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I’m an online student at a community college and I’m current taking a course about the history of modern china. I’ve struggled with my professors communicating with me (responding to me emails/ feed back on assignments) which I assume is because I am online. I’m not the type to email my professors often but if I do have an issue I always make sure to send a professional email so I don’t think that is the issue.

For this history course, the syllabus was very vague. The assignments per week were listed but there wasn’t a criteria on what exactly we would be graded on for each assignment. The first week of class we had a discussion post. The syllabus stated that in assignments (question/ responses which we also have once a week) we need to cite his lecture slides or the textbook by inserting the page number after the quote or paraphrase (Pg# Sl#). I did this for my written assignment that week but not the discussion post since it wasn’t listed under the criteria for that. I answered the questions for the discussion and responded to one of my classmates.

The syllabus has no requirements listed for the discussion post so I figured that’s all I had to do. When i received my grade there was no written feedback but there was a score break down (15/20 +5/5 +0/5). I assumed this meant the discussion was worth 20 points and I needed to do two responses. I don’t know how I was supposed to figure out ahead of time that this was what I was supposed to do. I emailed my professor and explained that I was confused on the discussion because the requirements were not listed . I asked him if there was any way I could add a response because it was disheartening to start of the class with such a low grade. He responded a few days later saying that it would not be fair to the other students, which I understood somewhat, but based on the discussion board no one else received full credit either. I also asked him to explain the score breakdown, so i could be sure what to include, but he did not respond to that part. In the future I just used the quotes and responded to two people and received full credit. We’ve only had 3 discussion posts so far, and it’s in own section in grades so I have been unable to get my grade in the class above a 92.

The issue arose when he assigned a paper. Again there was no rubric or instructions, just the topic to address in the paper and an instruction do it in apa format. I spent a long time writing that paper, and made sure to include the cover page, page numbers, bibliography, and citation in apa format. I had assumed since it was a paper and not a 5 question assignment that I should not cite like he had instructed in the syllabus. To me saying the paper should be in apa format meant that i should cite my sources in apa (author, year). in the references I only cited the 2 chapters I used to complete the assignment, not the whole book.

When I received my grade it was a 38/50 and the only comment written was “citation”. 12 points off for not citing sources the correct way? I emailed my professor and explained my confusion over him saying the paper should be in apa, but wanting us to cite in a different way. I asked him if I could correct the citation to receive partial credit back since I didn’t feel like the requirements were explained. No response. This was two week ago.

To be clear this is the first time I’ve ever emailed a professor about a grade, besides my email about the discussion post . The 76 on that essay dropped my grade even more and i’m honestly considering dropping the class. This is one of the last classes I need to graduate and I really wanted to do well. I’ve never experienced trying my hardest at something just to fall short.

My best friend told me that I shouldn’t have emailed my professor bc it is common sense that we would cite that way since we had done it for all our assignments thus far. My older sister said that if the professor asked us to write the paper in apa he should have told us lf he didn’t want citations in apa.

I fully admit that it’s possible that this is my fault and I just feel defensive, but this really seems unfair to me. I don’t know if i should email again or just accept the loss.

Tldr: my professor took of points for things that were not outline in the syllabus or assignment requirements

My college Business Finance professor posts every student’s grades publicly in the class announcements. He posts overall grade and the scores for homework and exams. He lists each person by the last 4 digits of their 9 digit school ID number. However, I have a few friends in the class and we found our ID numbers on the list and immediately realized that he listed everyone in alphabetical order from the class roster. So you’re able to tell what exactly each student got on exams and what their overall grade is. I feel like professors shouldn’t be allowed to share everyone’s grades publicly like this.

Is this illegal or against some kind of educational rights and privacy law?

Hi... about a month ago I got hit with COVID and had to miss a week of classes. Ever since then, it's been a terrible struggle trying to make up work from that week + the work of the current week, and I've just been stuck in this cycle.

I've asked all my Professors for extra time, and it has helped. I thought I would be all caught up after my spring break (last week) but I'm still behind. Additionally, my home life is not that great and have been struggling mentally.

