Questions tagged [undergraduate]
On providing academic services (such as teaching, advising, and research mentorship) specifically to undergraduates. Questions about undergraduate-specific issues that could not apply to graduate or post-graduate academicians are off-topic here and will be closed and deleted. Questions about coursework, etiquette, and other academic issues that apply to both undergraduate and post-graduate students should not be tagged [undergraduate].
987
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Failing students when it might cause them economic ruin
The issue has crept up on me slowly over the last several years. I am increasingly aware of the massive debt that many of my students are taking on, debt which is far beyond the sort of debt that I ...
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155
votes
14
answers
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Teaching a class likely meant to inflate the GPA of student athletes
Premise
My department recently finalized the faculty teaching assignments for the Fall 2019 semester (starts at the end of August 2019). As these assignments were being discussed a few weeks ago, my ...
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150
votes
12
answers
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Our teacher is encouraging us to use cracked software
I'm taking a course named Numerical and Computational Methods Based on Mathematica (Or in Chinese: "基于Mathematica的数值计算方法"), but Wolfram Mathematica is a bit expensive for me to afford. On the first ...
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145
votes
18
answers
26k
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Is it appropriate for a professor to require students to sign a non-disclosure agreement before being taught?
There's a professor at my school that claims to be writing a book. He is requiring students to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before certain lectures because he wants to maintain certain ideas ...
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143
votes
14
answers
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Should I intervene when a colleague in a different department makes students run laps as part of their grade?
Basic Premise
Can a microbiology professor require students to run laps on the track during class for a grade, even if the class usually has no physical component to it?
Background
As part of my role ...
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115
votes
14
answers
51k
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How to deal with arrogant e-mail of a student
I have sent the solutions of some assignments to the students of my class.
One of my students sent me a message that reads as follows (not greeting or anything, no closing, just the following):
...
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108
votes
24
answers
41k
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How can I prevent students from writing answers on an assignment, then claiming I didn't see their answer?
What is a good way to prevent students from writing an answer after you hand back a graded assignment (exam/homework) and claiming that you did not see their answer?
It is clear to me that this ...
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78
votes
11
answers
32k
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Should professors pay undergraduate students doing research in their labs?
I have some undergraduate students doing research in my lab, and I pay them by the hours. I've observed that the students usually do what I tell them and don't go beyond that (as we usually expect ...
- 1,065
77
votes
8
answers
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How to explain a bad grade to a delusional student?
There is a student who attended a seminar where they were supposed to study an assigned research paper and deliver a presentation to the class. Their presentation was very low quality. Four (!) ...
- 11.8k
70
votes
13
answers
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Our instructor threw together freely available YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles instead of lectures. What should I do?
I'm currently attending university online (at a notable public institution, not a crappy school—I feel compelled to mention this because one typically expects quality from good institutions). ...
anon
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16
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Why did I receive a negative response from a professor when emailing about course content and prerequisites of a course I am considering taking?
I wrote the following email to a professor (I've removed any personal or specific details):
Dear Prof. Last name,
Hope this email finds you well.
I am Name, an undergraduate in the mathematics ...
- 1,875
67
votes
17
answers
24k
views
In case of in-lecture quizzes, is it unreasonable to fail students who are late or absent?
I am teaching a large undergraduate class this semester. One day a week (same day every week) we have a quiz. The syllabus doesn't specify at what moment of the class period the quiz will be given. It ...
- 803
65
votes
13
answers
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Why do undergraduate admissions in the U.S take into account nonacademic criteria?
College admissions in the U.S. takes into account many factors that are rarely considered in other countries and seem unrelated to academics. For example, legacy status (children of alumni may be ...
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63
votes
6
answers
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How can I tell my advisor that I'm not going to work for free?
I am an undergraduate student of Physics in Spain. This year I have to prepare my bachelor thesis and I also applied for a fellowship with the same advisor to do further research on the same topic.
I ...
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61
votes
18
answers
20k
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How to respond to a professor who was insulted by an email detailing mistakes in the exercise? [closed]
I am an undergraduate student. Preparing the solution to an exercise regarding computer assembly language programming I discovered an error in the program skeleton that was given to us to base our ...
- 695
61
votes
8
answers
21k
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Is it immoral to show new students how to use Wolfram Alpha?
Currently, I'm working as an assistant at the mathematics department of my university. My job consists of sitting for 20 hours a week in an office to which students come with doubts regarding all the ...
