Questions tagged [emotional-responses]
On emotional issues such as guilt, discouragement, jealousy, anxiety or feelings of inadequacy affecting academics and researchers.
234
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How should I deal with becoming discouraged as a graduate student?
I am a third year (starting fourth year in the fall) PhD student in mathematics. I've passed all qualifying exams and am currently doing research. As far as I can tell, I am not doing poorly. I have ...
- 20.8k
280
votes
9
answers
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How to effectively deal with Imposter Syndrome and feelings of inadequacy: "I've somehow convinced everyone that I'm actually good at this"
Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon wherein an individual is convinced that they do not deserve the success that they have achieved despite (perhaps extensive) empirical evidence to the ...
- 20.8k
200
votes
11
answers
28k
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Postdoc overwhelmed by incomplete work
I take on more than I can handle and everything is left incomplete. Constant reminders from my previous supervisor, my current advisor, and colleagues, increases my anxiety level and sometimes I end ...
- 1,311
193
votes
15
answers
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How to stop hopping the learning chain and actually begin somewhere?
Here is what I feel whenever I find something interesting and feel like pursuing it :
Oh so I like X (Computer Graphics), let me read up papers/books about it.
Ok let me begin with reading up Y (...
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176
votes
21
answers
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How do you come to terms with the fact that you might never be among the best in your research community?
I am currently a PhD student advised by a new (and awesome, in my opinion) theoretical computer scientist in the field of optimization. This was my dream ever since I took a class on convex ...
user42273
142
votes
13
answers
15k
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Why is my mood dictated so much by how well my research is going?
I'm a senior PhD student at an American university. I have found over the course of my degree that my mood has largely been influenced by how well my research is going. If I make a small break-through ...
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136
votes
14
answers
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Is there a place in academia for someone who compulsively solves every problem on their own?
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I'm still in grad school.
I've been researching under one professor's wing for two years now, ostensibly shooting for a PhD (note: no topic yet), and I have ...
- 1,217
116
votes
9
answers
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How to stop feeling guilty about unfinished work?
My biggest challenge as a PhD student is best summarized by the following from PHD Comics:
"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com
A consequence of working in research is that the ...
- 109k
99
votes
4
answers
21k
views
I'm feeling discouraged after getting tenure; should I quit?
A few months ago, and seven years after I obtained my PhD, I finally got tenure. Hence I have a permanent position in academia.
After a few months in this new position, I find myself thinking of ...
- 2,156
97
votes
12
answers
17k
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How to help reduce students' anxiety in an oral exam?
Oral exams can have various pedagogical benefits in certain circumstances, but can also make some students feel anxious. After watching several students nervous-sweat their way through such an exam, I'...
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96
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What makes academic failure different from failure in another career?
It is my understanding that academia as a nebulous whole has its own culture and speaks its own language that makes it a very different environment to work in compared to other so-called "industry" ...
89
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17
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As a TA, how to react if I come across a Facebook group in which students insult me?
I am a PhD student in Europe and also TA for some bachelor's degree classes for my supervisor.
Just by chance, I have found an open Facebook group (normally, the group aims to create an interaction ...
- 4,264
89
votes
11
answers
27k
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Where did I lose control of my studies?
I am a 5th MSc semester mathematics student at a local German university. Since fall, I have been working on my thesis, which is the only remaining task for finishing my studies.
I had not had ...
- 1,539
83
votes
14
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How do really talented people in academia think about people who are less capable than them? [closed]
To be more specific, how do really top professors think about students who are much less smart than them, the students can be their Ph.D. students or just students who were taking his/her class.
This ...
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75
votes
9
answers
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I wasted six years of my life getting a PhD degree. What should I do, and how will I survive?
I struggled with low self confidence throughout my bachelors, masters and PhD in chemical engineering. After spending two years in Masters and six years in getting a PhD degree, I am lost at what I ...
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73
votes
7
answers
12k
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How to care less about teaching?
Fifth year math grad student as of this Fall. ABD, currently on target for six years in total.
I have very strong feelings about the way courses should be taught, graded, and organized. I have ...
63
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14
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I got accepted into a math PhD program but I don't feel adequate enough to attend
I got accepted into a school that I really wanted to go to for a math PhD. I finished my masters and I love math very much. It's something that I've always been extremely passionate about. I used to ...
