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Do people want to work in overseas branches?
As an example let's take the University of Southampton, Malaysia branch. At face level, the university opened a branch in Malaysia because it's a symbiotic relationship: the university earns more revenue + spread its brand name, and Malaysia gets to leverage the university's expertise to train its future engineers + provide employment (administrators, academics, support staff, etc).
For the Malaysia branch to have some legitimacy, some of its staff must be from the main UK campus. From the branch's "our lecturers" page, this is indeed the case.
My question is, did these lecturers volunteer to go to Malaysia, or were they assigned by the university? Is it a good thing to be able to say one has worked in an overseas branch, or is it a distraction that must be endured for the sake of the university?

Related: Why have international branch campuses?

Won't Malaysians work as academics as well?? Why do they only get to be cleaners or work in HR?

@Azor-Ahai some of them undoubtedly will. I wrote that as clarification - even if 100% of the lecturers came from the UK campus, a branch would still provide employment.

Maybe a less divisive way to put it would be "provide employment (administors, academics, support staff, etc)". Because I too read it to mean that you did not expect Malaysians to be a part of the faculty themselves.

There are plenty of job adverts for positions at these branches. The job specifies the expected division of time between the two locations. Usually there are perks attached to the time spent abroad, such as higher salary or accommodation costs covered.

Also, the fact that they can be able to work in both branches can be a perk in itself. I could see some British lecturers be very interested in spending some time in sunny Malaysia.

@skymningen The Southampton Malaysia campus is in Iskandar, which is in a tropical rain forest. It's not clear that it actually gets more sunshine than Southampton, despite being almost on the equator! (It gets more than twice as much rain, for example.)

This actually seems to imply that it's less preferable to work abroad - one has to offer more perks before people take up the offer @@

The salaries at overseas branches tend to be much lower.  A major selling point of overseas branches is reduced tuition.

@skymningen For a minority of people, travelling is a perk. But for most people with family commitments (and also many without), repeatedly switching countries can be very disruptive, as well as costly and stressful.

I said it can be a perk. Somehow this sparked the understanding that I disregard people who do not wish to work abroad for a part of the year. I am in fact one of them and I prefer cold weather to warm. I still appreciate that other people might be interested in the climate, the benefits for your CV, the personal experiences or any of the other perks going to a different place for work ultimately can have. It can, in fact, be a perk in itself to get those experiences for a specific known time without having to sign up for a full, permanent job contract abroad.

Expats that are sent/assigned from the home office are usually gloriously compensated - same/better standard of living as in the home country; international (read "prep") schools for the children; guaranteed number of returns back home; sometimes additional monetary compensation is tacked on for having to live in a country of certain levels of instability/danger - like "hazard pay".  Usually you are at some elevated managerial level and probably hold an MBA or engineering degree.
There are some who simply don't want to uproot and leave their friends and families and their established lifestyles to a place where their native language might not even be spoken. On the other hand, there are those who would kill to be able to do just that.  Probably the majority fall into the former category, hence the elevated perks, but what with international cell phones, email and Skype the world has become yet even smaller and more people are willing to uproot their lifestyles to exotics lands.

Gloriously compensated indeed. In case anyone wonders how: much higher demand for education in Asia. Perks can also include a massive tax break (down to 0%). Combine that with a rent-free apartment and it competes with a tenured position at a top western university. Oh and also no publication requirements so you can spend free time doing science for-profit in a pretty fast growing economy while just doing teaching at a university. And my favorite is there is much less regulations so you can freely work on things that are behind a wall of bureaucracy in the west.


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How to write a research statement for a math postdoc position?
I am a graduate student in mathematics working on functional analysis of quantum information (basically using matrix techniques in some well-known problems). I am presently applying for postdoctoral positions (in both Mathematics and Quantitative Physics departments). However, I am not getting any reply from most of the places and got a few rejection letters as well. Since I am from Mathematics, I cannot apply to experimental groups (where there are more openings). Again, being a Mathematics student and working in Physics (even though there are obvious connections between them) is not seen as a good example among certain parts of the physics community and the majority of the Mathematicians in this part of the world (personal opinion based on certain bitter experiences). I do not know whether it is the same in other places as well.
I feel that I have not projected myself by writing a good research statement. I have written it after reading the first few entries of Google search results as well as advice from the AMS. I have mostly highlighted my present work, with only a short discussion of future ideas.
To make my life more complicated, I want to move out of the present problems which I am working presently and choose some new problems for my postdoctoral research. I have a peripheral knowledge about the works of different groups. However, modifying my research statement according to the research work of each group is, I think, difficult (as I need to spend time to read their works and spot exactly where my knowledge can be used in their problems and so on). The reason for not having time is I am simultaneously working on some research problem as well as writing my thesis, which I need to submit in the coming months.
In this situation, how do I write a good research statement? I want to convey the message to potential employers that, while I have not done research on their problem yet (though I know them to certain level), given an opportunity I can learn and do work in their areas.

Writing a postdoctoral research statement should not be a huge exercise. Unless you are applying for a major postdoctoral fellowship, I would not necessarily expect a huge research statement. In many cases, in fact, you may not need a research statement at all to apply for a postdoctoral appointment; a cover letter, CV, and list of references may suffice. (When I hired my current postdoctoral associate, those were the materials I asked for.)
Now, that said, your statement should provide a few pieces of information:

A brief description of your current project, and any major research skills or tools you have acquired as a result of your training.
A brief summary of the kinds of problems you would like to study as a postdoctoral associate. If these are aligned with the interests of the group you are applying to, this is even more helpful.

Ultimately, however, when you are applying for a postdoctoral position, you are applying to a specific individual, who will be the one reviewing the applications. What I am looking for is someone who has actually responded to my job posting, not just a job posting. That means I want to see a clear statement that the applicant has thought about what we do in my group, and how her skills will contribute to the project for which I'm advertising. If there's no such indication, I'm much less likely to take the application seriously, unless there are mitigating factors (lots of publications in top journals, strong recommendation letters from colleagues I know, and so on).
Finally, I should also point out that the quality of your written English could be improved. While this might seem to be a minor issue, a poorly written statement can be enough for me as an advisor to think twice about hiring someone, simply because I would worry about my ability to communicate with the candidate. (Furthermore, someone whose communication skills are somewhat deficient will have a harder time finding a position than someone proficient.)

Written presentation is huge, especially if you do not personally know the person/team that you're submitting to.  It is important to remember that a research statement, or any cover letter for that matter, is a live example of your ability to communicate effectively.

It's worth pointing out that math postdocs are often posted by departments not individuals, so work a bit differently than typical science postdocs.

@NoahSnyder thank you for the information. i did not know this and mail some of the faculties personally (i have applied to open positions as well though).

Writing a postdoctoral research statement should not be a huge exercise — Go on, pull the other one.  In my experience, effective research statements for postdoc applications (in mathematics and computer science) are not that different from effective research statements for tenure-track faculty applications.  Writing them is bloody hard.

-1; I realize this is an old thread, but it seems to be one of the most visible answers about research statements and honestly I agree with JeffE , it seems to me to be completely misleading to make out that it is not a big deal to write a good research statement. Also in math the idea of personalizing the research statement to respond to a specific posting (particularly in the US) is definitely not what people expect.

"I have written [my research statement] after reading the first few entries of Google search results as well as advice from the AMS."
I haven't read your research statement but I would suspect that reading the first few entries off of Google may have been insufficient to fully support your consideration for a post-doc position.
Also, get someone to test read your research statement.  Get some feedback on how to improve your documents and revise-revise-revise.  Best of luck.

I can't +1 this answer enough.  Get feedback from your advisor.  Get feedback from faculty who hire postdocs.  Get feedback from faculty whose students have landed postdocs.  Get feedback from faculty in your target research area.  Get feedback from successful postdocs.  Then get more feedback.

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Eligibility of pursuing graduate school in English with only a minor in the subject?
Background: I’m a rising (undergraduate) junior transferring to a different school starting with this upcoming semester. At my previous school I was an English/Philosophy double major, but I took way more philosophy courses than English, so that at my new school if I want to complete my double major I’ll have to take about 37 credits of English courses, most of which are major requirements + 5 or 4 gen eds + three or so elective philosophy courses.
My preference would be to take more than three philosophy courses, especially as I’m still deciding whether I want to pursue graduate school in English or Philosophy, and if I go with the latter I’ll need letters of recommendation (I didn’t form many close relationships with professors at my previous school, so this is basically my only option). I’ve found that if I switch to a Philosophy major and English minor, I’ll have way, way more freedom with regard to credits. I'd essentially get to take whatever I want in the next two years, so I could split my attention evenly between Philosophy and English.
Here’s my problem: I really would like to leave myself the option of pursuing grad school in English, and I don’t know if I can do that with just an English minor. As far as I can tell, it varies by program. I know that some allow it, but I don’t know how common it is. Right now, what I'm most concerned about is whether I could still make a strong applicant to the top English MA/PhD programs.
Would my best course of action be to simply contact each individual program and ask about their requirements for applicants?
P.S. Any outside resources on this subject would be appreciated. I can't locate much information about this online.

