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Should I write IEEE membership in my CV?
Does it worth to add IEEE membership to my CV? It seems every body can pay a fee and become an IEEE member.

Many CVs have a section for professional society memberships.  Mere membership doesn't necessarily convey a significant distinction, but it does say which groups you have chosen to invest in affiliating with and which judge you to qualify.
For the IEEE in particular, it actually does have fairly strict membership qualifications.  Most people cannot qualify for IEEE membership, but pretty much any practitioner of the field can, because that is what it is designed to select for.  Thus, putting an IEEE membership in your professional society memberships section of your CV is entirely appropriate.

This comment has nothing to do with whether it's good to put membership on your CV. But does IEEE really check if an applicant is qualified for regular membership? Maybe they do for student membership (because of the discount on the membership fee), and I know applications/selection of IEEE Fellows and whatnot are very strictly regulated. But I don't remember they checked if I actually got my degree in one of those qualified fields or if I had experience long enough when I joined as a regular IEEE member.

@YuichiroFujiwara I have no idea what actual validation systems they have in their process.  For the most case, it would be easy enough for them to check with one's institution, but I don't know if they do it generally, or spot-check, or bother at all.  The bar is low enough, however, that I doubt that it would be worth it for many people to falsify...

Yeah, I agree. It's hardly worth it to falsify qualifications, and I tend to doubt they have a strict validation mechanism. But I think this implies that the fact that I am a member of a certain academic society in itself adds pretty much nothing to my CV. What actually tells something about me is perhaps the fact that for me it's worth some nontrivial money to be an IEEE member; I may be benefitting from conference fee discounts, want the fields IEEE covers to grow, etc., which in turn may look good to the eye of people who are looking to hire an engineer, scientist, etc. in a given field.

I can be a guinea pig for this project. I qualify but never bothered getting membership. Maybe we'll start next year so I don't have to pay for a half year of membership for the 22 days left in this month.

@Compass Not sure what your test will show, if they do something like spot-verify of verify via Google...

@jakebeal Crud, you're right! Maybe we should just ask them <_<

I do/would not. The IEEE membership is a paid for membership, which academics, like myself, often buy simply for the benefit of obtaining reduced conference fees. I am sure that there are more legitimate uses of it, but in most cases, it's for attending conferences or registering with a journal. Unless you are an IEEE fellow or one of their other distinctions, all it requires is an academic email address and 25$/year to join, so I would not list it.

I do put my academic affiliations at the very, very end of my CV. It is not there to prove my worth in any way, but rather to show which academic associations I affiliate most closely with and where I have been active in contributing to.
You could also get that through looking at the Conference Presentations portion of my cv, but I've presented at conferences where I'm not a member.
This is particularly important in interdisciplinary fields where it's not clear which conference / disciplinary borders one occupies.


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Implications for the candidate if a contacted external evaluator declines
I seem to have reached the phase of my career where I receive regular requests to externally evaluate faculty: this means that I am evaluating the research program of tenure-track faculty (so far always at US institutions, so let's concentrate on this case) and writing a letter to be used in some ways for the pre-tenure / tenure / promotion processes.  If it makes any difference, I would be more interested in answers that apply to the field of mathematics.
Well, sometimes I have reasons that I might not want to do this.  Here is a list of reasons that either have occurred to me or seem plausible that they might occur with others:

I feel that I am too busy: either too busy to do a good job in the time allotted, or just so busy that it would make my life easier to decline.
I don't have much insight into the candidate's work, and I feel that many other people could do a better job.
In order to do a good job I would have to investigate certain things, e.g. whether and why a certain paper has not yet been published.  It's hard to investigate things in academia completely anonymously, and whether this type of investigation would be well-received or even appropriate is not completely clear.
I feel that the candidate's work is not very strong.  (Note: not very strong compared to what is a key question here, but a sticky one.  I have found that institutions which are more teaching focused often ask their candidates to be evaluated by standards which sound very rigorous and exacting to me, a faculty member at a major research university.)

Especially in the last case, it's not so clear "what's in it for me" to write an evaluation that says that a candidate's work is not as good as that of many other people I know in the field.  They are still working in my field, so I would rather have them there than not.  I have no idea what the chance is that my letter would be taken seriously in a failure to hire/promote them.  Either way, there are reasons for concern on my end.
My main question is: if I decline to write such an evaluation, is the act of declining likely to have implications for the candidate?  (E.g. is it likely that the declination would appear on the candidate's dossier?)  The subsidiary question is: if I have reasons like the above that would make me prefer not to write an evaluation, is it nevertheless important to write one?  Is it "the right thing to do"?  (Of course one wants to do a certain amount of service to the academic community.  On the other hand, many/most academics get offered so many service obligations that they have to turn some down.  This question should be understood as relative to doing other service tasks, not doing less overall.)

Chairs / deans / provosts will tell you that declining will have no effect. This is the official and morally as well as legally correct answer.
However, I've had the great pleasure (not) of serving on a committee (at a private, elite R1) where the promotion review chair did not like the candidate and raised the issue that there were a certain percentage of declines to strengthen their tenuous case against the scholar ("no one likes/respects this scholar thus they are declining to serve as reviewers).
This was counter to policy and in my mind immoral and possibly illegal depending on the circumstances.
If you do decline, please include a phrase that you are declining due to personal / workload reasons and that the committee must absolutely not use your declination to in anyway prejudice the candidate's case.

Now as to your subsidiary question as to whether you should feel obliged to write, this is more of a moral question. As a tenured full professor, I do feel an obligation to my discipline to do these reviews.
However, I will only do a review if I can do it well. If a candidate's work is out of my field of expertise or if my workload prevents me from doing a good job, I won't write. My first obligation is, after all, to my research agenda and my students.
Furthermore, there have been cases where I know too much about a candidate to write an objective review. In those cases, I ask to be relieved due to a conflict of interest.
There are varying opinions on whether one should write negative letters and this should really be a separate question. My own philosophy is that my letter is a third-person's neutral observation of the strength of the candidate's application for tenure. I thus write about the strengths that I see for this case, but whether the strengths are sufficient for tenure is ultimately a decision that should be made by the tenuring committees.

Or, instead of "personal reasons," something very specific like, "My current workload does not allow time for an evaluation that will do this candidate justice, so I must decline."

Sounds good.  I wonder whether you have any opinion as to whether I am in some way obligated to provide an honest, not-too-positive appraisal rather than declining because I don't wish to have a negative effect on someone else's career.

@PeteL.Clark - this is a separate and very good question. People have different philosophical approaches. Mine is that my letter must make the strongest case possible for the candidate without perjuring myself. This may lead to my strategically not answering a question or answering it with a non-answer.

@ChrisWhite on the moral case: One candidate has made a point of getting to know everyone in the field; over few a postdoc positions scattered around the country they've bought drinks for the whole field.  The other has recently returned from a few years in another country, and rapidly gained the respect of the few people they interact with regularly,

Also: if you decline, it helps if you do it quickly, so they have time to get an alternate.

Legal: 1) the use of criteria not described in the faculty handbook to evaluate candidates, especially when such criteria appear to be used capriciously only for some candidates; 2) when data shows that members of some protected classes do not share the same access to social networks as the majority class, and when the decline rate is used to argue such in a negative fashion.

As a preface to this answer, I've only been involved in the promotion process at relatively elite private R1's.  Things might be different at more teaching oriented schools.
With that said, I disagree with RoboKaren's answer.  At the places where I've been involved, the promotion dossier includes a list of all people who were asked to to write letters.  For those that declined, the reason for their declination is also listed.  University administrators have been very explicit that a low acceptance rate is bad for the case.  That's not to say that any single declination is going to have much of an effect, but a large number will.  Though I've never sat on a university wide promotion committee and thus have only seen mathematics dossiers, I've been told that the acceptance rate in math is higher than in other subjects, so this mostly hurts non-mathematicians.
As far as your scruples about writing a letter, please do not write a negative one unless you have a very strong opinion that the candidate should not be promoted.  A single negative letter can torpedo a case.  It is better to decline.
For the letters I've written for people at teaching institutions that have limited time for research, my strategy is to make comparisons to people I know at similar kinds of institutions (perhaps at places that are slightly better and thus are aspirational peers rather than actual ones).  There is no reason to compare them to people at R1's.  Sometimes the university will try to box you in on that (eg they will ask you point-blank "Would you support tenuring them at your institution?").  I always just side-step such requests (eg with a statement that if I were at their institution, I would enthusiastically vote to promote them).
A final comment.  You say that one problem for you is that you might have to investigate things like whether or not a paper has been published.  I see no reason to do that.  I just take the cv/publication list/research statement at face value unless I have a really good reason to not do so.  You shouldn't make writing these letters in a big ordeal for you.  I usually give myself a single afternoon (say 4-5 hours at most) to write the letter and try to keep it at that.

While I'm surprised your institution shows the declined list  and uses it as a judgement criteria (I think it's bad/illegal practice for the reasons listed ), I don't think we disagree on any substantive areas.

I am, however, surprised at how little time you put into the tenure review letters. I spend at least a week on a review. In my field, I have to read one or two book manuscripts and at least a dozen articles. The letter writing itself usually takes two days -- one to write and one to edit. I'm doing other work at the same time, but still it's a good 20+ hours work. But this may either be an R1 difference or a disciplinary difference.

@RoboKaren: I haven't looked at it in a while, but if I recall correctly the section on promotions in the faculty handbook does say that declinations are taken into account.  I'm not taking a position (in this answer!) as to whether or not it is a good or moral policy.

Yikes, I hope the letter writers are told this.

@RoboKaren: I think this is a disciplinary issue.  I'm a field that does not have books (only papers).  I also am not famous enough to be asked to write letters for people that are really far from my research area, so I generally already know the people and their work (at least in general terms).  I also am very efficient with writing -- it only takes me a couple of hours of actual writing/revising time to write 3-4 pages, which is the typical length of my letters.

Ps It might help if you could indicate the basic parameters of this workplace (private/public, small/large, 1st/lower tier).

@RoboKaren: I did so in the first paragraph of my response: 1st tier private research university.  I guess I didn't say the size, which would be "small" (for universities of their type).  My cv is available on my webpage if you want to figure out which university I am discussing (nb: I moved recently, so I don't know much about the policies of my current university).

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Funded PhD position chances for international students in Austria
In the midst of my quest for potential countries to find a funded Ph.D position in computer science, I came across Austria. However, my initial impression was there is no big chances for international student there for the following reasons:

Most of the universities websites are not fully available in English (In contrast to German universities websites, Austrian's one have many brochures and sub-links related to postgraduate studies in German only)
I have sent few emails inquiring the admission and I received responses apologizing for not accepting international students
Every time I google (Ph.D computer science Austria) I get results about Australia instead. (I know the way I used to search here is trivial but isn't this an indicator?)

So my question here, do you agree with my impression or not? If yes, do you have more information that Austria has no many chances for international students? If no, would you explain why. Generally, do you advise to go ahead with my search in Austria or it is waste of time. All answers and comments are appreciated.

To improve search results, put Austria in quotation marks, use the verbatim search, or exclude Australia using -australia. Anecdotally, when I was searching for a PhD position I had a rejection from an Austrian university saying that I was ranked third for the position, but I wasn't even given a Skype interview. Struck me as a little odd given that the position was funded. My impressions from the search were that the Scandinavian countries, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium seemed the most accepting of international students.

Doing a PhD in the German-speaking part of the world works a bit differently. Typically, you would find an advisor that has project funding or the like and is willing to hire you as a "scientific employee". Being admitted to the PhD studies itself is most often not that difficult once you have an advisor - there are formal requirements, for sure. But with a Master degree from a "proper university", this is likely not to be the problem.
The employment part is also very relevant when it comes to visa questions, health insurances, and the like. It may easily be that the reason why you have been told that no international students are taken is that without the prospect of getting employed in a Professor's research group, there is little hope for getting a student visa for PhD studies (that's just a guess, though).
A notable exception to the above guidelines are graduate schools. A well-known example is the one of the IST Austria (http://ist.ac.at/), which has internationalization as one of its explicit goals. You might want to have a look at their web page. But even the text on that page talks about "employment as a PhD student".

Yes, I checked IST, it was the only one I found explicitly offering PhD positions for international students. I missed their deadline for the upcoming academic year though.

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Cons of graduating quickly
I read this question Does rigor/thoroughness of undergraduate program matter (for graduate/PhD applications)? and became very worried when I saw everyone blasting the OP for contemplating graduating in three years. The general consensus was that there was no reason at all to graduate early and that the lack of additional experience would hurt your chances at graduate school. I am concerned because I am graduating with only 2.5 years because I can only barely afford this by maxing out all loans.  I would love to be able to develop greater depth in my field. Instead it has been a constant sprint to finish before I run out of money completely. I was rejected from every top ten university, and the one token safety school I got into jacked up the price as soon as they found I had nowhere to go.
Are the criticisms that finishing too fast valid in the context of extreme debt? I am saving over $100,000 by finishing early, will this reason be accepted by graduate schools? I see that graduate students do not have to pay tuition and get a small stipend, this sounds like a wonderful way to pursue an education and is very attractive to me right now. I feel that my education is rushed and I have not had the time to contemplate open research questions which are very important for graduate admissions. Graduate school is also the path to a job in research labs or academia.
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I have done well enough (6th in graduating class unless I mess up). They offer to tack on a year for a masters at your current rate, which is touted as a way extend finiancial aid. This is untenable for me.

