Questions tagged [emotional-responses]
On emotional issues such as guilt, discouragement, jealousy, anxiety or feelings of inadequacy affecting academics and researchers.
226
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Is it possible to move past bad decisions made during PhD and hope for a bright future if I do a good job in postdoc?
I completed my PhD in mechanical engineering last year. It took me 5.5 years to complete it. I already held a master's degree previously albeit in a different research area. The main reason was my ...
user120180
3
votes
1
answer
424
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Imminent unemployment, I have a screwed up CV; incompetent in my own field of PhD. Hoping for some perspective and advise? [duplicate]
I did my PhD recently and it took 5.5 years to complete. I had just 2 courses in my PhD, so the timeline is excessive owing to my lack of motivation during my 2-3rd year.
I have also not taken any ...
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3
votes
1
answer
3k
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I can't figure out why my professor hates me [closed]
I now have Professor X for the third semester in a row. I have not interacted with him very much outside of class, but I am positive he used to like me. But now, I can tell that he dislikes me.
I can ...
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4
votes
2
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158
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What to do if one comes to a realization that research and post graduate studies is not for him/her? [closed]
Life doesn't allow for a redo. I have been a decent student in my undergrad and got placed in a reputed company right after graduation. However, research and academia always inspired me. I got into a ...
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1
vote
1
answer
267
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Feeling like stuck in a wrong field of study due to inept technical background. Seeking advice on how to sustain in academia and research? [closed]
I completed my PhD from North America recently in a particular subfield in mechanical engineering. Though, I have published 3 decent publications and got a postdoctoral position afterwards, I am ...
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58
votes
13
answers
25k
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Stuck without progress working on thesis - worried about failure
I am a student of Indian origin. I am Studying Mechanical Engineering in a local university in north of Germany.
I am writing my thesis in a company. My task is to optimize the throughput of the line. ...
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-1
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1
answer
972
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Is it possible to recover a career from a bad PhD outcome?
I am an Indian, who defended his PhD recently in materials science in the US. However, I did not do well in my PhD, as I faced lot of difficulties throughout my PhD. I was doing research in a field ...
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2
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403
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How to overcome seminar boredom [duplicate]
I find I am frequently uninterested in the weekly seminars in my faculty, which consists of applied mathematics, fluid dynamics, and computer science. My niche is a small sliver between applied maths ...
user108403
6
votes
2
answers
1k
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Lack of motivation to carry out research or search for positions post PhD. How to address this feeling?
Tl;dr: Defended my PhD two weeks ago. However, right from the time of the defense and up until the present moment, I am experiencing a huge lack of motivation and sense of purpose to do anything ...
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76
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9
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I wasted six years of my life getting a PhD degree. What should I do, and how will I survive?
I struggled with low self confidence throughout my bachelors, masters and PhD in chemical engineering. After spending two years in Masters and six years in getting a PhD degree, I am lost at what I ...
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3
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1
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554
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I have done my PhD research without learning the numerical method details. How can I defend successfully?
I used a commercial software LS Dyna in my PhD research. My mechanical engineering PhD research was completely modeling based, no experimental. I have three journal papers, which are in surface ...
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4
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3
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984
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How to overcome the feeling that I don't know many things about my research tool?
I am a 6th year PhD in computational chemical engineering. I have extensively used Lammps for my Molecular dynamics simulations. However there are many aspects of the modeling tools that I have no ...
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2
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617
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Is it normal to feel lost while following a mathematical / physical reasoning?
I re-uploaded this question here, since a user from Physics Stack Exchange told me it might fit better.
TL;DR: I feel like I could not come up with most reasonings myself, so I end up feeling like I'...
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1
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140
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How to Best Ask Mentor for Guidance
I'm not a currently enrolled grad student, but I am being adopted on as a "grad student" and am currently working on a project in pharmacology involving a lot of things that I'm not too familiar with. ...
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3
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1
answer
300
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How to deal with the fear of missing out?
I will be soon starting my Ph.D. but have already experienced some of the research environment. I have chosen to work on a field in machine learning that is becoming increasingly popular. Every time I ...
