text:
Mentor says I cannot be first author of my paper because I am an undergraduate
I performed some research and submitted it to a congress of biomedical sciences. Many professors told me that my research is very advanced compared to student work and that it could easily be my specialization one day.
I am an undergraduate student (sixth year veterinary science).
My mentor tells me that no journal will accept me as a first author although the entire research is mine. I did everything except the statistics, because by the rules, the mentor must do it. I spent four months on the field, alone, taking samples, and an idea of gifting my own blood, sweat and tears is very painful.
Do you think I should wait for a year or a bit more to publish it as a graduate or should I let them take credits for my work. The research is about horse welfare in my country and it has never been done before. This means a world to me. I want to devote my life to this area and publishing my paper as mine would be only right thing to do, right?
Should I accept publishing the paper with someone else’s name as a first author?
Update
My mentor yesterday late night sent me a message informing me that they (she and her head of the department) discussed my work and agreed that probably I will be named as a first author, since I did all the work.
Thank you all for answers, I wouldn't be so confident on this matter without your advices.

Do you have any other prof to go to? (Someone trustworthy?) You could talk with them about this issue and your mentor.

@CJR: Beware that the meaning of corresponding author strongly depends on the field, journal, etc. On most, if not all, of my papers, the first author is the corresponding author.

Many universities have an ombudsperson for ethical issues, and/or professors who do confidential counselling on matters around the studies. If your university has someone, consider going there: you can explain the matter in detail and get advise by someone who can ask you all the relevant details and knows your local system much better than we do.

"except the statistics": depending on what you mean by that exactly, your mentor may deserve to be co-author... I would not rush to conclusion until we know how much work the mentor has done...

Absolutely putting my mentor as a coauthor is a MUST. Just she is not the FIRST author.  Absolutely did contribute. The idea, research, funds, time, peiple, animals, collecting dana, writing it down, writing abstract, introductionc, discussion, conclusion, literature, everything was mine work. She did dthe statistics becaus by the rules of Student research center, she has to do it. Btw, during rh time, she told me that she rill not even maybe have time to do it. So I started lookg for ideas to ask for help fron other professors.

some journals offer double-blind peer review so the reviewers don't know the author. I don't know how opting for that affects acceptance success though.

@Visnja Could you please explain what you mean by “She did dthe statistics becaus by the rules of Student research center, she has to do it.”? Because that makes absolutely no sense: what statistics are we talking about, and what do the rules state? If students weren’t allowed to perform the statistical analysis of their own research that would be completely insane.

The only way to avoid this situation is to write alone and be the sole author of the paper, honestly.  Otherwise, if the supervisor wants to be first author there is not a lot you can do apart from bite the bullet, it's still a publication at the end of the day and you are still a co-author.

Tom says "only way to avoid this situation is to write alone and be the sole author of the paper."  Having a competent, ethical mentor is an alternative.

I think the answers are not sufficiently clear on this point:  Violating the norms on the order of the author list for your field is usually unethical and serious misconduct.  If your mentor does this, you should find a new mentor.

Dear Visnja, you can be first author,but she needs to be maybe corresponding author

I would just like to point out that technically anybody can submit a paper. - Even a say a cat. Now belonging to an academic institution, having a degree or a well renowned co-author typically tend to helps (though papers should be evaluated based on the merit of their content only) though is not and never has been a requirement for typical journals. - Thus, it would be perfectly acceptable for an undergraduate student to submit a paper - including as a first author - provided the underlying science is sound.

What surprises me most here is that this is in a biomedical field, so the last position which the mentor is trying to avoid is normally interpreted as the PI/senior author, and carries just as much importance as the first - I have seen professors argue over who should be list further back, or have co-last-authorship with asterisks. Mentor's insistence on swapping normal roles makes me suspect that they are short on first-author papers for some academic promotion rule (I have encountered such in Eastern European universities).

this is why I left academia years ago, more senior researchers are always greedy to get the rewards, at least your mentor helped out with the stats. If your line of research is applicable right away in the industry, I would consider moving to the industry or creating a company at some point

Another angle re: waiting a year -- your published work (regardless of authorship details) will probably be more impactful in/helpful to your field if published sooner rather than later.

Update: She has revealed in the comments that the "mentor" is a Professor at the Docent level, which makes me more inclined to advise her to take advice from the mentor. "Mentor" on its own sounds like it could be a grad student, in which case the answer would be different. Furthermore the Professor is suggesting more co-authors to save costs on publication, this suggests to me that it is going to a very good (expensive) journal or it could be going to a pay-to-publish journal, so I have asked for clarification. If it is going to a good journal that has for example $3000 publication fees and more authors are added, there's lots to say about that, but papers in "top" journals do not come by very often for people from every country, and adding co-authors can help: working together with several scientists that are more senior to you, is also in my opinion the best thing about doing science, as they often provide far more insights and improve the paper.

I agree with a lot of what the other answers say.
I will respond separately to some of your specific points though:

I performed some research and submitted it to a congress of biomedical
  sciences. Many professors told me that my research is very advanced
  compared to student work and that it could easily be my specialisation
  one day.

I very much believe that they said those things, but also keep in mind to try to take everything with a slight grain of salt. Since the mentor was involved in the work (you said they did the statistics), your mentor will know some things that random professors at a conference will not. At the moment I would recommend to try to remain modest, as this is indeed your first time on the verge of publishing, and PhDs with 10 publications worth of experience often still don't have much of a clue how the outside world "truly" thinks of their research.
You seem off to a great start though, and you've come to the right place for advice :)

I am an undergraduate student (sixth year veterinary science). My
  mentor tells me that no journal will accept me as a first author
  although the entire research is mine. I did everything except the
  statistics, because by the rules, the mentor must to it. I spent four
  months on the field, alone, taking samples, and an idea of gifting my
  own blood, sweat and tears is very painful.

I completely understand you.
Many people spent 48 months like that, and did not end up with any publication, and it is indeed very painful. Specifically, I'm thinking about all the 2-year (sometimes 3-year) masters students I know who graduated with no publication. This is not "rare" either: it actually happens all the time.
However it would indeed be nice (and even perhaps preferred!) for this work to get published. For that you do not have to, but might want to consider the advantages of having your mentor as first author (it is already understood that the mentor will be a co-author because they did the "statistics" for the paper):

Your mentor might get very angry at you if you try to oppose their authority or advice. When asked for a letter of reference at the student level, often we're asked whether the student is a "team player": if your mentor is not too disappointed at you to outright decline writing a reference letter for you, there is still the possibility that they do not give you the best letter you might think you deserve. This can damage your future. If you maintain a good relationship with your mentor, this paper might just be the first of dozens in your career, many of them probably being far more important and impactful than what your present paper in question, because it will be at an even more advanced stage in your academic career.
Without experience, you are more than likely to struggle severely in getting your paper past the gate keepers. Also, with no record of publication history, the referees might not take your paper seriously at all, no matter how good it is (this is why I alluded to taking what the professors at the conference said, with a grain of salt, because not many people behave the same way at a conference as they would when they are "anonymous referees". There's a lot of things that have to go right, and not a lot of room for anything to go wrong, if a paper written solely by an undergraduate is to get published in a good journal. If the mentor writes the article, the paper usually has a much better chance of being published. People might agree that the mentor can claim first authorship if they write the article (although a lot of people, including me, would not ourselves be that type of mentor).
Since you describe the "blood, sweat and tears" you poured into this project, you might like the paper to be published in a good journal, that will be widely seen. The mentor will most likely be able to help you with this, much more than you can help yourself at it.

Do you think I should wait for a year or a bit more to publish it as a
  graduate or should I let them take credits for my work.

No I don't think so, and here's why:

The mentor does not want you publishing it alone (or as first author), and that's why they said that you "can't" do it. What they said about undergraduates, applies to graduate students too. Waiting a year won't help.
The work might not be publishable anymore (or in the best potential journal) if you wait a year.

The research is about horse welfare in my country and it has never been done
  before.

You might be 100% right, but almost always when I hear "never been done before", it actually had been done before in some way, shape, or form. Many journals do not even allow words such as "new", or "never been done before", because it's impossible to prove it.

This means a world to me. I want to devote my life to this
  area and publishing my paper as mine would be only right thing to do,
  right?