Yes, those criticisms are still valid. Graduate schools don't care about your debt. They care about your preparation. And 2.5 years of study is certainly insufficient preparation. I'm sorry, but that's the reality.

Also, I worry that you don't understand the realities of graduate school if your primary motivation for going is that it seems like a cheap substitute for the last few years of an undergraduate degree...

@Potato What else can I do? I already work and all money goes to education. Graduate school is a chance to work at a higher quality education. No one from my school has done anything significant in >100 years, I need to get out but I am realising my options are not as great as I originally thought. It is a research hell here, we are a review paper factory, snatching at the crumbs of T1 papers, chasing down minor lemmas.

@Potato:  I am not arguing with your comment on how this impacts OP's chances for admission, but, being from a poor background myself, I think "saving $100k by graduating early" is a very understandable motivation which doesn't mean that the value of a continued (but expensive) education is not understood.

Did you do well enough to have reasonable hope to be admitted for a partially sponsored master at your current school?

@gnometorule Oh, I'm sure he grasps the value of a graduate education. It's the other aspects I am unsure about.

I've never heard of any tuition system that would be able to 'jack up the price'...is this really a thing?  Everywhere I've been charges the same tuition to all students based on their course of study.  Was this a scholarship that was revoked or something?

What country are you going to school in? I ask because you say that graduating a year and a half early will save you over 100k. This means your  cost per year is over 60k. The only universities in the US that charge that much are elite institutions in high cost of living areas like Columbia and NYU, and these do not fit the description you gave of your institution. So I am very confused.

Continuing this line of thought, if you are in the US, you might consider transferring to your state's flagship public university and completing a full 4 year program there. You will incur additional debt, but nowhere near 100k. And you may be eligible for financial aid and scholarships.

Here's another version of that idea. Graduate as you plan to, then ask to sit in on graduate courses at your state's flagship university. (Or even take them for credit. There are sometimes ways to do this.) Spend a few semesters doing this, impress and connect with the professors there, and then apply to graduate school. This plan might be cheaper than transferring, since you'd only be paying for a few classes.

@Potato, my impression is that it is difficult to transfer that late in the game.  Here's a variant of your idea that might work: Karl could take a couple of research credits at the state university and then perhaps transfer them to his home institution.  But I still think the important things are the actual research experience, the collaboration, and the recommendation letter, not the credits.  And he can get all three things in a paid or unpaid internship.  Also, please note, even state schools have gotten very expensive these days, for the most part (I think Texas might be an exception).

@Potato Private School: without detail my tuition costs north of 45k/ yr. There are some housing and other fees that are nonrefundable which factor in  because I graduate on an odd semester. I am paying full price just like a stupid legacy student. Its pure economics, this school has a monopoly on my higher education. I was rejected from literally every school I applied to except for here and they knew it somehow. I was unremarkable in high school (read a lot) but had perfect scores on national exams without really trying. I was not great but surely not that bad to deserve this.

@RobP. Schools can "jack up the price" by cutting (or not offering) financial aid, and thus making the price higher than if they thought the OP was going to be admitted at better institutions.  It's actually a common issue in the US that you have to make a decision about schools based on one year's financial aid package, and you're not guaranteed to get the same level all 4 years.

@Karl I still don't understand. Are you or are you not in the US?

Are the criticisms that finishing too fast valid in the context of extreme debt?

Yes, the criticisms are still valid: the world, unfortunately, does not care about any particular person's debt problem.
The answers/comments given at the linked question in the OP are spot on; thus I would encourage you to try to find other sources of aid to fund your full-length undergraduate studies, if you haven't already done so (scholarships, etc.).
Having said that, some schools have a diversity statement that you are to submit along with your application. In this statement, you can provide some background on the adversities that you have faced and how you overcame them. If you have significant financial hardships that you are battling through, for example, then a diversity statement would probably be the place to talk about that and hope that someone would care enough to have it positively impact your admission decision.
Whether the "diversity statement approach" will work or not depends on (among other things) your particular situation (e.g., how inadequate is your preparation for grad school due to graduating early relative to others in similar situations?) and the number of available slots the school has for cases such as yours. I still think this approach is too risky to count on, and I would, again, encourage you to look for other ways to stay in your undergraduate program for the "normal" amount of time so that you may reap the many benefits of doing so.

My preparation is pretty inadequate, no research and no contact with faculty. I believe it is an issue of time and not ability, but I see now that my choices to speed coursework have really hurt everywhere that actually  matters to academia. As for diversity, I am a white male from college educated upper middle class family ("I worked my way through school, you can too" from parents; not the same situation after 30yrs of 7% inflation). I apply mainly to proposal scholarships (since I have about zero chance for diversity ones), but I never make the final money round.

@Karl The lack of faculty contact is a big concern. The most important part of most graduate applications is having multiple strong recommendation letters from known researchers. Without that, it's hard to see a path to getting a funded offer at anywhere reputable. There are ways to recover, but they are generally expensive (e.g. masters programs) or take a significant amount of time (e.g. working and taking classes part-time, ideally trying to find a research-related job in your field or a nearby one).

@Karl It sounds like you're in the US. The US inflation rate hasn't been above 7% since 1982. For most of the time since then (i.e., the last 33 years), inflation has been running at about 2-3%.

@DavidRicherby, maybe Karl means the inflation in college costs.  Although I don't know the number, 7% seems quite reasonable.  In fact, this just inspired a Plan C, I'm going to edit my main response.

@aparente001 Good point. Bloomberg has some data ("PCE" is a measure of general inflation). That shows that private college fees have been rising at about 4-6% per year for most of the last 20 years, and public fees have been all over the place but have probably risen by more than 7% in at least half of the last 30 years.

Here's one way to think about the issues.  Imagine comparing yourself to someone comparably talented and hard working but with an extra year and a half of education.  That candidate would be better prepared to excel in graduate school (they could hit the ground running, rather than having to catch up), and they would have had more time to build a track record that could impress the admissions committee.  All other things being equal, they're going to be admitted rather than you.  Basically, it's difficult to compete with a better educated version of yourself.
Of course you could just catch a lucky break, but your chances are best if the admissions committee can't fill the entering class with competitors like this.  If you are exceptionally talented, that could well happen at any university.  (For example, Terry Tao was admitted to math grad school in Princeton at an unusually young age.  If he had spent longer getting to that point, he would have built up an even stronger track record.  However, he didn't need that to get admitted, since he didn't have to worry about competing against hordes of equally talented applicants.)  It could also happen if you aim for a somewhat lower-ranked grad school than you might have been admitted to otherwise.  However, you'll run into trouble if you apply to schools that have their pick of a lot of applicants like you.
How this will play out depends on your personal circumstances.  Most grad school applicants can get admitted somewhere, if they really aren't picky about where, and few will be admitted to the very top graduate programs.  All the factors applicants worry about are basically pushing them a little bit up or down the hierarchy of prestige or desirability in graduate programs.  If you see the slope as being steep, then this matters a lot; if you see it as being shallow, then where you end up matters less.