What country are you applying in?

@astronat I'm in the United States. Sorry for not making that clear.

I really would like to leave myself the option of pursuing grad school in English, and I don’t know if I can do that with just an English minor. As far as I can tell, it varies by program.

I would recommend choosing potential graduate schools that you want to apply to in advance so that you can make the optimal decisions right now. If schools that you want to attend do not have a hard requirement, then no problem. If schools that you want to attend do have a hard requirement, then you need to make certain decisions while you are still in your undergrad.

Would my best course of action be to simply contact each individual program and ask about their requirements for applicants?

If schools that you most want to attend have a hard requirement (listed on their website, for instance), then it might be good to ask about your situation. But for schools that do allow it, this does not seem like you would learn any new information.

Right now, what I'm most concerned about is whether I could still make a strong applicant to the top English MA/PhD programs.

There are two major things to consider here:

Do you believe that you are a strong candidate? If not, consider what steps you need to take in your undergraduate education to prepare yourself for grad school.
Assuming that your answer to the first question is affirmative, do you think your application would convey that you are a strong candidate?

Many graduate school applications in the humanities require some form of the following:

GRE test scores
Letters of recommendation
Past transcripts
Statement of purpose
Writing sample

Check what different programs require for admission, and tailor your application accordingly. If your philosophy training has given you adequate skills to write well, your writing sample and GRE scores should demonstrate that. Past transcripts should show a high number of English courses taken. Letters of recommendation from faculty even outside your field could be very valuable. And finally, your statement of purpose should indicate why you believe you are a strong candidate, which carries significant weight when evaluating a potential new student.
Good luck!

Since you haven't indicated a country, this answer is only valid for US (and, perhaps similar places).
It is fairly common for people with a BS here to enter doctoral studies in a different field. This is due to the very general nature of the US undergraduate education, with only "a bit" of specialization in the major. US undergraduates get a "taste" of many different fields, some quite different from their main interest. US doctoral programs are usually defined with this in mind and the early year(s) have advanced coursework leading to some comprehensive exams demonstrating a broad knowledge of your field. If you have any "lacks" you can use this period to get up to speed.
So, having "only" a minor in English wouldn't necessarily be any handicap at all, and, there are surely instances of philosophy or history majors entering English for doctoral studies as well as the opposite.
The answer of Kevin Miller lays out the usual application requirements (though GRE is fading a bit in importance). Note that letters of recommendation are relatively important in US (compared to some other places) and you need to make your case about your future in the SoP.
I'd suggest that if you keep your hand in both fields, even without a double major and make enough faculty contacts so that you get good letters in either field, then you should fare OK.

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Given admission based on current GPA for graduate school, but GPA drops during final term
How do graduate student admissions work if a student meets requirements at time of application, gets accepted, and drops below minimum requirements during their final term before graduation?
For example, if a school requires a minimum GPA to get admission, and a student applied in his final year with a sufficiently high GPA and got admission in March, and by the end of the year (before finishing school to submit the complete transcript and GPA), the university finds a GPA that is not sufficiently high, how would the university handle this?

I made a few edits that I hope clarify your question. Feel free to revert the edits if they do not convey your question accurately.

I think it would be very rare to not honor the earlier decision as long as you still graduate. Other things, such as misbehavior could change an acceptance, but a drop in the final term GPA wouldn't normally do it.
People giving early acceptance realize that things don't always go smoothly. And changing the decision at a late point is disruptive to that program as well.
I suggest you relax. It isn't impossible, but it would be exceptional, not normal if the decision were to change.
Note that I'm assuming a relatively normal variation in GPA. A drop to all failures in the final term would be different, but it would probably also deny you graduation.
And also note that a drop in the final term is fairly normal and common since people start to think about other things at that point.


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How to mention non-academic projects/experiences in a PhD application?
I want to research as a PhD student after several years of being away from academia but am unsure which non-academic positions to include, how many of them, and how to describe them: The PhD will be related very closely to informatics/computer science and my industry jobs were related to software development, but I've found out that computer science research and industrial software development have hardly anything in common with each other. Moreover, I've worked as a freelancer in addition to having proven myself to be a job hopper, so I don't even have the space to list every project I've worked on.
The question of "Should I mention industrial experience in an academic CV when applying for a PhD?" has already been asked, but there still remains the question of what exactly "relevant industrial experience" entails.
Previous attempts
Software-development bucket list
First, I simply tried listing all of my major projects which either lasted a long time or which I felt "proud" about. However, this means that my CV is ridiculously long and has a lot of stuff which has nothing to do with each other. This attempt was not successful at getting an offer or even many interviews; Apparently, just because a job has to do with programming, doesn't mean that professors care about it.
Topical bucket list
Next, I tried pruning the jobs which didn't have a direct technological/methodological link to the PhD I'm applying for: For example, if the PhD is related to pattern recognition in bioinformatics, I would list jobs for which I used some sort of machine-learning library even if it wasn't for bioinformatics; If the PhD is related to pattern recognition in blogs, however, I would not only list jobs related to ML but also jobs related to general web-application development under the assumption that making websites means that I might know more about how to work with web data. Currently, this iteration has not (yet) proven to be successful, either.

I think your other question is more important than this one. Once you know the answer to the other one, the answer to this one would become obvious.

The application may not give you a choice. My PhD application in 2001 was required to list every job I had held since getting my bachelor's degree in 1970. My first job, writing management sciences applications in an assembly language using punch card input, was of dubious relevance, but had to be listed anyway.


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I am interested in graduate studies, but I was dismissed from my undergraduate program for poor grades. Where do I go from here?
I've had a tumultuous undergraduate experience, to say the least. After being suspended freshman year, being re-admitted in the Spring of 2014, and a rough 2014-2015 academic year, I've been dismissed from my university.
It's extremely upsetting and has left me a little bitter, especially since my trouble in school has been due to ADHD, depression and anxiety that went undiagnosed for an extremely long time as well as an unpleasant living situation to say the least. I have no record of misconduct and was active in student organizations excluding social fraternities. I tried to appeal the decision, but got was rejected. I'm planning on going to a local community college in the fall to at least get an associates degree and transfer to another university, but I'm not sure how well it will go.
I have always loved academia, and ideally want to go to graduate school. Ever since I was a kid, my whole goal was to go to graduate from college. Now it is seeming less and less likely. I feel like my academic record could hang over me for the rest of my life, keeping me not only from continuing the education I want, but also keeping me from a career or leaving home. I'm at an unfortunate crossroads and I don't know what the next step I should take is.
That said, do I still have a chance at completing an undergraduate program and - hopefully - completing a graduate program? While I ideally want to continue my liberal arts education and eventually go into a post-graduate program, should I make a more achievable goal? My cumulative GPA is around 1.5, and I feel as though that it will affect the admissions process almost everywhere I go. Essentially, can I still get my degree, or will most universities not accept me at all on grounds of my academic record?

Related question posted here

If you being dismissed was not from misconduct, is it purely based on grades?  Have you worked through any of your issues you refer to?  It seems to me that you need to go one step at a time, if you cant get past some of your issues that led to to the current situation, it is hard to look into the future (well, its always impossible to know the future).  If you go to local college, figure out your issue, and do great, I dont think all is lost.

Where in the world are you located?  United States?

possible duplicate of How does the admissions process work for US Ph.D. programs, particularly for weak or borderline students?

@gerrit yes, I'm from the U.S.

@user1938107 it's purely grades-based. And I have been working on my problems, seeing a counselor while I was at school that they provided and a psychiatrist in the area on my own. If I do well at a community college, how much will my academic record impact me transferring to another undergrad program?

@shmoo I'm not going to say that it'll be easy, but it definitely can be done. I had a professor who was kicked out of undergrad multiple times, spent a couple years after getting kicked out working on video games, and yet still managed to return to school and get his B.S. and Ph.D.

@Shmoo: thanks for clarifying your questions. They're both relevant here, but they're too disconnected from one another. Therefore, I'd recommend you separate them and ask them as independent questions.

Re-opened based on the edits that were made. Meta discussion on original question.

You could probably start at an open-admissions community college in September, if that's what you wanted to do.  You would probably need to spend some time there and SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE YOUR COURSES to build successful reapplication package to a better school.
Any reapplication process would very much involve you proving to an admissions department why and how you became a student who is likely to successfully complete their program and become a graduate that they will be proud of. You need to convince them that your past record is not indicative of what your future record will be. The bad news is that this will not be easy.
The good news is that should you manage to turn things around, graduate admissions committees would be likely to look at you as an interesting candidate who has taken an adverse academic situation and made it better.
Think long and hard about your situation.  Even if you treat the anxiety, ADHD, and depression (and I wouldn't recommend trying to start again without dealing with these fundamental problems) there will always be that next problem to overcome.  If that next problem will shut you down the same way, you're setting yourself up for the same outcome.  Treatment should be a part of your plan to avoid this.
Think about your academic experience, and how that's likely to change.  Will future-you be a "B" student, and have an enriching academic experience, or will future-you be constantly on academic probation, constantly on the edge of separation?  The former is great, but the latter can be an anxiety-producing monster that will leave you miserable for 4 years, but can still be an important career developing step.  Unless you plan on a degree from an open-admissions school (like Brooklyn College, which can give you a fine education that can lead to graduate programs!!), you need to be able to convince a school that you won't fall in to this class, or you just won't get accepted.  More importantly, if you think you'll fall into that class anyway, are you up for it?  Can you tolerate the long, unpleasant experience an make it through to the other side, and is this worth it to you?
If you plan to continue in school at this point, and you don't plan to enroll in a community college in September, you should be planning on how to keep moving forward and not stagnating.  If you need to spend some time getting the ADHD and depression treated, do it.  Keep doing things that will develop your maturity and keep moving you to the next step, as opposed to marching in place.  If you look like you're not progressing, chances of admissions get even slimmer.
Keeping in mind that an academic experience is a means, and not an end, take a good introspective look at your life plan and career plan and how your education fits in.  I highly recommend spending the $4 for http://www.amazon.com/Control-Your-Time-Life-Signet/dp/0451167724/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8.  It looks like a time-management book, but its much more -- or rather its a time management book on many different time scales -- this moment, weeks, years, decades -- and how to use your time to achieve your goals.

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What specific techniques can help someone facing mental health problems (depression, anxiety, ADHD) have a productive academic career?
Question originally found here

In the past few months, I have been diagnosed for depression, anxiety, and ADHD. While learning this has been helpful, treatment made my already poor performance worse. Jumping around medications as well as the mental and emotional exhaustion that can come from counseling sessions made my academic pursuits almost impossible.
After medication and therapy, it seems that the only advice I can find to treat my conditions is more self-discipline. I don't disagree and find that it can be extremely helpful, but in this (for lack of a better term) recovery process, self-discipline is made harder. Does anyone who have had similar problems throughout their academic career have experience with "coping" mechanisms that go beyond "make a to-do list"? My goal is to one day enter a graduate program, but most steps I have found in researching both ADHD and depression/anxiety have been more suited for those entering non-academic careers or the parents of high school and grade school students.

Can you clarify whether you're looking for advice on managing your mental health conditions, or advice about ways to manage your academic work/performance given the challenges of your conditions?

I'm more concerned with the academics part. With time and continued therapy + medication, I'm sure I can improve in managing the symptoms. But when it comes to academic performance, it would take more than that.

Because the symptoms are making it hard to focus? Because it's embarrassing? How is this impacting your academic performance?

It's definitely harder to focus, and on an interpersonal level  I find it embarrassing, especially when it comes to openly communicating with professors. The preconceptions that surround mental illness play into anxiety. I also worry that a professor won't believe me or think less of me if I thoroughly explain my problems. Playing into inattentiveness, I have problems with motivation at times. I've been reading into ADHD symptoms as of late, and a lot of people attribute this with executive dysfunction but I am not sure if it isn't rooted in depression.

Thank you for clarifying. I have some resources on this and will try to write a formal answer this evening.

I've edited the title of your question to clarify that your focus is on the academics part, as you've mentioned in a comment.

In one word, I would like to suggest using the technique known as Pomodoro for managing your time. http://pomodorotechnique.com/

You should try to do sports regularly, at least 2-3 days a week. One sport I like is rock climbing, see here. Choose one sport that suits you, it is never late to learn a new one(I learned unicycling and snowboarding after graduation).

First, please know that you are not alone and that it is possible to pursue a graduate education even with mental health issues. Several studies have actually indicated very high rates (as much as 40-60%) of anxiety and depression among graduate students (Arnold, 2014; Bernstein, 2015; Wyatt & Oswalt, 2013). So, there are students who have mental health issues who are still pursuing a higher degree. That said, just because it is common doesn't mean it is accepted. Stigma is common in academia, as it is in the rest of society (Pescosolido, 2013), and students may fear being stigmatized if they discuss or reveal their condition. Also, mental health issues, like any physical illness, bring additional challenges that must be managed. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to identify the self-management approaches that may help you succeed.
(As personal context, I have a neurological condition and have experienced periods of depression. I am successfully engaged in a doctoral program).
Take care of yourself
You rightly noted that some of your cognitive difficulties may be due to your mental health symptoms. Depression, anxiety, and ADHD have all been shown to compromise executive function, such as attention, concentration, memory, and problem solving (Biederman et al., 2006; Castaneda, Tuulio-Henriksson, Marttunen, Suvisaari, & Lönnqvist, 2008). As you continue with treatment, you may find that some of these difficulties begin to resolve. Whether you pursue graduate school or work,  prioritizing your own health and wellness is key (Myers, 2012). Some graduate programs are notorious for suggesting students engage in “self-care” but have such grueling schedules that this is difficult. Guard your well-being ruthlessly. If your physical and mental well-being suffer, so will your performance in other areas of life. Specific suggestions:

Be open with your mental health providers about your academic and
career intentions. Discuss treatment options in the context of being
able to effectively function in a graduate school environment. If you
find certain medications are causing side effects that impact your
academic functioning, bring it up and address it. Determine whether
there is a risk of developing a tolerance to your medications so that
they would become ineffective. If that’s the case, work to identify
two different medication regimens, so when you develop a tolerance to
one in the middle of the school year, you can seamlessly switch to
the other. I have found many professionals are sympathetic to
students who express interest in higher education and was able to
effectively partner with my providers.
Identify a routine that contributes to your well-being and stick to
it. For example, if you know that an irregular sleep schedule
contributes to your anxiety, make your sleep schedule a priority. If
you know your depression worsens when you don’t get enough light, and
realize you’ll be working in a dark, interior office, ask your
provider about light-box options.
Consider tracking your schedule (sleep/waking times, eating times and
amounts, etc) and symptoms on an ongoing basis, or in periods when
your symptoms seem to worsen. This can help pinpoint instances where
your routine has become disrupted.

Operationalize your academic challenges, then identify possible solutions
First write down a detailed, specific list of the ways in which you are struggling academically. I posted several follow-up comments to your initial question, because it wasn't clear to me how your studies were being impacted by your symptoms. Determine if there are specific activities or tasks that seem to have become harder in recent months. Once you have list of specific examples, it will be easier to identify specific solutions. Some examples include:

Problem: Low energy/motivation. Possible Solution: Create a concrete schedule, identifying when you will complete brief, manageable assignments. Unlike a to-do list that is open ended, this involves scheduling writing your methods section for your biology paper at 6pm on Tuesday. Rather than dread completing a task at some point, you’ll know exactly when you need to knock that out.
Problem:  Poor concentration makes it hard to focus on long assignments. Possible Solution: Break tasks into smaller components (e.g., breaking a paper into individual sections), and take breaks in between. Remove other distractions (cell phone, email, TV) from the area where you are working. If you can’t resist temptation, go to the library and leave your phone at home.
Problem:  Poor attention makes it hard to take notes during lecture. Possible Solution: Audio-record lectures so you can listen to them later at your own speed. Join a study group where you can compare your notes and understanding with other students.
Problem: Difficulties with memory impact school work. Possible Solution: Identify new ways to study, such as taking more extensive notes, re-writing your notes (this is more effective than re-reading them), or using mnemonic devices.

Your therapist should be able to help you think through many of these issues. Additionally, your school may have resources for adapting to learning difficulties.
Identify external supports
In addition to the internal coping skills you are developing personally and academically, it is important to identify external supports. Social support is crucial to successfully managing ongoing mental and physical health conditions (Gallant, 2003; Kolbe, 2002). You’ve mentioned some feelings of embarrassment and worry about how you will be perceived due to your diagnosis. Disclosure of a mental health diagnosis is a delicate subject, primarily because there is still a great deal of stigma towards mental illness. Your decision to disclose will likely depend on whether you trust that the person you are speaking with will be accepting and that the disclosure will not result in negative consequences. In some cases, you might decide if feels safer not to disclose; this is your choice.
Possible sources of social support include:

Family and friends
Your therapist and/or medication prescriber
Professors, colleagues, classmates – You may find you are comfortable
discussing issues with trusted classmates, but not with your
supervisors. Also, keep in mind that schools and employers cannot
legally ask about mental health conditions in interviews and you are
not required to mention it. However, once you are hired, you can
request certain accommodations (see next point).
ADA officer – If you live in the United States, mental health
conditions are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act,
meaning that employers and schools must make “reasonable
accommodations” to allow you to function within that environment
(Leibert, 2003). Examples of accommodations include longer testing
periods or moving through the program at a slower pace. Most schools
have an ADA officer or office that oversees students who want to
receive accommodations. Even if you choose not to disclose your
condition to your program, you can use the school’s ADA officer as a
source of support (Willyard, 2012).
Some academics and graduate students have been open about their own
mental health conditions and the impact it has had on their careers
(Keely, 2013; Kelsky, 2013a and 2013b; Shine, 2013). These blogs can
provide additional examples of managing mental health conditions in
academia.

There are two brief caveats. First, if you choose to disclose you might need to educate people on your conditions. They may not initially understand how it impacts you. You can choose how detailed you want to be; sometimes a general explanation is sufficient. Second, when illnesses are “invisible,” and the symptoms are not immediately apparent to those around us, even people who know you have a certain condition can “forget” about the impact it has on your life on a daily basis. You may need to remind them from time to time, and you may also need to remind yourself! This leads to my last point…
Remember to give yourself credit for managing both academic and personal challenges.
Managing a long-term health condition requires a constant amount of mental and physical energy (e.g., ensuring you get enough sleep, remembering to take medication each day, coping with ongoing side effects). Keep this in mind when you are tempted to compare your own performance, achievements, and routines to other students. Other students may not be facing the same difficulties, and may approach their academic endeavors differently. I’m not suggesting your illness will be an excuse to perform less well than others; rather, remember that in some ways you might be starting at a disadvantage, which makes your accomplishments all the more hard-earned.
References

Arnold, Carrie. (2014, February 4). Paying graduate school's mental
toll. [Web log post]. Retrieved from: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_02_04/caredit.a1400031
Bernstein, R. (2015, May 13). Depression afflicts almost half of STEM
students at UC Berkeley. [Web log post]. Retrieved from: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2015_05_13/caredit.a1500125
Biederman, J., Petty, C., Fried, R., Fontanella, J., Doyle, A. E.,
Seidman, L. J., & Faraone, S. V. (2006). Impact of psychometrically
defined deficits of executive functioning in adults with attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder.The American Journal of Psychiatry,
163(10), 1730-1738.
Castaneda, A. E., Tuulio-Henriksson, A., Marttunen, M., Suvisaari,
J., & Lönnqvist, J. (2008). A review on cognitive impairments in
depressive and anxiety disorders with a focus on young adults.
Journal of Affective Disorders, 106(1), 1-27.
Gallant, M. P. (2003). The influence of social support on chronic
illness self-management: A review and directions for research. Health
Education & Behavior, 30(2), 170–195.
Keely. (2013, February 11). How to keep moving forward, even when
your brain hates you. [Web log post}. Retrieved from:
http://www.littledose.keelium.com/2013/02/11/how-to-keep-moving-forward-even-when-your-brain-hates-you/
Kelseky, Karen. (2013a, February 13). Academia and Mental Illness: A
Preliminary List of Resources. [Web log post]. Retrieved from:
http://theprofessorisin.com/2013/02/13/academia-and-mental-illness-a-list-of-resources/
Kelseky, Karen. (2013b, March 13). Managing Mental Illness in
Graduate School: Some Recommendations (A Guest Post). [Web log post].
Retrieved from: http://theprofessorisin.com/2013/03/13/3546/
Kolbe, J. (2002). The influence of socioeconomic and psychological
factors on patient adherence to self-management strategies. Disease
Management & Health Outcomes, 10(9), 551–570.
Leibert, D. T. (2003). The mentally ill and access to higher
education: a review of trends, implications, and future possibilities
for the americans with disabilities act and he rehabilitation act.
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 7.
Myers, S. B., Sweeney, A. C., Popick, V., Wesley, K., Bordfeld, A., &
Fingerhut, R. (2012). Self-care practices and perceived stress levels
among psychology graduate students. Training and Education in
Professional Psychology, 6(1), 55.
Pescosolido, Bernice A. (2013).  "The public stigma of mental illness
What do we think; What do we know; What can we prove?." Journal of Health and Social Behavior 54(1), 1-21.
Shine, Jacqui. (2013, December 18). On Depression, and the Toll
Academia Exacts. [Web log post]. Retrieved from:
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/228-on-depression-and-the-toll-academia-exacts
Willyard, Cassandra. (2012). Need to heal thyself? gradPsych, January. Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2012/01/heal.aspx
Wyatt, T., & Oswalt, S. B. (2013). Comparing mental health issues
among undergraduate and graduate students. American Journal of Health
Education, 44(2), 96-107.

My best advice: work hard, but leave time for hobbies, friends, and family. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder in 9th grade. I am now a 3rd year PhD student with multiple fellowships and publications. Getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water (not beer), and going to the gym are things I value most. If you're ever in lab and feel like you're going crazy, stop what you're doing and go for a walk around campus. I do it all the time.
Hang in there and best of luck!

As someone with Asperger's Syndrome/Bipolar disorder, who unfortunately did not get an accurate diagnosis until late in high school, I shall give a little advice I wish I had been given earlier in life....and that I wish I had heeded even when I had been given it.
Do not be afraid to seek out support groups.  Whether these are just groups of people with similar diagnoses, or actual psychotherapy groups they can help tremendously.  Afraid is actually the wrong term, but I cannot find the right one at present.
If you feel the medications you are on are not working, or are noticing side effects that make studies or peer interaction difficult, notify your physician/psychiatrist immediately.
Time management is key.  Most already know this, but for someone with ADHD, heck everyone could use this reminder.  Have a white board, or something you can write your daily activities on and stick to them.  It only takes a few missteps to fall off the wagon, so to speak.
Take time to relax, socialize, but not to the detriment of your studies.  Seems like common sense, but since when has sense been common.
Also, there is one thought path to avoid at all costs.  The whole I am a(n) insert diagnosis here  therefore I insert action here mentality.
All in all, you have ADHD/depression/anxiety and will be dealing with these issues, but they do not have to be a brick wall that stops you from achieving your goals.

Don't self-diagnose or self-medicate.  It maybe tempting (especially if you are in a life-sciences or even more-so in neuroscience) to do so, but you want an objective evaluation.
Having said that, find out if your doctor thinks the condition is manageable and follow their advice.  If you think your brain disorder contributes (at least on some level) to you academic success, be honest in discussing it with the doctor.  They will, more than likely, accommodate your wishes as long as they are not dangerous to you.

You may find "An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness" by Kay Redfield Jamison, inspirational or at least indirectly helpful. Jamison had Bipolar disorder and got her PhD in psychology, with a focus on mood disorders.


text:
Is verbatim copying of short technical phrases without quotes but with citation considered plagiarism?
My question is similar to Is verbatim copying several paragraphs of text with citation considered plagiarism?, but
I want to ask about very short, concise wordings. As an example, I read a paper in which the author uses the following sentence:

While in the above description we have specified a local algorithm as
  a function that maps local neighbourhoods to local outputs, we could
  equally well […]

Now, instead of copying the exact sentence with its grammatical structure, I
want to point the reader to this paper and briefly mention one of the
conclusions made in this paper. Consider the sentence

author et al. [citation] show that a local algorithm is a function that maps local neighborhoods to local outputs.

The wording "function that maps local neighborhoods to local
outputs" is a verbatim copy from the original source. Of course, I could
replace this wording with something else that expresses the same, but I find the original citation very concise and I could not come up with a completely
different and equally concise sentence.
I always use quotes in addition to a citation to tell the reader that not only
the conveyed ideas and concepts, but also the wording, is not my own
intellectual achievement. But in this case, one might argue that a person that
has understood the ideas described in the original paper might come up with the exact same wording, hence the wording is not a result of the original author's linguistic style, but rather a direct conclusion of the idea he wants to explain.
Is it acceptable to use this wording with a citation and no quotations, or
should you always use quotes for verbatim-copies?

When you quote the words of another, you need quotation marks.  Always.

"Depends" "on" "the" "size" "of" "the" "quote" "and" "the" "likelihood" "of"  "that" "sentence" "appearing" "in" "the" "literature".

@CaptainEmacs if you do not think quotes should always be used, please share your opinion on the example I provided in my question.

http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page342054

@Helios35 I am not in the expert in your topic. If that sentence regularly appears in the literature, if it's a standard formulation used in equivalent form virtually everywhere in the relevant literature (say: "A group is a set G together with a map f:GxG -> G with following properties ...." or whatever) one wouldn't quote it. However, if this formulation is very specific to this author or has been introduced by them, you must quote. In mathematics, concept trumps wording, so sometimes citation is sufficient where quotes would make it cumbersome. Ask your advisor.

Generally, math is quite special about these things. Simple (for the given community) to obtain reformulations are not considered your own idea and, if not common knowledge, need citations; while identical formulations where either common knowledge, or properly cited, are typically not expected to be quoted. In language-heavy topics, however, the precise formulation counts. In that case, the rule-of-thumb I gave earlier is a useful guideline. However, if in doubt, ask your advisor.

Beware that your reuse of those words is making a claim that doesn't come from the source.  They said they chose to use a particular definition; that is not the same that showing that particular definition is the most correct one, which is the thought you are attributing to them.

Next question: is it self-plagiarism if you copy your own words from another paper in a similar manner without quotation marks?

In this case, I think the "is" instead of "as" pushes me to define this as a paraphrase.  In fact, to properly use quotation marks here, you'd need two sets.  I don't think anyone in the world who had both docs in front of them would think that you're trying to represent the original authors' intellectual property as your own if you left out the quotes.