I just have one more project due. Would it be okay to ask this Professor for extra time yet again, or is that not going to turn out well? I don't have a doctor's note excusing me for mental health issues.

I have really good grades right now and am scared of jeopardizing it now, especially over stuff that I can barely control.

What should I do?

Hi, I'm an AP Lit teacher to high school seniors who are all college-bound. They take their exam early in May and then we have several weeks together with no real curriculum we need to cover.

I'm new to teaching seniors and was thinking of using some of that time to prepare them for college/college writing. (They write a TON in my class, but it's all literary analysis. The exam also does not require them to use in-text citations and there's no need to ever have a bibliography, so we're not doing those things.)

What are some skills or knowledge you would teach rising college freshmen that make sense to cover in an English class? I think it would be valuable to dedicate some class time to this. Thanks.

One of my professors had a health emergency 3 weeks ago. It's an online class and we're supposed to meet once a week. We met once 2 weeks ago where he let us know about his health issues and it was obvious that he wasn't doing great. None of us have heard anything from him since. The programs dean apparently is going to reach out to his students tomorrow to give us an update on the class and our teacher.

So, if he's unable to work what will happen? We're already midway through the semester. Will someone else teach class? Does our class end and we finish with our current grades? Do they cancel and we have to retake it?

I have a specific question. I took a research course and made a whole research paper with my own words and research. This semester Im taking a part 2 version of the class where im furthering my own research. Im basically reworking and editing my initial research essay while incorporating my newly found research from the class before but my word count is too high because i have a lot of my own information. Would using Quillbot to summarize/simplify numerous parts of my own work (just to condense my word count because its high), would Turnitin detect that I used AI (to condense my own information) and assume that my work is plagarized even though it was from MY OWN work? sorry if this doesnt make sense

I am picking where to go to grad school, and was told to reach out to current and former students of each of my potential advisors to ask about their experiences. I already talked to their current students, but most of their former students are professors. Is it appropriate to reach out to professors about this? Everyone is telling me to reach out ti former students as well as current ones, but something feels odd about asking a professor to talk about someone who is now their colleague. Please let me know what you think!

I haven’t even met this professor yet, and they’re already ignoring my emails. How do I know? A student who joined the course late emailed him today, and they received a response within 2 hours.

I emailed the professor this past Tuesday asking for clarification on course logistics as I noticed discrepancies between the syllabus and canvas. No response. I emailed the professor the following day (Wednesday) to let them know I wouldn’t be able to attend class and even provided a doctor note. No response. On Thursday, the professor graded my first assignment and even provided feedback on Canvas.

The email the other student sent was regarding how to find course readings, and like I said they received a response within 2 hours.

Idk if it’s the first email I sent that might have upset the professor, but I believe I was very courteous and professional and not rude. Idk if maybe the professor was upset by all of the discrepancies I found between the syllabus and canvas? Regardless, their lack of response is unprofessional, especially since they responded to another student who even joined the course late.

The first email I sent to the professor is below. Was I rude?

TL;DR: Professor is noticeably ignoring my emails which I think is because I noticed some mistakes they made and I brought it up to them in an email. What do I do now?

EMAIL:

Good Day, Professor [redacted],

I'm a student in your course, [redacted] this quarter, and I look forward to our first day of class tomorrow.

I'm writing to you because I'm seeking clarification on course assignments and logistics due to some discrepancies I noticed between the syllabus and Canvas. My questions/observations are below.

