text:
Is it OK to have a significant drop in grades when moving from the Middle East to the EU?
I did my Bachelor's Degree in physics in the Middle East, graduating with the highest honors and an academic transcript full of A's. I was accepted to pursue my graduate studies in one of the best universities in Germany. I was able to score above the minimum required score to be admitted to the final exams. My performance was awful in the exams, even though I studied very hard.
I try not to compare myself with my colleagues but they are much better than me, or at least I believe this is what my professors might be thinking. Is this something normal because I am studying in a different country now? Or because graduate school is meant to be that hard? Does it get better? Does anyone have any advice to survive graduate school?
Clarifications:

Language was not a problem (the course is taught in English, which I understand perfectly, though it is not my first language)
Due to the pandemic, the teaching was suboptimal, and the material was so dense that I did not have time to prove every equation and apply every concept.

Have a look at the highest voted question on this site.

Were only your grades bad or did you also not understand the material?

It's particularly hard in this period, but I highly recommend find a study group (yes, also in graduate school -- in fact I try to do pretty much the same thing now that I'm a researcher, only we call it Oberseminar :)). There's really no better way to learn something than to learn it with someone else.

Are you pursuing a Master's or a PhD? I have only seen the term "graduate school" around as special PhD groups at German universities. Which of course would be hard if you only hold a Bachleor's so far.

@Sally: So you just didn't have time during the exam? Then I think it's totally okay. Real research is mostly not timed, exams often don't measure how much one understands the material

"My performance was awful in the exams" --> What do you call the person who graduated last in their class from med school?

I’m not sure if this applies (I’m not familiar with the grading systems involved) but in some grading systems the top grade is much easier to obtain than in others. For example, it seems in the US you should strive to be a “straight A student” although lower grades are technically also passing. Where I live (the Netherlands) getting the top grade (10/10) for everything is ridiculously unlikely, even getting a single 10 is an achievement. Instead, most programmes are designed in such a way that the lowest passing grade is still a fine grade.

here is a speech by Malcolm Gladwell that can potentially be of great use to determine this situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J-wCHDJYmo

@11684 Indeed, I find this is the place is the situation in most European countries, including Britain, from secondary school up to postgraduate degrees. For example, I recall that a friend of mine doing a year abroad at Imperial College London got a 71% on a physics module here, which got translated to a 96% back at UC Berkeley, where he was enrolled. Both are prestigious institutions, to state the obvious, and could hardly be accused of low standards.

I went to good UK university for the subject I studied which attracted a large number of very good and inteligent people from a wide range of backgrounds.  For many of those people the step change in difficulty, expectations & grading was a big shock.  Many of them were use to being able to achive A or A* at every GCSE or A-Level but they suddenly found they were not the ones achiving the top grade all the time.  They were just as good as before but the system is designed to differentiate between lower A, middle A, upper A, etc and it knocks people.

@11684 yeah definetly this is true even within Europe. In Spain, my biggest achievement as an engineering student was having passed all and every module I took on the first try. Grades where secondary, if you could pass everything, that was amazing, as the degree was designed so passing was already a big achievement. In the UK, I have been asked to normalize data so the mean is a 65, so sometimes low grades where increased, and having more than a 65 is the important thing, and failing a module is rare.

@11684 I can confirm, my graduate program in the US even considered anything lower than a B (85%) literally failing (you would get put on academic probation and eventually kicked out of the program if you dipped below a 3.0 average), which is a bit funny when you think about it. I had to be much more thorough in my study habits to try and get all my scores up into the high 90s. I got one A- in my entire program, the rest were As. It's interesting to hear what the grading is like in other places.

Please check your Twitter.

@Sally Nothing is wrong with it, I was trying to get in touch with you but  you apparently need to follow me back first in order for me to private message you.

@Sally I have an Arabic name beginning with H, I just followed you again.

Four years later, how did things turn out for you?

Background: Some time ago, I've been working at a German university as an assistant in electrical engineering, and we had some students from Arab countries.
Generally, they were much better than the Germans in reproducing content they had learned, but had more difficulties than their colleages in applying that knowledge to the problems at hand. And the university valued knowledge application much higher than knowledge reproduction. So they had a hard time adopting to that different learning style.
Coming back to your question:
It might be that from a different cultural/educational background, you're used to a different style of learning than what the German university expects from you.
My best recommendation would be to seek contact to your professors and your colleage students, to find out what the professors expect / what the other students do differently. Try to find some colleages to form a learning group.
Your colleages are surely not brighter than you, they only have better adopted the learning style that the university expects (they grew up in the same educational system where they are studying now). Most probably, they'd have comparable problems when going to a Middle East university.

