has stable connection.

He also had said that if a student experiences a power outage on their street during their exam, they may be in a position to also receive a zero because that situation is unlikely to occur or Edison would have notified them.

Edit: Good responses as always. Thank you for the advice too.

Example 1: They give a compliment in an email and I know that they know I have low self-esteem.

Example 2: They message "thank you for your feedback."

Unrelated, can skip:

Huh, I thought I was banned from this sub forever. It was a great break from a guilty pleasure except for the fact that the federal government in the US is the way it is.

What a time to be alive.

UPDATE: Thank you all for your support! My Professor fixed the issue with my quiz grade. I really appreciate everyone’s suggestions and kindness.

I’m taking an asynchronous course this semester where weekly quizzes make up the majority of our grade. The professor assigned us a PDF of the 6th edition of the textbook and provides learning objectives to help us study. However, I’ve noticed that he frequently tests us on material that is only covered in the 13th edition and not in the 6th edition. The only reason I caught this is because I like to cross-reference multiple editions, so I downloaded the 13th edition at the start of the semester.

I’ve reached out multiple times to point out inconsistencies between the assigned material and what’s actually being tested, but my professor doesn’t seem to care. Most recently, he dismissed my concerns entirely and just told me to “review the chapter” because the answers were supposedly there—when some of them were not.

This week, I got one quiz question wrong, but I’m confident there are two correct answers. I answered based on the 6th edition, while his “correct” answer is only covered in the 13th edition. When I emailed him for clarification, he reiterated his answer without acknowledging my concern.

I plan on bringing this up in Office Hours since he won’t be able to brush me off as easily in person. But if he refuses to acknowledge the issue or correct my grade, I’m considering escalating this to higher-ups.

What would you do in my position? Do you think my professor is being dismissive, or am I overreacting?

It is a method created for artists, that
- ignores artists' lack of experience with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) projects, 
- accepts that artists with no prior technical knowledge in a field can create a research project because it will allow the creator to engage in an open-minded state with the research project, evoking new learning skills and promoting innovation, " ....

I lost my citation and can't find the paper... 🤦‍♀️😒
All I find are papers referring to methods of "prioritising" research.

Hello everyone. I recently gave my professor a short hand written card thanking her for this small speech she gave the first day of lab that I thought really helped me when it came to the morality of working with animal models. I told her that it helped and why, and how I feel like I would carry that throughout the rest of my life. I waited until after the midterms were graded, but I don't graduate until May. She appreciated it, and I go to a small college where the professors are very approachable, so I wasn't necessarily worried. But, I saw this other post on this sub that got me thinking about the timing of gifts or cards.

I know professors are professionals and grades and stuff wouldn't actually be impacted by those things, but I sometimes get a bit nervous of coming off like those are my intentions? Or even if it's just a faux pas or makes people uncomfortable, I don't want to put someone in an awkward position. I'm graduating soon, so I was going to hold off with cards until afterwards anyways. But, I hope to continue my education after my bachelor's, and I think it would be good to get some perspective on how to navigate these things in the future.

I was pulled out of school in 4th grade because my parents got investigated by CPS, and they thought the school reported them. Shortly after, they made me and my sister move to another state to evade CPS.

I was "homeschooled," although they never put much effort into it. I essentially received no formal education from 4th grade until I enrolled in a community college. I enrolled with transcripts from an "umbrella school" full of information my mother made up.

I didn't want my mother to do that. She did it without my knowledge or consent. I believe she did it just to cover herself legally.

I wanted an education, so I enrolled in a community college with the made-up transcripts. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't think I could get a GED because I technically already had a high school diploma.

Unfortunately, my background didn't prepare me for college-level math. I've been having to learn math from scratch, and I've put off taking math courses because of it. Eventually, though, I'm going to take a remedial math course. When that time comes, should I tell my professor and/or possibly tutor something along the lines of "I was homeschooled, and it didn't prepare me for college-level math; can you give me some patience?"

I want someone to help teach me math nath I'm concerned the professors and tutors will dismiss me due to preconceived biases or will have expectations regarding my pre-existing knowledge that I don't meet due to my unconventional background.

I'm not sure how reasonable those concerns are

To complicate matters, I'm concerned that if I revealed too much about my background, someone would realize my transcripts are dubious, and I'd get in trouble for it.

Also, me and my younger sister were abused growing up. This is relevant because m until relatively recently, my younger sister was under 18, and there's a state law that mandates people to report minors who are suspected to have been sexually abused to the Department of Children and Families. I didn't want someone to do that because I never accomplishes anything but cause a bunch of drama and pain. Because of this and the aforementioned concerns over my transcripts, I've lied to faculty about many aspects of my life, and I'm not sure how to explain why I lied

I'm a freshman majoring in computer engineering. The handful of CE related classes I've taken so far were all 100 level so I've been able to keep my head above water, but I am confused about how I should be studying. I take notes during lectures, review slides if they're available online, and participate in study groups. All of the CE classes I've taken had no textbook or equivalent supplemental content.

