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Recommendation letter for a professional program and choosing a professor
I am applying to a professional program for a Master of Social Work. The only requirements for the program are that the person have a degree from a related discipline (not necessarily a bachelor of social work), and have their required course credits from social science courses and research methodology course. I did a double major in Sociology and English Literature so I do fit under the academic requirements.
Now for the references, they ask for 2 academic references, and I have already asked mine - I asked 2 professors who are both from the English department because the first professor, I got an A in the seminar class where because it was a small class size and we did a semester-long research paper, she got to know me better than most professors. Since I did not get an A in my Sociology 4th year seminar class, I decided I would choose the next best professor from a course I did well in and the work was relatively challenging to demonstrate my critical reading and writing abilities. So I chose another English prof I took a year long course for and wrote 2 papers (that were pretty difficult, due to the nature of the texts and the topics)
However, I had a feeling in the back of my mind of whether I should switch my second English prof to a Sociology professor, since Sociology is a more similar discipline to the field of social work. The only thing is, the class I took with the one Soc professor I have in mind was an elective course that was interdisciplinary and it honestly felt like a bird course, I got an A in that too (it was about serial homicide, so I don't know if that looks too pretty on an application given the subject nature for the field of social work, even though arguably it did examine sociological/psychological context etc.) I also think this professor might remember me because I spoke to him during an office hour and he actually added me on LinkedIn a while after I finished that class, and I was surprised because he added me meaning he probably remembered who I was. This professor seems pretty well versed in his field too - he had major projects and even has a TED talk video up. I didn't feel like I could use other Sociology professors because they probably don't know me from the big class sizes in the upper years, and my marks for the upper year Soc courses were all mostly lower than my marks in my upper year English classes. Also, they will be considering the mark I received in my research methodology course for the social science aspect, for which I received lower than their recommended cut-off and it said our probability of getting admitted would be lowered.
Now I don't know if I am overthinking it - but what do you think about switching my reference to the Sociology professor? I am still concerned for the above reasons, but also because I am currently in the process of scheduling a meeting wwith the aforementioned second english professor and it might look bad for me to back out and tell him I don't need him anymore to switch to someone else. I don't have any other Sociology professors in mind, in fact one of the profs I had for a decent course was pretty old so Idek if he works there anymore. With all that being said, my professional reference is a supervisor who knows me a lot better that I did related volunteer work with, and she wrote a letter for a peer who got into the same program so she will be a really good reference for me. Am I overthinking it? I'm betting on the fact that English literature majors are known for excelling in graduate programs like Law and Teaching (statistically Eng majors do the most well in LSAT scores next to Philosophy majors) so I'm hoping that admissions recognized that my English skills show that I'm a good communicator and critical thinker which would help be a good social worker. I heard they look for a well-rounded application and as it's a professional program, they look for people who can demonstrate they have good critical social work skills.

Caveat I was trained in physics, not social work, so I can give you some general thoughts from my perspective, but someone in your field will give you better advice. I also hope you get multiple answers from this so you get a variety of perspectives to think about, since I am sure there is no single right answer to this kind of question.
In fact, before getting into my thoughts, my number one piece of advice to you would be to seek out someone who has done a similar path, explain the situation, and ask for their advice. Ask your professional reference what they think, since they have direct experience with this program. Reach out to the person who they wrote a letter for and get their take on how important the various factors you are weighing are.

OK... with that out of the way...
I think your professional letter writer, and a letter from your English professor who supervised you doing very successful research, are no-brainers and will be great letter writers. My normal advice for picking the third letter writer would be to say that you should prefer letter writers who can speak in detail about your work, over letter writers who are superficially "more relevant" but who can only write a generic letter.
However, I keep bumping against this part of your question:

they will be considering the mark I received in my research methodology course for the social science aspect, for which I received lower than their recommended cut-off and it said our probability of getting admitted would be lowered.

This seems like a serious point you need to address. I think you can partly cover this by doing the following things:

Explain in your personal statement any mitigating factors that led to this low grade, and discuss ways in which you have demonstrated the skills covered in that course that are not reflected in your grade. For example, talk about your successful research in English. While the volunteer work isn't research, you can probably use it to explain you have relevant experience and a demonstrated interest in social work.
Being up front with your letter writers about this gap in your CV and asking them to talk about your potential in this area.

Now, my advice from this point depends on exactly what it is that was covered in this course, and what is meant by a "related discipline". If "English" is a related discipline and the research skills have a large overlap with English research (eg, the research skills are mostly about reading and writing papers), then I would say that using English professor #2 as a letter writer is a good choice since, based on your description, they are the professor you feel you know 2nd best and will be able to talk about relevant experience.
However, if there are key skills you were supposed to demonstrate that aren't covered in an english degree (again IANAS, but for example this might involve some kind of quantitative data analysis or experimental design), and/or if "English" is too far from social work to be a "related discipline," then I would absolutely not use two English professors because it will just look like there is a glaring gap in your experience that no one can explain. In this case I would definitely reach out to one of your sociology professors and see if they can write you a letter. The interdisciplinary course seems like it could be a good option, given what you wrote.
One other thing to consider here, that your professional letter writer can potentially help to fill in some of the gaps. Again this depends on how important this research skills course is and exactly what was taught in it. Presumably the volunteer work cannot help you very much with demonstrating research skills. But if you can use your English writers to cover relevant research skills, your professional writer can potentially help to fill some of the gaps related to sociology and social work, depending on the nature of the work you did.

Additionally, I have a few comments on some points you raised in your question that are independent of the point of view I expressed above...

it was about serial homicide, so I don't know if that looks too pretty on an application given the subject nature for the field of social work, even though arguably it did examine sociological/psychological context etc

I would not worry about the content of the sociology course. The professors in the program you are applying for are grown-ups and can handle a professional discussion of a relevant academic discipline, even an unpleasant one. Don't worry that you don't have courses in the specific subdomain you will focus on in your masters, just honestly present what relevant work you have done.

also think this professor might remember me because I spoke to him during an office hour and he actually added me on LinkedIn a while after I finished that class, and I was surprised because he added me meaning he probably remembered who I was.

I wouldn't assume they remember you or spend time trying to read the social media tea leaves, just reach out and ask them! Send them an email and ask if they'd be willing to chat. You don't even have to advertise the meeting as a request for a reference, you could try to set up a 15-20 minute meeting to get advice on applications. Lay out this situation to them and see if they have any advice. You don't need to commit to asking them for a letter to check if they remember you and if they think they could write you a good letter, and even to see what they think about having two English professors write the letter.

This professor seems pretty well versed in his field too - he had major projects and even has a TED talk video up.

That's nice, but their ability to speak about your work matters much more than their qualifications; they are not the ones applying to the program.

I am still concerned for the above reasons, but also because I am currently in the process of scheduling a meeting wwith the aforementioned second english professor and it might look bad for me to back out and tell him I don't need him anymore to switch to someone else.

Don't worry about this. You need to do what is best for you. Your professors are grown-ups and understand things change. Changing references is a common thing.

I didn't feel like I could use other Sociology professors because they probably don't know me from the big class sizes in the upper years,

This is a good reason not to use those professors.

and my marks for the upper year Soc courses were all mostly lower than my marks in my upper year English classes.

This may or may not be a good reason not to use these professors. You might not be able to directly compare Soc with English grades; perhaps Sociology grades just tend to be lower overall. The standard should beif your professors know enough about you to able to discuss your work and say positive things.

in fact one of the profs I had for a decent course was pretty old so Idek if he works there anymore.

Don't assume this. If you feel they can say relevant and positive things about you, check if they are still around!!

I'm betting on the fact that English literature majors are known for excelling in graduate programs like Law and Teaching (statistically Eng majors do the most well in LSAT scores next to Philosophy majors) so I'm hoping that admissions recognized that my English skills show that I'm a good communicator and critical thinker which would help be a good social worker.

This argument seems pretty weak to me; you're attempting to generalize the performance of a broad class of people ("English majors") in different fields ("Law and Teaching") to your case and your field. While I think it's good you make the argument in your application that your English degree gives you good communication and critical thinking skills that can help you be a good social worker, I think (a) you should aim to be as specific as possible as to what communication and critical thinking skills you have and how they will help you in social work, and (b) you shouldn't bet on this argument to cover gaps in your application. You should be active in addressing those gaps by writing a statement that makes the best case for yourself, and talk to your letter writers about weaknesses in your application and implement the suggestions they make to you.


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Ph.D. at AEI without a Master's degree
As the title suggests, I just wanted to know if the above is possible (that is, Ph.D. at Albert Einstein Institute without a Master's degree, just with a Bachelor's degree), and if so, are there any problems one would face if they do sign up for such a program?

This is very unlikely. Like many (most?) German institutions a masters is required for admission as they make clear on their web site.
But you can contact them directly. I don't know if they are willing to make exceptions. I suspect that an exception would be made only in an exceptional case.