I'm very delighted to hear your passion for research :)
I disagree that anything is the "right" thing to do, let alone "the only right thing to do".
The paper is still yours if you are a co-author. If you are a student, it will usually be known that you were the one that did the 4 months of field work and not the "mentor".
If you seriously do want to have any career in research, you will have to remove this way of thinking that being the first author is "the only right thing to do". You will have to make compromises. As long as you are not paying for everything yourself, you will always have a "boss": you will never be 100% free to do things in whatever way you want best, independent of what other people want.

Should I accept publishing the paper with someone else’s name as a first author?

Ask yourself this: is it better than not publishing at all?
If so, I will console you by saying that if you really want to devote your life to research, you are likely to be doing 60 more years of this, and possibly publishing 200 papers, and maybe 50-100 of them being first author.
This paper is not the end of the world, unless you cause that to be, by burning bridges with the people that might best be able to help you.

I would be happy to provide more advice if you have questions. I recommend you also tell us how many other co-authors might be involved (only you and your mentor, or even more co-authors?) and what the status of your mentor is (professor, assistant professor, post-doctoral researcher, graduate student, etc.).

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

My mentor tells me that no magazines will accept me as a first author

This is clearly wrong. Of course I cannot speak for every journal in your particular subfield, but rejecting papers only because of the academic rank of the first author would be ethically dubious. At the very least, there are some megajournals that do not have such criteria and which should accept your work – given that it is scientifically sound, etc. (Mind that I am not saying that megajournals are your best or only choice; they are just the easiest counter example.)
Moreover, a typical journal won’t even ask for your academic rank and may not bother to investigate it and neither do the peer reviewers. The journal may even practice double-blind peer review, in which the reviewers won’t even know your name and thus probably lack all means of finding out your academic rank.
Finally, while there are some people who judge a work by whether they know the authors (though they shouldn’t), they usually do not look at authorship positions. If somebody is going to be more benign to your work because your mentor’s name is on it, they will likely not care whether they are the first or last author.

by the rules, mentor must to [the statistics]

There are certainly no universal rules for this. Where did this come from?

Anyway, your problems rather are these:

Doing the statistics almost certainly qualifies your mentor for authorship, so he must agree on all publishing decisions. (The opposite also applies.) Even if you re-do the statistics, it will be difficult to argue that you did so completely independently. Also mind that any intellectual contribution qualifies for authorship, so think about any feedback or advice you got from your mentor on this work.
Your mentor may have some power over you. I don’t know them, but you must consider the possibility that they freak out over this and try to sabotage your career and particular this very paper.
The biggest advantage of having an experienced mentor contributing to your paper is their experience in writing. It is very unlikely that anybody produces proper scientific writing on their first attempt without help from somebody experienced with it.

Unfortunately, you have to judge your mentor’s mentality yourself.
However, unless you are sure that they do not abuse their power, I strongly suggest that you find another professor or similar who can advise you and possibly act as an arbiter in this situation.

I agree. "Rank" is meaningless.  Quality of research and work is everything.

if you have done most of the work that @Dmitry mentions, it is neither appropriate nor ethical your mentor to be the first author and, I can tell you from my experience, that in my field "no journal will accept the paper if the undergrad is the first author" is a total lie. As long as the paper stands as a proper scientific article written appropriately, you can even publish just yourself.
However, as Dmitry mentiones, if your "mentor" advises you throughout the research and writes the article, i.e contributes to the paper, s/he also needs to be a co-author.
But who should be the first author?
Well, that should be determined by the authors; you and your mentor. However, note that, having a second-author paper is way better than no paper. Therefore, don't let the authorship issue to prevent the publication of the research.
Lastly and most importantly, I can advise a clever solution to that authorship dilemma. Why not state who have done what? In your paper, you can list the contributions of each author, so that the author ordering, in a sense, made redundant. This way, even if the paper published with you as the second author, everyone would know what are your contributions and that of your mentor; i.e you have done the work and your mentor advised you.
Addedum 1:
If there is "enough research" done for a proper paper, I would suggest publishing now, since having a publication would greatly help you in your graduate applications. Plus, this way, you wouldn't have to stay in the same university just yo complete & publish a single paper.
Addedum 2:
From your comment to @Dmitry's answers, I suspect that your mentor either lies or s/he is very young and doesn't have much experience. In such a case, I would advise you to discuss the issue with other (more established) faculty members in your department who also work in the same field. In either case, they can talk with your mentor about the issue and advise them. Plus, that would prevent the possibility of damaging your relationship with your mentor while discussing the authorship issues.

no paper is way better than a second-author paper -- I disagree. It depends on particular circumstances and career stage. The choice is with the author.

@DmitrySavostyanov Can you give an example where the opposite might be true or an example where there is no difference between the two cases?

@onurcanbektas can you give an example proving your statement true? Ie not producing a paper is better than being a second author?

If an UG student has 0 papers, then having 1 is a huge step up. If I were looking for a PhD student, I would prefer to hire someone with some publication experience, than with none. And sometimes the research itself is too important - as you said yourself, don't let the authorship issue to prevent the publication of the research.

@SolarMike Just to be on the same page; are you question whether having a publication (hence showing that you have research experience) makes any difference when it comes to graduate school applications (as an exemple)

@DmitrySavostyanov Sorry; I wanted to say the opposite. Apologies for the confusion. See my edit.

@SolarMike Sorry, I wanted to say having a paper is good than not having one.But somehow wrote the opposite.

I very much second putting a contributions section. This will tell much better than authorship order what OP did.

I would very much concur about listing what contributions were made by who, as it also informs the peer review board who is the better point of contact on some topics if any follow ups are needed, and that is an easy way to frame it to be amenable to your mentor. Personally I published a paper in highschool and the professor was more then happy to take last author position so this comes off a bit weird to me personally

To add to your point about author contributions, this is often called the CRediT statement, as suggested by one publisher, Elsevier, here: https://www.elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/policies-and-ethics/credit-author-statement

@NoseKnowsAll thanks for the link; I didn't know what was it called. Nature has also a similar policy: https://www.nature.com/nature-research/editorial-policies/authorship#author-contribution-statements

As someone who finds those credit statements utterly ridiculous, I do not understand why it is such a clever idea: If your supervisor disagrees that you are first author, then they would probably not agree to write down your contribution in a way that says "hey, I did everything and the prof nothing" because the whole world would know then that the prof does not give authorship as they should.

@user111388 The prof. can lie about whether a journal would accept a paper whose first author is an undergrad, but can't possible argue that "we should write that I [the prof.] done the experiments" while in reality the undergrad have done the experiments. In an ideal worlds, author contribution statement clearly indicate who have done what, but in this case, it is just a way to deal with (i.e minimize the above of) the prof.

The prof can lie with this. If they want to be first author, then the contribution section must agree with this, otherwise they are exposed as a lier (or nobody cares about contribution anyways). Moreover, often it is not the case that one person has done exactly 0 and the other exactly 100 percent of say, the experiments (especially if there is a prof supervising a student!) And if one person did 5 and the other 95 percent, it is not clear if both should appear under experiments or not.

If you did all research yourself, then you can be the single author of the publication.
Note that research includes the choice of the problem, the choice of methodology, the data collection and analysis, the evaluation and interpretation of results, and writing and editing of the paper. If you were helped/advised on any of these aspects, your collaborators also deserve to be acknowledged or included as authors. In some areas it is also customary to include/acknowledge the person responsible for provision of lab facilities.
Whether or not you should be the first author or some of your collaborators depend on your relative contributions to the research.  Ideally, this should've been discussed in early days of your collaboration, not after the paper is ready for submission. Nevertheless, if you believe that your contribution is the most significant, you can argue to be the first author. Good luck.
UPD: In response to your comment regarding whether or not it can be a rule that an UG researcher can not be the first author. There is an established notion of authorship, which you can find e.g. on Nature website:

Each author is expected to have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; or have drafted the work or substantively revised it...

As you can see, this definition is linked to contributions to research, not to seniority, etc. Most credible universities adopt this approach to defining authorship.
However, different areas have different traditions regarding the first authorship. For example, in my area (mathematics) it is (was) customary to put all authors alphabetically, which often played against me as my surname is in the second part of the alphabet.
Nevertheless, the rule that an UG researcher can not be the first author seems unfair to me. It is appropriate for you to try to establish what are the terms of reference for this rule and try to challenge it. Try to find a person responsible for research in your university (e.g. Research Office) and ask their support on it.