1. Canvas has varying due dates for the Weekly Reading Reflections, but the syllabus says all Weekly Reading Reflections are due the Sunday before class at 11:59 pm. Which dates should I follow to submit the Weekly Reading Reflections?
2. The Week 3 Reading Reflection and the Group Presentation: James Baldwin vs. William F Buckle are listed under "Undated Assignments" on Canvas. When are these assignments due?
3. There is no Week 6 Reading Reflection submission portal on Canvas, but the syllabus shows a Weekly Reading Reflection due that week. Is a Week 6 Reading Reflection due that week? If so, when?
4. The Week 7 Reading Reflection submission portal on Canvas is due during week 6, according to Canvas. Is this reflection due during week 6 or week 7?
5. There is no Week 10 Reading Reflection submission portal on Canvas. Is a Weekly Reading Reflection due that week?
6. Concerning the [redacted] Group Presentation guidelines, the syllabus states that "further guidelines, as well as a sign-up for presentation dates, can be found on Canvas." I understand that the sign-up portal may not be available until 3/25 since that's when it opens. However, I need help finding further guidelines for the presentation on Canvas. Will this be posted on Canvas at a later date?

Lastly, I have a question regarding the pre-work assignment. The syllabus says that the [redacted] assignment was due Monday, 3/18/24. I mentioned [redacted] in my reflection but didn't provide a printout of the quiz results. Do I need to submit a printout of the quiz results to Canvas? Can I still do so if it turns out I did need to submit a printout of the quiz results?

I'd appreciate your guidance regarding the matters mentioned above — many thanks.

Have any of you also noticed a rise in AI in student papers? I find it difficult to call out bc it’s hard to have something solid unless the student is extreamly sloppy. Often I can tell when a paper was written by a machine but I can’t call them out because they will simply deny it.

For more context I teach at a community college and have students hand in printed-typed work.

How do you navigate this? It seems almost impossible to deal with and it will only get worse as the technology advances.

If you use Canvas, can you tell me if you’re able to see all submissions for an assignment? I submitted an assignment, part as a DocX extension, and the other part as a MPP extension at different times, and intend for the professor to be able to view both. On my end I can only see my most recent submission file.

My professor didn’t say a page count AND bibliography, he just said 10 pages. That makes me think it is included, but idk for sure

My university is entirely online (in the U.S.) and as a part of each class, we have a discussion board due each week and we have to reply to two posts as well. There's a student in my current economics class who clearly uses ChatGPT for all their posts and replies. Their posts will include a very vague bullet point list, use ridiculously fancy words, and the sources they cite don't actually include the topics they cited them for in their post.

In our replies, we're encouraged to disagree with someone and state a different point of view if applicable. I want to reply to their posts and ask them for their own thoughts on the topic since the sources they cited didn't talk about it at all. My husband says I shouldn't out them and that I'd be the asshole if I did. But what's wrong with holding their feet to the fire and asking them to prove their point? I'm assuming they're still getting decent grades, otherwise they wouldn't still be using AI for their homework when we're almost done with the class, right?

I know it's not my responsibility to call them out. And I'm not going to say, "Hey, it's obvious you used ChatGPT for this btw." It just makes my blood boil when I'm trying to do the best I can on my studies and then this person is presumably getting away with the lazy way out. Would I be the asshole if I indirectly ask questions to call attention to their use of AI? Or do I trust that the professor is handling appropriately and steer clear of it altogether?

A recent midterm of mine was to write a paper defining capitalism, socialism, communism and fascism. Part of the prompt was to pretend I was a high school teacher explaining these concepts to students. I have a pretty decent understanding of these ideologies and feel I could explain them well to teenagers, but I was having a very hard time deciding what and how to cite.

I looked into this and the general consensus seems to be that common knowledge doesn’t have to be cited. To cover my butt I cited as I would a normal paper, but when speaking of political ideologies etc, what may be common knowledge to me, might not be common knowledge to my classmates.

How much of history is common knowledge? And what portion of the ideologies of economic systems are common knowledge?

Would love some input on this!

Thanks

My last class for my program is in Fall 2024. I would have applied for it in the summer semester but it's not offered. However, my mom booked a trip to the Philippines late last year (which honestly is also an important trip).

The only concern is that midterms (October) tend to be in the month I'm going on my trip. I know it's still far. Sometimes this class has online midterms and sometimes not. If I can request to have it camera proctored online in live time, that would be great but there's just so much uncertainty on how flexible the professor will be.

I was trying to take this class at another school but couldn't find anything equivalent. I know this is still far ahead of time but I overthink a lotand I want to finish this program. I wonder if I can get accommodations for this sort of thing. I don't think I have any disability (maybe undiagnosed Adhd but I don't think it's a disability). However, I don't want to cancel my trip as this is important for me.

I'm currently doing my BA dissertation paper, and I've been having the paranoid thought that my supervisor (also the programme leader) might have accidentally overlooked something in my dissertation paper, because of how differently she treats me from the other students.

The dissertation was something I've been looking forward to since my first year; I absolutely love academia and research, and unfortunately, for most of my degree, I haven't felt challenged enough by the syllabus as much as I'd like. When I entered my final year I thought seeking out my programme leader (who also has very similar research interests as I do) as my supervisor would give that challenge I was looking for — she's very feared/disliked by students because of how strict her academic standards are. I've heard students broke down crying because of how strict she is; even my own lecturers warned me beforehand that I might get overwhelmed and stressed under her supervision.

And yes, I have been stressed — but not because she's too strict. It's because my experience has been the exact opposite.

I haven't found her and her comments thus far to be unmanageable? If anything I find her feedback rather tame. The "worst" comments I get are just pertinent questions that help refine my analysis, but it's never anything that makes me want to pull my hair out. Yet, when I talk to the other students under her, they have the same experiences other seniors before us have had. As a result, I've been a little anxious about why I'm the outlier.

When I talked to lecturers about this concern of mine, they told me I was fine; that my supervisor is probably less harsh on me because I'm seen as one of the 'star students'. That's flattering and all, but this has somehow fuelled my anxiety.

I keep trying to ask my programme leader to nitpick at my work, but I keep being told that there's nothing she would change/edit with my dissertation so far. Where most students under her usually need to make substantial revisions between each draft, the comments she gives me is relatively minimal – I easily can make the suggested edits within hours.

I know I sound extremely paranoid. I am. Please bear with me here.

I've somewhat convinced myself that I accidentally "tricked" my programme leader and lecturers into thinking too highly of me..? And that might be affecting my dissertation research right now because my supervisor trusts me too much..? With how everyone was warning me about her, I feel a little suspicious my dissertation research and writing process has been too smooth.

And so, dear professors, are there really BA students that do not need that much hand-holding? How can I communicate these concerns to my supervisor without sounding like I've gone insane?

Hi, I'm not a professor or an undergrad. I'm a grad student taking one undergrad class that counts toward an elective. I'm also in 1 other class with grad and undergrad students. The school I'm going to for grad school is not my undergrad alma mater, but the schools are in the same state on the east coast of the US. I'm trying to figure out if the culture at my grad school is totally different than my undergrad or if the students are just wildly unprofessional. Basically, I feel like the undergrad students in my classes act like high schoolers/middle schoolers (I taught these levels for a few years.) They talk while the professor is talking (often!!); they say things like, "Ms. Smith, you're the best teacher ever; we love you!". To the professor, they talk about things like "making out," and they try to get the professor to say slang ("Ms. Smith use 'Cheugy' in a sentence!'") The professors do NOT initiate these conversations and usually don't participate in them.

What is happening?? Is this because the students lost high school time due to COVID??

i'm struggling to figure out what exactly i would like to do with my life career wise, and i'm considering pursuing being an english/creative writing professor.

when you were working on under grad and grad, did you have professor in mind? what made you sway towards it in the end?

is it really best to get a phd? is it possible to get tenure without one? if you know for creative writing professors specifically, that'd be really helpful.

how did you go about getting your job? how much of it was based on networking/people you already knew?

how'd you know college aged people are ones you wanted to work with? have you worked with other age groups?

what other things do you do outside of teaching, grading, office hours, ect that are related to academia, but not directly with your students? is this expected of all professors?

what is your biggest piece of advice going into the career? what're things you wished you'd have known beforehand?