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How does the academic community react to Single Author Research Papers
I am working on converting one of my projects to a research paper for a top-tier international conference. I am a bit confused about how people in the academic domain react to a conference paper with a single author,
Is it advisable to go for a paper with a single author or approach some professor in my university with an offer of guest authorship and present them as an academic/project guide in the paper?

The community reacts by reading them if they look interesting. I've never selected an article to read based on the number of authors.

That's True @JonCuster, I just wanted to know if there're some disadvantages to showing such papers in applications for grad studies or for research internship applications.

I'm surprised that you ask, actually. It is perfectly fine to produce scholarly work alone. In many fields it is highly valued.
But, your suggestion of asking another to serve as co-author for some sort of "padding" would be improper if the other person hasn't contributed to the intellectual content of the paper. Guest authorship is misconduct in most fields, though it occurs.
Co-authors are people who work together in some way to contribute the intellectual content. It doesn't need to be "equal" in some way, but it should be clear. And adding someone after the work is done seems a clear violation.
Single authorship might be more rare in some fields, such as high-energy physics or pharmacology, but still, not a problem.

Is it single authorship valued in the field of Computer Science with particular emphasis on Artificial Intelligence?

Yes, it is valued. Many of the advances in AI have been done by single authors. Especially in the early days, just as in mathematics. Collaborations have probably increased over time (internet makes it possible) and some techniques in CS require different skill sets.

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Two-thirds of the class received an extra 10 minutes on an exam. Should I bring this up with the professor?
One of my graduate-level classes had our midterm exam worth 30% of our class grade. Since our class is too big for proper distancing in our usual room, the professor split the class.
Two-thirds of the class would take the exam with the professor, while the rest of us would take the exam in another room with the teaching assistant (there is no intended difference between these groups of students). The class is normally 100 minutes long, but the exam was scheduled for 90 minutes and was expected to conclude 10 minutes before the usual class end time. The teaching assistant was punctual and ended the exam for us at the 90 minute mark.
I found out from students who took the exam with the professor that they were allowed to finish the exam at the normal class end time, meaning they had an extra 10 minutes to work.
How should I approach this? I don't know any of the people who were in my exam group so I can't reach out and see if we are in agreement over the issue of having less time for the exam. Plus, even if we are, I'm not sure what realistically could be done to balance the scales.

If you bring it up with the professor, what would be your desired outcome?

@Louic honestly, that's the reason I'm asking here. Personally, I was nearing completion and just did not have a chance to go over my answers. There's a chance that I could have caught a calculation mistake or expanded an analysis answer with an extra ten minutes, but it's not a guarantee. I can't point to a specific thing and say "I was halfway through solving this problem and could have finished with an extra 10 minutes".

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

I would contact the professor about this. I'm not really sure that there is a fair way to solve this, I can't come up with one for now at least. A solution is definitely up to the professor, since they created this unfairness. Maybe they will not do anything, I can't tell.
But, you should contact them to ensure that this doesn't happen again since this is indeed not fair to all students, and the professor should know this. 10 minutes extra on a 90 minute test is quite a lot extra time.

I think it is also worth contacting them quickly, in particular before any grades have been finalised or returned. Then it can be dealt with smoothly - professor does not want to first hear about this from a dozen angry students with poor grades turning up at their office door to complain!

I've had a prof perform a t test on the groups, and bump those in the lower group up by whatever the difference was. It was a much bigger disruption, lol

I'm at a loss about how to do this without sounding accusatory. The TA announced the exam times a few days prior on Canvas. It was the professor who deviated from the "official rules", but writing an email saying something along the lines of "you gave your exam section an extra 10 minutes" sounds confrontational.

@PoHoDaj One non-confrontational way would be to speak to the TA, as they are involved in this too (and TAs are often less intimidating...). Alternatively, email the professor but don't focus on the "broken rule" or make it out to be "official" vs "unofficial", but instead focus on the impact - on the "why you care". so say something like "the other group got longer and I am worried this impacted my and other students grades".

obligatory https://xkcd.com/1347/

@PoHoDaj Just stick to the facts. Something like: "I've become aware of a situation which I feel needs to be brought to your attention. As you know, the recent [descriptor] test for [class] was split into two sections. Unfortunately, the two sections were given substantially different amounts of time to complete the test. The section proctored by the TA was permitted 90 minutes, while the students in your section were given 100 minutes. I don't know what resolution for this disparity is possible or appropriate, but I felt it inappropriate for me to not bring this difference to your attention."

Whether or not anything can be done about this midterm, it's still worth bringing up because there may be another midterm and probably a final for this course where the professor can be mindful not to let this situation happen again.

@PoHoDaj - Like Makyen states in their comment, keep it simple and factual. Don't state 'you gave them X extra', since that could be interpreted as accusing indeed. Their wording seems excellent.

Did most students finish within 90 minutes?
I've done exams where basically everyone has finished with 15 minutes to spare. Equally I've done plenty where it was almost expected that you'd run out of time and you'd have to triage your answers.
If most people finished in time, then they didn't get any benefit from the extra time. Students with a marginal passing/failing grade who got the TA could legitimately challenge the result based on the extra marks they might have got in 10 minutes, but the bulk of the class will be unaffected. @WoJ commented elsewhere about grades being used for awarding prizes etc., and these would still all be valid.
If most people didn't finish in time though, then the difference is significant. In this case most of the class at affected, and this is a structural problem which needs to be addressed by the department. The professor can't handle this alone - nor should they try, because reasonably fair assessment is a precondition for a university being permitted to run classes at all. Certainly this is an honest mistake, but it's a mistake nonetheless and it's the kind of situation which is why the department will have formal procedures for reassessing questionable exams.

Within the group of students who took the exam with the TA, only one finished ahead of the deadline (~10 minutes prior). Everyone else was still working when the TA collected the exams. My impression from talking to the students who took the exam with the professor was that their group was in a similar situation (even with the extra time).

Ask your professor to use some statistical analysis to determine if the distribution of scores in the group who received 10 more minutes differed statistically from that of the group who did not. If it does your professor would be able to report by how much. Resolving the problem becomes easy then. The marks of the group who did not receive the 10 more minutes are to be inflated by the difference. If there is no statistical difference then take some comfort in the fact that it may not have had too much a material difference.

Reasonable idea, but the existence of students whose grades were harmed by it is consistent with there being no statistical difference between the two groups.

I would informally email your institutions academic integrity board and enquire about the policy around exam fairness. All you need to say is that you suspect that the other group received an additional 10 minutes and why you believe this (ie. they dismissed 10 minutes after the first group).
In my mind, you shouldn't be the face of raising this directly with the professor, it could seem like sour grapes and bias interactions going forward.
The institution hires people who understand the policies who can investigate what has happened.

In places I am familiar with, the expectation is that you first bring issues with the class to the professor, then if needed to a chair or someone else.  Jumping this step would escalate the issue.  Also, our integrity office is only about student cheating, not about fairness of exams, and I would guess this is rather common.

You have no obligation to follow up.  The real competition is over what you learn, not so much over your grades.  At least that's where you will be once you leave the school because grades can't be compared between different schools.  If your feeling of unfairness isn't extreme, you could just as well let it be.
If you do want to follow up, you have no obligation to consult the rest of your exam group. Their circumstances and preferences might be different to yours, but that shouldn't stop you from providing your own feedback to the professor.
If you do decide to follow up, you have no obligation to suggest any resolution ("to balance the scales").  Keep your feedback simple, factual, and don't commit yourself to expecting or not expecting the professor to take a compensatory action.
Even if they won't take any action this year, or even acknowledge your report as a serious problem, they should be able to reduce the variance in exam duration the next time.

While I agree with the sentiment that learning ultimately supersedes grades, the course requires a set grade to pass and this exam was worth 30% of that grade. I also agree with keeping the feedback simple and factual, but I'm at a loss about how to do that without sounding accusatory. It was ultimately the professor who deviated from the exam procedures that was announced by the TA in writing, so any kind of feedback would ultimately have to include an accusation that the professor made a mistake.

@PoHoDaj - Grading is never absolutely fair.  Professors rotate, tests evolve, conditions change, announced rules are approximated.  Some tips: 1) Accidents happen, too.
Reporting a mistake doesn't need to sound accusatory.  State your facts, don't speculate, don't assign blame.  2) Write it one day, re-read and send it the next day.  3) Do not CC other people unless you were writing on their behalf with their permission.

Grades do count a lot. Besides the "passing or not passing", you can have prizes, funds, programs, etc. that rely on grades.

… and since OP said this was a graduate-level class, I should point out Why is B or B− the minimum passing grade for most graduate courses in US?. Getting less than a B in any class can get a grad student kicked out.

@MarkPlotnick - You are referencing a page that says that "grades [in graduate programs] per se matter less than in undergraduate classes" and that if you get a (passing) B, you should not ask the professor not about possible ways to upgrade to a B+, but rather whether you should drop out of the entire program voluntarily due to the lack of excellence. And that's a rather sensible attitude if you are in the first year of a five years long program.  Life is short.