Thanks for your answer. I don't mind putting her name as coauthor but not the first author. The whole idea was mine, i wrote every single part of the paper except using the programme for statistical analysis and writing down the tables with thise. But she tells me that it is a RULE to undergraduate can never be listed as first authors.

@VisnjaJovanovic So who does she say wrote the "rule"? Her? the journal? the university?

She says that is how it's always done and that it is the rule of journals.

@VisnjaJovanovic No,it's not true. I have never heard of "always done" like that. It depends on contribution/role in biology, and the PI there is usually last. In some topics (math), order of authors is always alphabetical. On the other hand, you have a publication. The order of authors is not that critical, especially if you end up either as first or as last author. If I were to give advice, I would probably let the matter of author order go, author order is not the hill I would recommend dying on.

@Vis "She says that is how it's always done and that it is the rule of journals"

It is not a rule. The professor is scuming her

@SSimon Even if this is true, using such language in academic/professional environment is not likely to be helpful, particularly for an UG student.

@dmitry savostyanov I googled her mentor. She is toxic person. Most of assistant professor (docent) are.

@SSimon I don't appreciate web stalking and blatant over-generalisations.

Anyone can publish if they submit a manuscript that is otherwise acceptable to a journal. I know a case where a high school student (not 100% sure, but I remember I was surprised to find that out a while ago) published in a major journal as the first author with several coauthors, after an internship at a laboratory.
When you submit a manuscript, you have to provide your affiliation information. You may need or want to specify your title (Dr. or Mr./Ms./etc.). You may not be required to specify what your highest degree is.

I’ve seen worse situations than this, where an undergraduate or laboratory technician deserves to be first author and ends up with no credit at all, or just a “thanks to” credit at the end of the paper.
Is this fair or ethical? Of course not — welcome to the real world of academia!  I strongly urge you to grit your teeth, profusely thank your mentor, accept whatever authorship position she allows, and do it with a smile on your face.  It is a big mistake to intentionally alienate or anger anyone who has the potential to harm you professionally; it’s just not worth it over an issue like this.  You don’t want to end up in a situation where you “win the battle, but lose the war.”
If you’ve already submitted the report to the biomedical congress as a first author, and the report is published in print or electronic format, you can legitimately list this on your resume or CV.  Usually, these reports are listed separately from peer-reviewed journals on resumes/CVs.


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A scholarship dilemma
Hello everyone and thank you for your attention!
I have been just offered two different scholarships which are pretty much the same. However, the first one requires me to apply to the university and will be granted only if I am accepted. The second combines an acceptance offer + the scholarship itself (Erasmus +).
I can't be 100% sure that I will meet the requirements of the first scholarship but it appeals to me. Only if I get rejected here (I will know that in several months), I will choose the Erasmus +.
I have just a week to accept Erasmus + and want to have this option if anything goes wrong. Can I now accept their offer and decline it later? How will that affect my academic future or whatever?
Any suggestions on how to deal with that?

A scholarship in the hand is worth two in the bush, or something like that. You have (acceptance+scholarship) in hand. Why would you not take it? What is the attraction to the (scholarship-acceptance)?

You'll want to check the details of the scholarship, probably searching for terms like "deferral", "cancellation", "forfeit", etc. Most large scholarships will have handbooks, FAQs, and maybe even someone you can email directly to ask a question.
Some scholarships/fellowships can be combined, so you can accept more than one, and some can't. This is generally an unusual enough case that you'll need to ask the program administrators for the answer. In the programs I've seen, you are free to cancel or withdraw at any time with the only limitation perhaps being that you may not be able to reapply for that specific program again.
Given that you won't know for a few months, the only thing that might not be a good idea is to reject the scholarship which is offered now, on the hope that you get the other one. Admissions, and especially scholarship money, are never guaranteed until you have been formally offered them.
Based on the limited information here, if I were in your shoes I think I'd take the guaranteed offer now, and then don't worry about it. If you get offered the other scholarship, then inquire at that time with your program and the previously accepted scholarship what your options are. Then, with the new information in hand, choose what is best then, now that you have the offers.

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Should equations be formatted in scientific notation?
I have an equation that has very small coefficients (f(x) = -0.000014x4 + 0.000044x + 0.002782) should I put the whole thing in scientific notation, or can I leave it as-is in a paper? Thanks.

Why not replace f(x) with g(x), where g(x) is a suitable power of 10 times f(x)?

The specific publication you are submitting your paper to may have specific rules for formatting. If not, be consistent and use your consistency to maximize clarity. Is it crucially important that your reader understand the difference between 0.002782 and 0.000278? If so, scientific notation may be helpful. Otherwise, all those extra zeroes may be fine where they are.

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Terminology & description: what are the steps after A Levels
I'm a science student currently doing my A levels under EDEXCEL from Bangladesh. I've never really paid attention to or had any counseling about career paths and the steps necessary to finish my studies. I'm even completely clueless about the questions to ask here.
What i particularly want to know about the name and elaborate description about an engineering and Business administration career path. I have loosely heard about terms under graduate, post graduate, masters, Honors, BSc, MBA etc and I have no idea what they are.
If someone would give me an explanation about the whole system I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance to anyone for even directing me to a guideline to learn this things.

This question may be off-topic (might be classified as undergraduate specific). And can you elaborate on what you mean by "finish my studies"? Some people finish their education with A Levels.

A word of warning before I start: while this answer gives the broad strokes, these names and definitions can fluctuate from country to country and field to field. Since we are on Academia SE, this answer is also biased towards reaching a career in academia. If you think you are more likely to want a job in industry, then higher degrees such as Masters or PhDs are often unnecessary.
A Levels
The highest qualification that can be gained during compulsory education in Britain. Students generally take 3 or 4 specialised subjects for 2 years, to prepare them for a job, apprenticeship or university. As you know, this qualification is also found elsewhere e.g. Bangladesh (similar to how IGCSEs are now used around the world).
Undergraduate
A term which refers to both a first degree and the person who is taking it, for example, "I did my undergraduate at University X" or "I am an undergraduate in physics". Often shortened to "undergrad" (in the UK).
Post-graduate
A term which refers to someone who has obtained their undergraduate degree i.e. they are post-graduation, and is now studying for a post-graduate degree, for example a Masters or PhD. Someone who has obtained their undergraduate degree but is not pursuing further study would be referred to as a graduate.
BSc/ BA
These are types of undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts). These are normally obtained after three or more years of study in a university (aka college in the USA). The type of degree depends on your field of study, for instance, a History degree might be a BA, whereas a Biology degree would be a BSc.
MSc/ MSci/ MA/ MFA/ MBA
These are all types of Masters degrees, typically lasting one year or more and taken after an undergraduate degree. Sometimes these are completely coursework based and simply teach the student more specialised knowledge about a particular subfield; sometimes they are research based and designed to prepare the student for a career in research.
PhD
The highest academic qualification. People with this degree can use the title of "Doctor". Can last anywhere between 3 years (Europe) to 5+ years (USA). Generally there is little to no coursework and the degree is obtained by performing original research and by defending a thesis.
Honours degrees
This is a very loose term that can mean different things in different universities and countries. At my university, to graduate with Honours means that you didn't fail any courses during your degree.
Advice
I would highly recommend speaking to your teachers or any kind of career advisor at your school about what you should do once you have finished your A Levels. For a career in engineering, I think a BSc would be the minimum requirement (business administration I'm not so sure about).


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Generally how much time is spent in reviewing an undergraduate/graduate applications to universities
Generally, how much time does a professor grant to review a single application?
With thousands of applications, how is it ensured that each application is given proper weightage and importance because applying filters might not always work.
Some person who is good at one thing, might not be for the other. So predefined filters would act against him.

Undergraduate and graduate applications are completely different. You should ask about one at a time. Although undergrad applications are not reviewed by professors.

@AzorAhai - and undergrad admissions is specifically off-topic here.

@JonCuster I always interpreted that as questions like "Am I good enough for University of X?" I think procedural questions could be answered, but didn't want to start that debate.