I live in Washington state in the United States and my program of study falls under the Humanities field. I need your help on if it is in good taste to ask my professor for an incomplete. I'll tell you the situation first. So I was in the social worker program at my school, for 3 quarters, this winter being my 3rd. In my 1st and 2nd quarters, I received a 3.7 and 3.6 GPA. I thought I wanted to be a social worker because I like to help people and thought it would be a rewarding career. However, getting further into the program learned that it's quite the opposite most of the time. There are other aspects I had not considered too; such as remaining biased even when working with someone who hurts children or women. Also, you need the ability to turn off all the things you hear at work or you will "burn out". Slowly, I was starting to think this major was not for me. I did not say anything though (1st mistake) but this quarter put the topics in my face more and it was impossible to deny. We started having to do live sessions where another student and I act like a client and we are the social worker and we get graded on our performance of the different techniques throughout history, Freud, Jung, and Skinner. We were told we couldn't problem solve. That was so difficult for me because I love to problem-solve. It got to where I had so much anxiety about the sessions, I quit doing them. I was starting to feel like a failure because it seemed so easy for my classmates. Still I did not speak up. I just started caring less and less about school and even thought about quitting. To the point of failing. But I pulled through and decided to switch majors to something more measured by my success and something I can go home from knowing I did a good job. Customer Service Representative. The program has many transferrable skills plus all the classes I would take for fun.

So my question is, would it be a bad thing if I asked my professor to give me an incomplete so that I do not lose my FASFA money and I can start my new major after spring break? Is it a reasonable request? I did finally tell her at the end of the quarter about my struggles but she did not offer any advice, I think she might be waiting for me to ask because she is really big about people not being afraid to ask for help.

Any help or advice you can give me would be very much appreciated and thank you in advance.

I took an exam last month that required me to answer one of the questions on an excel file. I worked on this excel file that very night I took the exam. I could have sworn I submitted this file to answer this question, but apparently, it was 'unanswered'.

The professor took a month to grade this exam, and I only saw today on my gradebook that I failed the exam because I did not answer this question, which was a large chunk of the exam.

This dropped an entire letter of my grade down. I would have my grades checked sooner, but i did not realize my current grade was a result of him actually finishing to grade the exam rather than still in progress.

I told him that I did indeed answer within the exact time frame of the exam, but somehow did not submit it. Is there anything else I can do to dispute this? I already dropped two comments within the exam itself showing the exact excel file I created for this exam as well as a screenshot of when it was created/last modified (the night of the exam). He has yet to respond but I am extremely worried.

TIA

​

Just saw a professor complain about a university student on their phone in class, and a bunch more saying they don’t allow it. I’ve done 3 years of college and never had a professor say we cannot use our phones or other devices (unless a test of course). Many students use their phones to look at course material such as lecture notes or handouts to follow along. I also use my phone to look up questions I may have that I don’t want to disturb the teacher on. I feel like banning phones is a very outdated and clueless thing to do. Also, people are allowed to use their phone in workplaces, unless you are perhaps a blue collar worker which most people attending college aren’t planning to be. Saw other people arguing that jobs wouldn’t allow that, which makes zero sense.

Edit : I am not asking about students constantly on their phones in class, I know that is rude and nonsensical. Even the people doing it know that. I am asking about phones not being allowed whatsoever during class time, period no exceptions. I.e. if you notice a good student using their phone once during class (quietly), would you be upset?

Hi professors of Reddit,

I am a current MS student at a school of public health who is planning on continuing onto a PhD program. Unfortunately, I recently received a C on a midterm (completely my fault) and I am slowly losing grip with reality that my dream of becoming the first child in my family to receive a doctorate is no longer realistic.

Online, I keep hearing about how graduate programs are curved heavily, but my graduate program is not curved at all and I am worried that a 3.45 masters gpa (3.7 undergrad) is not enough to receive admission into PhD programs. I have even begun to develop suicidal thoughts that my academic worth is useless and I start crying whenever I have to think about telling my parents that I received a bad grade on a midterm.

I post this here because I really appreciate a lot of my professors, one of which is my favorite professor who has done alot to guide me throughout my masters program but that is the same professor that I received a C on his midterm for. I am also conducting research under him as well. I feel so terrible that I failed him and that maybe I don't deserve to breathe the same air as him. Am I wrong for these thoughts?