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A few students requesting to cancel lectures due to their personal reasons. What should I do?
I give lectures to postgraduate students. The number of students in this batch is very low (< 20). The lectures are foundation lectures for the course. We are only into the basics of the course.
A few (maybe 4) students of this batch are requesting to cancel two lectures as they won't be available for personal reasons. In fact, they are going to attend a workshop. In my university, attending workshops that are not fully recommended by the department is considered 'personal interest'.
One option is to ignore their request and ask them to study the topics covered during the lectures or with the help of students present during the lectures. If they could study these topics themselves or with friends, they wouldn't have requested me to cancel these lectures.
What should I do in this case?
I could ask this question to my head of the department, but, I don't know how this will turn out for students. They should not feel that they were not allowed by the head to attend this workshop.
I do understand that there will be variations of opinions on my question as per the different academic rules of universities but I still want some insights from experienced academicians.

Is the personal reasons due to timing conflict or some other reason? In one of my postgrad classes that I attended, there was a timing conflict for a significant number of the class, and the lecturer rescheduled that lecture. Not sure how to solve other reasons.

Is attendance of the lectures mandatory?

Other than being mandatory, are the students allowed to skip a few classes? In some places you automatically fail a class if you skip more than x% of lectures. IF the students need to reschedule because they've already spent their allowed absences, this changes things.

But is it reasonably possible to accommodate this one? Would there actually be any logistical problem with rescheduling e.g. number of spare weeks till midterm/finals decreases? I would actually bring that up in class and flip the question back to them: "If we reschedule n weeks, then we have n weeks fewer slack in the schedule for makeup classes/revision. Is the class ok with that?" I get the whole "If we do this for them once, we will have to do it in future..." argument, but explaining the scheduling also helps explain why you can't and aren't obligated to do it henceforth in general.

I'm curious in what fields <20 is considered very low

@Mast No, attendance is not mandatory.

I had to take a call. I took the lectures finally. But, amount of attention this question has got is surprising. I learned a lot from comments and answers. It's really helpful.

If you do this for a minority, then you will have to do it every time a few students have some excuse.
I suggest that you don’t consider this and make it clear that if they miss lectures then it is up to them to catch up on material.
Providing double or triple repeats of lectures due to a few absences, especially if unpaid, is not a good use of your time.
Some students will want to rationalize their choices and make sure which they attend - some workshops can be valuable. If you think one workshop is very worthwhile then you could consider re-scheduling for all, but that depends on your schedule, and yes, I have done this for similar reasons involving the majority.
Based on a comment>
I always provide the material used in class - notes & worked example on Moodle as well as further practice problems (some 10 to 20 for each topic with solutions) for those who attend as well as those who do not.

+1. Yes, I fully understand. I am thinking too much from the student's side.

@Coder: Don't let it stop you from encouraging students to attend non-mandatory classes/workshops, even if you cannot make any accommodations for them in your own class. (From your statement "They should not feel that they were not allowed by the head to attend this workshop.", I gather that you are generally in favour of their wanting to attend the workshop, if it weren't for the schedule collision with your class.)

Also, you could offer to send them course notes to cover the lecture? I'm not saying you should put extra work in here, just any notes you may have already written in preparing the lecture

@Bee I provide the notes, worked example and further practice questions on Moodle for those who do, and do not, attend without fear or favour.

I don't know how OP stands with technology, but providing a video capture of the lecture is quite common at my Uni, that way they'd have literally everything available that the attending students have

@Hobbamok that is not standard practise everywhere... some do, some don’t. However, I have seen that videos cannot spot simple errors on a student’s file and if you made a video containg every possible error it would be hours and hours long which may defeat the point. Students say that they look at youtub videos and find them good or bad... And, following a bad video can affect them for a long time...

@SolarMike yeah, thats why I mentioned my uni (and even there its just my and 2 other departments), and my point was that they then have the profs original statements + other students questions  + they can still write their own questions via email. Yes its still more work for them than for the attending student but hey, they're skipping class after all. [I know video footage is not perfect, but depending on the prof/subject and general interactivity sometimes quite close to live]

@Hobbamok I teach excel, so when they have an error in their workbook they can get help in class but not outside so easily and, no, I don’t expect 180 students all sending me files to correct...

I owuld add that in the past as I've found it extremely annoying as a student when a group of students get together and try and get lectures moved / changed etc. It often results in the rescheduled lecture being moved to a date that is not inconvientent to the remainind students - this has happend to me and the response was "well I've already moved it once, I cannot keep moving it everytime someone asks me to". So remember there may be students who do want to attend

There is really no need to do this. Lecture is an efficient way for a single person to help a group to learn, but it isn't the most effective way for an individual to learn material. There are other ways to learn the material and they need to become familiar with them. Books, notes, discussions, but most important, exercises to make the material part of their deep learning.
Point them to alternative sources if you like. And maybe some exercises, also. It is very unlikely that such sources don't exist. But learning is their responsibility. Your responsibility is to provide the environment in which learning can occur.
Moreover the request shouldn't result in impeding the learning of the rest of the class.

It's fine as well to encourage the students to attend their workshop—that's probably a great use of their time. But that choice comes with some consequences to their other obligations (your course for example), and they're the ones that need to accomodate the choice, not you (the OP).

"Lecture is an efficient way for a single person to help a group to learn" False.

@anonymous physicist Quite obviously true.

From the comments:

I provide the notes, worked example and further practice questions on Moodle for those who do, and do not, attend without fear or favour.

If they choose to attend a workshop instead of your class, they are still receiving the material so are not at a disadvantage (other than missing out on what I'm sure is a superb lecture).
They are making the choice to go to this workshop, it's not compulsory. I think that you therefore have no ethical obligation to provide them anything more. When I was at university many lecturers would only provide notes to those who attended or didn't provide notes at all, regardless of your reasons.
You sound like a fair lecturer who wants the best for their students, but don't let them take advantage of your kind nature. I would respond with:

All material covered in the lecture will be available in the lecture notes in the usual format, I will therefore not be cancelling or repeating the lecture, but understand your decision to not attend on this occasion. Please feel free to ask next class if there is anything from the notes which you did not understand.

I'm assuming these are not frivolous workshops. In a large university, often one department doesn't really know what the others are doing and schedules are difficult if you want to learn stuff from multiple departments. So if these are "serious" workshops, you can be a bit accommodating. Especially since this is not an overly full class.
You don't want this to be a "bad example" though, that leads to many other people requesting to miss lectures with mandatory attendance.
So what you could so is give them a reading list that should cover the material you'll be doing in that lecture, that they'll have to do in their own time. It shouldn't be any less work than just attending your lecture. Encourage them to stop by during your office hours if they have questions, but only if they've done the reading first.

These are the workshops not explicitly recommended by department. But, students are interested to attend. That's good.

Two thoughts:
(1) You may be under contractual obligation to hold scheduled classes. (If so, you may want to point this out to the students if they become insistent that you cancel.)
(2) It may not be fair to other students in the class to let a few students get to, in effect, cancel a class.
I would tell the students that it is fine for them to attend the workshop, but they are responsible for the material they missed.

I am not in the category of (1). As most answers suggest here: I will go with (2).

An easy way around the problem is to record the lecture on camera.

This is a good idea. One caveat, though: the OP should make sure that everyone who might appear in the recording consents to being recorded.

Maybe easy, but maybe not. And maybe more or less valuable depending on how the lecture is run. Harder for interactive work as the "focus" needs to change and the sound quality becomes critical (and hard to track).

@Buffy In my university we had an extra camera team for that. The professors could order it when necessary. Usually that was don for the largest lectures.

So, easy for you in some situations, but not for all.

@yar We don't have a proper team for recording lectures.

Workshops are shorter and therefore can be opened more frequently. Main lectures for a class are more important. I see this as a lack of or correct prioritization and/or time administration; young people tend to be impulsive, comfortable childish and kind of wild, demand that they make sure the workshop is higher priority and can't be opened some other time.
Edit: discuss with them how/why is important that workshop and the lecture, I think a common solution is better than a unilateral one.

On the other hand, workshops sometimes offer a rare opportunity to work with an expert or on things that, while important, don't warrant a full course.

That is covered in my previous post: "demand that they make sure the workshop is higher priority and can't be opened some other time."

"Workshops are shorter and therefore can be be opened more frequently" - the second part of this is definitely not true for what is referred to as a "workshop" in my field.

A good teacher should be more concerned about conveying knowledge than feeding their own ego.
In this case the fact that you are considering moving your lectures for them makes you sound like a good teacher.
I'd say 4/20 is a pretty significant number. Maybe check with the other 16 students for their availability before you decide to move it.


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Does tenure protection extend to professors saying that evolution is false in class?
So I'm dealing with a very weird case here. I'm a PhD student and my wife is currently taking a history course at a different university. Apparently this instructor says he has tenure so no one can do anything about his rambling.
He spends a sizable chunk of the course ranting about how evolution is false because there's no proof of it, that Neanderthals didn't exist, and how humans aren't apes. He also claimed the Earth isn't 4 billion years old and people lived with dinosaurs.
This is obviously very obnoxious and disturbing to sit through. But is it true that his rambling is protected by tenure? If we were to complain could anything be done? Thanks.

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Having tenure doesn't mean a professor can spend large amounts of time in a course talking about off-topic things. They still have a duty to teach the subject of the course.
Have your wife talk to the department chair if she feels she isn't receiving the education that she expects from the course.

Being off-topic is one thing. Spreading utter hogwash is another.

@EricDuminil yes, but unfortunately it'll be hard to give a general, rigorous definition of what's “utter hogwash” and what merely an unlucky misconception. You can't expect a professor to know about everything, so it's inevitable that they'll have some wrong beliefs – hopefully outside their field of expertise only, though. So enforcing they stay focused on their own subject is the way to go. (FTR, I think denial of evolution is utter hogwash, but focusing on single topics like this gives deniers a convenient opportunity to complain about “liberal bias / dogma”.)

Evolution and prehistory (the Paleolithic period and big geography) are covered in AP World History under Key Concept 1.1.  While it would not be OK to harp on these things day-in and day-out, it seems that they are not off-topic.

@EricDuminil And how do you propose to define "utter hogwash" in such a way that it cannot be used to bully professors out of unpopular academic stances?

@leftaroundabout I know in practice that what you've commented is true, and at the same time I think there is a "general, rigorous definition" of what is "utter hogwash", or perhaps we know what is not hogwash, and that is any finding that is the result of the use of the scientific method and the modern practice of science. That's the whole reason why those institutions of thought (if I may use such a phrase) exist - to separate the hogwash from what we should be able to agree are facts. I hope a university, at least, would share that definition of "hogwash".

@ToddWilcox, do you think it's hogwash to claim that there is a substantial difference between humans and other apes, other than the differences you would find examining corpses?

Faculty at my university, and I would imagine at any large university in the US, are bound by the terms of a technical document with a title such as “Faculty Code of Conduct” or something similar. If you look at this document for my university, you find descriptions of certain behaviors described as “unacceptable behavior” for a faculty member. Notably:

Types of unacceptable conduct:

Failure to meet the responsibilities of instruction, including:

...
(b) significant intrusion of material unrelated to the course;
...

Discrimination, including harassment, against a student on political grounds, or
  for reasons of race, color, religion, [...], or, within the limits imposed by law or University regulations, because of age or citizenship or for other arbitrary or personal reasons.

The faculty code of conduct also contains procedures that are in place for disciplining professors who engage in unacceptable behavior. The bottom line is that tenure is not a “get out of jail free” card to engage in any sort of unprofessional behavior. In theory, a faculty member who violates the code of conduct can get fired. At the same time, termination is an extremely rare and unusual punishment, and there are other milder forms of discipline that are much more likely to happen first (or at all). Moreover, the process for getting someone fired is very long and complicated. So, to a first order approximation, it is essentially correct to say that with extremely high probability your wife’s professor won’t be fired for the things he said in class about evolution.
With that said, your wife can and should complain about her professor behaving unprofessionally in class. Her university has processes for dealing with such issues, and it is likely that a complaint can lead to the situation improving for her and other students, and to the professor suffering some consequences for his actions.

I am not sure why you included the point 2.

@quid just on the off-chance that it would be of interest to OP, e.g., if his wife’s professor showed signs that he wanted to discriminate against students on the basis of their religious beliefs. But I agree it is not directly related to OP’s concerns.

It might be relevant to others having the same issue with a professor in a different context. Since it does not add too much clutter, keeping it is a good idea.

By that standard my biology professor who called me out in class and called me a, "f---ing idiot for believing in God", should be terminated.

@WillByers: Singling out a student in class to call them a "f---ing idiot" should be grounds for termination regardless of whether their underlying reason is connected to any religious belief or lack thereof; from a position of authority, it's abusive and completely unprofessional.

@WillByers very sorry to hear about this. Certainly that is unacceptable behavior for a professor.

@R.. I have no doubt there are circumstances where a professor can legitimately call someone a "f---ing idiot" but believing in God isn't really one of those reasons.

@R.. I completely agree.  Even though I went to the Dean of the department along with a few classmates, all this professor (he was a PhD) got was a slap on the wrist at worst.  It's been a few years now but he's still there.

In general, yes, tenure protects you from retaliation for anything you say, write, research, etc. That is the point of it. But the instructor still has to teach his/her course. If this is going on in a math course, then a complaint could come about not teaching math.
But in a biology course, the person could probably make a case that they are teaching biology, even when they are actually rejecting science and its underlying principles.
The student also has academic freedom, I'll point out, so speaking out against a creationist professor should never result in any sanction. That, unfortunately, is harder to guarantee.
Another issue, of course, is whether the instructor is requiring students to adopt anti-scientific positions for any reason. You can't attack a person for their religious beliefs, of course, and under tenure you can't attack them for speaking about those beliefs, but you can require that they not try to undermine the beliefs of others.
One effective way to counter ineffective teachers is to avoid them. If that isn't really possible then complaints to the dean, etc. or letters to the editor, etc. are certainly possible. But be aware that you are very unlikely to change the minds of people who choose to ignore science using any argument whatever. There is some research, in fact, that arguing with such people only deepens their belief.
From the Dean's standpoint, while he/she may not be able to fire a misbehaving teacher for what they say, there is no reason for the Dean to be required to let that person anywhere near students, or promote them, or give them raises, etc.
Finally, in some (but sadly not all) places, the other faculty can provide helpful peer-pressure against instructors who use their classroom time to proselytize rather than teach.

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This is a difficult position to be in, but I'm alarmed that most of the other posts here seem to be discussing how to get a tenured professor fired or negatively impacted.
You should be focused on helping either your wife and/or other students, NOT on harming the instructor. If your efforts seem focused on harming the career/public opinion of a tenured professor, the dean should, and hopefully will, meet those efforts to the defense of the instructor, which could result in very negative consequences to you and/or your wife.
Regardless of what you hope to achieve, ask the dean what your options are. If a professor is acting like this, it is extremely likely that the dean knows about it, and has heard complaints from other students. Most likely, your wife would be allowed to drop the course or transfer to another section with a different instructor without significant incident. If other students are having similar problems, the onus is on them to act similarly.
If you are really dead-set on trying to get the instructor reprimanded or fired, then take a video of the class, and be willing to accept it if the dean tells you that they can't do anything. There could be a lot of politics happening that you have no awareness of.
I would avoid the following:
Making a scene during class, arguing with the instructor in front of the class (do not pull a "God is Dead" moment in reverse), or actively attempting to get the instructor fired.

I disagree that the discussion of whether a tenured professor can be fired (which is what OP asked about) is motivated by wanting to harm anyone’s career. To me OP and his wife just sound concerned about the wife and her fellow students getting a bad education. As a general rule, if someone cannot do the job of a professor competently (and I’m far from being able to assess whether that‘s the case here), that person should be fired, not as punishment, but simply to protect the students’ right to get the quality education they are paying for.

@PeterA.Schneider, the OP has not mentioned Creationism but is in fact merely witnessing a skeptical stance toward a few common claims.  "Evolution is proven" is not maintained by evolution-folks: https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/teach/68pitfalls.php#1e ... "Humans are apes" is only applicable within science ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape ) ... Birds are dinosaurs, so what's the matter with "people lived with dinosaurs"?  ... and honestly, how do you know that the earth is 4 billion years old?

@PeterA.Schneider I wholeheartedly agree with you that this person is likely unfit to teach, but "removing" a professor is harmful to that professor. The desire to protect the other students is admirable, but it is not the student's job, it is the job of the other faculty. The duty of the student is to raise the objection, not to decide the fate of the instructor or push for any specific course of action.

@DanRomik Your comment in parenthesis "and I'm far from being able to assess whether that's the case here" is exactly my point. No one on this forum knows enough of the circumstances behind this case to suggest that action be taken against the professor, let alone what that action might be. Specifically, the poster asked "If we were to complain, could anything be done?" The end answer is "Many things can be done, but only your dean knows enough to know what they are."

@elliotsvensson (1)The OP reported that the teacher "claimed the Earth isn't 4 billion years old." Technically that would cover the claim that earth is actually 4.5  Ga old but my assumption is that he'll rather aim at <10 ka or it wouldn't be worth reporting. (2) There may be no proof in the mathematical sense, but ignoring the evidence is delusional. By the way, if we suppose the axiom of no frequent divine intervention (a premise supported by many mainstream churches) evolution follows logically because as a general principle it is another way of saying "things just run their course".

@kashim Removing somebody from a position they are unfit for is usually a long-term beneficial act for all parties concerned, including that person. I'm all for treating people respectfully and avoid material or psychological hardships but that doesn't change the principal idea. (Perhaps s/he can teach at some confessionally bound school?) -- Self-protection from bad teachers and assuring a quality education is one of the core tasks of students. The students should do everything in their legitimate power to work towards removing this teacher, by influencing the decision makers.

@PeterA.Schneider, frequent divine intervention (or "Providence") is supported by many mainstream churches, too, but I don't see how that's relevant.  Re ignoring the evidence... evidence that life descends with modification?  Like my dog?  Or evidence that the only good explanation for all of life's diversity, and indeed all the history of life, is explained by evolution?  From what I can tell, evolution-folks seem perfectly comfortable without providing a full-featured defense of biogenesis.  ( https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/misconceptions_faq.php#a1 )

I perceive two distinct issues that you bring up with this question.  It seems that the direct questions ("How much time is OK to dedicate to this in history class?  Is this behavior protected by tenure?") have been addressed by other answers.  I would like to examine whether it should be obnoxious and disturbing for the professor to make his unusual claims.

Evolution is false because it is not proven.

That evolution is not proven is acknowledged, and even asserted, by evolution's authorities such as UC Berkeley.  So on the notion that an idea is only true if it has been "proven", this would be the natural implication.  Instead,

Scientists gather evidence which might help support or refute hypotheses and theories, but these ideas can never be absolutely proven, even when supported by many different lines of evidence.
UC Berkeley, Understanding Evolution, Teaching materials, 6-8 Teachers' lounge, Avoiding common teaching pitfalls, 1. Choosing your words carefully. https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/teach/68pitfalls.php#1e

When the professor asserts that "anything not proven is false" he is repeating a common fallacy in science education.  Jack Fraser wrote in Quora in 2017:

All science is merely the current best model. Science is impermanent. It is, by definition, in constant flux.  You can never have 100% proof of anything. There will always be doubt.
This comes as a bit of a shock to many people.  At school we’re taught science in terms of absolute facts— and this attitude persists rather a long time, into university education as well.
It takes a surprisingly long time for the new information you are being taught to finally be bookended with the phrase “of course, this is all based on the validity of model XYZ, which may turn out to be false.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/12/14/theres-no-such-thing-as-proof-in-the-scientific-world-theres-only-evidence/#215633255392, reparagraphed by me

It may be that the professor is misguided: doesn’t this mean that the theories of gravitational attraction and the conservation of energy aren’t true either?
Instead of this absurdity, perhaps the professor is using the apparent contradiction between "evolution is a universal concept in biology" and "there is not 100% proof for evolution" to bring students face-to-face with the academic notion of doubt.

But isn’t this off-topic in a history class?

While it may seem odd for the subjects of human origins and evolution to appear in a history class, they appear as Key Concept 1.1 in AP World History (an American standardized college-level course):

Key Concept 1.1
The term big geography draws attention to the global nature of world history. Throughout the Paleolithic period, humans migrated from Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas. Early humans were mobile and creative in adapting to different geographical settings from savanna to desert to tundra. Humans also developed varied and sophisticated technologies.
AP World History, July 2017 edition.  Note that in 2019, this course will be split into AP World History: Modern (1200 CE - present) and AP World History: Ancient.

This idea is also treated head-on by UC Berkeley's "Understanding Science" website (https://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/misconceptions.php#b10)


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Accessing a "forgotten" Google scholar account
I have a Google scholar account A which is linked to my Google account and it all works well. But there is also another copy of me, a Google scholar account B, which says that it has a "verified email" (which is my university email). Apparently, I must have confirmed it some time in the past.
How do I access account B? I cannot access it through my Google account, which just takes me to account A. Is there some way to make it send an email to my university address that will let me access it?

Have you asked Google?

How? I googled around quite a bit, if that's your asking. You can't seriously expect me to reach a Google humanoid?

I'd try to reach the humanoid, yes.

@keshlam humans at Google are usually exceptionally hard to reach, unless you happen to know one personally.

@SimonW When one is logged into their Google Scholar account, there is a standard "contact form" under settings->provide feedback. This would be my first choice if I had to reach a humanoid. Have you tried using that? Do you claim it doesn't work?

@FedericoPoloni I haven't used it, but based on more general experience with Google I would expect "provide feedback" to be a one-way process, and the odds of getting a reply to be low.

@SimonW I've contacted Google many times and always found them polite and helpful. I did have one interaction that took a few days to resolve, but they kept me informed all along the way

I have found an answer: think hard about whether there are other Google accounts that I might have and through which I could have authorized the Scholar account.
In my case, there is a long forgotten "temporary" Google account which was created for me by Goolge during that period when they decided to merge all of its services under the Goolge+ umbrella.

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Can someone with low master's grades be accepted to a scholarship for phd program?
I have a bachelor's degree in mathematics with grade 15.5/20 and M1+M2 degrees together 12.2/20. (French system university) (M2 degree in differential geometry and geometric control). I want to apply to a phd program abroad and so I need a scholarship to finance my living expenses , my question is : Is it possible to get accepted to a scholarship with my mentioned master's grades ?

I think you should read why the similar https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/145233/19627 was closed, and start reading https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/38238/19627.

There are two issues: getting admitted and getting funding. The first is easier than the second.
There are a lot of variables here, not just your grades. The world is a big place and you don't indicate where you want to apply. Standards vary for both admissions and funding.
You first need to find a place where an application won't be immediately rejected. You then need to convince someone, or perhaps a committee, that you are a good candidate for success.
The rest of this is probably only valid in US, but, if you can get admitted here, then you can probably get funded as a TA, as most doctoral students are. And letters of recommendation are very important and can negate the issues of a low GPA, provided you can show you are sufficiently knowledgeable in the important subjects.
The competition is very stiff, of course, so your application has to stand out in some areas if it lacks in others.
But the only way to know is to make some applications and see what feedback you get. Depending on all of the factors considered you may have a chance. Don't make assumptions and don't necessarily believe everything you are told by people who aren't making the decisions.

For advice on how doctoral admissions works in various places around the world see: How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in Country X?


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Describe "corruption" in higher academia (research for a novel)
if you were to imagine a dystopian future in which academia was corrupted to a point in which it was no longer fit to fulfill its purpose…could you describe what that would look like? What would be the symptoms at the systemic/personnel level? Could you prescribe a treatment process?

Hi and welcome to Academia SE. Your question is definitely off-topic here, because it's mainly speculation. Maybe you can check if it's ok on Worldbuilding SE or Writing SE. Personally, I'd suggest you to look at current cases of corruption which can be easily found in the news around the world.


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Why do researchers needs computing power outside the university?
A layman wants to help people in science. How useful would it be for him to join for some BOINC project? I somehow think that many researchers gets computing power from their universities so I am unsure why do we need BOINC.

What is BOINC? This question needs much more context.

The utility to you is for you to decide. To the researchers, there is utility in the outreach to involve people, as well as many problem can be broken up and parceled out to fairly low horsepower computers.

Question 1: Why do researchers needs computing power outside the university?
Projects such as BONIC and Open Science Grid were initially created to serve single purposes where individual universities and government labs could not do all of their own computing.
From Wikipedia:

The Open Science Grid was created in order to facilitate data analysis from the Large Hadron Collider, and about 70% of its 300,000 computing-hours per day are dedicated to the analysis of data from particle colliders

From The BIONIC homepage:

The open source infrastructure “BOINC” developed in the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley for volunteer and grid computing was developed to search data obtained with radio telescopes for signals from extraterrestrial life (SETI@home).

Now, both grid systems are open to other researchers as well because the infrastructure exists and other scientists have needs as well.
Also, one program for high-throughput computing is HTCondor, which has the name "HT" for High-throughput (added after a lawsuit about software names) and "Condor" because it originally scavenged unused resources like a condor scavenges carrion.
Question 2: A layman wants to help people in science. How useful would it be for him to join for some BOINC project?
Historically, very important. Now, less important because I suspect most of their computing comes for large contributors such as universities. Looking at the BIONIC homepage, their help section has sections for Translate, Test, Document and Publicize.
If you have any skills to help with these, my guess is that those would help the project more than a single desktop computer.

Boinc can supply much more computational power than a university can or wants to supply.

Idealistic aspect: We all have computers at home with (from a historical perspective) tremendous computing power and they do nothing for most of the time. Why not use them productively for research?

Now you could argue about power consumption etc., but I think the general idea is clear.

BOINC-type computing is good for simple tasks that need to be repeated millions of times  but anything that is really RAM-hungry (beyond typical RAM of a PC) cannot be done in this way. RAM-hungry computations do represent a significant fraction of the serious computing power.


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Internship during PhD
I am currently pursuing my PhD in Mechanical Engineering (dynamics & controls) and like my research a lot, even so much that I would like to continue with the academic route and aim to become a research Professor. I should emphasize that I do have a symbiotic relationship with my advisor and I see that we get more than a handful of Journal papers out before the end of my PhD. I have done 4 different internships throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies and can say that I know that I don't see myself in industry.
Due to the lack of first-hand experience from my peers I am reaching out to this community. The questions are:

Is it common/appreciated to do an internship in industry during my PhD when I would like to become a research Professor? If the answer is yes, how long should an internship be? Just over the summer or for a whole semester? Or is it more important to stay with your advisor and get as many papers out as possible?

Is it common/appreciated that I do research at a different university with a different lab to widen my horizon in terms of research methods, exposure to different ideas etc.?

The questions are pointed at: What does really count in a faculty interview? I appreciate any comment regarding on what really counts when it comes down to become a research Professor. Thank you.

Since you have a good relationship with your advisor, then that is the person you should ask: (S)he knows you and your field, so (s)he can advise you much better than some random persons on the internet.

What does really count in a faculty interview?

In science, proficiency is evaluated via some proxy data, such as publication and conference proceedings.
To discriminate between two candidate with very close publications and science proficency, the ability of getting funds for research. Unfortunately, sometimes the ability of enabling the output (i.e. getting funds to perform a certain research) is even more important than the quality of the actual output (publications of poor quality, not in the sense of negative results or low impact publication(s), but in the sense of crappy methodologies, crappy data collection, crappy analytical skills).
If your aim is to stay in research, spend your time trying to get funds to do your own research, applying to grants from national and international bodies, foundations, professional groups, try to spend extented time abroad in other research institutions, not spending time giving out (almost for free) your skills to some private company.
I personally would consider a candidate with more than one internship during his/her PhD as someone that struggled with fundings and directions (no offense in this, 99% of the time is not the candidate's fault).

"I personally", because until 5 years ago, in a previous life, I was a Dr. in the Academia ;)


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A potential supervisor said 'happy to supervise me for PhD', but I'm not in the minimum requirement. Is it guaranteed to be accepted? (UK)
After the interview, a potential supervisor said: "Really Happy to Supervise You" with possible funding. However, the problem is that I'm not in the minimum academic requirement (grade) in the university admission (UK University).
In this situation, can I be accepted from the university for the PhD? Is it Guaranteed?? (* I did not apply officially yet).

It seems unlikely.

How did you get an interview? Did you apply through the university or directly contact the supervisor? If the latter, does the supervisor know about you not satisfying the requirements?

@GoodDeeds: it is the latter one. No, they did not ask, so I did not say it yet. It was a pretty long interview (about 1hour), and said really happy to supervise me.

@Buffy is it impossible?

Try it and you will find out.  Customs vary between universities.

Did “possible funding” mean funding was on offer or you had to find it?

The supervisor may say "yes" based on your background and interests. But if the grades do not make the formal limit for acceptance at the institution, I can only imagine exceptional circumstances which involve the supervisor's intervention (e.g. he knows your history and that you superated some difficult time) for you to be accepted. The latter is highly unlikely; an academic exposes themselves to very high risk by taking a student as an exception to going regulations. So, to emphasise Buffy's suggestion: "Very unlikely."

How did it go? please update us!

Unlike some other countries, in the UK the supervisors do not have a lot of say in questions related to admissions and funding. Admissions are subject to university rules and these rules are rarely flexible, even if your potential supervisor really strongly supports your application. A student who does not meet minimal requirements is unlikely to be admitted for a program.
Most of the PhD programs in the UK are not funded from your supervisors' budget or their grant, but instead are funded through the Centers for Doctoral Training (which are funded from block grants to the University). Supervisors actually bid for a privilege of supervising a funded PhD student. To progress their career, academics in the UK must successfully supervise a certain number of PhD students. This means that academics are usually very happy to supervise any student who is successful in bringing in the funding. So even if your potential supervisor tells you that they are really happy to supervise you, don't assume that  they can and will go an extra mile to bend the university rules for you.

Thanks for an informative answer about UK practice.


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No proper reply from professor after acceptance
I had applied for an academic internship after my undergraduate studies. The professor has accepted me for the internship. But since then he has not properly replied to my emails. I need his letter for VISA purposes. How should I write an email to him asking for the same? I had sent an email to him regarding this but he has not replied to the email. The problem is that I can't write a proper email and also he is the director of the institute and is probably very busy.
Could you please help me with writing such an email. Also I am taking a year gap for this internship, so this is extremely important to me. I also want to convey him that this internship is extremely important to me.

@Roland I sent his secretary an email, but have not received any reply. It's likely that the institute is closed during this month. What should I do?

I think the problem is not with the content of the email itself, but rather with the fact that the professor is busy -> doesn't respond to emails consistently. Therefore, you should somehow try to attract his attention/the attention of others if he is unavailable. Possible options include:

Having a clear email subject (e.g. a reply to the thread where you discussed your acceptance; mentioning that your request is related to the visa application, etc.)
Trying to call/email the department to establish ties with them. They may be able to assist you with the process & in some cases even write the letter for you.
Trying to reach other people in the lab. They can tell you whether the professor is away and whether there is a better way to reach him. Some of the other lab members may be international as well and, therefore, can provide you with additional information regarding the visa & your life post arrival.

Finally, it is likely that the professor is currently conferencing/vacationing. If none of the above helps, your best bet might be waiting and emailing again toward the end of the summer. It's no fun but delaying the start of your internship is better than not having one at all. In all of your communications, be polite and patient. That's the key to getting someone to help you. Good luck!

Thank you for your response! Can you plz write a sample letter. I am not at all confident at this

I'd rather not, mostly because this is a skill you have to develop yourself. You'll write a lot of "emails asking for things" in your life, so, you know, the earlier you start the better. If I were in your position, I'd reply to the previous thread you had ( so that he remembers), maybe change the subject line to "Letter required for visa application" or something, and politely describe your situation in the body. What you're asking is completely reasonable, so there's no need to be shy

Can you explain by what you mean when you say you can't write a proper e-mail?
I get the impression you're not in the same country as the academic at your chosen institution at the moment so the best you can do is to write a polite e-mail to them making it clear that you need them to provide details for your visa application just as you've outlined in your question. You could try even flagging the e-mail as high importance so it catches their eye in their inbox. If this doesn't work, then you may want to consider even phoning their office.
At this time of year, people are on holiday or are busy with other projects so do your best to be patient waiting for a reply as frustrating as it can be.

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Writing a thesis proposal
I graduated last year and had been working on a problem. Now I have some progress and am interested in applying (non US places mostly, mathematical physics). How should I write a thesis proposal? I have the draft version of my work but it is extremely technical and will require serious patience to read the whole thing. Whoever I can summarize the important ideas in a smaller thing.
My question is if I should attach an abstract, a summary and the draft of the paper along with the introductory mail? How should the mail be structured?
On a side note, one of the people at the institute had commended my work some time back when I had sent them a previous draft.

Where I live, each institution have it's own norms for proposal and you have to adapt your draft to institution format.

Don't worry your draft is technical. Your work will be read by senior researches in the same field.

What worked for me was to select a potential advisor and schedule a meeting to check her interest on my ideas. Then I wrote that more or less like a project for technical people (that could come from different backgrounds, but in my field) structuring the text in a way that guided the reader.
Now, thinking back, it could have been easier to do it if I have structured it similar to a position paper.

Usually, a proposal should not be highly technical, rather showing the motivation behind this idea, and the problem you are going to solve. In most cases, the method is deviated from what is written in the proposal.
Therefore, it would be better to give an introduction focusing on the problem and how to solve it. Then the related work, which is highly important in such a proposal in order to not starting from scratch and also not exactly repeating what others have done. The core section should focus on the approach that you will follow by illustrating the advantages of each method and the disadvantages of other methods, which will not be used. I really do not think a high-level explanation is needed here.
I would conclude the proposal with a section entitled "application" (this depends on your field of studies), which shows the importance of what you propose.
About the abstract, yes it is important to give a brief description of the manuscript.


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M1 or M2 for masters in Mathematics for Engineering background
I want to apply for master's program in mathematics in France. I have a dual degree (M.Tech+B.Tech in 5 years) in Electrical engineering but my master's thesis was complexity theory in learning machines and most of the course are in applied mathematics.
I graduated 5 years ago and now I have been doing pure math since the last 3 years on my own, attending different course in different universities while doing job as well. I have applied to US universities for PhD but I doubt will get in. So, now I am looking for master's options in France and Germany. For Germany I think I can clearly see that I can't do masters due to the fact that I have missed the scholarships deadline. I had applied to University of Bonn but they outrightly rejected me saying that your first degree must be in mathematics.
So, I am hoping for masters in France but I am not able to find scholarships and I am not sure whether the same condition applies to French system as well.
[Q-1] Does one need to have a first degree in Mathematics to apply to M1 or M2?
[Q-2] In case if I can apply, can I directly apply to M2 without applying for M1? (I have seen some of the answers which says that they require you to go through M1 before moving to M2. It is a must. If it is, then I have no issue going through it)
[Q-3] Does anyone know of scholarships that's available to Indian nationality for applying to the above programs.
Which universities in France or anywhere (decent enough) can I apply to for master's? Any help would be appreciated.
Edit 1: My Interest is in Algebraic geometry and Complex geometry.

Does this answer your question? M1 vs M2 in France: In the French system, which one is designed for those interested in Academia, M1 or M2?