What @BenVoigt said: we don't show anything, we define something. (Feel free to borrow the phrase, though, it is hardly original.)

I believe that the usual way to express this is "As in common in the literature [cite1, cite2, and cite3], we define a local algorithm as a function that maps local neighborhoods to local outputs." without the need to embed any quotes.  If you don't have enough citations to see whether it is common, check the references listed by your source.  (Or ask @JukkaSuomela)

Google (with quotes) "not even light, can escape."

Somehow related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18743/do-i-need-to-search-citation-sources-for-a-rather-generic-graphic-that-i-have-dr

If the cited text invents a term "local algorithm", I would suggest indicating that the text defines the term "local algorithm", using quotes at the defining mention only to make clear that the exact term is used in the original text.  If the use of original term would be awkward and you want to use a substitute (e.g. the original is in a language other than English), you should make clear what term is in the original and what term you are substituting.

I disagree with the two existing answers (gerrit and Patric).
In mathematical writing, it is not necessary to put quotation marks around very short fragments of descriptive text where that text is the obvious and natural way to express the idea.  For example, if Smith has written a paper whose main result is

Theorem. Every even number is divisible by two.

then it is perfectly acceptable to write

Smith [cite] shows that every even number is divisible by two.

without quotation marks and without clumsy rephrasings such as

Smith [cite] shows that all even numbers have two as a factor.

The significant intellectual contribution of the work you're citing is the theorem itself, not the obvious wording that they used to express it. As you say, anybody who understood the concept would probably choose to phrase it in that way, even if they'd never seen the paper you're citing. Mathematical writing would be completely unreadable if every phrase that had ever appeared before was put in quotation marks.  After all, Smith was hardly the first author to talk about even numbers – are we going to accuse him of plagiarism for not acknowledging that the phrase "even number" is a quotation from somebody else?

People whose academic background is different from math or TCS
may find this quite bizarre, suspect, and unbelievable.
If that applies to you, try it yourself.
Open your favorite search engine,
enter "showed that" or "proved that" plus some word that
occurs exclusively in math and TCS, say, "epimorphism",
"holomorphic", "abelian", "noetherian", "bipartite", "manifold", or
"differentiable". You'll find hundreds or thousands of papers
where some mathematician cites a result of another mathematician.
You'll find virtually no quotation marks.

@Uwe For people whose academic background is math, it seems unbelievable to consider using quotation marks.  Aren't math papers hard enough to read already?

@BenWebster Right. And that applies not only to one line summaries of results,
but also to cited definitions and theorems. Imagine a lengthy
theorem copied from another paper, where the notation has to
be adapted because the original paper uses a different typographic
convention to distinguish vectors and scalars. What should one
do? Quote the entire text, but unquote every variable? That would
be ridiculous. The theorem is attributed to the original paper; that's sufficient.

I don't think I have seen quotation marks used in a mathematical paper or book, ever. At least not to, you know, mark a quotation, only as scare quotes or whatnot.

@tomasz: I've seen it. But never for theorems or definitions.

@PeterShor: True, that is what I meant, of course. Now that you mention it, I certainly have seen quotes used, but only in the informal parts (like an opening quotation in a chapter, or quoting someone in a discussion).

At our Physics Department we would not consider such a sentence without quotation marks as plagiarism, due it is below a threshold of originality. In technical writing words are less important than in humanities. Of course it is not allowed to copy whole paragraphs, but single sentences and phrases, which describe technical terms or lab procedures are too trivial and too standardized concerning the wording so there is no need for quotations marks.

Hm. Well... when determining whether something is plagiarism - or really, whether you are going to suffer the consequences of plagiarism - what matters is not your opinion, and not ours, but the opinions of the people who are in a position to impose those consequences. So you should ask them, if you can. ;-)
The message I've always gotten is that this particular example would qualify as plagiarism. There is some threshold of genericity below which you don't have to identify a quote as a quote, but for a lot of people, the phrase you consider quoting doesn't fall below that threshold. I've heard stories of grant proposals being rejected due to instances of plagiarism on the same scale you are talking about. I think that's rather silly, but again, it's not my opinion that matters.

Well, I talked to colleagues today, two of the from an other University here in Germany and for Physics and for Germany, such sentences are not considered plagiarism in a thesis or publication. In other fields this might be different.

I think it depends on the specific people involved more than the country or field.

Well, for the mathematicians above it seems to be quite strange to add quotation marks in their field for such sentences, and so do we at our department. I think the field is very important in this case, because mathematics and physics is not about the words, it is about the facts (as mentioned above, it is not allowed to copy whole paragraphs, etc.).

I'm also in physics. And the cases I mentioned, in which short phrases were considered plagiarism, come from grant applications for physics research projects, reviewed (and rejected for plagiarism) by physicists. My point is that the argument that mathematicians and physicists don't care about small amounts of copied text doesn't hold, because some of them do.

Well ok, then I agree to your suggestion, the initial author of this question should ask the people, who are responsible for his case, because the way we others would handle the case won't help him. Thanks for your input.

While in the above description we have specified a local algorithm as a function that maps local neighbourhoods to local outputs, we could equally well […]
You can quote like this:
author et al. [citation] show that "a local algorithm is a function that maps local neighborhoods to local outputs".
If you do changes to the wording due to grammatical necessities, mark them with  within the quote and if you leave out parts of their wording, mark it with [...]

So should you mark the as -> is?

I didn't see that, sorry, but I assume it's a typo of the asker. If not: Mistakes inside a quote are normally marked with [sic].

No, it's not, both sentences are completely grammatical, and would even be wrong with the opposite word.

I don't think you'd need quotes even if "is" were "as" here, as per D. Richerby's answer.  One issue is that the OP seems to be using the original's working definition as if it were some sort of proof, but that's not really germane.

I know that many physicists, mathematicians, and computer scientists don't like to use quotations, because they assume they are dealing with truth and of course that transcends any sort of ownership of the ideas (although the expression of the idea could be quite original). I think it comes down to how much and how often one is copying text. I find a 5-word phrase here or there to not be problematic if it is clear who is speaking here. But when paragraphs and paragraphs are taken, entire proofs (including the mistakes), page after page: it is no longer acceptable. There is no "legal" amount to copy. Just do your best to make it clear what is from you and what is from others. Be very careful not to interpret things into what they published that they did not say, as above.
Why not

Author et al. specify a local algorithm to be a function that maps local neighborhoods to local outputs (2014). In this thesis, a local algorithm will be used as .....

This makes it clear that the local algorithm definition comes from Author et al. and the year closes out the use of their text/ideas nicely.
For computer scientists I say: ( ) -> is how you quote: Where does it begin, where does it end, where did you get it from? If you make all three clear, you are on the safe side.

I don't think this is really relevant. Nobody's talking about taking "paragraphs and paragraphs ..., entire proofs (including the mistakes), page after page". Indeed, I've never seen a computer science paper do anything like that.

Just because you haven't encountered it, doesn't mean that it does not exist. Check out http://www.mathematik.uni-marburg.de/~gumm/Plagiarism/index.htm for a documentation of such a case. I blogged about the case in 2010 http://copy-shake-paste.blogspot.de/2010/05/plagiarism-or-naturally-given.html. There have been others, but this one is publicly documented.

Of course plagiarism where many pages were copied exists in math and computer science. But that's not what the OP was asking about.

I don't understand the downvotes. Using the formula "Author + phrase + citation" seems intuitive for me.

@Debora Weber-Wulff : The reason it's irrelevant here is because the question posed to this site specifically asks about short phrases (about one sentence or less) only. It's about these troublesome borderline cases where that overt malice is not in play and yet it seems to skirt the rules while never quite being blatant "enough".

@The_Sympathizer, but I actually gave an example answering the question posed how to delineate the beginning and the end of what is from a different author. I know that the answer the OP wanted to have is: That's fine. And then the next one comes and wants one word more, and the next one yet another word.... Instead of worrying about plagiarism, scientific writers should worry about how to make it clear to readers where something from another author begins and where it ends, no matter how long or short it is.


text:
Letter of recommendation from a professor with whom I took a class
I understand that there are many posts similar to this, however I believe (upon reading other posts), that this thread would not be redundant.  I am an undergrad currently applying to grad schools and am in the process of asking for recommendation letters from professors.  Prior to my current university, I was at a different institution where I took courses.  There is a particular professor I am interested in asking for a letter from, however it has been two years and since then he has moved to a different university.  My reasoning for asking him for a letter is that I took his PhD course as an undergrad and received a better grade than over half the PhD students (not trying to brag but trying to emphasize there are some non-generic characteristics about me).  In addition, he is a well-known individual in my area of studies.  Given that I took his course two years ago is it still appropriate to ask?  A concern of mine is that it will be a generic letter of rec which I have read admissions committees don't like.

What sort of class? In the US, usually PhD grades are entirely meaningless (e.g. all As) so it's odd to me that you would do better than half.

