Academic Snobs

[mechengr2000]

Tell your favorite story about snobs you've had to deal with. Has anyone found an especially effective way with dealing with them, especially when the snobs themselves are also grad students in your cohort?

[poco_puffs]

Normally, if they are gunning for a reaction I try not to give it to them either way. Attention-whores hate it when they don't get paid.

[StrangeLight]

just out-hipster them.

[mechengr2000]

I refuse to go to their level. Some schmuck in his second year just tried to tell me I had no idea what I was doing in research. I have five years of independant research experience, where he only has one. I just kept smiling and nodding, and it annoyed the hell out of him since I wasnt letting him get to me. He started his tantrum after hearing I was accepted at a prestigous PhD program.

just out-hipster them.

Edited May 31, 2011 by mechengr2000

[studentaffairsgrad]

Speaking of academic snobs, has anyone ever been to The Chronicle of Higher Education forums? They have grad school and higher ed admin (my area) forums. I've lurked on those boards periodically, and a lot of those posters are so pompous, and quick to be snarky. I don't even post there for fear that they will jump me for some reason. I prefer to hang out here, where people are genuinely nice and helpful

[neuropsych76]

I haven't started grad school yet but I've heard about snobs and pompousness in academia. I think the best way to avoid any snobbish person is just not stoop to their level and give them the attention they crave.

I worked at an fMRI lab at an ivy league school last summer and sat in on a neuroscience class there. I was casually talking to this kid next to me and I told him I wasn't from the ivy league school and was doing an internship there. As soon as he knew I wasn't one of "them" he wasn't nearly as friendly and stopped talking to me lol

That would be my most relevant snob story

[Eigen]

Speaking of academic snobs, has anyone ever been to The Chronicle of Higher Education forums? They have grad school and higher ed admin (my area) forums. I've lurked on those boards periodically, and a lot of those posters are so pompous, and quick to be snarky. I don't even post there for fear that they will jump me for some reason. I prefer to hang out here, where people are genuinely nice and helpful

I post there pretty regularly. It's a nice group of people, and the information/help can be pretty invaluable. They're just very opinionated, and very blunt in their opinions.

And most of them are very, very far past grad school. You won't find as wide of a group of Search Committee Chairs, Deans, Academic VPs, Department Chairs and general faculty anywhere else, though. A lot of them just tend to be of the mindset that they should dispel what they consider to be illusions early, I think.

[natsteel]

IA lot of them just tend to be of the mindset that they should dispel what they consider to be illusions early, I think.

I think that's what it is. It can be intimidating to lurkers or newcomers, but if you ask sensible questions and don't get easily offended by answers both harsh and true, you'll be fine. I think you have to realize that they've answered the same question dozens of times and are not going to sugarcoat their answers or opinions in any way whatsoever. Many newcomers are not prepared for the sheer frankness of their responses and get defensive or wrongly feel as if they're being personally attacked.

The CHE forums are a great resource about life in academia and so it makes no sense to simply pass on it. If you don't feel comfortably posting, there is nothing wrong with lurking. Besides, you learn more when you listen anyway.

Edited June 1, 2011 by natsteel

[hejduk]

The CHE forums are a great resource about life in academia and so it makes no sense to simply pass on it. If you don't feel comfortably posting, there is nothing wrong with lurking. Besides, you learn more when you listen anyway.

Agreed to all the nots on the CHE forums. Great resource!

[studentaffairsgrad]

I think that's what it is. It can be intimidating to lurkers or newcomers, but if you ask sensible questions and don't get easily offended by answers both harsh and true, you'll be fine. I think you have to realize that they've answered the same question dozens of times and are not going to sugarcoat their answers or opinions in any way whatsoever. Many newcomers are not prepared for the sheer frankness of their responses and get defensive or wrongly feel as if they're being personally attacked.

The CHE forums are a great resource about life in academia and so it makes no sense to simply pass on it. If you don't feel comfortably posting, there is nothing wrong with lurking. Besides, you learn more when you listen anyway.

Yeah, there is good info there, but like you are saying - the delivery isn't the smoothest

[Eigen]

Good thing you don't have to choose one or the other, then!

Information here is delivered in a friendly fashion, but most of the time we're only guessing/drawing from relatively small pools of knowledge to answer questions.

Information there is delivered much more harshly, but comes from the people that are actually making decisions about admissions/hiring, and as such is likely to be less guesswork and more fact. It's also a nice introduction to what academia is like once you're no longer being shielded by your advisor(s).

A lot of it is a difference in level... Here, it's mostly undergraduates posting, with a few graduate students that have been accepted and are back giving advice. CHE is very few graduate students, next to no undergraduates, and a lot of very senior faculty. In some ways, posting about admissions there is like someone asking about undergraduate admissions on here.

For the more midline approach, there's the PHDcomics Proceedings... Which is primarily graduate students, with a mix of post-docs and profs and a few people applying thrown into the mix.

[studentaffairsgrad]

Good thing you don't have to choose one or the other, then!

Information here is delivered in a friendly fashion, but most of the time we're only guessing/drawing from relatively small pools of knowledge to answer questions.

Information there is delivered much more harshly, but comes from the people that are actually making decisions about admissions/hiring, and as such is likely to be less guesswork and more fact. It's also a nice introduction to what academia is like once you're no longer being shielded by your advisor(s).

A lot of it is a difference in level... Here, it's mostly undergraduates posting, with a few graduate students that have been accepted and are back giving advice. CHE is very few graduate students, next to no undergraduates, and a lot of very senior faculty. In some ways, posting about admissions there is like someone asking about undergraduate admissions on here.

For the more midline approach, there's the PHDcomics Proceedings... Which is primarily graduate students, with a mix of post-docs and profs and a few people applying thrown into the mix.

Thanks for the breakdown! I didn't know about PHDcomics...I will def. check that out!