Pretty much the title.

I’m a student. When my professors say “Have a good spring break!” I tend to say “you too”.

I’m wondering if this is an appropriate thing to say or if this is perceived as odd or misplaced.

If so, is there some other way I could respond that may be more appropriate or appreciated?

Tldr: I am head TA and one of the other TAs is not grading homeworks by the date I ask. Should I bring it up to my prof?

Hello everyone,

I am currently in my final year of undergrad, and I am the head TA for a stem class. The other three TAs are first year graduate students. As the head TA, I am responsible for organizing HW grading and things like that. For HW grading, I assign problems to people to grade and I ask everyone to grade it by a certain date, which is always a week later. After every has graded, I release the grades to the class.

When I assign the grading, I always say something like "does this work for everyone" or "let me know if this won't work for you" because I don't think we have to be really strict about returning the HW in a week (this is not a guideline from the prof or anything like that), so if anyone has a really busy week it would be fine to set the date later.

The problem is that there is one of the other TAs who never grades his homework on time, and never communicates anything about not being able to. After this happened several times, I sent him a message and said essentially "please grade on time"

For the next homework, he graded on time, but for the next one after that (most recent HW), he did not (it was like a day late for context). I am annoyed at him especially for not communicating because there are many times when I stay up late to meet the grading deadline and it's pointless because he hasn't finished.

My question is: should I bring this to my prof's attention and ask him to speak to the other student? I hesitate to do so because I don't want to seem like Im "telling on" the other TA for something that we could work out amoung ourselves, but on the other hand I am this TA's peer and I also don't feel I have the authority to police him since head TA is more of an organizer role.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskProfessors/comments/18zxabn/was_my_professor_42m_being_inappropriate_with_me/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I first wanted to thank you all for all your comments and feedback. For the longest time, I thought I was crazy for being uncomfortable with his behavior and feeling like he was acting somewhat strange with me, but the sheer amount of agreement from everyone really made me take my own feelings seriously. Thank you so much for helping me.

In January, I contacted the ombudsman and showed him the report I'd written. The report contained a timeline of events, screenshots of emails, and screenshots of text messages confirming certain details (like him being alone with me at 3 a.m.). He told me that this was definitely inappropriate behavior, and that this would fall under the jurisdiction of Title IX. He referred me to the Title IX coordinator, who I met with next. She told me that we could go one of two routes: either taking my concerns up purely with the academic side of things (making sure I wouldn't be forced to take his class next year, etc) which would still grant me anonymity, or go the official report route (which would not render me anonymous). I decided to go the official report route.

The investigation was handled by the EEO officer, who told me that she was going to treat this as a sexual harassment case. Honestly, I wasn't really sure how well this was going to go in my favor under that classification, as he hadn't gone beyond some (albeit uncomfortable) sexual jokes. I was interviewed and asked to give as many details as possible, and to forward her the original copies of the emails my professor had sent me.

She then met with Professor John, who elected to bring an advisor with him. John denied everything, stating that either things "didn't happen" or that he "didn't remember saying that". When questioned about his affectionate behavior towards me, he said repeatedly that he was "friendly with all his students". He denied things that I even had explicit proof of, though he didn't know I had proof at the time. I assume he thought that I had nothing to back anything up, so it would be my word against his.

The same day he found out I had reported him, he complained in his class about "you know when you think you're friends with someone, then one day they decide they don't want to talk to you anymore?" and went on a vague rant about his frustration about this "former friend". I couldn't believe it, honestly!

In the end, the verdict was that he did not violate the university's sexual harassment policy, which I sort of expected. The EEO officer told me that she found my claims very credible, but they did not rise to the level of a policy violation. She said that "this is how more serious cases of sexual misconduct always start, but we do not know that he would have escalated it to that point". She affirmed that he engaged in inappropriate, boundary-crossing behavior, and had taken advantage of the teacher-student power imbalance. He will remain at the school, but will not be teaching the class I would have been required to have with him next year. The EEO officer recommended to the Dean that he be given a mentor, I suppose to guide to him into behaving more professionally. She stated that he is a new faculty, so they want to give him opportunities to learn, grow, and change.