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63
votes
13
answers
14k
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How to handle one's own academic misconduct, long after it occurred?
I got my PhD in data engineering in 2014 from a reputed university in a developed country. I am now an associate professor in a well-reputed university. Between my PhD and my current position, I took ...
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60
votes
11
answers
17k
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How to deal with unnecessary stress introduced by the supervisor?
I am doing my PhD in a high prestige UK university.
I am finishing my second year and I have funding for three years in total.
I have already two papers finished (pending to be published) and ...
- 924
58
votes
13
answers
27k
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Stuck without progress working on thesis - worried about failure
I am a student of Indian origin. I am Studying Mechanical Engineering in a local university in north of Germany.
I am writing my thesis in a company. My task is to optimize the throughput of the line. ...
- 681
57
votes
7
answers
12k
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My student told me his mother has cancer, what do I do?
Today I saw that one of my students in the class was looking very sad. He sat down at the end of class and he looked like he was in a bad mood. After all the students left the classroom I called him ...
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56
votes
8
answers
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Math Ph.D. does not know what to do with life? [closed]
Background: I am a Math Ph.D. student in the U.S. (originally from a developing nation) in partial differential equations (PDEs) but on the theoretical side of PDEs (no simulation, no numerical). I am ...
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56
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6
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Is it normal to feel dread before starting a faculty position?
I need some advice. After several months of interviews and work, I secured a faculty position at a good business school, which was a relief since jobs are so hard to get around here. Everyone tells me ...
- 1,451
55
votes
5
answers
12k
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How to differentiate "imposter syndrome" from actual lack of suitability for grad. school/academia?
A lot of graduate students/applicants, it seems, suffer from "imposter syndrome." Typically, these are bright, high-achieving students, who nonetheless doubt their ability, and this most ...
user124395
54
votes
14
answers
10k
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How should I deal with discouragement looking at others success?
I'm a master CS student. I had so many troubles in my life. I didn't have proper schooling and were in difficult situations which led to me being not so good compared to my peers now at the graduate ...
- 4,022
53
votes
12
answers
15k
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How to react to a student’s panic attack in an oral exam?
Suppose, I am an examiner in an oral exam. I have done my best to design and conduct the exam to reduce students’ anxiety, but it just didn’t work: The student has a panic attack that makes it ...
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52
votes
6
answers
12k
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How to overcome discouragement on finding major error in work just before paper submission?
Recently, we were working on a new idea in physics and engineering. At the end (after writing almost 6 drafts and even ready to submit draft) only I realized that I had made a stupid error in ...
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51
votes
7
answers
6k
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How do I overcome fear of rejection when writing academic papers?
I don't know how to put it. I have never published before. Previously my one paper was rejected, that was because the experiments were not ready and my advisor asked me to still submit it just to have ...
- 2,719
49
votes
9
answers
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Frustration with machine learning and deep learning research
I am doing a M.Sc. in artificial intelligence (AI), and I am collaborating with a computer vision company in a deep learning (DL) research project that will eventually become my master thesis.
...
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48
votes
6
answers
21k
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How do I deal with crying in front of my supervisor?
I just started my PhD two months ago and I am already feeling stressed out. I don't know how to find a research gap and I'm also not good at communicating or explaining anything. My supervisor told me ...
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47
votes
11
answers
10k
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How do I continue work if I love my research but hate my peers?
I am an established researcher in my discipline, which is a sub-field of computer science. In the last years, I have successfully published papers and generally enjoyed doing research, as in ...
- 1,275
47
votes
9
answers
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How to comfortably interact with famous professors?
I know that they are "just as human as we are", but I feel somewhat uncomfortable to talk nonchalantly with the top-notch math researchers and professors in my department because of their social ...
user23758
47
votes
7
answers
6k
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How can I overcome academic "researcher's block"?
I work as a senior academic in an important university in Europe. My name is in several publications in top journals in my field.
I have always published papers together with brilliant collaborators ...
- 561
46
votes
17
answers
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How can I counter a student response saying "Why are we bothered to reinvent the wheel when proving mathematical identities?"
I am teaching an undergraduate mathematics course to software engineering students. I often ask my students to prove some mathematical identities as their homework. The identities could be, for ...