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2
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594
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Already in grad school, but is grad school for me? [closed]
I'm sure you've seen a dozen variations on this question in this forum, but here's mine:
I've just finished my first year in a top US PhD program in the physical sciences, which I never dreamed I ...
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2
answers
264
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Can I get an honest opinion about my PhD research journey? [closed]
As a 5th year PhD, I am about to submit my thesis in 4-5 months. My PhD is in computational materials science. Following are things I have done:
I have published 1 paper and 3 are yet to be submitted....
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4
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6
answers
2k
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How to tell pushy "advisors" to back off?
TL;DR
What can a PhD student on a research stay abroad do about postdocs that are supposed to be collaborators but behave like "helicopter advisors"?
Background
A friend of mine is doing her PhD (...
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47
votes
7
answers
5k
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How can I overcome academic "researcher's block"?
I work as a senior academic in an important university in Europe. My name is in several publications in top journals in my field.
I have always published papers together with brilliant collaborators ...
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7
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2
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890
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Lose my nerve while doing research [duplicate]
I'm a starting graduate student in math. Without a doubt I'm not a genius or even that smart, and that creates a serious problem: I often lose my nerve while doing research or studying other people's ...
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4
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3
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10k
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How to overcome fear of answering/asking questions in big class
Maybe it's because I'm a very shy person, but whenever I am in a big classroom setting (lecture), I am too afraid to raise my hand and ask questions or answer questions in class. It's really odd to me ...
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3
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2
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565
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How to stay calm when receiving review notifications?
I've been in academia for roughly 8 years now. Wrote quite a few papers. Still, my heart starts seriously racing each time there's an email notifying me of a review for one of my papers.
Does anyone ...
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3
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953
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How to have confidence in my research?
I'm a PhD student at a reputed institution and in my 4th year now. I'm researching in the domain of information security & privacy.
I've got a number of good conference publications (4 ...
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63
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14
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I got accepted into a math PhD program but I don't feel adequate enough to attend
I got accepted into a school that I really wanted to go to for a math PhD. I finished my masters and I love math very much. It's something that I've always been extremely passionate about. I used to ...
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498
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struggling with procrastination, looking for strategies and ideas [duplicate]
I am currently in the writing phase of my thesis. Factors related to and unrelated to academia are putting me under "nice" amount of pressure. it became much harder for me to concentrate on reading or ...
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2
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1k
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Is it possible to finish my PhD at a different institute?
I got into a delicate situation with my supervisor (and the director of the institute -- they are very close friends) and I will not have a chance to get my Ph.D. at the institute, at least not under ...
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2
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1
answer
283
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How to get enrolled into a PhD program without a reference letter from a PI with whom you have worked for 2 years?
Right after I graduated by BSc degree in Chemistry, I joined the group of a professor as a research-assistant who was willing to work with me for a few publications before I could be admitted since I ...
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19
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5
answers
7k
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How to deal with your research results becoming obsolete?
My coworkers are pursuing a generalization of one of my (recent) results. Is it wrong of me to frown a little on this? I would prefer it if they had an original idea of their own, or that if that they ...
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37
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9
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Undergrad overwhelmed by a graduate math class [closed]
I'm an undergraduate studying math and I'm taking a graduate math class for the first time this semester. I've taken the undergraduate prerequisites, but it's still very challenging, which I was ...
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4
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4
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2k
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Disappointed about Academia [duplicate]
I was a first-year PhD student but was forced to quit although hard-working day and night! I am disappointed, I am now 27 and did not create family, left my home country. Problems from the past in my ...
user39171
8
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6
answers
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Avoiding use of a red pen in providing handwritten comments on student work
As is common practice, I usually have used a red pen to grade student work and provide edits and comments on papers I collaborate on. However, I was speaking recently with an elementary school teacher ...
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When is it enough? Final year PhD student with an abusive advisor
How do I know if I've had enough?
I am scared to take this further, since my supervisor is quite powerful (millions in funding) and goes back and forth with abusive behavior. Plus, I only have a ...
