Timeline for How to answer questions *honestly* about some professors from Visit Days students?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
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| Jun 10, 2020 at 14:12 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Feb 6, 2018 at 16:02 | comment | added | spacetyper | I wish I could downvote this answer 100 times. This is terrible advice. You're basically screwing over the prospective student by pussyfooting around your actual feelings. | |
| Feb 6, 2018 at 16:00 | comment | added | spacetyper | You're doing prospective students a grave disservice if you avoid negative remarks, when that is unanimously how people feel about this professor. OP himself said he wasted two years with this person. Why should he frame things in a way which undersells how terrible that was? | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 23:35 | comment | added | Matt | @JacobRaihle, don't these answers implicitly contrast Profs. X/Y/Z against a "typical" professor in the department? | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 11:58 | comment | added | Jacob is on Codidact | @xLeitix Yes, that was the point. The contrast with other professors makes it clear, but it only works if you bring up other professors to contrast against (as such, I would recommend doing just that whether or not you are asked to). | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 11:51 | comment | added | xLeitix | @JacobRaihle This is completely untrue. If you ask me about X, Y, and Z, and I give you the provided soundbites for all three you should take away that X is ambitious (==expects a lot, more than the others), Y is absent a lot, and Z is not very established. If I give you a brief rundown like this, what I choose to talk about should in itself give you all the info that you need. | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 11:27 | comment | added | Konrad Rudolph | “Avoid negative statements” — I disagree, I believe this is very counter-productive advice. Unfortunately I therefore have to downvote. Avoiding negative statements, where appropriate, is deceptive and exacerbates the problem that OP wants to solve. Be charitable, but don’t sugar-coat. | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 10:37 | comment | added | Jacob is on Codidact | @xLeitix the problem is that it doesn't work as a warning without the contrast, and providing a warning seems to be the ultimate goal here. | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 8:22 | comment | added | xLeitix | @einpoklum The answer to "What can you tell me about Prof. X?" is exactly the one quoted above. What's wrong with that? If people want to dig deeper you can, but nobody can force you to spell it out for them. | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 8:20 | comment | added | einpoklum | From experience, this doesn't work. Think of the following question: "What can you tell me about Prof. X?" - you can't contrast him to Prof's Y and Z. Also, disagree avoiding negative statements entirely. | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 8:18 | comment | added | xLeitix | I like this a lot because it is not actually saying bad things, but it should still get the point across to a reasonably self-reflective student. | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 4:20 | comment | added | aparente001 | @convexityftw - It's so hard to predict when someone is going to repeat something you've said to the person you'd least expect. // In music school there were some big name professors who spent a few days in residence (on campus) every month or two. Their students would be completely on their own between campus stints. That worked for some students but I really benefited from weekly lessons with my teacher (not such a big name, but a wonderful teacher). | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 4:00 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Feb 5, 2018 at 4:00 | comment | added | user42273 | While I like @Pete R. Clark's thought process, I am still nervous about being too honest. I think your answer is exactly what I'd be most comfortable saying. I also really like your first line about saying things the way I'd say if I know my words could be made public. I'll therefore accept this answer. (In fact one of the professors I didn't like working with definitely fell in category 2. that you describe). | |
| Feb 5, 2018 at 0:23 | history | answered | aparente001 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |