Still not real?

[dherres]

I've finished three weeks of graduate school now. And yet, I still don't think of myself as a graduate student, or at least, not *my* image of what a graduate student "should" be. From time to time, I'll stop and look around and think, "This is me??" Is anyone else feeling this, too?

[Canofbeans]

Oh yes, and it's going to take some time before it "becomes real". Everything is so different, people look and talk to you differently and they expect different things from you, I get invited to a bunch of departmental gatherings, other graduate students talk to their profs as if they were buddies or colleagues. It's hard to just switch mode when you're used to life as an undergrad with a clear hierarchy between profs, graduate students and undergrads. I think it will take quite a while before I will get used to it, it's quite strange actually and sometimes I wonder if I will ever get used to it -- I'm still having a hard time just calling my profs by their first name (this was a BIG nono at my undergrad institution)

[BCHistory]

I'm still having a hard time just calling my profs by their first name

You're allowed to do this in grad school?? This was definitely a no-no when I was in law school.

[alexis]

You're allowed to do this in grad school?? This was definitely a no-no when I was in law school.

I think it depends. One of my profs insisted that when we're doing our lab work, we call her by her first name. But in class etc, I call her "Dr." Otherwise, if they don't insist on it, yes, you would use their title. Depends on the environment/culture.

[rising_star]

You're allowed to do this in grad school?? This was definitely a no-no when I was in law school.

I think this depends on the prof and the discipline. In my discipline, we're on a first name with all profs because they consider us junior colleagues. I do know however, that in a related field, the male profs prefer for students (grads and undergrads) to call them Dr. LastName. I say that it's never rude to be overly formal/polite (Dr. LastName) until told otherwise. You can never offend someone by being polite.

[t_ruth]

You're allowed to do this in grad school?? This was definitely a no-no when I was in law school.

You'll find a PhD program *very* different from law school in many ways. Today I was realizing that the work I did for a law school prof as a research assistant that earned me an acknowledgment in the paper would have earned me an author credit in my current program. Sucks

[fuzzylogician]

You'll find a PhD program *very* different from law school in many ways. Today I was realizing that the work I did for a law school prof as a research assistant that earned me an acknowledgment in the paper would have earned me an author credit in my current program. Sucks

I've recently learned that work I did for a linguistics professor as an MA student and earned me an acknowledgment should have earned me author credit. Sucks indeed.

[cheesethunder]

im in undergrad

and call my supervisor and profs by their 1st name

maybe cuz i email them alot......and once they start signing the emails by their 1st name I reply with it

i dont think its rude or im def. not trying to be!

i see my profs as friends/colleagues, strange.

[Roll Right]

I feel like it's real, but I kind of have to this early. Masters programs are only 2 years. Maybe my PhD will be different. I call some professors by their first name, depends on my relationship with them. The people I work with a lot I refer to by their first names.

[duncandam]

First name basis is pretty common at my school b/w grad students and advisors.

[LateAntique]

I have had dinner at my professors' houses and I still don't call them by their first names! I just don't think it's right, particularly for an undergrad. We're notwhere on the same level and respect for their position needs to be maintained.

[JustChill]

I completely agree with LateAntique. Even with those professors whom I've known for the past five years and whose homes I've been to on multiple occasions I always refer to by Dr. [Last name]. That is the proper etiquette in academia, I believe, and my parents, both of whom are professors, also think so. It doesn't matter that they sign their emails with their first name, I always respond with Dr. ... in order to maintain professionalism and show respect.

I will likely continue to refer to my undergrad professors as Dr. something even after I have my PhD!

[t_ruth]

that's interesting...I guess it is really dependent on the particular University and department culture. In mine, the professors repeatedly ask you to refer to them by first name. There are some students who still don't, but as an older student with a doctoral degree from another field, it doesn't bother me to call them by first names at all.

[UnlikelyGrad]

I completely agree with LateAntique. Even with those professors whom I've known for the past five years and whose homes I've been to on multiple occasions I always refer to by Dr. [Last name]. That is the proper etiquette in academia, I believe, and my parents, both of whom are professors, also think so. It doesn't matter that they sign their emails with their first name, I always respond with Dr. ... in order to maintain professionalism and show respect.

I will likely continue to refer to my undergrad professors as Dr. something even after I have my PhD!

I agree. I call everyone Dr. Something unless they specifically ask me to do otherwise. But then I too am a professor's daughter.