- 641
59
votes
13
answers
18k
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Does academia have a lazy work culture?
I'm a rising sophomore at a top US university, and I've become really fascinated with the world of academia over the past year -- so much so that I'm considering doing a PhD after I graduate and ...
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58
votes
10
answers
29k
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Professor refuses to write a recommendation letter to students who haven't written a research paper with him
I am currently a fourth-year Electrical Engineering student. I have been a top-ranked student in our department. I have passed 3 courses with a professor in our department and have received a full ...
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58
votes
11
answers
13k
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Why do American universities cost so much?
Being from Russia, the idea of paying 5-6 digit sums for a university education sounds ludicrous. I understand that prices in the US are different but surely there have to be cheaper options. Besides, ...
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55
votes
9
answers
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Is it ethical for a lecturer to require students to purchase an online learning kit where kit is used for course assessments?
I am taking a course in a may-not-be-top-but-still-decent university located in North America. The course lecturer forces us to pay for an online learning kit from Pearson by adopting all the graded ...
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51
votes
15
answers
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Student gives two different answers to one exam question, one right and one wrong. How should I mark/grade this?
I am marking an exam for a course I tutor. One student has given two answers for a particular question in the exam – one answer is fully correct, while the other is completely wrong.
Each answer has ...
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50
votes
13
answers
16k
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What can I do about undergraduate students cheating?
So I lecture at a university on the department of mathematics and statistics, and this year I am teaching calculus for future mathematicians. One good thing about the mathematics course is that very ...
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votes
5
answers
6k
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Is it unethical to accept extra time on exams when I still do well?
I have ADHD (real, diagnosed ADHD, not just "I-say-I-have-ADHD-because-it's-trendy" ADHD). I have never taken the extended time exams that are offered for ADHD students, because I have never needed to,...
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50
votes
13
answers
27k
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What do universities usually do with a student's graded final exams?
Personally I do not recall ever having seen any of my final exams I have taken during my undergrad (except in my nightmares). Midterms, quizzes and homeworks are usually returned to the students ...
- 11.4k
49
votes
13
answers
33k
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Is it acceptable for a student to connect with a professor on LinkedIn?
Earlier in the semester, I was informed by both an advisor/academic counselor and a professor at my university that it is a good idea to connect with professors on LinkedIn if they have interests in ...
- 1,606
49
votes
16
answers
14k
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Why would a student go to a lecture at all if everything was in the book already? [duplicate]
Why would a student go to a lecture at all if everything was in the
book already? The lectures make sense if and only if the lecturer
tells more than in the book(s) and in more detail (or at least,...
- 457
46
votes
6
answers
7k
views
Submitting to a journal as an undergrad but lying about academic status on bio
As an undergraduate I submitted a paper of mine to a reputable journal. Fearing that I would be desk-rejected for simply being an undergraduate, I stated in my submission bio that I was a PhD ...
- 463
46
votes
15
answers
41k
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Professor gave me a higher grade than I deserved. What should I do?
During one of my undergraduate semesters I was pretty depressed (for various personal reasons) and was struggling with completing my coursework. One class in particular didn't have a final exam, there ...
- 561
46
votes
11
answers
8k
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Should I answer students' questions immediately or teach them to ask better questions?
I'm teaching an online lab (to accompany an in-person course) to undergrads in their 3rd or 4th year of an engineering curriculum this semester. The aim of the lab is not to teach them any particular ...
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45
votes
18
answers
20k
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Should students have access to past exams or an exam bank?
Something I never understood is how in so many undergrad classes North America, the students are allowed to have past exams that they are allowed to study over.
It never made sense to me because it ...
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45
votes
8
answers
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What does this professor mean by saying "I do not have time to respond"
I am an undergraduate in CS and engineering. Approximately a week ago, I sent an email to a professor whose research really interests me. I sent him couple of my questions and confusions rooted from ...
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45
votes
12
answers
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Should I stay in school?
I am most of the way through my freshman year at Washington State University, pursuing a BS in Computer Science. Going away to school has been rough, and I have been pretty depressed for most of the ...
- 561
45
votes
7
answers
7k
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How do I articulate my grade dispute in a letter of complaint (student grievance)?
I'm filing a formal letter of complaint (for a grade litigation request) over a grade dispute in an English literature course. I've got 90/100 (an A) in each of the 3 exams in this course. These exams ...