I am currently at a US institution.  I am not sure about other institutions, however professors at my both previous and current university do not hand out As for "free".  EDIT: Upon looking at the grade distribution only 40% of the students got an A, which granted is not as impressive as attaining an A in a class where only 1-5% get As.

@AzorAhai Even in a class with all As you can have a distribution of number grades that might meaningfully distinguish between students.

@user2705196 It would still be odd for those grades to be shared, IMO. But perhaps students casually discussed it. Motig: I didn't say "for free" but generally PhD students are at points where succeeding in a class in their specialty is not difficult.

At my previous institution, GPA distributions are publicly available .  With that said, it does not say the students name rather how many got As, how many got Bs, etc.  The type of course was an applied math course.

Yes, it is appropriate to ask. There is never any issue about that. He may automatically remember you if you stood out as two years isn't that long. But you may need to remind him of the course and say some things about what you've been doing since.
The best way to manage this is face to face. I mention this even though it may now be impossible with the pandemic, and may be hard in any case due to distance. But actually seeing you would help jog his memory. But perhaps you have photos online somewhere to help refresh his memory.
You can also ask him whether he thinks a letter from him would be helpful or not. He might be able to say more than you think. The main reason for a letter is so that an independent person makes a prediction about your suitability for a program and your likelihood of success. Perhaps he can do that easily. If he has any hesitation, then you'd be better off asking someone else.
I had a few standout students in my teaching career. It would be easy to write recommendations for them even though our interactions were brief. If you made an impact it can work out.


text:
Rejection only because of incremental publication (salami slicing)?
I am reviewing conference submissions (specialized branch of engineering). One of them, although technically more interesting than some of the other submissions, is a typical case of "salami publishing". When looking into existing research on the topic during my review, I found two already published papers by the same authors on the same topic. The research in the published papers was more advanced: they cover method A tried on substrate B and successfully transferred to substrate C, while the conference abstract is only about method A on substrate B.
Is it OK to reject an (otherwise very good) entry because of preexisting publications on the same research? Should I inform the conference chair or just reject?

If I understand you correctly, you found another paper by the same authors which contains the same results (as well as other ones) as the paper you are currently reviewing.  If so, why do you say "salami slicing" rather than "self-plagiarism" (or, as I would prefer, duplicate publication)?

Are you reviewing conference abstracts or papers? If you're reviewing abstracts, are you sure that abstracts in your field count as publications (which would be necessary for the concepts "self-plagarism" and "salami slicing" to become applicable)? I'm only aware of fields where conference papers count as publications.

Is this computer science?  Computer science does conferences differently from other fields.

@lighthousekeeper I am reviewing the abstracts, but I know the conference. If you are invited to present, you will have to write a (4-5 page) conference paper as well that will be published afterwards.

Do the final conference papers get refereed?

Did they get the same results? "When we used method X on substrate Y, we got result A before, but now that we tried it again, we got result B" might be publishable. Similarly, additional studies on the same subject but with larger sample sizes can definitely be publishable,  especially in medicine or the soft sciences.

@TerryLoring Yes, but all papers are basically already accepted, the refereeing at that point is just to make the papers as best as possible.

@nick012000 Yes, the results are the same.

Based on the title, I thought you were rejected for having a past job as a salami slicer. It would probably also be helpful to include a definition of "salami publishing". Unless it's a particularly well-known term, it likely also makes sense to leave that term out of the title.

@Sursula What's the timing on these?  Is it possible that the paper you are reviewing predates the other published paper but has a longer publication process?

@NotThatGuy It seems common enough: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salami_slicing_tactics.  But I agree with the first comment: I would think salami publishing would be incrementally better papers, whereas an incrementally worse paper would be closer to self-plagarism.

I think they should be accepted since they do NOT include the condition "C" and therefore are more focused.

@Eric The papers were published earlier this year, around the time when the deadline of the conference was. One of them was published at MDPI, who are notoriously fast in their publishing process, so this might have been a parallel submission. The other one was published before the conference deadline.

To recommend that a paper should not be accepted to a conference or journal because it is not novel enough relative to the existing literature is one of the most standard reasons for making such a recommendation. The fact that the lack of novelty arises out of prior publications by the same author is irrelevant. The motivation of the author for trying to publish a paper that improves on the state of the art only in a marginal, incremental way is also irrelevant.
This isn’t about salami slicing. You don’t need to inform the conference chair or anyone else, just apply the same criteria for whether to recommend accepting the paper that you apply to any other paper: novelty, importance, etc.

While I agree with your comment, isnt it said what conference became? I mean assume you make a big breakthrough and publish it in science or whatever. So now you should not go to a conference and tell everybody/discuss about it? So you need to present about another (not so breakthrough) thing. Doesnt this let conferences decline to mediocricity (while attempting the opposite).

@lalala while the breakthrough discovery makes it through review to publication, there's plenty of time to talk about it in conferences. In many fields, at least, conference presentations precede the definitive journal article that sums it up. And then if it's really breakthrough, you still get to talk about it in invited talks :-)

@lalala for conferences that expect to present only novel research and explicitly require it in their call for papers, that's exactly how it works, the expectation is that people of that subfield already have read your previously published research if it's important. Perhaps you'll get invited for a keynote speech - that often is a discussion summarizing previous breakthroughs - but all the ordinary presentations would be expected to be novel research. There are also conferences without such a requirement which would accept and expect discussion, it's very different across fields of science.

Be sure to look at if the focus of the paper is on different things. You could use the same data but be stressing to the reader different concepts and ideas in different papers. Sometimes we have a preconceived notion of what something is about but the author may be trying to stress something different.

Note that you, a reviewer, don't accept or reject. The editor(s) or conference program chairs have that power, not you. You can recommend rejection, but say why. The journal may or may not be as sensitive to the issue as you are.
If the paper shows no "interesting" results or simply recapitulates things the author (or another party) has already published, say that. Insufficient novelty in a paper is grounds for rejection, but it is the editor's choice.
Just give them the information they need to do their job. The other reviewers will hopefully do the same. Hopefully you aren't the only reviewer.
Also note that what is "salami slicing" is a judgement call. To say that that alone is sufficient for rejection puts your personal preferences above what might be good for the conference. It would seem to result in a program that is actually less technically interesting, to use your words.

Salami slicing, in the sense of wasting peer reviewers time with excessive submissions, is unethical.

@AnonymousPhysicist, but don't assume that the results in the latest paper were necessarily known when the earlier publications occurred. And, again, "salami slicing" is, to some degree a judgement call. Some "small" results can be significant in their own right in some fields and might get lost in a larger work. Of all the bad behavior in academia I think this one isn't near the top of the list.

... and a conference is not a terrible place to submit an incremental result.

@Buffy if I’m reading things right, it sounds like the paper in question is a subset of a prior publication by the same authors, so I’m not sure what you mean by “don’t assume that the results … were necessarily known when the earlier publications occurred” if it’s published by the same people. The latest paper sounds like a downgraded version of something they’ve already published.  If they’d published this first, then the other ones, then I understand what your point is here.

@AnonymousPhysicist I agree, I had a phase of getting papers to review from a research group that invented novel method A and then (incremental) variants B, C, D, and then submit papers comparing A and B, A and C, A and D, B and C, B and D, C and D and (for example) the comparison of C and D coming after papers that showed B dominates C and D.  It is a great way to gain a bad reputation in your field, but "publish or perish" encourages it, and the main loser is the reviewer whose desk they repeatedly fall on.


text:
Choosing full time vs part time on a PhD application, is one necessarily better than the other for increasing chances of admission?
Don't know if relevant, but I'm applying for PhD programs in math.
In general for grad school apps*, if I'm asked if I want full time or part time, I choose both if I am allowed to do that.
Is there necessarily a better choice if I am not allowed to tick both or pick either?
I mean:

Does part time indicate I'm open to working at the university as a grad/teaching assistant (and hence full time indicates not being open to such work?) ?
Or does part time indicate that I would have other commitments and so would not be seen as a whole hearted student (and hence full time means that I would be a whole hearted student)?

There may be some other things I'm not considering. Please answer in general. Which option, if I have to choose only one, gives an applicant a better chance of getting in the university?
If this depends on the program, please give examples of programs where indicating full time is a better choice and examples of programs where indicating part time is a better choice
To make this clear, I'm not asking if it's better to take a PhD full time instead of part time or vice-versa. I'm asking which is better in applications assuming I am open to either and am allowed to pick only one.
*or for example databases in ETS or QS Grad School Tours

I would imagine that it is easier to go from full to part time than the other way around.

Or does part time indicate that I would have other commitments and so would not be seen as a whole hearted student (and hence full time means that I would be a whole hearted student)?