"find out what the professors expect / what the other students do differently" -- I can imagine such professors/students having great difficulty in expressing the expectations, because it's the only thing they've ever known. This could be relative to any other academic culture ("we emphasize applications" could mean different things in different places). Can a fish describe what water is like? Perhaps more detail on how to draw out the relative differences could improve this answer.

@DanielR.Collins That's why I also recommended learning together with other students to experience how they cope with the learning tasks. If they can't adequately express how they do it, you can watch them.

Students perspective here:
Grades
Germany and Austria are countries where bad grades are possible and commonly accepted. Getting a C or D is what > 50% of the students usually get in the hard subjects. Other countries (e.g. UK) have more of an "if you pass, you pass with at least a B" approach. This can be devastating for new students.

So check back with your peers and see what grades they really got. If everyone got an A or B, then you need to apply the other answers.

Different country
Even a different university can be a hard change. Most of your peers will have received their bachelors degree from the same university, maybe even a bachelors program that is the logical precursor of your master's program.
They will have learned a lot of specific things that may be needed for the master's program. The professors might even assume that they have learned these concepts.

They might have more courses with focus on X, while your university focused on Y.
Their courses might allocate 3 ECTS, but are more like 6 ECTS courses, something that very commonly happens in STEM studies. If your university respected time constraints, you will be at a disadvantage.

Graduate school is meant to be that hard
In my experience, if you are not especially gifted and determined / efficient then yes, graduate school IS hard. I have to work a lot, my peers have to work a lot. There are some exceptions, but these are really outstanding students who have a very special relationship with math and logical thinking. Expect to work 60 hours a week to get done in time. Or get more efficient, which is even harder in the beginning.
Does it get better
No and yes. You get used to it, but my struggle is constant. In your case, I assume that it will get better. Change of location, change of program, change of people... All this will become the new normal, and you will do just fine.
Any advice to survive graduate school?

Get organized

Set up a plan, use a calendar to allocate time for learning, and stick to that calendar.
Set up a list of things to do in the morning, and try to do these things. Make small, attainable goals for these lists (like: solve equation X, read paper Y, write short summary on theorem B).

Find friends and study partners

Learning is hard, a group that suffers with you makes it so much more enjoyable. Try to find a group of people that likes to learn on campus / in a cafe that is a little over your current skillset. Expect to prove yourself in form of contributions (e.g. solve homework tasks, explain concepts). Especially in the beginning, try to prepare something others might not have solved yet, or show attempts and reasoning of your solutions. This will make you accepted as a valuable member and your progress will be much faster.
This is hard during Corona times, but maybe use the class chat to propose a common Facebook / Slack / Mattermost / collaboration tool of your choice to communicate outside of class about problems. Best case is that people will join and ask for help, you help them and learn. Show initiative, it will be recognized.

Find out about existing online forums for this course. Most of the time there are some kinds of Wikis and Forums that already exist.
Communicate with your professors about hard problems. In class, ask questions. Out of class, write mails. Attach your attempts and reasoning, much like when asking a question on Stackoverflow. You will learn a lot while doing it, often solving a problem in the process (because, who wants to ask a bad question :P).

Make yourself known. If they know you they, will care. They will have a face to the name, and they will know that you are trying hard. This requires a lot of effort, because you don't want to be the person that asks dumb questions. You want to be the person that may ask dumb questions but always shows good, constructive effort on solving it first.

Don't worry. If you pass, you pass. Try to climb the bell curve of grade distribution, but keep in mind that you are in a hard program and this will be acknowledged by future employers and professors.
You are not alone. There are other students that struggle. Find them, and vent with them. Don't let them drag you down to "we can't do anything about it anyways, so why try", but sometimes a good rant about how hard and unfair everything is, is just what one needs (Do such things in person, no one wants leaked chat protocols ;-))
Follow the advice of the other comments about finding the culprits of your current struggles.

I somewhat like this book here (free).
It's not for everyone, but I think it can give some guidance. Don't let yourself be stopped by the PhD in the title, almost everything is applicable for your master's and master's thesis too.
It's very controlling, and maybe sometimes unrealistic but it gave me some guidance when I needed to get out of a big hole I dug for myself.