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Should I include title of posters and presentations on CV?
I'm a Ph.D. candidate in physical chemistry. I have 13 posters and presentations on my CV, with a couple more upcoming. Right now, they each are listed as a bullet point on one line, in a format like this:

Northwest Regional Meeting (NORM) of the ACS             Oral presentation, Jun. 2019
National Meeting of the American Chemical Society           Poster session, Apr. 2017

Does this look ok? Specifically, should I include the titles of the presentations? I have seen titles on some CVs but I am worried about adding any unnecessary volume to my CV since it is currently at a tight 4 pages.
Aside from my specific question, I would welcome any other feedback about this format.

Addendum: I noticed after submitting my question that the lines were wrapped. The "Poster session, Apr. 2017" portion in my CV is right-justified and on the same line as the rest of the info.

I wouldn't list titles, especially if it takes an extra line to do so. Titles of papers/preprints are important but I don't think presentation titles are - presumably you were talking about something from your list of papers, and I can't see why it would matter exactly what. My impression (though this could be field dependent, and I am not in your field) is that most people don't include titles, particularly if they have more than three or four presentations.
I would use a numbered list rather than bullet points, though - if someone cares about the number of presentations, you may as well make it easy for them.

What is in the CV is up to you, but I'd suggest listing the titles. As it is, it isn't informative to the reader.
I'd also suggest, since you are worried about length, to separate these out into a section and list it at (near?) the end so that a reader can stop when they like but see more important things (papers) if they come earlier.
Presentations seem to me to be at least a bit more important than posters (field dependent).

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How to handle requests to draft your own grad school recommendation letter when the application explicitly forbids this?
As discussed previously, having applicants draft their own recommendation letters (or at least provide inputs) seems to be quite a common practice.
However, I have noticed that a few (American) universities require applicants to affirm that they "will not write any portion or have any involvement in [the] drafting, translating, or submission" of their letters.
What is the best way to handle this? In particular: if a professor requests a drafted letter, would it be proper for the student to provide the draft while indicating that the draft should not be used for schools with the above clause?

This seems to be more of an "aspiration" rather than a rule. There is no enforcement mechanism possible, since it is the professors that submit the letters that control the process. It is probably also counterproductive in the sense that the "top researchers" in the field who would produce the best reference letters are also likely to be the busiest and most likely to ask students for a draft of a letter, or at least a list of accomplishments that might be mentioned.
I can visualize a situation in which a student asks  for a letter and the professor says "write a first draft" and the student then says, "but, but, but,..." and the professor says "Just. Do. It.".
I don't want to suggest ignoring such instructions, but other things should be balanced against it. I also don't want to suggest lying about it if asked.
And note that it is the professor who puts their own reputation on the line in any recommendation, no matter how it is created.

Students writing drafts, however, is a different issue than students directly submitting the letters. That can be enforced.

Thank you for the detailed response. Would you say the drafting is sufficient reason to not submit an application? For the specific case in question, I did not see the non-involvement statement until final review, and it's likely too late for alternates. While a draft was applicant-provided, I have no knowledge to what extent it was used. Considering sending a note to the department informing them accordingly or altogether not applying to the place in question.

My advice would be, if at all possible, to find another referee.
The culture around writing references does indeed seem to vary somewhat, which is precisely why some institutions feel the need to specify a non-involvement clause. This suggests that the institutions in question feel it is important and are making a serious effort to avoid the potential for misunderstandings arising from “cultural differences”.
You say (in a comment to another answer) that “I did not see the non-involvement statement until final review”, but I would be very surprised if the institution’s website had not articulated these expectations around references on the “information for applicants” pages somewhere. So, it is probably your fault.
Another answer suggests that you can probably get away with the candidate-drafted reference, but keep in mind that you would be telling a direct lie on a formal application form about a matter that the institution deems at least somewhat important; if you are ever caught, it could have serious consequences for you, including revocation of an offer or expulsion from the institution.
Finally, I think it is worth saying that the idea of a candidate drafting a reference is quite widely regarded as anathema, so you should be uncomfortable about doing it even if the institution had not asked you to confirm non-involvement. You say that candidate drafting “seems to be quite a common practice”, but is it a practice declared openly? Personally, I have never heard of a referee saying “This reference has been drafted by the candidate, before being edited and approved by me.”.
Practices that are acceptable might include:

referee showing the reference to the candidate (after having sent it);
referee dictating short character reference (one or two sentences) to a candidate, then signing it;
one person (not the candidate) writes reference, but another, more senior one signs it (in some institutions, it is common for the director to sign all references, but to delegate the actual writing of the references to someone else).

And it is quite common for a referee to ask the candidate whether there are any particular aspects to highlight or downplay (but without any actual reference content being exchanged). The reason for this is because the candidate may have a clearer idea of what the institution is seeking.

Just coming back to this, I was not suggesting to go ahead with it in the current state. Rather, I was curious whether I should inform the department of the situation and if it can be considered in light of that, or otherwise I would just not submit the application altogether.
I ended up speaking to the university's admissions and had my reference writer treat the initial document as a topic suggestion rather than a draft, which both sides were fine with.

I disagree with finding another reference. Asking to draft a letter is not only easier for professors but also helps students reevaluate the relationship/collaboration student had with the referee. Since the referee has the full right to revise the letter to the extent they are comfortable, it should not be a big problem. Even though students draft a letter, professors are putting their recognition at risk while submitting the letter. So, professors are fully aware and pay attention to what they want to tell before submitting.


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Students admit illicit behavior in private communication: how should I proceed?
I am an adjunct professor at a University for a course where the students have to use a certain software "X" during the course. The software is distributed under a proprietary license; our University has bought a number of licenses, which have been made available for the students. Due to COVID restrictions, I am delivering the course online.
Recently, I have received a couple of... questionable emails from students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X.

One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country.
Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.

Note that, in both cases, I did not inquire about these issues: they simply mentioned them matter-of-factly.
On the one hand, I realize it is not my job to investigate this kind of behavior; I am not sure I should report it, as I do not even have solid proof. On the other hand, not mentioning at all the legal ramifications in my email replies to the students can be seen as "letting it slide" or even condoning such behavior.
How should I proceed? I am inclined towards reprimanding admonishing the students (privately).
Note: This is not a question about the ethics of software piracy or of flouting social distancing regulations, but about the proper response to illicit behavior (which I have not personally witnessed) that happens off-campus. I am not completely sure that the students' conduct in this case is illicit, though I believe it is questionable at best.

Comments are not for extended discussion, nor for answers; this conversation has been moved to chat. Please see this FAQ before posting another comment.

Are you just looking for general advice about responding to admissions about illegal behaviour, or are you looking for advice specific to [tag:covid-19]?

I think it's reasonable for you not to support these circumstances, but also no need for you to report/escalate the situation to compel some change in behavior.
In your place I'd advise your students A) that you cannot help with installation of non-standard copies, and B) you can't be responsible if the non-standard software they use prevents them from completing assignments on time (you can choose to be more forgiving if and when these circumstances actually occur).
However, if students are in fact having trouble installing software provided to them by the university (rather than side stepping some additional fees) then I think it's your responsibility to address that root cause first. If you can't get support through the vendor, then this is the issue I'd escalate instead. Your university bought licenses and should either provide support for these sorts of technical issues or expect support from the vendor. Your university can complain to the company they purchased licenses from if that company isn't providing sufficient technical support, or make sure they provide sufficient support themselves.
If there is some additional fee, then you should consider whether that fee is really appropriate and whether there are alternatives.
Lastly, on the Covid-19 issue... I think it's important to be wary of judging others who may need to bend the rules a bit for extenuating circumstances. Breaking restrictions to party is one thing, doing so to access school resources sounds like the most non-issue circumstance you're going to encounter as an educator. Maybe he's really visiting the colleague because they have no sufficient internet access at home, or doesn't have a computer or the funds to buy one. Needing to visit someone else to work on coursework sounds incredibly inconvenient - I doubt anyone is doing such a thing without a reason beyond "I felt like it". Maybe it's not your business to ask, maybe it's something you can ask compassionately about in case there is something you can do to help, but this is not the situation to consider escalating towards some sort of "consequences".

Re: support. In almost all cases, particularly with teaching licenses, the university got a massive discount with the caveat that the manufacturer doesn't provide support, or if any support, it would be placed in the back of the queue.

@user71659 In that case typically the university is taking over the support role. Especially for something as simple as getting the purchased software installed. My own institution has quite extensive if not overly pedantic instructions on installation of all the software they provide broadly on every sort of system on which it is supported. I will tweak my answer though to emphasize university support as well.