I don't know how to feel about everything that happened, honestly. Is this the standard university response? I just can't believe how he didn't own up to anything, even with proof --- the administration caught him in a lie! I'm happy that I won't be required to be in his class next year, but I worry about him repeating behavior, especially because he never really owned up to what he did. How can he do that? But I'm not sure if I'm out of line in feeling upset. Is this how these things are expected to go?

I'm at least glad that I've set a precedent. Nearly every student has a story about something weird or inappropriate he's said around them, though nothing to the level that I experienced. Regardless of the outcome, I feel proud that I've been able to be more confident about everything. I can now say with my full chest that was he did was inappropriate, unprofessional, and wrong, and that I did not deserve to be put through that behavior. Thank you all for your help in that journey, and I appreciate you for taking the time to guide me.

TL;DR: I reported my professor to the university. The report was filed under sexual harassment, and at the conclusion of the investigation, he was found to not be in violation of the policy.

Hey everyone,

As seems to usually be the case with my posts, I think they're the last ones only for something that popped up around the corner recently coming to get me. There are two parts to this as well. Part 1 is the drama. Part 2 is the lack of skills.

Part 1:

Long story short, after I walked past a meeting months ago (I didn't go out of my way to eavesdrop), I routinely leaked information on my university's subreddit about the programs in Psychology that were planned on getting cut months before it was semi publicly announced to Psychology graduate students and faculty. To summarize, clinical psychology Ph.D is getting phased out immediately while the other three Psychology Ph.D programs will be phased out at some point, it's just not known when other than that the new students who are coming in next academic year will not be funded whatsoever. All three of the Master's programs in Psychology will stick around, but those won't be funded either (not that they were for all four years I've been in the program already anyway).

I must've dropped a little bit too much info about my background because I was recently told by a commenter on that particular throwaway account I made that "everyone knows who you are. Just an FYI." Fortunately, the moderators deleted my post after I stupidly deleted the throwaway account without removing those posts first. No one's confronted me in real life about it yet, nor has my advisor asked me about it. However, this presents a major problem reputationally speaking.

The reception to what I did was mixed overall. In my posts, I gave a lot of unsolicited advice about transferring out so its easier to get lab experience at the other major universities in Michigan. The advice is what made some of the graduate student base (in one program specifically, but I won't say which one) upset overall. On the other hand, folks liked that I gave those updates and info out as a "if you enroll in this program, be forewarned" kind of thing, which was my intent the whole time.

The only silver lining is that nothing ever name dropped me nor did I claim those posts under my real name. I can easily say that I'm not sure what someone's talking about if I get confronted about it ever.

Part 2:

In an old, deleted post I made here (which I recently reposted on the Ph.D subreddit under the title "When do you know it's imposter's syndrome vs. truly being out of your depth? (re-post from a different subreddit)" - See that post if you want the full details), I recently came to the harsh realization that I haven't moved progressed at all throughout my years of graduate schooling. Rather, I've regressed for reasons in and outside of my control. Stuff within my control I didn't do a good job at was my poor initiative, poor Master's grades, poor performance while visiting at this SLAC, and more. Outside of my control were things like COVID and the advisors I had at the Master's and first Ph.D advisor who were hands off with me to a fault. The first Ph.D advisor was also extremely retaliatory.

When I transitioned to my new advisor last academic year, he told me that my CV was "lacking" and that I needed to get more on it. I haven't really had anything research wise I could add at all, only adjunct teaching and (now) this full time visiting position.

