gradschoolnutty
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Posts posted by gradschoolnutty
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None of what you are asking sounds normal or professional. Listen to what you described and I think it should be quite clear to yourself that this is unprofessional behavior.
I know it's not professional, but I am wondering if it is normal "behind the scenes", as in it occurs frequently enough.
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One more question. Do advisors normally submit papers without telling their students they are going to? Other students in the lab have experienced this. One of the professors in our group has taken several of the students' papers, revised sections, and submitted the papers without letting the student review the paper first or without telling the students she was going to submit the papers to these places at all. Some of the students were embarrassed because the papers were first drafts. The professor put the students' names on the papers.
Is this normal?
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On the other hand if your advisor steals all your work, you'll have a hard time getting your career started to begin with. It's possible that some of your stolen work can't be returned to you without outright accusing someone of stealing, which may be a bad political move; but at the very least you should (1) stop working with this person, and (2) learn how to lay the ground so that you can demand credit for your work, if needed. This could be in the form of choosing your colleagues and mentors correctly (talk to their colleagues, students and *former* students, learn about their reputation -- no one can steal from others for years without anyone knowing about it locally, even if no one has the courage to stand up for themselves); documenting your work; spreading the word about what you are up to, making sure that more than just your collaborator knows what you are doing, so your work can't just appear under another person's name without your being able to prove that it's yours. If your collaborator knows that others are aware that the work is yours (e.g., it's on your website, you've talked about it in seminars or with other professors, you've presented it at conferences, etc.), they will be less likely to attempt to outright steal it. Which obviously doesn't help correct the past, but could help protect you against this ever happening again in the future.
Thanks for both of your replies. They are extremely helpful. I am going to have to get smarter. I really appreciate your input.
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My supervisor told me, from the very start, that he does not want to put his name on anything I try to publish, because he wants me to market *myself* through my publications, whereas, according to him, if his name is on it , alongside mine, it might give the impression that it was written mostly by him, and my name was put on it just so that I'd appear in print. My impression is that in my field (Political Science), grad students tend to publish on their own, and don't have to add their supervisors' names, whereas in other fields, especially the natural sciences, they usually do include the supervisor's name... Also, my supervisor is one of the big names in the International Relations subfield of PoliSci, so he probably does not want people to think that he did the work and that I'm just using his name...
That's really "noble" of your supervisor. I can see your advisor embraces the notion of true professorship.
Unfortunately, the sad reality is that no matter what is posted here, graduate students have little recourse if their advisors are powerful. Speaking up could mean the end of their careers.
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Just wondering if it's normal for professors to say "I wrote this paper" when you really wrote it or to take credit for work you've done in other ways by submitting the paper with notes written about "the author's" experiences, excluding any mention of you?
Anyone have any such experiences?
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Thanks for this fantastic answer. I think you're right - a passive aggressive approach is in order. Great suggestions.
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i'm working with another PhD student on a research project and he is on a complete power trip. he'll send me emails setting up meetings (just the two of us) without checking with me to see if i am free at those hours. he sends out emails demanding i do things that are completely unnecessary for the project - absolute time wasters. he'll schedule unnecessary meetings demanding they are necessary for XYZ, but when i get there, XYZ does not take place.
it's clear he's all about control. i cannot let him set this precedence.
any advice? he's a few years further along than me and is managing the big overall project, but he has no inkling as to what is going on in this part of the project and keeps requesting things to be done that are already done.
do students really think they gain respect by trying to control and not doing good work?
i trust him not at all and don't put it past him to try to steal my project and ideas. what should i do? how do we deal with these types of students?
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I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I have yet to send out thank you letters or gifts to the people who wrote me letters of recommendations for the fellowships I was awarded. I've heard it's tacky to send gifts to professors that have so much already (and awkward) and a thank you note is best. I've also heard that professors should not accept gifts from students at some schools.
Can anyone offer me any advice? Thanks.