Yes, this is my understanding of how it would be interpreted.  It would definitely not mean working as a TA or RA.
Unless you have a job you'd like to keep, or other comparable responsibilities outside of studying, I'd recommend checking only the full-time box.  I don't think expressing an openness to part-time study would help get admitted to a math PhD program, while it might look odd or worrisome.
In particular, in the math PhD programs I've studied or taught in, there have been essentially no part-time students.  (It might have been a theoretical option, but I can't think of any actual part-time students.)  For programs like this, the application might ask about it, but the expectation would be that everyone is a full-time student.
I think this is standard in U.S. math PhD programs, but some programs may run differently, so I can't say this advice is necessarily universal.  (The biggest variance would be that some applied math programs may be more open to having part-time students.)

Thank you! So to clarify, full time includes the time of being a grad/teaching assistant? Also curious, do you mean pure math or is what you said applicable to applied math as well?

Also to consider that some PhD in different fields(like computer science for example) can be pursued part time with a day job.

@JackBauer: My impression is that it cover both pure and applied math, but there's more variance in how applied math programs work.  Full-time definitely always includes people who are grad/teaching assistants (in all U.S. graduate programs, at least).  The variance is in how open they are to having part-time students, who typically hold a job in industry while working on a Ph.D.  I think applied programs may be more open to this.

I cannot speak to applied math specifically, but my experience in the biological sciences and with many acquaintances in other fields, full-time is definitely the norm for PhDs, much more so than for master's degrees. The only occasion where I would expect to see a part-time PhD would be in a situation where someone is an employee of a company who is also funding their research project at a university - I could imagine these situations occurring in applied math, but that would be a special case, you would not be first learning of this arrangement when you are deciding which box to check.

And I echo @AnonymousMathematician - "full time" definitely includes any graduate appointments you would have at the university. You should NOT choose "part time" to indicate willingness to TA/RA/PA, those appointments are typical for "full time" students.

Thank you to AnonymousMathematician and @BryanKrause! :) Any advice against checking both if I can?

@MikeyMike Is the day job something other than TA/RA/PA ?

@BryanKrause TA/RA/PA - teaching assistant, research assistant and what's PA? Professor Assistant?

PA = Project/Program Assistant - these are more rare in science/math/engineering, but they could include jobs like working in a writing center (not a TA because you are part of a 'program' not a 'course') or student services office, internal internship-like projects like working for the university HR or accounting departments, that sort of thing.

Unless you have a specific reason to check part time - i.e., you already have an employer, have discussed your plans for graduate school with your employer and they support those plans, or are certain for any other reason that you will be a part-time student, you should choose full time.

@BryanKrause In hindsight, I think choosing only full time is a corollary of the aforementioned. haha thank you! :)


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Can I get a Master's in Economics with a Bachelor's in Mathematics?
I am going to receive a Bachelor's of Science in Applied Mathematics soon. I found out facilitating medical environments is what I found interesting after volunteering at a hospital for two years and getting to meet an administrator and a medical actuary.
I have ZERO background in Economics, minus basic Macro and Microeconomics AP credit that I still remember. I can program really well, and I'm a very, very strong mathematician. I have 4 total undergraduate publications in Numerical Solutions to PDEs (1), Set theory (1), and Mathematical Models in Ecology (2) using differential equations. Although none are economics per se, friends who I have talked to say that economics is highly mathematical and involves rigorous programming, so these tools will serve me well.
I have a 3.98 GPA in Mathematics, have relevant tutoring experience on a campus math help center, etc. Is a graduate degree in healthcare economics or even an MPH with a focus in healthcare economics viable with an undergradaute degree in mathematics?

Seriously? Of course you can! In fact you are overqualified. Have you considered mathematical finance?

Economics in general is NOT highly mathematical unless it is of course mathematical economics/mathematical finance.  The math they use is up to basic differential equations, linear algebra and statistics. I've seen economics texts that use real analysis and partial differential equations, but I;m pretty sure they are advanced for most economists. The average STEM undergrad degree only person will find the math in economics basic. Well at least for math, physics, chemistry, computer science I think. Another suggestion: Mathematical biology/Biostatistics?

Mathematics is a good undergraduate major for a prospective economics grad student. And I suspect that you could gain admission to (and succeed in) a master's program somewhere with the background you already have. But graduate programs in economics do generally expect that you've taken at least some upper-division economics courses, so you would be a much stronger candidate for a master's program (or even a PhD program) with a bit more preparation.
For example, here's what UConn (where I earned my MA) has to say about application to graduate programs in economics http://econ.uconn.edu/grad/apply/faqs/:

Do I need to be an economics major to apply?
  No, though some economics background is preferred. Students with little or no economics training, however, will usually only be considered for admission to the master’s program and, if admitted, will generally be required to take some undergraduate economics courses before beginning graduate study.

So, I think the answer to your question is "yes" for at least some values of "master's in economics". Completing intermediate level microeconomics and macroeconomics (or, if you can only take one, micro) would probably improve your chances of acceptance, though, not to mention giving you a better idea whether this is something you want to spend a year or two on.
From your description of your interests, though, it sounds to me as though a MPH is a better fit for you.

Do eco grad programs really expect such eco background? I've seen some that begin at basic macro and micro. I mean it's not like a Math grad couldn't handle learning such after going through PDEs, numerical analysis and set theory.

There wouldn't be any concern about handling the math, which for a master's program might be nothing beyond calculus and linear algebra. But one does also need to understand the economics. I would think that a motivated math major could get caught up in a month by working through intermediate micro and macro texts on their own, but at least at UConn that background is assumed at the start of the first class. More to the point, I think an admissions committee would wonder about an applicant's fit with the program. Why are they suddenly interested in econ after ignoring it for four years?

Hmmm...I see. Also szarka, you said "Mathematics is a good undergraduate major for a prospective economics grad student." What would you say are better undergrad majors for such?

For a PhD program, at least, there's no better preparation than an econ+math double major, unless perhaps it's some combination of econ+math+stats. IMHO. You'll find tons more opinions here: http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/.

In fact, I think many economics programs will place a very high value on superior mathematical knowledge.  Some econ MSc programs find uses for real analysis, stochastic analysis, group theory, &c.
Cf. http://files.nyu.edu/ts43/public/math_courses.html


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Is it unethical to interview at a more prestigious program while currently enrolled in a PhD somewhere else?
I applied at two different PhD positions at universities X & Y a while back (both in EU, I prefer not to disclose identity for specific reasons, sorry).
I got into X and have been here for about 2 months, and I heard from Y a few days ago inviting me to interview with them. Y is more prestigious, and also many of my friends are there. (Note: Both positions had different starting dates, X was more of a start-earliest program, Y is for 2015 admits)
Considering I am more interested in studying at University of Y, would it be unethical for me to take up the interview with Y, after I am here for 2 months?
(I am at X as a RA presently)

No, there are no ethical issues. There is nothing unethical neither in keeping it confidential until you are officially admitted at University Y (and I think it's advisable).
The only not-so-good thing could be that if you built a relationship of trust with your current supervisor (but I suspect you haven't since it hasn't been long), this person might get disappointed to hear you leave. But generally, people understand the argument of higher reputation of the program.
Consider however, that University X might not reimburse the tuition you already paid and that you might encounter other administrative inconveniences.

You might not be able to transfer the courses, for instance, if University Y is really of a higher grade than University X. So that means you will have lost a year of your mid 20s to your pursuit of the greener grass.

A year and some money lost is still worth it for a better brand. With a better school comes the likelihood of a more visible advisor, better facilities, more competitive and higher quality  research environment, better colleagues, better network, for a similar research output a higher likelihood of getting a better research job (reflected glory), and a higher likelihood of getting a vanilla industry or a liberal arts teaching job( because a Harvard grad always makes the hiring person look better than a XYZ State Grad).

-1 "this person might get disappointed to hear you leave. " is rather an under-statement (having been in that position myself).  It is likely that the supervisor has put significant effort into setting up the project, administration which is now entirely wasted.  In addition, if this was an externally funded project, the supervisor may need to now find a replacement with less time and money now available for the project.  The "golden rule" (do unto others) applies here.  If you sign up for a project there ought to be some level of commitment to see it through.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't move mid-project, if you are not sufficiently interested in the project, things may not turn out too well, but that doesn't mean there are no ethical issues.


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Can I submit my mark sheets as academic transcripts?
I have not yet received my academic transcripts from my University and the application deadline for a PhD program that I am interested in is already near, and I won't be receiving my transcripts before it. Can I submit my mark sheets to the University? If yes, then should I mention it somewhere that I am submitting my mark sheets instead? And where should I mention it? They have asked for a CV and a cover letter, so those are the two other documents I'll be sending. Or should I first contact the University and find out if it is okay to do so?

That depends a lot on the institution to which you are applying.  In the United States, almost everyone wants official transcripts.  Also in the United States, transcript requests typically get turned around within a day or so.  What is the holdup?

Most universities realize final grades aren't available, and will usually accept an partial transcript showing what's been completed up until that time.
However, not all programs will be willing to accept "unofficial" transcripts such as grade sheets and printouts from the registrar's office. If there's a concern on this point, you should contact the specific departments and programs to which you're  applying and ask them for guidance.