@ArnaudD. The user in the question already has a math degree. It does answer [Q-2] to some extent but the only problem is that in that, I cannot find what is actually  " equivalent of M1".

'Equivalent to M1' is up to the university to decide, there are no hard rules. The university has to be convinced that your qualifications are equivalent.

@quarague Can I contact the program administrator to know whether I have covered M1? Or Do I have to apply directly and wait for acceptance or rejection for M2?

You can contact them and ask whether your qualifications are sufficient and how they evaluate that. However, if your case is not clear cut, they might just tell you that you have to send a full application so they can consider all the details.


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Time organization for an engineer who works full-time and pursuing PhD
I am an engineer working in Germany. I got my M.Sc. two years ago, and how I am going to pursue Dr.-Ing. along my job. I know that it will be tough, but I am motivated, and have time to invest.
My biggest problem is time. I need help how to organize myself the best, since I am not only working on my PhD, I have regular job as well. I am mostly interested in ground work (literature research and how to organize it, as well as tracking the progress). I would much appreciate experiences from people who are in same position (PhD and job).

Does your supervisor allow that, or do you even have one yet? Doing a engineering PhD alongside a full-time job in Germany sounds unfathomably difficult to me. Aside from that, writing your thesis is usually something that takes place in the last phase of your PhD. In the beginning you usually do groundwork, literature research, experiments and publications. So IMO you don't need special preparation. But be aware that you will have close to no leisure time for years according to your plan which can wear you out.

Yes, I do have a supervisor. I am aware that it will cost me a lot of time, but I decided to go for it, since I think it is worth it. The question was more related to the groundwork, as you say. So, doing literature research, as well as organizing my work. In other words, it would be good to read some experiences and recommendations when dealing with such specific situation (PhD and job). I would like to find some literature or web sites on that, if there are any.

It is possible to do this, one peer from high school does it, he is a technical manager at Oracle, pursuing a PhD in Neural Networks. However, it took him longer to finish, about +1.5 years. He has a strong publication record, many citations, etc.

Please also consider that your scheme will add 20 to 25 additional work hours per week on top pf your job (3 x 5 hours under the week, plus 5 to 10 hours on the weekend). Are you sure that this is sustainable for many years? It wouldn't be for the vast, vast majority of people.

I found an interesting link related to all aspects of PhD thesis: https://www.uq.edu.au/student-services/phdwriting/index.html

I am currently doing my master in information science (on top of the PhD I already have) while having a (more than) fulltime job. There are some advices I would give someone planning to do something similar:

Be organized. I started to be much more organized than evere before and are using management tools in addition to organize my study times and keep track of deadlines, meetings, courseworks, ... Some examples: I have three google calendars with different colours, one for my private dates, one for my fulltime job and one for my studies. Trello helps me to keep track of long checklists, projects, deadlines and so on. My files, texts, scripts are organized systematically on my computer.
Clear your mind. Write down tasks and plans. The less you have to keep in mind, the better you can learn.
Say goodbye to perfectionism. No matter how much you try: While having a fulltime job you will never achieve the studying time a fulltime student has. If you try to be perfect in everything, this might simply demoralize you and if there is one thing you defenitely don't need, it's demoralization.
Plan breaks. If you don't plan breaks, you won't have breaks. Since you will need breaks to not burn out, plan breaks and days off. Even if you think you don't need a break, take breaks.

There are two articles with further thoughts, one on idealist and one on thefinancialdiet.


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How much harder is it for an American mathematician to teach in France rather than in the U.S.?
How difficult is it for a U.S. educated (PhD level) mathematician to land a tenured mathematics research/professorship in France, relative to achieving the same position in the U.S.?

The difficulty can vary enormously depending on the circumstances.  If you speak fluent French and have spent time visiting French institutions, then your chances will generally be much better than if neither of these is the case.  If you know French mathematicians, it's worth talking with them about the details of your case.  (If you don't know any French mathematicians, then that's a bad sign.)

I've updated my question to reflect ff524's comment, I'm asking for the difficulty of achieving a position in France relative to the difficulty of achieving a comparable position in the U.S.

@Danny Seeing as "U.S. educated" implies you are fluent in English, but not necessarily fluent in French (as spoken in France--Canadians, etc. speak a rather different dialect), the difficulty ranges from "impossible, go master French" to "possible".

@NajibIdrissi That's an opinion that must vary widely.  I have a colleague who is a professor in France, and of a visit to French speaking Canada basically said it was a jarring experience, and what they spoke sounded nothing like "real" French.  He did manage, and still goes there for conferences regularly.  So, yes, you can achieve an understanding, with suitable effort, but it's not simply slang words but also pronunciation and even how one structures their thoughts in(to) the language (which is culturally influenced).


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How to report GPA, if minimum letter grade credits not reached?
How would a graduate student, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, report their GPA, on fellowship applications, if they have not yet accrued enough letter grade credits?
UCSC seems to not report a formal GPA until the student takes 25 credits of letter grade classes. This excludes credits received from pass / fail classes, which count toward graduation but not toward the 25 credit letter grade GPA threshold.

It seems the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship states:

What GPA do I enter for my school if I just started attending? You can
  enter 0.0 as your GPA – reviewers will understand that you have not
  yet received a GPA for that school and will not view it negatively.
  Link: https://ndseg.asee.org/faq/academic_background_section

Will follow-up if I receive any formal statement from the UCSC Office of the Registrar.

Regardless of whether you have a "formal" GPA or not, you can always calculate your GPA yourself. You know what grades you received and you should know how your school weighs each one. There are also many "GPA calculator" sites online that can help with this.


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How to avoid my advisor as a reference?
I had a bad relationship with my advisor. He told me evidently that he won’t write the recommendation letter for me in the future.
Of course, I will not put him in my reference list in my future career. But I don’t know if the future employer will contact him or question my working performance or attitude? I feel very bad about this. Can you guys give me some suggestions?

Are you applying for academic jobs, or jobs in industry?

Do you have sufficient (two or three) other people you worked that are willing to act as a reference and able to write you a letter of recommendation if requested?

Thank you for your quick answer.I worked in industry now, and I don't have any plan to apply for the academic jobs in the future.

"I don’t dare to look for other better opportunities due to this issue. " Why? What other option have? Falling out of work or stacking in a place you shouldn't is much worse solution.

Just to clear things up: you work now at industry and by postdoc supervisor you refer to the supervisor or a previous academic job? And you are looking for job in industry now? Do you need academic recommendation letters for an industrial job at all? Esp that you already have industrial experience.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about applying for jobs outside academia.

Your problem may be on-topic on [workplace.se] though; please check their guidelines before asking.

There are two issues in my mind. The first is not having the post doc supervisor as a reference. As you get further along in your career, you will have to leave someone that knows you well off your list of references. If you can develop a strong enough network that you have 3-5 people who know you and your work well and are willing to write you strong letter, then the absence of your post doc supervisor will not be seen s odd.
The second issue is more problematic and that is if your post doc advisor is contacted informally, he may actively or inactively sabotage you. In order to get around this, you need to repair the relationship, such that it is not a problem. As a first step, make sure that he is really unwilling to be a reference. If that is the case, then make it clear that you will not use him as a reference. Ask him if he is willing to tactfully deflect informal enquires. If he is, and you believe him, that you do not have much to worry about. If not, consider having one of your letter writers address the issues you have with you post doc supervisor.
Having a reference point out bad things is always dangerous in that it makes the hiring committee aware of something they might not find out about. The advantage is it is the only way to really get your side of the story told. It is worth talking to your other references about how to address the issue.

If you have a viable substitute, there probably won't be much fuss about it. I am talking about the case of still being able to churn out a decent list of academic references, having the requisite number (whatever that may be), who are all safe choices (so to speak), i.e. can be trusted to put in a good word for you.
If that is not the case, the situation can get comparatively tricky if your apprehensions about people contacting him turn out to be true. In that cases, it always appears safer to leave him out, but I think the best strategy would be to not make any a priori assumptions. He might have said what he said in a fit of rage when he was extremely pissed off over something, and that anger may have abated later. I'm sure he knows how a bad recommendation can adversely affect your career, so while he may not give you a very strongly favorable recommendation, he may settle for a more subdued form of the same as a safe and neutral stance. (Like a brief letter just saying you are good, and no real supporting details or instances where he found you good to back it up. This won't really count as something prospective employers would count a strong point in your favor, but it still does count as a positive recommendation.) I would say, it is always best to ask him explicitly. Write him a polite email, saying something like the following:

... while it is true that our association didn't really work out (for whatever reasons), a favorable recommendation from a person I've previously worked with is still valuable for my career.
  ... Please let me know whether it would be acceptable to you if I include your name in the list of academic references in applications for my further endeavors.