More of a cynical comment re support: This is reasonable for "special software" (as, luckily, in the OPs case) but good luck getting support for distributed Windows licenses or other "standard" software (WebEx/Zoom).  In my experience there's rarely anything better than "tried turning it off and on again?"

@BryanKrause That's often the problem, in my experience. The TA and Professor often have the "answer", so they can easily identify student errors like your boundary conditions are wrong or your timesteps are too high. However, nobody is a software developer who knows about Visual C runtime conflicts or OpenGL driver bugs, so installation and first run is where things get hung up.

Let me translate:

I am an adjunct professor at a University for a course where the students have to use a certain software "X" during the course.

For your course, Students must use the software.

students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X

The software provided by you is not working.

One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country. Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.

Because the software is not working, students are forced to bend or break the rules. So:

You teach the course. You need to know. These students are doing the right thing, they report a problem with the course, including ramifications. Others might also have problems, might have found a workaround, but they remain silent.

It's a cry for help. That they have to bend or break the rules conveys the urgency. They need your help to rectify the situation.

If they get into trouble because of their actions, the mails will prove that they were actively working on solving the problems.

COVID is forcing us all to improvise. It is impossible to always follow the ever changing rules, and people sometimes get reprimanded or fined for slight transgressions. We need to love and help each other.
If you want to mention these problems, you might state that it was imposed on them by the current situation, then proceed to how you are going to help.

+1 for relating the behaviour to the course requirements.

"the mails will prove that they were actively working on solving the problems."
The mails prove (in the legal terms) only two things:

they breached some rule;
the OP knew about them breaching rules.
Then yes, in more abstract terms, the mail shows they were asking for help and trying to solve the problem. I agree with your answer.

There should be a double upvote option for this answer. Getting people in trouble because they are forced to improvise in a system that does not let them operate as dictated by that very same system does not exactly constitute helping them.

@UTF-8 Bounties can be used for this- you put one on the question and award it to the answer as a "mega-upvote".

Exactly.  If someone pirates software that's legally available to them don't look at the piracy, look for why they felt they needed to take that option.  There's probably something in the licensing system that's going wrong (any other incompatibility would likely cause the same problem for the pirate version) and they either don't know who to contact for help or whatever help is available isn't doing their job.

I'm thinking that "reprimand" may be the wrong idea here, and certainly in isn't your responsibility to police their behavior and report them to higher authority.
You can, however, remind them of the responsibilities inherent in ethical and safe behavior and recommend that they not cross lines that an honest person wouldn't. I think that is the limit of it, and it might be a message that you could/should deliver to everyone.
But, I'm a bit worried about the COVID restrictions issue. Without knowing more than what you wrote, it is possible that two people use the same computer at different times, and so don't break any separation/isolation rules. On the other hand, working together might be breaking academic rules as well as pandemic restrictions, depending on your class.
But, in general, your main job is to teach people, and I don't just mean the subject of the course. Teaching about how to learn effectively and how to behave ethically may also be important to consider. The students might come out better if you treat them a bit gently, while still giving them proper, if uncomfortable, guidance.

Again (see my comments to the original question) I realize that reprimand is really the wrong word for what I wanted to say. I agree with reminding them of ethical responsibilities, but I am not convinced I should send the message to everyone (if only student Y has done this, they could feel accused in front of his colleagues even without mentioning their name).

In any case, +1 for "your main job is to teach people", a sentiment I definitely agree with

@GioMott, the best way to remind everyone is in the course syllabus or other standard materials. Even a university honor code. Nip it in the bud, as they say.

I dont think there is any particular academic practice or advice that can be offered to help you here.  Whether or not you take action to report potentially unlawful behaviours (of two very different kinds) is a practical and ethical decision that will involve a lot of factors that are specific to your situation and your personal views.  There is certainly no requirement for academic staff to act as enforcement personnel for general legal rules that are outside the scope of their academic duties, so I see no professional obligation to take action in either case.  (It would of course be a different matter if you were talking about enforcement of a university rule or policy.)
It is certainly open to you to take action in your general "mentoring" role to students, so if you feel like this warrants a stern talking to, I think you should feel free to do that.  There can some benefit to alerting students to problematic aspects of the things they are doing, and how you would act differently, so I don't think it matters that it is not strictly your job.
If it were me, I would see the software piracy as largely a victimless action, since the student should already be able to access the software through the university anyway.  For the breach of Covid distancing restrictions, there are a lot of contextual factors that would be important, but most especially the level of cases in your area and the consequent public danger created by breaches of the restrictions.  (I am located in Canberra, Australia, where we have had virtually zero cases for the past year, so if I saw someone breaking distancing restrictions here, I wouldn't care.)  You may have different circumstances to me, or different views on the seriousness of the prohibited conduct, so ultimately, this will be something you have to grapple with on the basis of your own beliefs.

How should I proceed? I am inclined towards reprimanding the students (privately).
Note: this is not a question about the ethics of software piracy or of flouting social distancing regulations, but about the proper response to illicit behavior (which I have not personally witnessed) that happens off-campus.

The ethics of this behaviour should be a key part of your response.
The question states that the behaviour was off-campus. This answer assumes that the behaviour was not connected to the university in any other way (not part of a university event, not using university resources etc).
This answer also assumes that there is no legal requirement to report this type of behaviour, as this is something we cannot help with anyway.
So the only reason to respond to this behaviour at all is that you want to act as a mentor to the students – that is, you want to give them advice, rather than “reprimands”. The fact that the behaviour is illegal (assuming that the behaviour is in fact illegal) is hardly sufficient for this type of advice. Illegal acts are everywhere, from distributing decades-old games without the consent of the copyright owner (which has huge potential legal penalties, yet is generally accepted and generally harmless) to tailgating (also generally accepted, despite being potentially deadly). You cannot possibly give advice about such behaviour without considering the significance of the potential legal penalties and the ethics of the behaviour.

How should I proceed?

Set boundaries. Make it clear that your role here is solely to give advice – unless it turns out that you are required to report the behaviour or take some other action, in which case you should make that clear, too.
Ensure the students are aware of the relevant laws. Perhaps, first, you should ensure that you are aware of the relevant laws (I am not quite sure what you mean by “quite sure”). Also ensure the students are aware of the potential penalties available under those laws.
Explain why you are having this discussion. The mere fact that you are having this discussion implies that you also consider the behaviour to be unethical. Perhaps you do, or perhaps you just want to warn the students of possible legal consequences. Either way, make it clear to the students.
If sufficient information is available, guide the students towards acceptable alternatives that still meet the students’ legitimate objectives.

Other users have given good reasons that both of the behaviours you mentioned may be reasonable in the circumstances, but this answer makes no specific comments on this point, as it is specifically excluded from the scope of this question.

They informed you in good faith that they were not able to install the appropriate software and had to resort to other options. So it appears they were looking to you to help them with the issue so that they could get a legal copy of the software.
imo, your primary concern should be to make the tools for the course available to the student rather than worrying about this rule-breaking.
When things don't work as expected, people have to improvise and sometimes break rules unfortunately. You haven't given them any appropriate options. I mean what are the students supposed to do here? Should they just skip the course and fail?
My advice is to fix the real issue. The lack of access to the proper software. Fix the issues that are forcing the students to resort to these other options. Or give them some other options. They shouldn't have been put in this position in the first place.
As far as admonishment, I don't know about the software issue. Don't know which country you're in, and how big a legal issue this is.
As far as the COVID thing, are you sure they were doing anything wrong? If they wash hands and use masks, I don't see why it's not allowed. I personally would be very careful about "admonishment". I'd phrase it much more in terms of concern for the health of the students rather than "putting them down". Unless you're sure they are breaking some specific law, I'd just advise them to follow appropriate COVID protocols. I personally would be offended if I was put down for doing my best in a difficult situation set down by the parameters of the course.

+1 for the general gist – fix the real issue – but I would caution against making assumptions about COVID-19 rules. There have certainly been times in my country when home visitors were restricted or banned under COVID-19 rules; this is no longer the case, because my country is managing the pandemic well, but I would not be surprised if it is the case in other countries.

If I were you I would not report these students, but I will not try to justify this here (this has been discussed in other answers and I don't think I have anything relevant to add to that). On the other hand, what I would consider doing is suggesting to these students that they consider being slightly more careful what sort of information they share in communication with their teachers (for their own sake).
As shown by existence of this thread, there is also another aspect of this issue: action of students has put the teacher in uncomfortable position. For this reason it could be seen as slightly inappropriate, but this is a question about etiquette, not ethics.
This small answer was initially posted as a comment, but it was suggested to me that posting as an answer might be more suitable.