-1
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1
answer
384
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What's the term for people who think they suffering from imposter syndrome when in reality they *are* imposters? [closed]
Many academics and students claim to be suffering from imposter syndrome. Many of these will be strong contributors regardless and I hope they find a way to cope with their self-esteem issues.
...
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46
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4
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Meeting dishonest ex-supervisors at large international conference -- Should one speak out?
I have returned to my country after one negative experience as a postdoc in China.
In short, I was hired based on false salary & funding expectations supported by shady vague contracts written in ...
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3
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How to feel less guilt about teaching?
I just got a permanent position. Hooray!
My question is the opposite of this one (that popped out as a suggestion from this site): How to care less about teaching?
During my PhD studies I TAed a ...
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2
answers
288
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Is it OK if I hate a piece I wrote several months after publishing it?
I wrote a blog post for a magazine run by scholars. A few months later, I read the post again. I hate it! I can think of three-four different ways I could have written it differently. Granted, I was ...
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32
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2
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How do I handle plagiarism professionally and emotionally?
So I have been trying to get an article accepted since 2016. It is an article dedicated to a machine learning based prediction of a biological dataset. It was rejected 4 times. Today, on searching, I ...
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60
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11
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How to deal with unnecessary stress introduced by the supervisor?
I am doing my PhD in a high prestige UK university.
I am finishing my second year and I have funding for three years in total.
I have already two papers finished (pending to be published) and ...
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26
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3
answers
2k
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Finished a research paper and feel horrible now
We've all heard of postpartum depression, though I'm not a woman so I have no idea what it's really like.
I am wondering if there is any medical/psychological evidence to support similar (reported) ...
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8
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2
answers
4k
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How can I overcome feelings of unworthiness after finding mistakes in my research?
I'm currently a PhD student suffering from extreme anxiety after finding some mistakes in my scientific paper 7 months back. I've talked to my supervisor about it and he said that those were simple ...
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11
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6
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9k
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Bad relationship with PhD supervisor
I'm at the end of the second year of a phd in engineering. My project is going well: I'm involved in an international project and I submitted 6 journal papers and 5 conference papers.
The problem is ...
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40
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3
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How does an Erratum on one's own paper affect one's career as a researcher?
I'm still early in my scientific career, with only a few papers published. However, I've discovered a typo in a non-critical equation of my paper, and one of the graphs in the same paper should have ...
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94
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10
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27k
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What makes academic failure different from failure in another career?
It is my understanding that academia as a nebulous whole has its own culture and speaks its own language that makes it a very different environment to work in compared to other so-called "industry" ...
41
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8
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10k
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How to deal with unavoidable failure in my first year of tenure-track applications?
I got my PhD recently. I applied to many tenure-track positions and got selected for several onsite job interviews. Yay. However I have actually been told in no uncertain terms by several trusted ...
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3
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743
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Are there math graduate schools without stressful tests? [closed]
I am one year from graduating and am starting to look for Graduate programs. I would like to know if there exist graduate programs where the focus is on research from the start (apparently this is the ...
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2
votes
1
answer
1k
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My supervisor won't accept that I won't stay in the lab for a PhD
I have recently graduated a M.Sc. I have agreed with my supervisor that I will complete the work required in order to make my project publishable (we have agreed that this does not entail any ...
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198
votes
11
answers
26k
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Postdoc overwhelmed by incomplete work
I take on more than I can handle and everything is left incomplete. Constant reminders from my previous supervisor, my current advisor, and colleagues, increases my anxiety level and sometimes I end ...
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0
answers
126
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Music with lyrics about academic world [closed]
I am curious to know if there are musicians or music bands whose compositions (in any musical style) have lyrics that talk about our "academia world" with songs, for instance "my manuscript was ...
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2
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163
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How can I start to write my final paper? [closed]
How can I start to write my final paper? I have been doing nothing during the whole week. I just stayed at home and slept. I'm afraid to do anything even cooking. I can't focus and can't concentrate ...
3
votes
2
answers
490
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How do I maintain motivation in a completely awful grad program? [closed]
I am a 2nd year PhD student.
I regret my choice of grad school severely. The program here has a good reputation and I have no idea how or why it has a good reputation. The program here is absolutely ...
- 39