The competitors is a great point. If I had another year and a half at my current rate I would run circles around current me, heck, most of my classes this last year have been full grad classes (skipping the undergrad class and taking the next level costs less as they are fewer credit hours. It's alot more work but marginal cost per hour is lower than menial jobs to make up difference). However I have no idea how I compare to undergrads at those T1 schools. They are obviously more engaged with a higher quality education, but is the gap small enough that more hard work on my part can fill it?

That's a good question, which can't really be answered without a lot more information (about your background, field, accomplishments, etc.).  The best way I can think of to get a feeling for it is to talk with professors who know you about your graduate school prospects.

Karl, if you have figured out a way to get through your undergraduate institution's hoops in 2 1/2 years, that says something about you!
There is a wide variety in level of preparation (along with many other variables) of incoming grad students.
Don't reject your candidacy before giving some grad schools the opportunity to accept you and fund you.
But do prepare a Plan B for the possible case that you do not get accepted.
In Plan B, you would not be paying an arm and a leg for tuition, but you would be working in someone's lab, getting your feet wet with research.  Perhaps you would be an intern (paid or unpaid).  Perhaps you would sign up for one credit of research (somewhere cheaper than where you are now), and take the initiative to do more than what is normally done for one credit.
Perhaps you'll land a job where you can support yourself and do something interesting based on what you studied -- as a CV builder.
Or you could be a Vista volunteer, and make your CV more well rounded.  Community service is a big selling point.
Edited here
I just thought of a Plan C.  After your year of not being enrolled anywhere (during which you can be plenty productive with academics and research, you just can't be enrolled), and of being financially independent, perhaps you could apply for financial aid as an undergrad.  You could state your intention to get a second Bachelor's degree.  After one or two semesters of research projects, you'd then be ready to do your grad school applications.
I wouldn't embark on Plan C, though, without having an in-depth conversation with a financial aid officer.  I recommend making an appointment with one that works in a community college.  They'll have a helpful world view.
The thing I'm unsure about here is whether financial aid is given for a second Bachelor's.
By the way, another online forum that might be helpful for you is College Confidential.  Addition: the culture there is to advise but be gentle with college students.
Another addition:

I have not had the time to contemplate open research questions which are very important for graduate admissions.

Don't worry about that.  You will get where you want to be, step by step.
General comment: just to put some of what you're feeling in perspective -- it is quite common for college students to hit a certain point in their studies where their self-confidence gets quite shaky.  I have heard it said that the freshman knows nothing, the sophomore thinks he knows a lot, the junior is realizing he doesn't know anything, and the senior does know a lot.  Hang in there.  If you have a strong foundation in your area, and enjoy doing science, it will work out.  I appreciate that you may not feel that way right now.  All I can say is that these feelings are not unusual at your stage of academic development, and it should start to get better in the medium term, if not sooner.

Plan B sounds promising overall, but I don't agree about community service being a selling point.  Maybe this varies between fields, but well roundedness and volunteer work do not contribute at all to graduate admissions in mathematics in the U.S.  (Spending a year doing community service would definitely not help in getting admitted.  If it made a difference at all, it would hurt, by making the applicant look less committed and by giving their undergraduate skills time to atrophy.  Volunteering is very much worth doing for its own sake, but not as a CV builder for graduate admissions.)

@AnonymousMathematician And spending a year neither studying nor earning money would surely make the asker's problems worse, not better.

@Anonymous Mathematician, I take your atrophy point.  Let's suggest that the community service involve math.  In my town there are lots of already existing ways to do that.

Most of the top ten schools do not offer second bachelors degrees, notably MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and Princeton. I don't think second bachelors is that great an idea for targeting quality research institutions that will give substantive research experience to undergrads. I am taking several graduate classes now to wrap up free electives and the egregious violations of scientific method and ethics of my grad classmates does not fill me with confidence that other institutions at this level are any better. My goal is to get up and out, not move sideways. Maybe that's not possible.

I'm sorry for the egregious violations you've seen, Karl. Don't worry.  There's plenty of good science happening at many schools here and abroad.  (Oh!  Oh!  One could construct a Plan D in a country that has affordable institutions!)  Anyway, perhaps you could kill two birds with one stone -- send an unofficial copy of your transcript to a couple of professors in your area, and ask for an appt. for some informal advising.  Explain your situation in the appt.  You may get some good advice, AND you'll get some contact with faculty!

When students coming out of the universities with early finishes usually are not up to the level students who have completed the whole degree within 4 years or more. There is a clear difference between them when it comes to analytic and problem solving skills. Many reputed companies always look for the well educated people than people just having qualifications.(early finished student, but still having the qualification)
Same thing happens for when you go for further higher studies, as reputed colleges always wants to produce top class; well educated students, they'll most of the time rejects applicants who have early finishes. They'll consider that those people doesn't have proper foundation.

This is a completely different world view than I had. I always saw the top scientists blowing through school like Erik Demaine or Feynman. These are the standards of measure that we must measure up to. Now everyone is saying that it is a signal of incompetence to finish early, all I'm trying to do is get an education at all with the limited money I can borrow and work for. It looks like I'm between a rock and a hard place, don't get an education and work menial jobs or get one and look stupid to every hiring manager in a technology field.

I think nobody is here trying to discourage you, but they all are try to make you understand about the education structure. I'm also same like you but i'm doing a full time job while i follow my degree. It's actually challenging. As aparente001 suggested his plans, you can be a intern and earn some money. or else try to find a part-time job.

@Karl Plan to be an average scientist, not an outlier. If you are an outlier, it can emerge naturally.

@jakebeal Is it wrong to want to be as good as the best. They are so powerful and understanding is so fast for them. It's like they bottle lightning: especially in mathematics they take incomprehensible complexity and put it on display for you in 10 pages of completely logical proof. Presentation is so clear but you cannot even imagine the thoughts to find the connection. How can one contemplate a life of average when you have a glimpse of how effortless and beautiful the world is to the great minds. Don't you want to see what they see? Every effort is pale by comparison.

@Karl Nothing is wrong with aiming to be great.  Everything is wrong with making a life plan that depends on being both great and fortunate in several different ways simultaneously, like the people you mention.

@Karl I've seen some of the best mathematicians today present and think. It doesn't actually work like that. They make errors and take time to think about things just like "the rest of us" do. Von Neumann types are exceedingly rare and don't represent the usual "top" mathematician.

@Karl Further, if you were on Von Neumann's level, you would know by now. So if you want to stay in mathematics, you should start contemplating a "life of average" working at a normal speed like the rest of us. I assure you that it is still very rewarding.

@Potato I'm nowhere close to Nuemann, but I'm not in math for a reason. I just used math as an example because I have only recently started using math at a real academic level and it is an entirely different experience. You would call me a math enthusiast, as I am enthusiastic about the many tools laying around in the literature that make huge problems in my field trivial. Like making sand castles at the beach by hand, then one day hot-wiring a backhoe, it's night and day. No, I dream of driving the marginal cost of all goods to practically zero; it's a completely different skill.


text:
Is it ok to cite my own paper, currently in review, in my own thesis?
My PhD thesis is due around October, 2015 (~6 months ahead of the time of writing this).
I would like to submit a journal paper which contains substantial results from my research, mainly the reasons for this are:

It will be peer reviewed.
It will be useful to others in the same area
I can cite it in my thesis
I can use parts of it that have already been written in my thesis

I have found two appropriate journals, one more prestigious than the other. One of them says it will be reviewed in 6 week (the less prestigious of the two), and the other says it is likely to not be reviewed by October.
It's now difficult to decide which to submit to, and this depends on if it's 'ok' to cite a paper which is currently in review, in my own thesis. Ultimately, I will have done the work and just want to be able to metaphorically point at it and say, "look, this is substantial and good enough to be published, this is why I have submitted separately". I believe that the viva, and writing the thesis will be easier with a number of accepted papers (I feel this is a sad truth, but true nonetheless).
I have viewed a similar question here:
How to cite my own submitted but not yet published work?
However this is regarding citing published work in other papers, whereas the difference here is that I am only citing it in my own thesis (hopefully others will cite it if it's accepted and useful, which I believe there is a good chance it is).
Any advice would be great and really appreciated.

What would such a citation look like? There does not seem to be anything to point to until it has actually been published. Also, have you considered uploading a preprint somewhere, which you can then cite instead?

@TobiasKildetoft "Manuscript, in submission" or "Preprint, availabe at (url)", or "arXiv:(number)".

It would have to be similar to the example by @JeffE or those on the other question I liked to. I'm hesitant to host my work on arXiv, particularly as it may harm the chance of it being accepted. I am sure this is not an uncommon situation to be in, particularly as it takes a long time for reviews and a lot of PhDs are 3 years, but so far I am yet to come across a generally accepted answer.

Could you elaborate on how putting it on the arXiv could harm the chances of acceptance? What field is this?

It's in Computer Science, although more specifically Computer Science education. Several of the journals, when submitting seem to have terms saying that the work cannot be published elsewhere, I would think that means I shouldn't go hosting it online anywhere (although this also seems a little open to interpretation). I am not familiar with ArXiv in particular, but I assume the general premise is that you can host papers there.

I can see the issue is that I am wanting to cite something which may (hopefully), or may not be accepted and so therefore may or may not be easy to find. I think this leads me to the answer that I will need to go for the less prestigious journal in the hope I can have it reviewed in time to reference it. This seems a shame, but probably the more acceptable of my options.

In physics, every journal has the standard clause in their terms about not submitting previously published work; nevertheless, many, many papers are posted to arXiv before being submitted for review and possible publication. Some journals explicitly allow this by including in their terms an exception for preprint servers (e.g. arXiv), but it may also be the case that a journal simply doesn't consider posting on arXiv to be publication. So you should check the terms of your desired publication venue(s) carefully, and perhaps ask someone about this before deciding you can't post on arXiv.

In most fields, a thesis is not counted as publication for purposes of avoiding duplication.  Thus, it is acceptable for the same material to appear in both a peer-reviewed article and your thesis, in either order: it is both acceptable to "staple" published material together to form a thesis and to "extract" thesis materials for publication afterward.
This means that you have two different options for your case here, depending on the particulars of your circumstance:

If the work you want to publish is something your thesis depends on, then submit the article and also include the work in the thesis (adapted appropriately for context in both circumstances, of course).  You can the put a citation in your thesis noting that this work is submitted.
If the work you want to publish is largely independent of your thesis, but just useful for you to note exists in your discussions, then don't include it in your thesis, and again, cite it as a submitted work.

In either case, for purpose of your advisor and committee's evaluation of your work, you can give them a copy of the article that is under review.  Thus, even though your article may not yet be published, its content can be easily made available to everybody who matters for acceptance of your thesis.
Finally: your advisor will likely have opinions and should probably be involved in the decision in any case.

Thanks - this sounds like solid advice. The key part of this answer for me is that for anyone reviewing my thesis, I can actually give them a copy if need be. The work is something my thesis depends on, it's a good chunk of it and it's almost certainly going to have to be adapted in some way to be in there. I will of course speak to my supervisor, however getting clear answers is often difficult. Thank you!


text:
Is apprenticeship/reading the only way to learn experimental design? Are there books/papers about the theory of designing a sound experiment?
I am slogging away at grad school and I have a nagging feeling I can be more efficient. I feel like a person who cannot see more than a foot in front of them so I hit a lot of walls. My planning and experiment design could use a lot of work but interacting with my PI only gets me but so far. I am in a new lab so I do not have senior students to consult with either. Are there any good written resources about how to design experiments in a general sense?
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE
I am in biological sciences, but if the comments/answers could be broadened to include all STEM it would be much appreciated.
2nd Update
When I refer to experimental design I am referring to something broader than setting up controls or statistical power. I am doing a poor job of alluding to something broader and more general. What is a good research question and the transition from a neat idea to a framework of experiment that addresses such a question.
To use a chess analogy, I am learning tactical play, forks, skewers, pins etc.... I am getting better at moving pieces, but what is preventing me from taking the next step is the absence of a strategy  How do I string these tactics together to win? I come up with cool ideas but I cannot grasp molding and shaping that idea into a series of experiments that tell a short narrative.
I would like to know different styles of this process and strengths and weaknesses of both. I am not getting very far with my local dialogue options so I was hoping people may write about this subject. Hopefully that clarifies my question.

What field is this?

@Buffy I updated my post.

Still need more information. Is it a statistical study (Applied Statistics books cover that) or a purely biological or pharmacological study of some sort?

you would probably get more traction from this question on crossvalidated, e.g. stats.stackexchange.com. I can guess that as a biologist, you are probably going to care about statistical designs which minimize cost and models that account for psuedo-replication.

Two relevant questions on Crossvalidated: Recommended books on experiment design?, and References for how to plan a study. I didn't see it mentioned in the questions I linked, but David Glass's Experimental Design for Biologists appears to be a well regarded textbook, and suitable too.

@JWH2006 I am looking for steps one ponders prior to getting to nitty gritty of how many samples to run etc...

@Anyon Thanks for the links. I will check these out.