You ask a number of questions, but i'll focus on the title. The graduate committee accepted you as a student because they were willing to take a risk that you would be able to do well in the program. So you already have some people that think you're able to do it, so that's positive.
Graduate school, for most people, is not a walk in the park, and comparing your performance to your peers is a habit you should try to get out of. Imagine if Stephen Hawking's colleagues always measured their value up against his, they probably would (and should) go mad.
What you are tasked with is reflecting on why you did poorly. Perhaps what led you to success in undergraduate will not lend you success in graduate school, in which case, you may need to tailor your attitudes and habits accordingly. It sounds like you are adjusting to a new sphere of learning and you will need to be honest with yourself in why it is that you did poorly. Perhaps what you think 'studying hard' is, is wrong for your new context, perhaps you need to study more efficiently. Perhaps you didn't understand the material or lacked the proper background, in which case, you will need to figure out a way to catch up. It appears that 'studying hard' didn't work for you, so you'd be best to dissect your definition of 'studying hard' and approach your studies from a new mode of thought.
There is no real solution to your problem apart from genuine reflection, persistence, patience, seeking help from your professors when you are encountering difficulties with the material, and most importantly, resiliency in the face of adversity.

+1 Also, OP has to adjust to a completely new environment.

I think now is a good time to do some serious soul-searching.
You write that you scored straight A's at a university in the Middle East, before moving to one of the best universities in Germany where you did much worse, relatively speaking. By itself this isn't surprising: when you moved from high school to undergraduate, your competition got stiffer, because the not-so-good students dropped out and never went to university. Similarly, when you move from undergraduate to graduate, and especially if you move to a top institution, your competition gets stiffer. If you stay in academia, when you move from graduate to postdoc it will get even stiffer, and stiffer still when you move from postdoc to tenure-track positions.
What happened means that you are currently not as good as your peers - which is certainly not a good sign, even though it's not fatal.
Figuring out why you did so badly is the #1 priority. There could be all sorts of reasons. "The material was very dense so I did not have enough time to prove every equation and apply every concept to fully understand them" is not good enough - your peers dealt with the same material yet learned it better than you. Distance learning is also not good enough, since presumably your peers dealt with the same issues and still learned it better than you. What could be good enough then? Some examples:

Classes taught in English when your main language is something else. If this is the case, it should get easier as you get more proficient with English.
Your peers had a more solid foundation than you. For example, maybe you needed to know X technique to attack Y problem, and the professor assumed everyone knows X (and indeed your peers do, although you never encountered it). If this is the case, then you should close the gap with your peers after mastering the material.
You underestimated how hard graduate school is, thinking you'll be held to the same standards as your undergraduate experience (this could also apply if your current institution has much higher standards than your former one). If this is the case, you need to raise your game, but that is something you know you can accomplish.
You spent a lot of time figuring out one-off events that have no relation to class. For example, say you rented a room, got into a dispute with the landlord, and the dispute went to court. This distracted you and meant you had less time to study. If this is the case, since it is a one-off event, your performance should improve.
Of course there's also the possibility that your peers are smarter/better than you. It's virtually inevitable that someone out there will be smarter/better than you in every field of human endeavor. If this is the case, you might be able to get some indication of this by working together with them with e.g. homework assignments.

After figuring out what the explanation is, you can move on to figuring out what to do about it. If the problem is fixable, then fix it. If it is not fixable - which would be the case if they're smarter than you - then figure out what you want to do. Being worse than your peers isn't a death sentence, but you might want to adjust your expectations. For example, perhaps topping your graduate class is unrealistic, but graduating is still an achievement, and you can still find interesting jobs afterwards even if you can't become a professor.
tl; dr: figure out why you did poorly. Be brutally honest. Then figure out what to do about it.

It's worth to mention that the one who "can become a professor" is not decided via an exam but different criteria: well-connectedness, research in interesting topics, in some cases political connectedness and the ability to move around the world (ie not having family issues with that).

Maybe it's the result of a difference in quality between the universities.
It's possible that you did well in your Middle-Eastern university because it wasn't a very good university. This might be because it was funded by oil magnates that just want their children to have university degrees as a mark of social status, because of shariah religious rules that drive away talented staff, a simple lack of funding because it wasn't located in a wealthy country, or possibly any of a number of possible reasons.
However, when you applied for the university in Germany, you were applying to a top-quality educational institute with the funding expected of a university located in a developed country, and you were competing against students that had previously been educated to a higher standard as a result. As a result of this disparity, you might have ranked relatively lower compared to the other students.
I wouldn't be disheartened, though; even if this is the case, and you did come from a relatively poorer-quality alma mater, you were still the cream of its crop, and that has allowed you to rise to find a position in a higher-quality postgraduate program in a developed nation. If you can complete your new degree, it would be worth much more than your undergraduate degree is, both because of the nature of undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and because it's from a more prestigious institution.