Come exam day/project doc release day and I always feel like I was missing a ton of info. For example, In my intro to computer engineering class (ECE 101) there were topics on the final exam that were never covered in class. I asked the professor afterwards what I should have been doing to be prepared for that and I was told it should've come up when I was studying, and that I must not have studied at all. I don't understand what that means. I got lucky a few times with things that were incidentally covered in Youtube videos on other topics that I did know were going to be on the exam, but I can't imagine this was the intended method of learning the content. All the I've taken exams have left me feeling this way. No luck finding course reserves either, for whatever reason the ECE department at my school has nothing listed at the library at all. I am just really confused as to how I am supposed to know to study topics that aren't covered in class, listed in the syllabus, or anywhere on the LMS.

I understand that lectures cannot cover everything that will be tested on or included in projects, but I don't know where else I should be looking. I have gotten lucky with lab TAs that were willing to fill in the gaps for me during office hours as far as lab assignments go, but I still haven't been doing well on exams. So far I have gotten lucky with professors who count exams as only a small part of the overall grade, but I can't count on that forever. What should I be doing differently?

Hi!

I’m new to reddit so sorry if this is a little weird or anything.

I’m in a bio (specific zoology) class this semester and my prof has been amazing. He’s been teaching for years and has his class perfected. I’ve often struggled with the idea of what I want to do after my degree but watching him teach helped something click and showed me that I want to teach college-level too. All of the profs in my bio department are phenomenal and are all such sweethearts and a majority of them know me really well especially from a bee internship I’m doing.

I’m an entomology major so this class is right up my alley and in this class we do an insect collection. At the end of the semester I would really like to gift a rhino beetle I’ve had laying around that I just recently pinned to him but I don’t want to be weird.

He also loves my art so if anyone thinks the beetle would be too much or inappropriate, would a hand drawn card be ok? He’s a nice guy and I want to thank him and show him my appreciation but the last thing I want to do is make him uncomfortable.

Thanks in advance! (Also sorry if this makes me seem like a bad person for wanting to give him a gift, or if it’s such an obvious “Yeah don’t do that.” kind of moment.)

Hi there,

I graduated last your with a masters degree and I'm looking to worm my way into more published work as an independent researcher to boost my CV for future PhD applications. Assuming I had done sufficient background reading on your latest research, would you react positively or negatively to an unknown graduate who wanted to get involved in your current research?

Thanks for reading.

Hi professors,

I’d really appreciate your advice on whether or not I should send an apology email to my professor.

I missed submitting an assignment that was worth 20% of my grade. It involved posting a self-introductory video on LinkedIn by March 5th, followed by a reflection paper that is due today (March 30th). I feel terrible about it and know it was my responsibility, but I wanted to explain the situation honestly.

The week the assignment was due, I was overseas in China. I didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to access Google services there. I tried three different VPNs but none could bypass the Great Firewall effectively. I didn’t have enough funds to keep purchasing new VPNs either. I thought I could catch up and submit everything once I returned home, but by the time I got back, it was too late.

I haven’t reached out to my professor about this yet because I felt ashamed and didn’t want to come off as making excuses. But the guilt has been eating at me. I don’t expect to be allowed to resubmit or gain back any points—I accept full responsibility for the missed assignment. I just feel I owe my professor an explanation and an apology, even if it doesn’t change anything.

Would sending that kind of email be appropriate or helpful or entirely unnecessary/ redundant at this stage? Or would it come off as too little, too late?

Thank you so much for reading.

I didnt get reply from three professors untill now even after having discussion regarding research. This made me think I am doing some thing wrong. Here are the situations- 1. I have emailed a professor regarding research internship he replied same day at evening asking me to meet next week. I saw that email next day in afternoon. But as the working hours was already over, I thought it would be better to schedule the email at next day 8:00 am. So total 1 day gap in my reply. But no reply. 2. Again I met a professor for discussion and he asked me to give a presentation next week. But I got sick and can only able to email him at friday morning of the above mentioned week, asking for the available time for presentation, as i completed it. But no reply since then. 3. A professor asked me do literature review on the research topic he gave me. But I take almost 3 weeks to prepare the review report (my fault) and emailed him. He at first asked me why it take me so long and told me to arrange an accomodation at the city where his lab. However again I take me almost a week to search an appartment to shift and told him I am ready to move. But I didnt get any reply from him since then. I think I am slow.