@Buffy Updated again.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Is verbal commitment to work with a potential advisor binding in a moral sense?
I have been doing my due diligence in preparation for graduate school by reaching out to potential PIs and evaluating each one for fit. I found a brand new PI, at a T-30 with whom I "think" I mesh well (cannot be certain since I would be his first graduate student). I have met with him in person on a few occasions and he has stated he would like to take me on as a graduate student (this is a direct admit program with no rotations). Naturally, I was excited and agreed to work with him. Fast forward to the admission season, I applied to other schools and I did not anticipate I would be viewed as favorably at "higher ranked" institutions and I found other PIs I meshed with as well.
I have sound reasoning other than rank for waffling,

Better support programs and network post degree for both industry & academic paths
Better financial package (I am older married with a child)
established mentors with track record ( I have to get in and get out for same reason)

So I ask can I renege on the agreement without a) messing up this PIs startup?
b) Without looking like a flake professionally by going back on my word?
Also, Are PIs expected to have grad students their very first year?
Thanks in advance.

Were you admitted to the program when you committed verbally? And do you know what language you used? "I would like to work for you as well" is different from "I accept your offer and I'll arrive in June to begin work." If I am understanding the order of actions here, my initial thought is that you made a mistake by committing, even if only verbally, and then going on to apply to other schools.

@BryanKrause All the conversations with this person happened before I applied to any program including his. I did not explicitly say I will be there on XX date. I simply said "cool", but I was implying it through subsequent conversations about potential interest and asking for suggestions for papers to read. Also, I did not say I was applying to other schools, but I did not want to put all my eggs in one basket. How far is to far, to a point where it is improper to back out?

It's totally reasonable for you to make contacts with PIs before applying and to not want to put anything in one basket, but you would have avoided this problem if you were clear about this; any PI who is actually worth working with would completely understand that you were considering other opportunities before making a final decision. If you know for certain you are going elsewhere, you should inform this PI as soon as possible. Based on what you've shared so far I don't think you made a strong enough commitment to be morally bound.

A few points:
First, morality is a bad way to evaluate this decision. Certainly you want to be an ethical person, but realize that taking on a graduate student position is an employer/employee relationship. It is generally expected that you will make decisions that are in your best interest, even if that means switching advisors or switching programs. Your potential advisors are certainly going to make the decisions that are in their best interests. Your advisor/advisee relationship should only last as long as it's in both of your best interests to do so.
Second, there are definite consequences to reneging on an agreement, written or verbal. Academics is a small community. You are embarking on a professional career, and your reputation will follow you. You want to be seen as someone who follows through on commitments. When you do need to back off of an agreement you want to do so gracefully and avoid "burning bridges". That said, your actions in your current position are not going to follow you for the rest of your life. Your potential PI has not sacrificed for you, they will be able to find another grad student, and you leaving them at this time is not going to ruin their career. This is very different than, for example, working with an advisor for years, building expectations and relationships, and then vanishing.
However, if your decision is firm you should definitely inform them as soon as possible. The pool of good applicants grows smaller the longer you wait.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, there are community expectations and norms concerning this. The most relevant thing here is the April 15th Resolution. Many graduate schools are signatories to this document (including most or all of the highly desirable "role-model" institutions). Essentially, the resolution says:

Prospective students should not be obligated to commit to a graduate school until April 15th.
Students are only considered committed once they have formally accepted an offer of financial support. This means formal acceptance of a scholarship or stipend supported position such as a research or teaching assistantship. A verbal commitment to attend, without a specific formal offer of financial support, is not considered formal acceptance.
Students may withdraw their acceptance until April 15th by submitting a written resignation to their prospective department. Appointments not recinded by the department or resigned by the student by April 15th are expected to be honored by both parties.

Lastly, the goal of the graduate admissions process is to make the best matches between students and schools. You are doing yourself and your potential advisor a disservice if you go into a program without full conviction. Your potential advisor certainly will not like the news that you've decided to go someplace else or study a different topic, but they will be far happier with a student who really wants to be with them and study their topic. You will be far happier if you are a place you really want to be and studying something that truly engages you. Certainly they will understand your actions and will (probably) not hold a grudge if you secure a better position than what they can offer.


text:
Do students have the right to see how their papers were graded?
Note: You may refer previous revisions for more context.

I read Academia varies more than you think it does, but in any school or university I've been to or heard of, students can always see how they were graded for any assignment. Or, at least, if the school won't let them keep it, but they will at least let the students view it (usually final exams).
I believe it's every student's right to know how e was graded on, well, a graded requirement. (see Dan Fox and David Hill's answers) The only exception I can think of is Educational Testing Service, which administers the TOEFL and GRE, but it's not really a school or anything.
Recently, my sibling was a little surprised with a grade on a paper and wants to know about how their particular paper was graded. But when my sibling tried to ask to view the marking of the paper, this was the reply:

Are you an exchange student? [University] does not provide marks to students after the examination. The only thing that can be released is the Grade or Pass/Fail. Giving you the marks would be a violation of the regulations. In fact, all such information will be destroyed after a period of time. You can try asking other teachers about marks, they will also tell you the same.

(My sibling is not an exchange student.)
Main question: Do/Should (see here also) students have the right to see their how exams were graded?
Some guide questions for the main question:

Is this policy unconventional or unethical or unfair? Based on
Corvus' answer to this
question
or Dan Fox's answer to this
question,
I kind of think my sibling's university's policy is unconventional
or something.

How will any student get feedback on their communication or their mistakes if they do not see any of the marking of their work?

Is it unconventional, unethical or unfair to tell them to ask other teachers rather than point to the specific university regulations?

Is it unconventional, unethical or unfair to not have specific university regulations on this matter?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. Please read this FAQ before posting another comment.

I'll briefly point out (re: "How will any student get feedback") that the education people have a theory of formative-vs-summative assessment, which in its extreme form, argues that you shouldn't ever give feedback and a grade on the same assignment.

This question is currently on its twenty-ninth revision, and many of the revisions seem to be small changes, the primary effect of which is to keep the question on the front page. Given this, I am going to temporarily lock this question. When it reopens, please avoid making unnecessary revisions.

My answer is specific to India. This question was the subject of litigation which went all the way upto the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled (1 2) that the examinees have a right, under the Right to Information Act 2005, to obtain xerox copy of their evaluated answer sheets. This judgment is binding upon all institutions which fall under the purview of the RTI Act.
Even independently of the RTI Act, there is a general duty on administrative bodies to disclose reasons for their administrative/quasi-judicial/judicial acts. See para 51 of this Supreme Court judgment https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1304475/ which is a beautiful exposition of this principle. I would submit that this principle requires that students be given the opportunity of viewing their answer-books.
The above is from a legal point of view. But even from a general point of view, my view is that students must be shown their graded answer-books. There are multiple advantages for this : (1) Students get feedback on their understanding (2) If there is any inadvertent mistake in evaluation (e.g. marks totalling mistake, answer left unevaluated etc.) students can point out the error and get it rectified, (3) Transparency builds trust. Conversely, distrust breeds in opacity. It is not only important to have fairness in the system, but equally important for the system to be seen as being fair, and finally : (4) The academic institutions and systems exist for the students. The student is the one whose future shall be affected by the grades. It would be very unfair if the student is not even given the opportunity to see how he/she has been evaluated.
In my view, the student should not only have the right to view graded answerbooks, but must also have the right to appeal against the grades.
Disclaimer : I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Views entirely personal.

