Don't Join Virginia Tech [For Immigrants Only]

[Careers Are For Plebs]

This is a cautionary note to the shiny-eyed prospective graduate student that dreams of actually learning something in this pile of steaming hot shit. If you have any self-respect and dignity, I entreat you, do not waste precious years of your productive life in this hell hole. Stay in your home country instead and learn from online courses, trust me, you'll learn more. You'll be lucky if you escape this farce of a department unscathed. The tenured professors sit on their fat asses and shit on the graduate students because that's how they can validate their miniscule ego. Some little shits have left but nonetheless let me illustrate my point with some examples. 

Layne Watson: This old fart still lives in the 1980s projecting handwritten transparencies and giving you grades for attendance, I kid you not! Numerical methods my ass, 70% of the class dropped out in the first week because looking up wikipedia would be more helpful than attending his class. 

Cliff Shaffer: This condescending prick doesn't even know his own subject. When questioned by students, he gave such a stupidly wrong answer that was instantly refuted by another student. Do yourself a favor, just buy Udi Manber's book on algorithms and learn on your own. His slides are just copied word-by-word from the book anyway.

Godmar Back: I don't know if this POS has removed the stupid, condescending algorithm from his door that literally tells you fuck off if you don't qualify his whitelist. If you like being the submissive in BDSM, he's your guy. Some idiot in Stanford told him, "look Godmar, if you don't act like a jerk all the time no one will believe you're worth anything" and he's made it his Gospel. He's the epitome of a brilliant jerk.

Naren Ramakrishnan: Omg this guy! He thinks he's a nobel laureate and he will treat you like a worm he found on the sidewalk. Most of his funding comes from the military and his research is aimed at helping governments quell civil unrest. For this glorious reason, he's been given a longass title. You wanna work for this scum? 

Wu Feng: This is the devil incarnate. Looking at his scheming face on his website should instantly give it away to the astute observer but I'll elaborate nonetheless. If you have the misfortune of joining his lab, at the least you're going to have to join alcoholics anonymous. He will pit you against your fellow lab member just like the colonial english. Divide and rule is his motto. When he's busy with his media appearances you'll be working 24/7 in his sweatshop producing the research that fuels his Mordor.

Denis Gracanin: He should be the ambassador for advil PM. Puts you to sleep instantly. His slides are literally copied from the book. He might have been a good teacher once but I guess he gave up somewhere along the way.

Stephen H. Edwards: This guy is a joke. He publishes research on computer science education but can't teach for nuts. One day you'll be his best friend and confidante and the next day he won't even recognize you. He has a problem with immigrants and will sabotage your career if he's bored.

THEY KNOW YOUR VISA SITUATION AND THEY WILL EXPLOIT YOU FOR IT! THEY KNOW YOU HAVE DEBTS BACK HOME AND THAT YOU HAVE NOWHERE TO GO! THEY KNOW THAT THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT TO YOU WITH IMPUNITY! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

 

[akashChopra1982]

I think you should have done your research better. Can't really blame the professors once you get there. But having said that, there might be some truth to what you're saying. My friend shared this article with me the other day. Apparently, this is their local student run newspaper.  Even they think Virginia Tech is not a great place for minorities. 

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/opinion/virginia-tech-isn-t-home-for-everyone/article_5fd2d328-767f-11e9-8830-2715a81a2e3d.html

[Careers Are For Plebs]

Fair enough, although you would be hard-pressed to find grad students who talk about their advisors frankly as they have too much on the line. So it's gonna be a tad tough to do research as you suggest, prior to joining the university and selecting an advisor. This is one of the reasons I wrote this note; consider a kind of public service announcement if you will.

[Careers Are For Plebs]

Ha! This post has more views than all of the "research" papers some of these people have written. Go figure!