With the universal response from others that I am, in fact, doing horribly and it's not an imposter's syndrome thing, it's led me to this point. I'm considering dropping out now because I would be put in a possible position of having a Ph.D and the lack of expected skills that go along with it that an employer would assume I have, but I don't actually have. The lack of skills are both in terms of soft skills like time management and independence as well as hard skills like data analysis other than simple correlations and regressions, which are the only data analyses I'm capable of right now. I can also disseminate literature and help with literature reviews, but I haven't read a journal article in a little over a year nor are my data analyses skills really up to par. It basically feels like I was doing a part-time Ph.D the whole time without any full-time work to fill in the gaps at all. Nor did I trust the system to get me through the program accordingly (and was part of the reason I pursued the adjunct and, eventually, visiting position).

I can manage research projects, but I've only done one at a time and am behind on just about everything conceivable all the time (grading at the SLAC for close to 2 months, poor email replies and follow ups, haven't done data analysis for dissertation yet, etc.) just about in addition to poor self care.

The only other thing I can give myself credit for is my goal to apply for one job a day. When I don't apply, I catch up the next day really quick. I'm currently applying for research assistant, research associate, and clinical research coordinator positions at the moment. However, even I am afraid of getting turned down by these positions because I don't exactly have a "portfolio" or experience I can really point to that gives a sense of my work at all other than the posters I've done at the graduate level (including one I will do soon). I only ever had one manuscript where I was an author as well and I'm the last author.

Looking back, I realize that my perception of this visiting position at this SLAC as a thing where I would be able to "fit in" while not adjusting my habits was a mistake. Sort of my reminds me of my awful first year where I ended up with around a 2.5-2.6 GPA (undergrad, I never dipped that low in graduate school) despite having a life coach since I didn't adjust or change my habits based on their direction. I also didn't have any business saying this visiting position was a "survival thing" to help me fulfill my fellowship requirements either and should've adjusted my perception as an opportunity to learn new skills in this case.

I just took an exam. I am guilty of having wandering eyes during exams. I look at people, desks around me, laptops around me, the proctor at the front of the classroom, as well as people’s exam papers next to me and around me. I don’t know what causes it. Maybe anxiety and panic?

After glancing at another person’s exam paper today, I looked up and my proctor made eye contact with me and shook their head in disapproval while looking at me. Clearly they believe they caught me cheating. I turned in my papers at the end of the exam (in front of the proctor). The proctor did not confront me about it when I turned in my exam.

I never go into an exam with the intention of cheating and getting other people’s answers. My eyes just dart around a lot, which occasionally has me looking at other people’s papers.

I’m just terrified because my proctor caught me blatantly glancing at another paper and shook their head in disapproval.

I’ve never had an instance of academic misconduct before, so there is no history of that for them to be aware of.

Will I even be accused at all? If I am accused, what should I do to argue my case?

Any help or advice would be appreciated, thank you.

It is spring break going on in many schools right now. What do College Professor do on Spring Break? Do they go out to beaches and party and get wild and drunk?

Hi all. As stupid as this sounds, I was wondering this. A few semesters ago, I was presenting my project. When I practiced, my throat and mouth were kind of paining from speaking so long and so much. I needed water. But during my presentation, it was even longer than the 30 mins from practicing. It was closer to 1 hour and I kept on messing up because my throat and mouth were kind of paining from speaking so long. Even though I made sure to stay hydrated, it did not help.

But I have been wondering how my profs are able to speak for around 3 hours?! I know that it is 1 day a week, but I have no idea how they do that. Most of them don't drink water or anything during class. How do profs cope with that?

(USA) I’ve been on the job market for 2 years. This year I got a position but in the end I need to turn it down because of two body issues :(

I kinda of feeling bad because they did not write recommendation letter and give me guidances during negotiations for me to not taking the position.

I don’t know the best way to explain the whole thing and at the same time, thank them. I’m thinking of emails, phone calls, hand written cards, and maybe a small gift too? What might be a proper gift?

I’ve seen my reference no. 3 (now younger prof) gave my reference no. 2 (elder prof) a bottle of red wine for recommendation letters. Maybe something along the line?

How many PhDs, postdocs do professors have at a time depending upon their position? As in, assistant, associate and full?

Also what is your field? And is your institution R1, R2, PUI? State or Private?