Actually, you seem to have expanded on your comment slightly, with the statement about “etiquette”. It is this statement that confuses me, because it makes it sound like your suggested discretion is for the teacher’s benefit. Originally, I thought it was for the student’s benefit (don’t tell people you did bad things; you might get in trouble!). Could you expand a bit on why students should be more careful about sharing information?

Initially I had only students' interest in mind. On second thought there is another aspect, though: as shown by the fact that this thread exists, action of these students has put the teacher in uncomfortable position. For this reason it could be regarded as inappropriate. Whether this is true is a discussion in etiquette, not ethics, I think.

For the guy pirating software....
Students are often doing the best they can with what they have. Sometimes the software you give them legally through the class isn't working for them. So, they go pirate a full software suite or something. (EG: had some folks in my IS grad that pirated full versions of SAS & Tableau).
As long as they're getting the work done for the class, and it meets the standards of the exercise(s), then let it slide.
But, email them and let them know that in the working world, using pirated software is going to be a major issue.
Projects in the working world are designed to generate profit. If all your profit (and then some) is eaten up by a lawsuit for using pirated / illegally licensed / etc software, code libs, etc... then "that guy" is not going to be employed for very long.
In the working world, I've seen folks get stuck with some garbage software their company gave them, so they pirated a software suite to secretly do better work. (EG: back when internet first showed up, some guys at a job site were stuck using notepad & ms paint as their web-design tool for a dept's intranet. They pirated a version of Dreamworks & Fireworks to create the intranet site for the dept.)
The person using the pirated / illegal software has to take it upon themself to know when they're crossing the line.
IE: using a pirated one-off software to do something real fast.. ok, fine. But, including a pirated piece of software as Standard Operating Procedure at the company.. not gonna fly if someone does a software audit.
EG: if someone pirated the full version of winZip, and used it to unzip something. Ok, whatever. But, if they use it to script a solution where they get some zipped-up data transfer files, use winZip scripting to automate an unzip and pass-off to another process as part of their ETL (extract, transform, load) data process they kit-bashed together... yeah, that could potentially be a lawsuit or fine waiting to happen.
So, just warn the student that using pirated software is ok as long as they get the assignments done, but be more careful / diligent in the working world.
For the folks sharing the software... I'd ask that they prove they each did their own work.
That might be hard if it's an assignment where everything should look the same.
EG: we did SAP homeworks in info sys class. Everyone's outcome, if done properly, would look the same. But, everyone had to use their own modules and stuff, so prof could easily see who was doing the work and not.
If it's some code, you'll just naturally have folks in coding classes sharing code. It's ok if folks brainstorm together on some code. That's how programmers work.
What's NOT ok, is if one student is doing all the work, and then a bunch of other students are expecting them to hand it off to them so they can turn it in as their own.
Had a major issue of that in a java class, where some foreign exchange students were treating one of the students like their slave labor. When everyone shows up with the same code, same variable names, etc... yeah, that's not gonna fly.
But, if those two students have to share the software, b/c one of them can't get it to run on their computer, or doesn't have a computer with specs good enough to run it, etc... well,... again, students gotta do what they gotta do to get by. Students aren't made of money, and often they're choosing the "least crappiest" situation, not the best situation to get things done in.
Ideally, the software you're making them use would be loaded on the computer lab computers, but I'm guessing computer lab's shut down due to COVID.
So, students gotta do what they gotta do to pass the class.
These are extraordinary times that require a little extra leeway.

You only have two lines addressing what the OP should do (emphasis added): (1) As long as they're getting the work done … let it slide. (2) But, email them and let them know that … using pirated software is going to be a major issue. // These two lines seem to contradict each other. But even worse, the rest of the post is very unclear. It seems to be saying “using copyrighted software without a licence is fine, as long as you do not get caught, but if you do get caught, then it is a major problem”. Is that really the message you want to send?

@BrianDrake: (1) don't punish them, (2) do warn them.

To me, “let it slide” means “ignore completely”. This seems to be a reasonable interpretation. This interpretation is reinforced by the context: there is obviously no basis for punishing the students in the first place, since (as far as we can tell) their behaviour was outside the university’s jurisdiction, so why would an answer say “do not punish them”?

@NateEldredge Forgot to ping you.

Your legal position is now shaky (country-dependent). You know of criminal behavior: what makes you an accomplice in criminal behavior?
However, you should ask to have a chat in person with the students. Afterwards write per email the reprimand (think about leaving a trace that save yourself from being accused of supporting the use of unlicensed software).
Regarding the OP: I know spending time to design a course is extremely tedious.
But if the students are taking this course, and the course needs this software, why the course is not sponsored by the company providing the software?
The company is getting trained workforce that will bring the software knowledge in the private world. Are the teachers working for the company or for the students? Can they teach the student the same set of skills without using this software, or at minimum providing an alternative to who does not want to use it?
Side&personal  note: my career has benefitted a lot from the choice I had in the year '9x ... a rather crazy TA offered us the opportunity of attending a certain courses with the support of:

MATLAB
Python

I do not say one is right and one is wrong. I just say I benefitted a lot from the crazy TA spending time to explain the same thing over and over with two different approaches ... and at the time the license issue was a non-issue ... almost no-one had a personal computer!

Most of this post is about software publishers sponsoring courses, but it is not clear how this is relevant. This question is mainly about how to respond to admissions of illegal behaviour generally. Surely there are other questions where this would be more relevant. In any case, for all we know, this course is already sponsored (sponsorship ≠ technical support).

@BrianDrake "this is not a question about the ethics [...], but about the proper response to illicit behavior"
What best response than trying to avoid to put the students in the need of illicit behavior (even for "meaningful" reasons, such as retaking the course and license expired, laptop trouble with the license verifications etc.).
Do you limit yourself to "How to respond to illegal behavior"? straightforward: contact a lawyer (see my 1st line), unless you enjoy the prospect of hefty fine, job dismissal and in unlucky cases even jail-time

Aiming to prevent illegal behaviour in the first place is reasonable, but it is not clear that this is your aim. You should say so. And you should demonstrate how your proposed measures will achieve this aim (like I said above, sponsorship ≠ technical support, and using different software does not guarantee that there will be no technical issues). Your first line does not actually say “contact a lawyer”. If that is what you mean, that is what you should say.

@BrianDrake For what I know from OP he can be living in a place where universities are directed by clergymen and no lawyer can enter in them. The reasonable answer to my question "what makes you an accomplice in criminal behavior?" in western oligarchies, such as the US [Gilens and Page, 2014], is "contact a lawyer", but it may not be the case if the OP lives in a teocracy or other system-ruled countries.
Sponsorhsip /neq tech support, but for sure OP states "our University has bought" which then trigger my suggestion/rant.

-1 Again, none of this is in the answer! Answers should make sense on their own, without requiring a sequence of comments like this. Please use that “Edit” button under the post to improve it.

It's a discussion among adults. The answer makes sense on its own to whom can make a sense out of it without the need of being pampered. I am not working for SO, so I contribute the bare minimum.
I am just raising the flag about the shaky legal situation the OP may find him/herself: may or may not be considered accomplice, depending on the location. If I start making different exceptions because the opening questions is too broad, then I end up with a useless long answer. And I just hint at a way out of this absurd situation.

Recently, I have received a couple of... questionable emails from students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X.

Universities | colleges | schools frequently have an Information Technology (IT) department with full-time staff who are paid to help students manage problems like this.  Ask for support from the IT department, if you can.  For example, the IT department might assist you in creating a "how to" document that describes the correct procedure for obtaining, installing, and configuring the software for your course.
The software might require "floating" licenses that are issued from a dedicated software license server computer that is connected to the University's intranet. Access to that license server computer from off-campus locations might be restricted to users who are authorized to connect to the university's virtual private network (VPN) concentrator.  Again, the IT department should be able to help with this.

One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country.

In my opinion, there's little you can do about this. If student M does not have a working computer or does not have Internet access, and another student N (who is M's classmate) decides to let M share N's computer during your online lectures, I'd be okay with that.  But I would try to determine who M and N are so that you can monitor and verify that M and N are not submitting homework solutions that are identical or nearly identical, for example.

Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.

In the United States, for example, unauthorized reproduction of a computer program is considered theft illegal; see also the references section below.  As a defensive measure, I would send the student an email that mentions this so that you are on record as saying you do not condone this behavior.
I also recommend that you review your university's published rules regarding student accountability and academic (dis)honesty.  Remind the student that s/he has a responsibility to comply with the university's student accountability rules to remain in good standing with the university.  In most countries, software theft is considered both a tort and a crime, and admitting to the commission of a tort (copyright infringement) or criminal offense (software theft) could jeopardize the student's standing with the university.
Also, review your university's faculty handbook (or code of conduct, whatever it is called) to determine your responsibilities in this scenario.

EDIT 1
For persons living in the United States and its territories, see also:

FindLaw Attorney Writers, "Software Computer Piracy and Your Business," Business Operations, Nov. 10, 2017 [Online]. Available: https://corporate.findlaw.com/business-operations/software-computer-piracy-and-your-business.html

Rain Minns Law Firm, "Misdemeanor Copyright Infringement," "Felony Copyright Infringement," and "More Government Prison Strategies," Software Piracy and other Criminal Copyright Infringement, 2021 [Online]. Available: https://www.rainminnslaw.com/software_piracy.html

United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Intellectual Property Theft/Piracy," White-Collar Crime [Online]. Available: https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/white-collar-crime/piracy-ip-theft

17 U.S.C. § 506 - Criminal Offenses

17 U.S.C. § 1201 - Circumvention of copyright protection systems

United States Congress, No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, Public Law 105–147—DEC. 16, 1997 [Online]. Available: https://www.congress.gov/105/plaws/publ147/PLAW-105publ147.pdf

etc.

-1 for suggesting the OP pry into students’ off-campus living and working arrangements. Following a course together with fellow classmates should be normal, and is no way indicative of cheating. Also -1 for suggesting that copyright violations (which is what unauthorised reproductions of software are) are “theft”. Theft is generally a crime and copyright violations are generally crimes, but no legal system that I am aware of tries to equate them, despite what your clearly biased source claims. (Discussing the criminal aspects is fine, just use the proper words.)

@BrianDrake, courts in the United States do indeed regard "theft" and "infringement" as separate crimes.  Nevertheless, the term "intellectual property theft" vis-à-vis copyrights is a commonly used synonym for "copyright infringement".  My unqualified use of the word "theft" was intended to mean "intellectual property theft." But in hindsight, I agree that I should have explicitly stated "intellectual property theft" to avoid ambiguity.  I've revised my post to remove and replace that particular statement.

If you feel you want to take some kind of action then consider the primary market for the software in question.
From the perspective of a company selling commercial software you'd be out out your mind to prosecute student piracy because it's the fastest way to get your hooks into the companies that will employ them. In the eighties and nineties Microsoft actively encouraged student adoption of its products. A blind eye was turned to even the most blatant piracy because Microsoft knew that the moment students transitioned to a professional context

they would want the software they were used to
they would have a lot to lose from the consequences of prosecution
there would be budget for software

In those days, had you reported student misconduct to Microsoft, they would have thanked you and carefully lost the information. The students were handling marketing and distribution for them at no charge and without support costs. The most profitable way to handle the situation was make it easy for them to do and look the other way.
How do you report it to a company that would prefer not to know?

Based on correspondence it appears that some students are having difficulty in remaining fully compliant with licence terms. [Explain problem scenario.] If you have any suggestions as to how best to remedy the situation they would be welcomed.

They'll either delete that immediately or tell you how to sort it out.
If the software is strictly for academic consumption it's a very different story. In that case some of these other answers apply and it's on you and your department to enable the student access to services.

-1 “If your awareness of the situation is discoverable you are obliged to take action.” In general, you are not obliged to act on something just because you are aware of it. Such obligations would be very problematic. Such an obligation might exist in this specific situation, but we have no way of telling. Also, other answers have specifically said that such an obligation does not exist in this situation, and no one has disputed this. In any case, even if the statement I quoted were known to be true, the reasoning behind this should be included in the answer.

If you know and people know you know, and you do nothing, you are complicit. I wasn't talking about legal obligation. You can tell by the way I didn't say "legally obliged".

I've removed the paragraph that bothers you, it's not important to the points I wanted to make. Now you have no justification for the downvote.

So what's the second unexplained downvote for? To express your disdain for the truth?

(1/2) As an experienced Stack Exchange user, you should be aware that providing feedback on downvotes is explicitly optional. Nevertheless, I will provide some feedback here (and it does not involve “disdain for the truth”). Firstly, you have to read far into the answer to understand its relevance to the question – all the way down to the quoted paragraph. Even then, it is, at best, only relevant to half the question.

(2/2) I say “at best” because you talk about the “eighties and nineties” but do not explain how that relates to 2020 and 2021 (the pandemic). The quote itself is difficult to understand – it is an answer to the question right above it, but when we read that question by itself, it looks like a hypothetical question. And it does not address the (highly likely) possibility that the students would also prefer for the company to not know. Reporting behaviour like this, when there is no obligation to do so and the students have not been warned about it, sets a terrible precedent.


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What Is A Typical Computer Science Ph.D. Interview Like?
I had my very first-ever interview for a Ph.D. position (program analysis) in computer science in Germany today. Well, after sending my application, I was asked to prepare a two-page research statement which I was given positive feedback on and, consequently, was invited to take an interview so that "[...] You will be asked some non-technical and some technical questions, including some programming questions". In the interview, and after saying hi, how are you, and tell me a little about yourself, the professor started firing algorithmic questions towards me. He even asked me to implement an algorithm for a string manipulation question in firepad.
Well, I wasn't prepared to be asked directly about coding and finding working algorithms for specific problems and, unfortunately, my mind went completely blank. I thought an interview would include conceptual technical questions like tell us about your ideas in our field of research or tell us about your master's thesis or at least I'd expected to be asked some programming questions like what is the difference between this and that in Java or tell us about collections in Java. My question is now:
Does a typical Ph.D. interview in computer science really include such detailed questions? or I was a very unlucky person that my first ever interview went this way?

There really is no "typical" interview protocol for CS PhD positions. The kinds of questions asked will mostly depend on the qualities and skills that the PI deems relevant for the position. If the work requires specialized technical knowledge, it's possible that the PI will try to test this knowledge, and programming tasks are a valid way of doing that.
In your case, one could argue that the PI slightly miscommunicated the contents of the interview, since a programming task is arguably not a programming question.

There might not even be questions... the interviewee might be the one guiding what gets said in the visit/interview.

The distinction between a "programming task" or a "programming question" is meaningless in this context. Certainly, asking an interviewee to implement a typical string manipulation algorithm is within the realm of reasonable topics one can expect to encounter in an interview. The real question the OP should be asking is "how can I improve my whiteboarding skills so that the next time this happens, I am prepared?". Cracking the Coding interview remains a great resource for practicing these kinds of "programming etudes".

@Our_Benefactors Well, whether that's a worthwhile question to ask, let alone the "real" question, seems to depend very much on the answer to the present question.

"Does a typical Ph.D. interview in computer science really include such detailed questions?" Yes. 2. "I was a very unlucky person that my first ever interview went this way?" No.

As mentioned in the answer of lighthouse keeper, there is no typical protocol for such interviews. But I'd like to add that the questions in interviews not only depend on the requirements of a position, but also the past experiences of the PI.
Doing a PhD in CS typically means to come up with some new ideas to solve problems of interest to the academic community and to then validate that these ideas are good. In fields with an applied component, this often means to implement the ideas in one form or the other. In program analysis, this often means to implement the ideas in research prototype program analysis tools.
This means that a successful PhD student should be able to

come up with new ideas to a field of research (normally the one in which the PI works)
being able to implement them.