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45
votes
3
answers
10k
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OK to ask a professor at my institution with whom I have no previous relationship some questions relating to hobby-project?
I go to community college so our professors aren't busy with lab research. They're still busy people though and I wish to respect that.
I'm pretty much just working through some neuroscience ...
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44
votes
11
answers
16k
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Is it unethical for a professor to misrepresent the format of an exam?
If a professor at a university explicitly states an exam will contain "multiple choice questions and true/false questions" and then administers an exam with several short answer and essay questions, ...
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42
votes
12
answers
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I hate taking lectures, can I still survive in academia?
I'm 3rd Physics & Mathematics student and I almost hate both taking and attending lectures; it is not because of the content, but rather the way how it is done; I don't like sitting in ...
- 4,127
42
votes
18
answers
10k
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How to deal with inactive students in undergraduate projects?
I am in the field of computer science, and I have noticed a trend among a group of students when dealing with undergraduate programming projects. The situation is that there are some students that ...
- 8,735
42
votes
7
answers
12k
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My peers think I slept with my overly friendly TA - what do I do?
I am a female undergraduate student and in a bit of a situation here.
Last semester, I had a male graduate teaching assistant for one of my classes, and I got the very strong impression for months ...
- 447
41
votes
13
answers
16k
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Is it appropriate to give a student a "negative grade" (fewer than zero points) for a small portion of the overall grade?
I teach a course where attendance is required. The syllabus says "Every unexcused absence will result in a deduction of one point from the attendance grade". The total number of points for ...
- 3,275
41
votes
10
answers
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I have been accused of copying two lab reports from the previous year even though I had done everything by myself
Today I got accused by my professor of cheating and copying two reports I submitted. I had a formal meeting with the professor where he tried to push me into admitting I cheated by showing me the ...
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41
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5
answers
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What to do when other professors place unfair demands on my students?
A recent question asked how students should deal with professors who "think their class is extra special". Putting aside the question of how good students are at judging what an appropriate workload ...
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40
votes
7
answers
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I violated academic integrity unknowingly by sharing assignment resources with fellow student. What should I do?
So, before I tell my story, I'll qualify by saying I have a bit of a guilt complex and its possible I'm overthinking all of this.
I was looking through my university's honor code and I came upon "...
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votes
3
answers
12k
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My professor presented a problem that I solved. He says I can send it to a conference. What is the etiquette in cases like this?
But I don't understand if it is ethical because he was the one who identified the problem. I wouldn't have thought of the answer if he hadn't asked the question. I am an undergraduate and this is my ...
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40
votes
6
answers
8k
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Why didn't more people graduate with a college degree when it was "affordable"?
Adjusting for inflation, (without too much controversy, I expect), it is evident that college was more affordable in the past. See for example, this chart of Tuition and Fees and Room and Board over ...
- 503
40
votes
6
answers
9k
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How can I express "I can't find any papers written about this"?
I'm an undergraduate writing a paper for a philosophy course in logic. My paper is exploring a relationship between Leibniz' logic and graph theory. In writing the paper, I've found some material in ...
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40
votes
2
answers
3k
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Doing all the simulations and plotting, do I deserve an authorship?
I, an electrical engineering undergraduate, am currently involved in a research project, wherein I help write all the codes, run all the simulations, and plot all the graphs.
The paper is about to be ...
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40
votes
2
answers
8k
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Can a UK University prevent you from graduating due to an outstanding library fine?
I study in the UK. I just received an email from the academic registrar of my university regarding my forthcoming graduation ceremony.
Contained within the email was this disclaimer:
Please ensure ...
- 543
39
votes
1
answer
2k
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How familiar should you be with a topic before assigning it as a thesis to an undergraduate?
I am a postdoctoral researcher in a university where undergraduates have to undertake a diploma thesis in order to finish their studies. My professor says we should put in our lab page some short ...
- 1,609
38
votes
8
answers
18k
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Does the International Math Olympiad help research mathematics?
I was reading a note of Hojoo Lee on inequality which is written for International Math Olympiad (IMO) participants. Although he writes that “target readers are challenging high schools students and ...
- 1,542
38
votes
11
answers
12k
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Is there anything I can do about a teacher who is rumored to be unreasonably severe and whose class I am about to take?
Background
Due to a change in schedule, I recently had to swap one course section (with a supposedly outstanding instructor) for another (with a different instructor).
Problem
Based on a number of ...
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