It really irks me when I hear undergrads, especially, who just assume they can call professors by their first name...one in particular made me roll his eyes when he referred to a professor by his formal name--when I knew for a fact that the professor preferred the short version (e.g. Tim vs. Timothy).

Note that, like a previous poster, I feel like my professors are friends and colleagues rather than big, scary types (which I did as an undergrad). But still like to indicate my respect for them by addressing them formally unless they tell me to do otherwise.

[StrangeLight]

I call my profs "Professor [last name]" until they sign an email with their first name, tell me to call them by their first name, or other graduate students are calling them by their first name. I find it awkward to say "Professor Whathisface" while the person next to me says "Jeff."

And I only call medical doctors "Doctor." You know, like, real doctors.

In undergrad, I also called a lot of profs by their first name if I was close with them. Or just last name, no title.

They didn't mind. They still don't. I start off formally and stay that way until I see others more relaxed, and then I switch it off. I think that in grad school it helps to build relationships with your professors because so much about finding work is really about the networking connections your recommenders have (in addition to the quality of your own research). First name basis, to me, helps to build that relationship and also helps those professors see you as a potential peer. Just my two cents.

[HelloFeminists]

Wow... it's interesting to contemplate the vast differences in experience with this whole "what to call Professor ______" thing. I went to a small, private liberal arts college in which [undergrad - there are no grad students, of course] students and professors routinely call each other by their first names and in which students are pretty much afforded the intellectual respect of equals. My alma mater's environment is one in which students and professors form close bonds and in which professors openly thank students for providing insights in classroom discussions. Thus, for me it seems overly pompous to refer to faculty as "Professor _____" for an extended period of time. I start out by calling them "Professor _____", but as soon as they indicate otherwise [and I'm used to them indicating otherwise], I switch it to the personal preferred name.

As for all of this still not feeling real... yeah, it's kinda weird. It's also especially weird to be at a completely different type of institution - large-ish, public university - in which certain profs and grad students openly discuss undergrads as idiots incapable of higher-level thinking. As someone who just graduated from undergrad, and at an undergrad institution in which the climate was one of expected intellectual rigor and treating undergrads basically like grad students in upper-level courses, each day can be very mystifying and even frustrating.

[natsteel]

I completely agree with LateAntique. Even with those professors whom I've known for the past five years and whose homes I've been to on multiple occasions I always refer to by Dr. [Last name]. That is the proper etiquette in academia, I believe, and my parents, both of whom are professors, also think so. It doesn't matter that they sign their emails with their first name, I always respond with Dr. ... in order to maintain professionalism and show respect.

I will likely continue to refer to my undergrad professors as Dr. something even after I have my PhD!

I am exactly the same as LateAntique and rockchalk. However, I am an older undergrad at 34 years old. My closest professors/advisors are in their 60s and though they sign their emails with their first names, I just have too much respect for them to refer to them by their first name. Perhaps when I continue communication with them after leaving for grad school, but, even then, I highly doubt it.

[belowthree]

I just have too much respect for them to refer to them by their first name.

The characterization that those of us who call our professors by their first names don't respect them irks me. A lot.

I deeply respect the people I collaborate with, both my fellow grad students and the professors I work with. Feel free to continue calling your professors by formal titles if that works for you and them. However, you would be utterly mistaken to assume those of us who respect our professors as colleagues and fellow researchers have any less respect than people who chose to respect them based on their position.

I will leave it to others to discuss whether or not respecting a professor as equals is more meaningful than respecting a professor's position, but please don't characterize our choice to call a professor by their first names and accept their offers to work as equals as having anything to do with a lack of respect.

Edited January 6, 2010 by belowthree

[natsteel]

The characterization that those of us who call our professors by their first names don't respect them irks me. A lot.

I deeply respect the people I collaborate with, both my fellow grad students and the professors I work with. Feel free to continue calling your professors by formal titles if that works for you and them. However, you would be utterly mistaken to assume those of us who respect our professors as colleagues and fellow researchers have any less respect than people who chose to respect them based on their position.

I will leave it to others to discuss whether or not respecting a professor as equals is more meaningful than respecting a professor's position, but please don't characterize our choice to call a professor by their first names and accept their offers to work as equals as having anything to do with a lack of respect.

I didn't mean to imply that at all. I should have clarified that it was not a general statement but has more to do with my own personal quirks. In everyday life, I call all strangers sir or ma'am (even young girls)... don't ask me why, but I do. There was nothing in it beyond that.