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Here are some stats I found... not sure it's 100% accurate, I did not check:
Current Institution # of Awards % of total awards
No Institution 178 8.90%
Other UC (not Berkeley) 161 8.05%
UC Berkeley 142 7.10%
Harvard 105 5.25%
Stanford 100 5.00%
MIT 69 3.45%
Cornell 51 2.55%
Yale 42 2.10%
Columbia 34 1.70%
Princeton 30 1.50%
Plain U of Mich (which one not stated) 28 1.40%
Michigan 26 1.30%
University of Chicago 25 1.25%
Duke 23 1.15%
Univ of IL U-C 21 1.05%
Carnegie Mellon 19 0.95%
Purdue 18 0.90%
Johns Hopkins 13 0.65%
Brown 8 0.40%
New York University 3 0.15%
Totals: 1096 54.80%
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I think that they skim the essays very quickly for content and that it is very important for your essays to be crystal clear. I believe all of my reviewers stated that my research plan was very easy to read and well-thought out. Remember - they are reading several of these, and once something about your essays strike them as not credible or makes them think too much to find the answers to their questions, they may dump your application without paying more detailed attention to it. Of course, I can only say this because I won an award, and I understand your frustration. People ask me how I got the award, and I really attribute it to the following:
1. I had sections for broader impacts and intellectual merit to make sure they were clear on what I was trying to say and did not have to try to figure out either
2. I spelled everything out in my research plan so that most people in my field could understand (not just in my specialty) and stressed the importance of my topic
3. I personalized my personal essay (as in, I scattered in personal stories versus trying to make it purely research based) in a way that supported why I would be effective as a researcher
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I've been working on a research project with several people - everyone is established in the field and I am a newbie. They send emails back and forth, and I usually don't contribute because... I'm terrified to! Anyway, recently I've discovered some interesting findings and I emailed my advisor with these findings... it was a pretty long email.
I'm curious to know... do you usually wait until your meeting with your advisor before sharing findings? Or do you email him/her when you come across something interesting?
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ughhhh anticipation! I sat here while everyone freaked out about the NSF thinking "these people really need to CHILL". And suddenly, I'm very nervous and anxious about NDSEG... any new updates on if award announcements will still come out tomorrow??
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Oh and it would be interesting to find out how many awards were granted to each field of study. That is, without manually counting the stats from their site.
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Does the NSF post statistics on all applicants after they make awards? I want to know how many applicants there were, what percentage were awarded, and demographics.
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I was awarded two fellowships. One of them is the NSF. Can anyone elaborate on the rules of combining fellowships?
Has anyone done it? I'm sure this has been addressed before but I'm not sure where to find the information.
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I'm a first-year PhD student and am taking a full load of courses. I am also under an RA-ship. I haven't had much time to focus on research because of the course load and I am wondering what is really expected of me as a first-year PhD student?
My professor has me on a research project that I honestly hate and it's just me that is working on it. He gets upset when I don't make progress but I am trying to navigate my classes, and I honestly am not interested in this topic. I'm not sure what to do. He is very frustrated at me, but I'm really doing the best I can. Plus, whenever I ask for clarification, he gets mad at me for asking so I have no idea what this project is or what I'm supposed to be doing. If I can't ask what the project is about, how in the world am I supposed to do the research?
What are expectations of first-year PhD students (I'm getting my Master's degree along the way)? How much research is really expected of us?
Any suggestions/thoughts?
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Unclear to me, then, why I got HM last year when someone with lower scores -- I saw this person's rating sheets -- got the fellowship.
I think it's quite bold to make a statement like this. There are other factors that go into play in addition to the rating sheets. That person may have been qualified in other areas in ways that clearly exceeded your credentials. Making the assertion that this person only won because of some level of underrepresentation due to a minority status is pretty arrogant.
People may often wonder how in the world I win the awards that I do. It's because I remain rather quiet about my achievements. I'm sure they go around thinking exactly what you appear to think - they have no idea all that I've accomplished in my life, and I certainly don't feel the need to go around explaining to people that must make these sorts of justifications for themselves because they did not win an award.
Do most advisors take credit for the work their student's do?
in Writing, Presenting and Publishing
Posted · Edited by gradschoolnutty
Hey, thanks! These are GREAT suggestions. I will certainly take your advice and start setting up connections and talking to everyone I can about my projects. This will also involve some secrecy - I probably shouldn't discuss my results to those I do not trust. I should wait until the VERY LAST minute to do so. The trick will be to show I am making progress without divulging any information. I'll talk very high level and explain few details until it's in a public place... flash a shiny object in another direction while checking out important results.
I find this to be very sad, however. The fact that students have to get this desperate to not get screwed by those who are supposed to be mentoring them. Really, some people are just well-paid thieves.
I appreciate all of your comments.
BTW, there will be no changing of programs. I just want to get done and get out.