I'm glad to hear this (and I agree with your observations/opinions). Although I'm in the U.S., I've been aware of some of these problems in India and elsewhere, and this sounds like an improvement. Thank your for your answer.

oh wow thanks. actually this is perhaps easy to generalise if i know what kind of law this is. then i can look up the analogues in other countries. conveniently, when i look up wiki 'Right to Information Act 2005', there's a redirect message 'This article is about the Indian federal law. For freedom of information in other countries, see Freedom of information legislation.' Finally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_laws_by_country

@BCLC Indeed, many countries have 'Freedom of information' laws. For the Indian law, there are lots of YouTube videos on its scope. I believe it might be true for your country as well.

I would agree with your answer, except that I am averse to the idea of putting academic judgement entirely under government supervision, as though the government were itself infallible or less opaque than university administrations. I'd say that questionable grading procedures should probably be resolved internally, or by accommodating the interest and concerns of a weaker (rather than stronger) investigatory body.

@TLDR Thanks for your comment. But I am not arguing for placing academic judgment under government supervision. The RTI law in India requires that the universities should share the xerox copy of the answer-scripts, but no further. The university can't be compelled to re-evaluate under the current law.

@TLDR Even when I say that there should be a right of appeal, I mean that the university should do the re-evaluation. Not the government. That way, the law can ensure that there exists a right to get re-evaluated, and yet the university keeps its autonomy intact.

I doubt that this is a case of a student "offending" an individual professor and more one of rules in place that may not make sense and that you may not approve of, but still, rules.
I don't like, personally, such rules. I think they are wrong, but an individual professor has little actual control over rule making. They may not be willing to break the rules, especially if they are a junior faculty member.
Personally, I probably wouldn't give back final exams, though I did give back all others. But I would certainly let a student look over the grading. But I was bound by no such rules.
And, note that, depending on the scale of the institution, it might be very difficult to permit students access to final exams. When I was a TA, we graded Calculus finals as a group, with each TA grading only one problem. So, a student's grade was an amalgam of judgements. We were guided by a rubric, of course. But the professor didn't grade the finals and so might find it difficult to respond to exactly why a point (or ten) was lost. Smaller institutions can "afford" a more personal touch and usually strive to do so. It should be (perfect world) possible for larger ones to do so also, but often don't. And if there were a few hundred students, it is difficult to respond to individuals, just for the time it takes. Ideal? No.
Intermediate exams are a different matter, in my view, since they can and should be used to guide the student's learning. But, Rules.
And usually, by enrolling in a university, the student makes an implicit (at least) agreement to abide by the rules in place.

Thanks Buffy. About the first paragraph, of course you are right. The offense part is only part of the guide. About 'Intermediate exams are a different matter', do you mean as follows? For an intermediate exam, this would guide students' learning and so may be worthwhile to invest into this. However, for a final exam, a student would not necessarily learn from mistakes as much as an intermediate exam and so is not necessarily worthwhile to invest into?

Not an absolute about mid-term grades v. finals. But seeing what you did incorrectly on a mid-term, assuming there is actual feedback, can help you improve in that course. Finals have a lesser effect.

Indeed, there are many strange rules and regulations around. However one can always (try to) request the exact reference to the rule that is being applied. I found it amazing to see how many "rules" were plainly misinterpreted or just conjured out of thin air :-)

@fedja: For most profs, I would unfortunately not recommend to annoy them with those questions, especially if they will grade you later unanomysiosly.

@fedja Good point. I'll check my sibling's handbook. Thanks. Why do you comment in Buffy's answer instead of in the original post?

@user111388 You are right. That is indeed annoying if it's found in the handbook or something. It's the same principle as not reading the syllabus. But if it's not found?

@BCLC: Then you should study the prof, what kind of.person he is and how/if one can talk to him. Many people dislike "know-it-alls"/people who question what they believe are the rules etc. and are unlikely to change the policy. You should find out if and how one can talk to them. For example, the way you asked this question gave you 3 downvotes, so people here did not like the question or the way it was asked.

@user111388, actually it is impossible to predict why people down vote. I think a few people just downvote if the question doesn't interest them.

@Buffy: You are right that it is impossible to predict why people down vote. However, there are questions which are very prone to downvoting: besides low-effort posts, often questions very students disagree with profs where it is not clear beyond all reasonable doubt that the student did everything 1000percent right and the prof wrong. This is probably due to human nature - when a student complains to me about my collegues, I would instictivly side with my collegue. But this makes it much more important to formulate the question well, when asking the prof, and not to come across as whiney.

Buffy and @user111388 do you find the lack of a handbook perfectly normal?

@BCLC: Depends what you mean. I don't find it good or "how it should be", but I can certainly imagine a uni without a handbook. Good rulea should be therw, but I can also imagine a uni where most rules are "decided by a prof on the spot". There are even unis in the world where profs actively ask for bribes in the lectures. The world is unfortunately not fair

@user111388 thanks for sharing. merry christmas, and happy holidays!

@BCLC: Thank you, also to you!

Defending unjust rules with a shrugged “but, rules” isn’t really very productive at all.

@user111388 what do you think of what lalala said: '"You can try ask other teachers...". I find this a bit dodgy. Why not point to the official regulations of the university.' ?

Buffy and @user111388 what do you think of what lalala said: '"You can try ask other teachers...". I find this a bit dodgy. Why not point to the official regulations of the university.' ?

@KonradRudolph EXACTLY. THANK YOU. GOD BLESS YOU. also what do you think of what lalala said: '"You can try ask other teachers...". I find this a bit dodgy. Why not point to the official regulations of the university.' ?

@BCLC If this was literally the reply then that’s definitely dodgy, indeed. If the rule actually exists, that’s arguably worse: it’s a blatantly unethical rule that removes transparency, accountability and due process. Unacceptable on all accounts. And contrary to what this answer says, lecturers do not have to accept such rules. On the contrary: they are morally obliged to protest them.

@KonradRudolph oh HELL. GOD BLESS YOU. please post as answer.

@KonradRudolph, yes, if you believe the rules are unjust then work to change them. But ignoring them may not be an option. And technically, what the OP desires may not be an option either, if papers are destroyed.