A short, positive response to this shall serve your purpose - include him then. Negative rants of why you are so pathetic also clears the air - leave him out. No response to this email means he's too pissed or too busy. In the former case, you can surely leave him out, in the latter case, things are indeterminate - you can't be sure either way. The safest bet then is to leave him out.
Hope that helps :)

There is not much you can do to prevent anyone from talking to your postdoc advisor, particularly if they do so informally as part of the hiring process. This is sometimes frowned upon by HR departments, but there is not much that can be done about informal questions like "What do you think about ZZZ's potential?", which could be asked in person at a conference.
For certain types of applications, you can list people who you would not like to review you. This is often true for grant applications and tenure applications, in my experience, but not for job applications.
The safest advice is just to not mention anything about your advisor in your job application and hope for the best. It could be more dangerous for your application to suggest that you do not get along with people, than to try to explain why you don't get along with your advisor.
If you absolutely cannot bear to do that, one option is to talk to another reference writer who you know well, and ask them to mention it very discreetly in their letter.
(The OP has clarified that they are applying for positions in industry. This answer was written more from the perspective of academic job applications. I have never applied to jobs in industry, so I cannot speak to them.)


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I was caught having my phone out during a final, but I failed the test so would I still get referred to the dean?
So I had my phone on me while taking my final and one of the TAs asked if I did which I admitted to having it; he then just asked me to place it on the desk next to me and leave it there for the rest of the test, which I obliged. Then, once I turned in my final, the TA set my test aside from the rest of the other tests.
After looking at the test solutions that were given after turning the test in, I can confirm that I only got one right.
Do you think that I will be referred to the dean of my school for allegedly cheating as I got caught with having my phone on me during a test (which is obviously prohibited), yet if you look at my test, I still had failed?
Like would my professor feel the need to after seeing that I only got one right?

I was sitting in a way where my phone lay on the seat within the gap between my legs, which is how I always sit. With this I do tend to look down and start to tap the seat through my thigh gap (hopefully it's not to hard to visualize) which may look suspicious. The TA caught me around the last 45 minutes of a 3 hour period. And with my phone resting on the other desk, I still sat the way I did and still did the whole tapping thing, to which I knew he saw because he was within my peripheral sight - probably checking up on me specifically. (if this help paint the scenario better)

A stickler for the rules is certainly justified in reporting the case, but in this case it also seems reasonable to give the benefit of the doubt that you did not cheat (perhaps with the warning of more serious consequences next time). We cannot say – the only person who can is your professor, so go ask him / her.

Please follow these steps to merge your accounts so that you'll be able to edit the post and comment on the post and its answers.

Updated after clarification from OP
Your performance on the test will be irrelevant.  If you failed the test while cheating, it would just suggest you didn't do a very good job of cheating, but that hardly negates the action.
From the way you relate what happened, your actions are indistinguishable from someone cheating.  In fact, I'm very skeptical of your story... you were in an exam and had your phone hidden on your seat between your legs and you just happened to be looking down and tapping.  This is very odd behavior in an exam since you must realize it is indistinguishable from cheating.  Also, it makes the idea that you forgot you had your phone implausible since you had it out and on the seat right where you were looking.
I would certainly expect at least a zero on the exam, and depending on the professor/TA a report to the dean.  You must realize how implausible your story sounds, right?  Your typical exam taking behavior is to take your phone out, hide it on your seat between your legs and look down and tap on it?  No professor is going to buy this story.

The most reasonable assumption is that you were trying to cheat, but still failed (or got caught before you had a chance for the cheating to do you any good).  And yes, you should be reported, though some TAs may not feel it is worth the hassle.
The reason you should be reported is, if you have a history of doing this but it has never gone on record, then when you get caught a second time (possibly in a situation where it does make a difference), it could be treated as a first offence when it is, in reality, anything but.

This seems somewhat harsh.  I wonder what percentage of students forget to take their phone out of their pocket during exams.  I'm sure I have done it on occassion... of course my flip phone isn't likely to be much use.

Yes, I agree it seems there is more to this than the OP states (as noted in my answer).  However, under the scenario as presented, a student just having a phone in their pocket this would seem too harsh to me.  Possibly the phone was in a back pocket and sticking out so as to make it visible.

Ok, clarification from the OP certainly changes the scenario.  This is not too harsh at all with the additional details.

I don't think it's possible to say whether you will be reported to the dean.  There also seems to be doubt as to the truth of your intentions with the phone.  I don't think it's possible to know your intentions from what you posted.
But, lesson learned.  Next time, turn off your phone, put it in your bag, and keep it out of sight.  TAs and professors aren't OK with the constant intrusion of phones into the learning environment...especially during tests.

It's been a long time since I've seen exam rules that did not include a prohibition against use of electronic devices.  So, you were presumably in contravention of the exam rules whether your phone contained answers or not.
If electronic devices were prohibited, you should be referred for violating the rules.  Even if there was no rule, you could be referred for cheating because of your suspicious actions.
Whether you will be depends on the TA's tolerance for hassle.  Since the TA took note of your actions and took action, it would be a good guess that you will be.  And you will deserve it whether you were cheating or not because you gave the appearance of cheating.


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Timeline to start applying for faculty positions in the US
I want to start applying for faculty positions for Computer science positions in the US. Still march is good time to apply? Are there is a chance to get interviews or I am late?

There is a pretty consistent annual rhythm in university hiring for tenure track positions at major university. Right now you are most likely too late. But, look around.

March might be a good time to start preparing for a faculty position that will begin in September 2022, if you are in a field where jobs are relatively plentiful.

September 2022?

Perhaps a joke, but with a needle. There is a Chinese proverb: The best time to plant a tree is fifty years ago. The next best time is right now.

Yes, September 2022.  My department's application deadline for faculty positions starting in Fall 2020 was in December 2019.

Still march is good time to apply?

It's possible that Anonymous Physicist was right in the comments and that your field is such that job searches for positions that begin 1.5 years from now are happening right now. (If so, go apply!) But, let's assume that's not the case for the sake of this discussion.
The best time to apply, as I suspect you know, is fall / early winter. This is an unfortunate reality that must be acknowledged.

Are there is a chance to get interviews or I am late?

You're indeed quite late, but there's certainly a chance. Some jobs will indeed be posted; faculty members leave unexpectedly due to illness or other opportunities, searches on the ideal hiring timeline fail, and so forth.
There will be fewer job opportunities now than there would have been had you begun hunting in the fall, and moreover, it's very possible that the jobs you find could be worse in nature (such as 1-year positions instead of tenure-track, etc.) at this time. However:
I think you should apply for jobs now.
Reason 1: If you apply for jobs now, you might not get a job. Perhaps you could even say that you probably won't get a job -- I don't know whether that is true or not. However, the following is certainly true: If you don't apply now, you definitely won't get a job.
Reason 2: Applying for jobs is a nontrivial skill, and it is likely that your first cover letters, interviews, etc. won't be the best that you are capable of. Practice now. If it doesn't work out, then you'll be more polished for when it's time to try again in the fall.
Reason 3: If you get a suboptimal job (such as a one-year visiting position) at a school you like, it is possible that there will be a tenure-track job intended to replace it, and it is possible that serving in such a position well would give you an inside track to the follow-up position. Both of these are quite far from guarantees, of course.
Reason 4: It is conceivable that you do some digging and don't find any jobs you like. In that case, you can just not apply for anything, and you're no worse off than you'd be if you hadn't looked.
However, all this is superceded by the following:
Make contingency plans for what will happen if you don't get a job right now.
In particular, figure out how you will survive for the 2020-2021 academic year if you are not hired at this time. This may require exiting academia, and such an exit may be permanent, or it may not be. But do not neglect this possibility.


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Is it fine to change th order of authors in Arxiv?
We have a paper on arxiv. For some reasons, we need to change the order of the authors. The first can be second. Is it fine ? or should we delete the paper on Arxiv and post it again with new names and authors.

Modifying an arXiv preprint is done with the "Replace" feature, and this allows you to make arbitrary changes to the Author metadata field.
There is no need to delete the paper, and trying to do so would likely cause more problems.  (You cannot actually delete an arXiv paper, you can only "withdraw" it, and trying to upload a preprint which is substantially identical to a withdrawn paper may be rejected due to excessive overlap.)
Just make sure that you also change the author order in the paper itself and upload new tex/pdf files, otherwise people will be confused.  And, of course, all of the authors must have consented to the new ordering.

if the file changes, what would happen to the first version ? it would still exit? if the paper has cited other papers, is this change would affect that citations.

@Heba Mohsen: if the paper has cited other papers, is this change would affect that citations --- Do you mean "YOUR paper has cited other papers" (I don't understand the concern) or do you mean "OTHER papers have cited your paper" (this is up to the other papers, and probably moot once the other papers have been published). By the way, the second interpretation is what I think you intended, but FYI by writing "the paper", you are actually saying the first interpretation (because there is only one paper you have previously mentioned that "the" could refer to).

@HebaMohsen: People who look at the arXiv page for the preprint will see the version history (v1, v2, etc) and have the option to view and download past versions. Past versions on arXiv can never be permanently deleted.  If other papers have already cited your preprint with the original author ordering, this will not do anything to change that; how could it?