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Will stating a theorem in two papers result in text overlap flag on arXiv?
I have two preprints to be uploaded to arXiv. In one of the papers, I cite a theorem which is proved in the other one, so the statement of the theorem is the same in both papers. Will this result in a "text overlap" comment?
Edit: What if I split up a submitted paper into two, replace the old one by the first part of the two new ones, and upload the second part separately?

No. Source: personal experience.
The overlap thing is looking for significant amounts of overlap (many many papers will contain some overlap). I don't know what the cut-off is, but one theorem statement is below it.

It's probably a good idea that the exact criteria for text overlap aren't publicized - probably only the admins know fhe details. If they were, they'd be gamed.


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research statement for assistant professorship (W1, pure mathematics in Germany)
What should a research statement for an application for an assistant professorship (W1, Juniorprofessor) contain (pure mathematics in Germany)? How long should it be?

I took the liberty of adding the [tag:statement-of-purpose] tag. It might be useful to browse previous questions with this tag.

As far as I am aware, the term "Assistant Professor" is not one that is commonly used in Germany. On the other hand, German academic positions invariably advertise the academic grade. Can you clarify if you are asking about a W1 or W2 position or something altogether different?

Assistant Professor = Junior Professor = W1

Additionally: would answer of the form "similar to how you would write a research statement for a US postdoc / Assist Prof/ Assoc Prof position" be useful? In other words, do you include the country "Germany" because you just want to be precise, or do you actually know some things about applying in other countries and just want to translation of the German academic system to that of some other countries?

I just want to be precise.


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Benefits to supervisor presence at viva in the UK?
I was wondering if anyone can help me decide if I should ask my supervisor to be present at my Viva.

Why don't you ask your supervisor if he/she thinks there are benefits to sitting in?

In cases where the external examiner is less familiar with the UK system, your university's regulations may allow your department to nominate an "independent chair" for the viva; this person would not actively examine you, but would be there to oversee the process. Whether this is better, worse, or the same as having your supervisor there is something for you and your supervisor to decide

Thanks for the comments, my supervisor just told me to decide. He isn't the advice giving type :)

I would suggest that you should only bring your supervisor if you have a specific, positive reason to do so. If you are in two minds about it, it sounds like the answer is "no". But as your supervisor says, it is entirely your decision.
Although it is permitted to bring your supervisor into the viva as an observer, most PhD candidates do not do this. The main exception is if it would be reassuring for you to have them there. There might also be an argument for having them as a kind of "quality control", but really this is the job of the internal examiner, so unless for some reason you don't trust your internal (perhaps if they were very inexperienced), that's not necessary.
For most people, having your supervisor there would be fairly harmless, but provide no real benefit. It could be a little distracting having them in the room (given they are not allowed to say anything!) and might just mean that you start second-guessing yourself, looking to your supervisor for reassurance instead of being self-reliant. Given that it's uncommon, it's possible that it could make you look less confident in the eyes of your examiners.


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Canadian External Examiner for UK PhD Viva advice
I have a PhD viva next week and have (very) recently that my examiner has no knowledge of the UK viva system
My first question is what is the PhD defense failure rate in Canada? (I'm not sure if I really want to know this).
How much weight is put on the defence in Canada?
Is there anything that examiners usually look for in PhD defence in Canada?
I have four Journal Publications from my PhD work. I know my work very well.

Note that you don't need to understand the Canadian system. Your viva is in the UK. The onus is on your examiner to understand the British system and on your internal examiner to help them do that.

How did it go? Hope everything was OK

Many academics and other subjects experts from all corners of the globe are invited to be external examiners for PhD degrees. It is not uncommon, and the process is designed for this situation. In the UK it is also common that a viva panel is governed by a neutral chair who ensure that all the examiners are familiar with the procedures and regulation for conducting the examination and that the questions and conduct are fair for all parties concerned.
Those panels that do not use a separate chair, then it is often the internal examiner that ensures the external understands the scope and process of the examination.
It is important for the (world-wide) standard of PhD's that the foremost experts at any particular field can be called on to participate in the PhD examination process. You should feel it a compliment to your work that the university reached out to find a suitable specialist to read and comment on your work. The fact that they are willing to cover the not inconsiderable expenses to bring this examiner to your viva demonstrates the regard they have for your work. It is a positive thing for you.

My background: Doing a PhD in Canada, Biology. Also I've visited Australia and learned a bit about difference with UK, Australia and generally speaking european PhD.

My first question is what is the PhD defense failure rate in Canada?
  (I'm not sure if I really want to know this).

In my field, I've never seen or heard about anyone failing. I've heard about such things in other fields, but as a surprising evil.

How much weight is put on the defence in Canada?

Well, it's the pinnacle of the PhD, but I think it's mostly seen as a ritual. No advisor is supposed to let his/her student defend if he/she is not ready.

Is there anything that examiners usually look for in PhD defence in
  Canada?

As I've never examined a thesis, this is only guess from the multiple defences (>10) in biology I've seen. They generally try to push the student further into the interpretation, they ask questions about why the student chose this method and not this other. They will also look at how the different chapter fit together and are linked by the general introduction and discussion.
I would tell you "no worries". Canadians are almost as laid back as Australians. Every researcher I know who is going to a defence in another country expect difference and will make enquiries before the defence.

This may be different in different disciplines, and can vary between different universities in Canada. I think that the conventions in your own discipline are a much bigger factor than the overall "PhD defense failure rate in Canada".
Based on my experience (PhD obtained in UK; supervised a PhD successfully in Canada) I would say that the viva voce itself carries slightly less weight in Canada, in the sense that the examiner makes more decisions based on reading the thesis rather than on what is said on the day. Indeed, I have heard of some cases of PhD theses being examined purely by an external written report, together with comments from the candidate's own graduate committee, although I don't know how common this is.
I cannot think of any reasons why examiners in Canada would look for anything different from examiners in the UK. Overall, I would not expect an examiner from Canada who is examining a UK thesis to be more adversarial than a UK examiner. From what you say about your own PhD it does not sound like their should be a problem -- but I must add the caveat that I work in a different area from you, so I might not know what is "usually expected" from a PhD in that area.


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Can I edit my name on a submitted paper if I changed my name during the review process?
I am in PhD and about to change my name. I already have a number of publications.

Related: Indicating a name change after publication and What are some practices for getting a name change so that people can find me more easily?.

If your paper has not been slated for publication yet, you can probably change your name on it.  I would contact the editor about making the change immediately.  Depending on the system the journal uses, this may simply require the editor to edit your name in single file; or it may entail quite a bit more work, so you want to given the editor and production staff as much time as possible to make the correction.
You will probably not need to provide proof that you have changed your name.  Name changes are not particularly uncommon; they happen when people get married or divorced, and less frequently (but uncontroversially) for other reasons as well.  If you have decided that it is definitely in your professional interest to change the name under which you publish, that is unquestionably your prerogative.

Consider keeping your (by now somewhat known) name as your name for publications and other scientific work. If really needed, add a note that you are now/also known by the new name.

Of course; there should be no problem. See the excellent journal workflow diagram prepared by our fellow user Wrzlprmft: you have time until the final proofreading to notify the journal about the name change.


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Typical academic leave notice period?
I was wondering what is the average notice (leave) period for academic positions (eg lecturer/post doc/teaching fellow).
I have just received a 14 month contract stipulating a 3 months notice by either party which effectively makes leaving the job early for new employment impossible. is this normal university practice?
The companies I have worked for before had an employee notice period of 2 - 5 weeks and 2 months employer notice.
UK University.
Thanks

I would say it is rather normal practice. You might be teaching, you might be the only person responsible for a specific research project, these make you hard to replace instantaneously. And how do 3 months notice for 14 months make it impossible to leave early? You could still leave a year early.

Most positions I have seen are looking for immediate or fairly quick starts in academia for early careers people but still maybe do able as the experience would help but I'm not sure about academia yet (love teaching and research, hate the working culture and the money) so transitioning into industry will be difficult specially being seen as "an over qualified academic" since industrial notice periods are usually 2-4 weeks and hence the starts (competition).

It seems to me that for a position with teaching duties, the main question is: leaving during the year versus leaving at the end of the year. Suppose you teach a semester course and you give your notice in the first month, then 3 months sounds a bit short. It might be that they want to make the schedule for the next year 3 months before classes start and want to know what teacher are still there next year.
My advice would be to discuss this with the university. However if you are looking for a job that you can quit at an arbitrary time within weeks/a few months, then teaching might not be for you.

Thanks, Your answer is correct and appropriate in such circumstances. However this is a teaching role with no teaching as part of the trend of making teaching materials for the non UK branches (eg. their hired lecturers are not qualified to create the material/or too busy). The issue I have is the generic nature of the contract. I was wondering if it was normal.

Yes, that is normal: universities are large bureaucracies and large bureaucracies love standard contracts. If you have special duties that make some parts of the contract less appropriate you could talk to the appropriate people. They may change the contract, but there is a real chance that they won't, correctly or incorrectly citing some university/national policy or rule or law. Then it is up to you whether you want to take that contract or not.