@KonradRudolph also in re the dodgy thingy, do you think it's also kinda gaslighting? like as if it's the student's responsibility to know about a university policy that is apparently done by asking professors/teachers/instructors individually instead of that the university disseminates the policy via some handbook or something containing official regulations

Buffy btw, you can see deleted answers right? is there a deleted answer here please?

Yes, it was deleted by its author as is their right.

thanks for the info buffy! XD i was really wondering like i could've sworn there was another answer

' the student makes an implicit (at least) agreement to abide by the rules in place.' --> well yes for the explicit rules. but what if the rules are not explicit?

@KonradRudolph why don't you post an answer?

Buffy what do you think of Ishan Mata's answer please?

@KonradRudolph what do you think of Ishan Mata's answer please?

It depends on the country and university regulations.  At some universities in Canada where I was, students could see how they mid-term exams were graded, but they had to ask to see the final exam through a formal procedure (which they rarely did perhaps because the semester had ended and students had left). But students would often ask about their homework grades to try to get additional points. All exams would be kept safely for a few years. Now, at some university in Asia, I have never seen a student asking to see their grades of the final exam (probably based on the regulation) and very rarely seen a student asking to revise to get more points for a homework (perhaps based on the culture). However, all final exams are also kept in a secure room in case someone would want to check again.
For the question (it is unconventional, unethical  unfair or do students have the right?), I think it  depends. It may be unusual in some countries but not in others. In fact, this is more of a university-level regulation than country-level or professor-level decision. Would it be beneficial for students to see their copies? I think it could indeed let student learn from their mistakes. But on the other hand, it could further delay the publication of final grades at the end of the semester and increase the workload of professors (as they may not use TAs to grade the exams) etc., so someone could also argue that there are some practical reasons for not allowing it.

There's a difference between asking to see how you were graded so that you can learn from your mistakes and asking to see them to try to argue over points. It's entirely possible to finalize the exam marking and then release the marked exams for student perusal, so that they can learn from their mistakes.

@nick012000 But what happens if you did make a mistake?

@nick012000  Sure, that is one way to do. But if you submit the final grades and then let the students see their mistakes, they may as well use this opportunity to ask for points and if they spot some problems or inconsistencies in grading, the teacher may have to revise the grades. That's perhaps one of the reasons why some university don't allow it.

@Phil ' if they spot some problems or inconsistencies in grading' --> why not apply that to all exams? :|

@BCLC I am not sure what you mean. But I think most teachers try to be as consistent and fair as possible when grading. But teachers are humans, so there can definitely be some inconsistencies in how a teacher is grading an exam, especially when grading many students. And if several teachers/TAs are grading, there can also be some inconsistencies. For example, I ever did an experiment where we asked more than 6 teachers to grade the same CS exam questions for a set of students and calculated the correlation. We found that there was some similarities but also some differences.

Phil i mean you said 'they may as well use this opportunity to ask for points and if they spot some problems or inconsistencies in grading, the teacher may have to revise the grades. That's perhaps one of the reasons why some university don't allow it.' like universities don't allow because students might make appeals about gradings. in that case, for any exam, final exam or not, don't let students see any exam. why don't you/we/they do that?

@nick012000 any response to Azor Ahai -him- ?

@AzorAhai-him- You follow whatever policies your university has for amending final results.

Phil and @nick012000 what do you think of Ishan Mata's answer please?

@AzorAhai-him- what do you think of Ishan Mata's answer please?

@BCLC The first part of Ishan Mata's answer is interesting for the law in India. But other places are different so ultimately the rules/law of the university where you are is what matters. As for whether students should be allowed to see how their exam were graded, Ishan Mata's highlight some advantages but as I said there are also some disadvantages such that it can delay the processing of final grades... and at the end of the semester, time is often short.

@BCLC Also, some people could argue that the role of the final exam is not to learn but to evaluate your skills so it may not be so important to see where you lost the points. But if you want my opinion, I think that the best model is to let the students ask for a revision of their final grades but through a formal procedure. Then the whole exam is checked again, and grades could not only be increased but also decreased if an error is found. I know some university in Canada who did like that, and it seems to work well. Other models can also work.

@BCLC I dunno anything about India no need to keep pinging me

@AzorAhai-him- thanks. oh right i forgot. i actually explain in comments that this may be generalised: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_laws_by_country

@Phil thanks. oh right i forgot. i actually explain in comments that this may be generalised: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_laws_by_country

Phil's answer is aligned with what I believe is true: Countries (and certainly states or territories) could have regulations in place to indicate how this is done. Universities might have their own if the government doesn't impose any guidelines. And even professors might have their own set of rules.
I taught part-time at a university in Fort Worth, Texas for 8 years. I don't recall any bylaws given to me by my department or the school with regards to this topic. In my case, my syllabus was the law. In the syllabus, I indicated things like grade scale, whether or not a curve was applied during grading (I never used a curve). And more importantly, I ALWAYS gave graded papers back to my students. But that was my own personal policy to ensure transparency in order to preserve fairness. Doing so, I never had a complaint from a student that I was being unfair in grading. I did that because I didn't want to deal with the drama of students trying to protest a grade in order to gain that extra point that will give him or her the next letter grade. And even after all that, I had a time or two when I had to engage with students that will complaint about their grades. In the end, I always advice them to compare with other students to determine how "unfair" I was.
Also, in the syllabus, the school required all professors to include verbiage (or a link) to let students know about formal appeal process. And so, my syllabus always contained this information.
For me, the bottom line wasn't so much about fairness, it was a lot more to do with making my own life easier; especially since I was a part-time professor. I had another, full-time job that require more of my time and I didn't want to take away from that to deal with all the drama as I mentioned before.

thanks hfontanez. wait 'government doesn't impose any guidelines.' --> there are GOVERNMENTS that do/could dictate whether their universities give back papers? GOVERNMENTS? i mean lol, what do they care? i'd think they have better things to care about than grades (and yet here i am. which is why i will never be president/prime minister. lol)

@BCLC Why do you think it is laughable? When I lived in Germany decades ago, the government that provided "free" education basically forced students to make up their minds as to what careers to choose during secondary education because they were paying for that education. There was no "I'm changing my majors" or "I'm just going to take random classes until I figure out what I wanna do" like the common practice here in the USA. So, from that standpoint, why could not there be laws that force processors to disclose such information? After all, the government is paying for it.

wait i think my response is now...

half: oh thanks for the info and insight. that's good to know the idea like governments pay and so would/could force universities to show grades. wish the government over here would/could force

and half: oh unclear. i was thinking laws to enforce the not showing or instead of the laws of showing

PS (maybe i can be president/prime minster. LOL)

hfontanez, what do you think of Ishan Mata's answer please?

@BCLC I don't know anything about education system in India, so I cannot have an opinion on that matter. However, I agree with the last statement made in that post.

thanks for responding

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