It is good for both student and PI if only applicants are accepted for which it is reasonably certain that they can do both. This is because doing a PhD in an acceptable time frame is tough. Even skilled candidates pretty much never finish their PhDs in three years (which is the norm on paper in Germany but not in practice). If the work in the "coming up with ideas" or "implementation" categories takes longer because of a lack of skills acquired in the past, then this can easily mean that this part takes two-fold to ten-fold as much time. And then there is no way to finish the PhD on time and depending on where the funding for the position comes from, the PI may also run into trouble with the funding source (they want to see results!).
While the ten-fold figure is surely drastic, I believe it to be realistic for the implementation part, though. Programming is hard initially and then later one becomes more proficient. Implementing a scientific idea means that you implement something whose implications you haven't fully understood. You want to keep your mind open and constantly think during every step of the implementation whether what you are doing is really what solves the problem. Often, during the implementation, you found out that you forgot an aspect during the conceptualization of the new idea. But you only find that out when you are able to focus on what you are doing. If you lack programming skills, then your mind will be busy with fighting the programming language and basic algorithms concepts while you are at the same time doing something quite difficult. This is like learning to drive during a race.
Now obviously you acquire new skills during your PhD, which will help you speed up your work over time. But the basic programming and problem solving skills are normally learned quite early on during a CS course of study (normally in the B.Sc.), and catching on later will take a lot of time - time that makes you unproductive in the first couple of years, as there is also a lot of research that other people did in the field to catch up with. And this is incompatible with an academic system in which you are expected to work on research from day 1 during your PhD studies (as it is the case in Germany). There are no courses (except in some structured programs)!
Note that it is possible that the PI had a student in the past who had to drop out because of implementation work not going well. Then it's not surprising that such questions are included in an interview.


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Which page range do you cite in an article in IEEE proceedings?
In biblatex I have cited using @inproceedings with pages={3310--3317}. I myself only used a pdf of the article, which does not contain page numbers. Since I cite the article directly and not the book, do I cite the page range 1-7 or 3310-3317 in the text itself?

You cite in such a way that somebody else can actually find the article. Since it is in a proceedings volume, one would use that actual numbers used in the proceedings.

If the proceedings actually have page numbers, cite the page range in which the article appears.
However, it is becoming more and more common for many conferences to not have bundled proceedings with page numbers (also in electronic form), and so all the articles have no page numbers or they have the same fictitious page numbers (e.g. with starting page 1 for all the articles). In this case, page numbers don't matter, but the reader should be able to locate the article: therefore, whether you don't put any page range or you put the fictitious one, try to add other identifiers like the DOI, if supported. This is especially important if there are two version of the article with the same title, a short one published in the proceedings and an extended one published in a journal.

Ok, I see. Very interesting. I myself use the online PDFs, which do not have page numbers. But I am not able to find DOIs for those, as all citations show them in the Proceedings. So I'll stick to using the real numbers


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How graduate admission committees choose between TOEFL scores?
I recently took the TOEFL test and my score didn't satisfy me, even the result is above the minimum requirement for almost all universities. If I will retake the test and send my new score for graduate admission, will the admission committees always choose the best score between two attempts or is it possible that only the recent score will be taken into consideration? I want to clarify it  before retaken decision, in case if my score will decrease.

possible duplicate: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237/how-does-the-admissions-process-work-for-ph-d-programs-in-the-us-particularly

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

Unless your score is significantly low in one particular section (for instance, having a 105 with 30 on all sections but a 15 on Speaking) or if the committee has a strong reason to doubt your English skills, I don't see why you should worry about resubmitting TOEFL score. You will be making far better use of your time strengthening other parts of your application (i.e., SOP, GRE, etc). Given
a sufficiently strong application, even if they doubt your ability to communicate in English, some schools will interview the applicant via Skype/phone to establish whether their English is sufficient, and not automatically discard the application.
The TOEFL score serves, in general, to establish that you have a basic ability to communicate and work in an environment where English is the main language. Meeting the usual 100+ TOEFL score for graduate applications is sufficient and higher scores are not usually heavily weighted.
To more directly answer your question about which score they will consider, that will strongly depend on the school. You can e-mail them directly to know how they will consider multiple TOEFL scores. I suspect it would be analogous to the GRE (i.e., some departments choose whichever has a higher total score, some schools pick whichever is higher by section, some schools pick the latest, some schools analyze holistically).
Note: the answer to your question may depend on your field. I am in engineering.

I have very little personal experience with this, but it might depend on the school too. Students at expensive private schools tend to complain more if they think a TA doesn't speak English well.

@ElizabethHenning I agree, but those requirements are generally disclosed. I know for instance that Princeton has a particularly stringent TOEFL Speaking requirement of 28, but even then they will accept people with lower scores and require them to take English lessons as they arrive. UIUC also has a similar requirement (of 24, I believe), but that's also disclosed.


text:
Possible jobs in industry (outside the academia) for PhD in Mathematics
I'm doing MSc in Mathematics with major in Geometry and Topology (combinatorial problems in knots theory). My previous degree is BSc in Physics. As for future plans I would be glad to do a PhD in Mathematics in the USA (I'm not the USA citizen or resident now) because I just enjoy doing research in my topic, but probably don't keep in mind working in academia after obtaining PhD degree because of:

I simply don't like teaching due to my experience as a teaching assistent (TA is a part of my MSc program). Some guys really enjoy it but I don't.
I have heard that nowadays getting even a postdoc position is a hard challenge, there are too many PhDs for too little positions in universities.

So I think about working in industry after completing PhD. Web-search brings me to the conclusion that main paths for non-academic mathematicians are:

Quantitative finance (working in investment banks and hedge-funds or somewhere else in finance)
IT (software developers)
a few number of R&D labs in big corporations also related with IT or finance

So my questions are:

Does the math degree really cost something on a job market outside the academia or should I believe to those who said that such people are overqualified for industry jobs? Of course I understand that nobody interested in pure theories if it can't help making money and industry work should be applied for real solutions of real problems.
Do finance and IT firms really ready to hire people with lack of knowledge in profile areas? It seems rather obvious to me that an average math graduate code worse than CS one (even if we compare PhD with BSc experience!) and know really nothing about economics. As for me, I'm able to code something routine on C and C++, bash (as an experienced GNU/Linux user) and Wolfram Mathematica, but know nothing about big data analysis, machine learning and so on.
Does my major matter if it's not Probability and Statistics? I have heard that people with Probability and Statistics topics preferable for finance quant jobs so should major in another area close doors for me (remind that my research interests are combinatorics, topology and knots theory)?
In this thread I have read that

For example, if your work involved probability/statistics, or even certain kinds of topology, you could get a job at pretty much any tech company doing machine learning.

Can anyone explain more carefully what kind of work is related with topology in tech companies?
For conclusion let me say that I desire get a PhD because I have all necessary background in mathematics and really enjoying research, my supervisor is pleased with my activity, but an academic position in a future with teaching classes and reading lectures seems not like my cup of tea. I would be glad to be a research mathematician, but as far as I know salaries in academia correspond to teaching hours and if I deny teaching at all my salary will become really pure especially when comparing with industry opportunities.
P.S. Sorry for my English if there are any mistakes.

I think these are some excellent questions to be thinking about and asking about (and your English is fully understandable), unfortunately your questions are off topic for this SE site. Your best bet would be to get some advice from companies/employees in your area, to search around for jobs you would be interested and look at their qualifications, etc.

Yes, now I have read SE Academia rules and see that it is offtopic. Should I just delete it as an author?


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What is meant by the requirement for an "outstanding academic record"?
I am going to apply for a PhD program. What does mean when one requirement is "Outstanding academic record".

This is probably too hard to answer.   What discipline? what university?

That means you have to have demonstrated that you're a really good student. Your "academic record" is what your undergraduate career says about you (transcripts, letters of reference, publications, awards). It must be "outstanding" - top of the heap.
Only very select schools (or those that think very well of themselves) can ask this explicitly of their applicants, though many require it.

I like and strongly agree with "those that think very well of themselves"

@Younes Or maybe "those that think too well of themselves" :)

Have you (co-)published a peer-reviewed article?
Have you presented at a scholarly conference?
Have you served as a research assistant?
Have you served as a teaching assistant?
Have you won any prizes, grants and awards for your studies?
Have you had exceptionally good grades?
Have you shown community engagement for your fellow students?
Have you attended voluntary, extracurricular, academic activities (e.g., summer schools in Europe)?

If the response to any of the question is yes, then list it.

Have you got an especially good relationship with a few professors?

Have you attended summer schools? --- Perhaps reword this slightly? In the US this is a route often taken by students who failed a course during the Fall or Spring semesters.

Thank you, @DaveLRenfro, I changed it to "voluntary, extracurricular, academic activities". I didn't know about the U.S. connotation regarding summer schools.