- 533
46
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4
answers
9k
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Meeting dishonest ex-supervisors at large international conference -- Should one speak out?
I have returned to my country after one negative experience as a postdoc in China.
In short, I was hired based on false salary & funding expectations supported by shady vague contracts written in ...
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45
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6
answers
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Is it normal to feel like I bought my way into graduate school after being rejected and then accepted when I was awarded an external fellowship?
I initially got rejected by the two schools I applied to (horrible pGRE scores, lackluster GRE scores, and only did research at my undergraduate institute), but then I got an NSF fellowship, and was ...
- 555
45
votes
6
answers
4k
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How can I clear myself of emotional attachment when reading reviewer feedback?
I have received feedback from reviewers on my latest conference paper (this is in Computer Science).
It was an acceptance, which is nice.
I feel I really need to consider in depth the reviewer ...
- 8,616
44
votes
15
answers
10k
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How should I control my nervousness, so as not to disturb my presentation on the day of a conference?
My paper is successfully accepted in a very prestigious and reputable conference, to be presented orally in one of the presentation sessions. This is my first time that I am going to give such a talk ...
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43
votes
11
answers
13k
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Thinking about leaving academia for good. I am feeling guilty and disappointed in myself. Any thoughts/advice?
I have a PhD in mechanical engineering and am currently a postdoc. I have been fairly productive in my research, published fair amount of papers during my 5 years PhD and 1.5 years of Postdoc ...
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43
votes
6
answers
11k
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How to deal with constant stress and uncertainty in academia?
I know there are a lot of similar questions but most of them are related to stress/pressure from their supervisor. I am doing my PhD and I am in my third year out of four. Everything is going very (or ...
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43
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5
answers
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How to deal with overly helpful co-advisor?
I have 3 advisors; two are great (main prof and a daily advisor) and one ('Jill') is not. Jill invited herself to my advisor team after coming back to work from a long medical leave and she's ready to ...
- 541
42
votes
8
answers
10k
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How to deal with unavoidable failure in my first year of tenure-track applications?
I got my PhD recently. I applied to many tenure-track positions and got selected for several onsite job interviews. Yay. However I have actually been told in no uncertain terms by several trusted ...
- 447
41
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9
answers
11k
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I feel bad about rejecting a paper during review
I'm must declare at the very beginning that I'm a PhD student that suffers from major impostor syndrome, and very much feel very unconfident about myself or my abilities.
That being said, I recently ...
- 631
41
votes
3
answers
14k
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How does an Erratum on one's own paper affect one's career as a researcher?
I'm still early in my scientific career, with only a few papers published. However, I've discovered a typo in a non-critical equation of my paper, and one of the graphs in the same paper should have ...
- 481
41
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9
answers
8k
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How not to lose confidence in front of supervisor?
I have been working on my doctoral thesis with a very well known professor in the field. I am going to finish 1 year of my study with him. As usual, we have been meeting every week at least once on ...
- 12.8k
40
votes
8
answers
11k
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Overcoming depression and getting back on rails with PhD work [duplicate]
I'm a first year PhD student (computer science), and I've felt that I lost this year up to now due to some life difficulties. I'm getting no financial support and I was forced to teach to get some ...
39
votes
8
answers
10k
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Is Relocating Necessary in Academia?
Despite experiencing a lot of drama and negativity at my university, I love my city and hate the idea of relocating. Sometimes I even think of reapplying there just so I could stay in this city (this ...
user124395
39
votes
9
answers
9k
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Left academia for a job with a publishing company. Is it normal to feel guilty or "settled" about a decision? How to overcome the feeling?
After PhD and a year of postdoc in mechanical engineering, I accepted a position of a scientific editor with a publishing company. The pay is decent but not great. I have been working in the new role ...
- 478
39
votes
14
answers
17k
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My advisor said that I should be more modest, and we should meet more often. Should I tell him about my impostor syndrome? If yes, mail or personal?
I am a PhD student in Europe, currently in my second year, and I have some attitude problems concerning my work. I really want to work on my problem, that's fine, but what bothers me is the following....
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38
votes
11
answers
16k
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Was my student being disrespectful by using shouting language in her email to me?
I have a PhD in statistics and teach statistics for humanities students in a university. One week before the start of the semester I posted all the required information regarding the course textbook, ...
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