Questions tagged [academic-life]

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

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Why do PhD students complain so much? [closed]

This question has two parts. First, a comparative question. Second, a broad question about why PhD students get so stressed and complain so much. Do PhD students complain more than people in other ...
Dr. Beeblebrox's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
1k views

How to make academic life bearable under stressing circumstances?

I have been teaching a humanities course at a higher education institution for about more than three years now. I am expected to get full tenure this year. Perhaps it is the only chair dedicated to my ...
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12 votes
4 answers
3k views

Motivating myself to study?

I'm a CS master student working on my thesis. I'm 25 years old and still until now when I wake up in the morning to start studying I wake up stressed and my stomach hurts. I also feel a very bad ...
Jack Twain's user avatar
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12 votes
3 answers
3k views

Life as a master student vs PhD student

There's something I am not able to understand. I'm a CS master student in Germany. Now I'm doing my master thesis. Before starting my thesis I had an image about PhD students which turned out to be ...
Jack Twain's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
399 views

Decision about getting a job while completing MSc Studies

Last year I got accepted in a full time informatics MSc. During that period I also had a fulltime job as a software developer in a startup and I was trying to make some publications with my thesis ...
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11 votes
1 answer
336 views

What is "shared governance" and how does it work in practice in academia?

I read the Wikipedia page and this article on the subject and frankly, I am still clueless. I don't understand what shared governance means in practice, how it applies, who it is for, and how it ...
ff524's user avatar
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116 votes
9 answers
21k views

How to stop feeling guilty about unfinished work?

My biggest challenge as a PhD student is best summarized by the following from PHD Comics: "Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com A consequence of working in research is that the ...
ff524's user avatar
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20 votes
2 answers
7k views

Difference between private and public universities as a faculty member?

As a grad student I was, for the most part, shielded from issues like high-level bureaucracy, departmental duties and politics, and long-term career advancement. Obviously these things become more ...
Dnuorg Spu's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
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Lazy/Busy Professor does not give me my confirmation

I have done a short summer research internship at a department of a famous University in Europe. Unfortunately, this was last summer and I reminded my professor several times now to give me some sort ...
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11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Does graduate school reputation have any effect on your academic career?

I am an Australian citizen and studying at University of Newcastle (Australia). Does your graduate school reputation has any effect in your academic career? So if I decide to do my PhD at a US ...
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3 votes
2 answers
470 views

crossroads between continue working or going to a PhD

Here is my situation, I got a MSc from a renowned university in Europe and I have been working as a lecturer in a non-EU country until now. I am in my mid thirties (upper part =)) and I have came to ...
Layla's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
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Which one of these is more appropriate for academic email

I have a membership from an organization e.g. ieee.org and I have some options for my email ID which I want to use in academy and professional work. I'm not a native English and I'm not familiar with ...
SddS's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
5k views

Endowed Assistant Professor vs Assistant Professor

In US education system, the university academic positions start with Assistant Professor. But there are some occasions that positions for Endowed Assistant Professor are advertised. I could not find ...
Espanta's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
434 views

Hard new ideas VS Hard technical ideas?

I'm a CS master student. During my early days looking for a thesis I noticed two categories of projects: Projects a about completely new idea. Projects about improving an existing technical concept. ...
Jack Twain's user avatar
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53 votes
14 answers
10k views

How should I deal with discouragement looking at others success?

I'm a master CS student. I had so many troubles in my life. I didn't have proper schooling and were in difficult situations which led to me being not so good compared to my peers now at the graduate ...
Jack Twain's user avatar
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16 votes
9 answers
18k views

What are the goals and benefits of doing a PhD?

I'm a master computer science student in a German university and I will be graduating soon. I'm in a situation between accepting a PhD position or leaving academia to start looking for job. This is a ...
Jack Twain's user avatar
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31 votes
6 answers
9k views

What do you wish you knew as a student before you became a researcher?

There are a number of lessons I learnt as an undergraduate which I wish somebody had told me much earlier. Although each of you learnt different lessons with different notions of which way is the ...
44 votes
6 answers
2k views

How does the US government shutdown affect academics? [duplicate]

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 ...
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95 votes
5 answers
7k views

Typical experiences of transgender people in academia?

I've recently come to accept that I'm transgender (MtF, male-to-female). I won't go into the exact details of this as it's personal, but I have a "girl mode" where I identify as a female. I'm also a ...
Rebecca J. Stones's user avatar
24 votes
3 answers
2k views

Ways to manage something like a 'work-life balance'?

According to a recent international study on work-life balance within academia "a majority of researchers and scientists had conflicts between their work schedules and personal lives at least two ...
Michael's user avatar
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