"... because of shariah [sic] religious rules that drive away talented staff". This is both unfounded and completely unnecessary to the answer.

Your profile makes it clear that you were/are a church preacher. I hope you do a better job of suppressing your religious bias in your career than you do on Academia.SE.

@Prometheus I'm not a preacher, but I am active in my church's community, and the fact of the matter is that countries like Saudi Arabia have some very restrictive Shariah Law rules that would drive away talent (e.g. rules that prohibit women from going out without their husbands).

Being the worst in your grad student peer group is an ideal situation.
What is the point of attending any school? Of course, the purpose is to learn.
When you are leaning, it is far better to be surrounded by peers who are more talented than you. This way, you can learn from them. Get with everyone who is better than you at something, and learn what you can.
If you were at a University where you didn't learn anything, why bother to go?

This is a typical "half glass full" theory, but I like it.

Being good in exams does not mean you cannot learn anything.  Half the people in here were or claim to have been straight A students, yet they also claim to profited from their phds. Also, if you want to become a researcher, you need a phd, you cannot just say "I got all As in exams, so there is no reason to do the phd." I cannot imagine someone argues this way. So, -1 from me

@user111388 I don't see where I mentioned grades.  I am speaking generally about personal growth, and the advantages of not being the best. Was your comment intended for a different answer?

No - the OP speaks about having worse grades and you give an answer to the question and speak about "being the worst in  grad student peer group".

@user111388 ok, I see. I guess you are the type of person who focuses on grades, not learning. My answer is attempting to draw focus to the big picture.

I don't understand what you mean by that. I am the person who wants answers on Se to answer the question. This question says "I have worse grades than my peers, is this okay?" The questioner does not give a bigger picture, they do not say they are more stupid than the peers or worse in other phd related activities. The question is about having worse grades.

Also, you seem to imply that the most talented in a peer group (by whatever measure) "knows everything" (or what is the relevance of the last paragraph to the rest of the answer?), which is IMO not true and does not have to go to university (which is IMO not true: Most likely, they need the university certifications for later jobs and cannot just say "I know everything, I don't have to go to uni".

@user111388 Yes, you were right. I was using an American colloquialism - "knows everything" doesn't mean omnipotent for me. I fixed it, thanks for the suggestion.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

I work at a German university with lots of international students, and I can only tell you that the problem you describe is very, very common. We have lots of foreign students who apply with excellent grades, but when they are here they fail. So, you are not the only one.
The reason is that students all over the world get good grades, but they do not learn the same things. They are admitted to a university in a foreign country because of their grades, but nobody asks if they really have the knowledge they need. And unfortunately, you cannot compare the grades of country 1 to the grades of country 2. The syllabes and the ways of learning can be very different. Besides, there are also universities which are simply bad and give good grades without teaching the students what they need to compete with others.
This does not mean that you are not intelligent. You just have to catch up with the others, and this might take some time. First, find out what the core of the problem is. Do the other students have some knowledge you do not have? Or is it your way of learning, are you expected to learn / work more independently? Ask your professors and TAs where your weaknesses are. Try to gain the knowledge that is missing. Do not give up, and do not lose your self-confidence.
Good luck!

I will answer the exact question you asked:

Is it okay to become a student with low grades?

Yes it is. You attend a school to learn - some learn better, some worse.
You attend a school in Germany where tuition is either free or (for non-EU citizens) cheap compared to countries such as the US. There is no miracle, money has to come from somewhere and it comes straight from my pocket in the form of taxes.
But this is fine: I strongly believe that any amount of education one receives is good and helps to wider one's mind. This is why I happily pay for others to study.
The grades have zero impact on your future life - do not forget that school is just a step towards something you will be doing for the next 40 years (this can be academia, but also industry, ...). So learn and have fun.

;-) Best spent tax money (with healthcare) by far. +1

I understand your predicament. Things do not go as expected, more often than not. And when things are on the decline it is disappointing.
If I were in your shoes and were feeling really down, I would take a very short break and contemplate.
You say you worked hard. But you did not get results. It means what you consider as studying is probably not the right way. Perhaps, your notion of learning is different than what it should be. You need to figure that out. It is possible that some of the fundamentals which you thought you knew well are not that clear to you and you are not able to build upon those. You need to figure it out and revisit them carefully.
You could revisit your exam and think about each question carefully. Which particular concept's lack of understanding rendered you unable to answer the question effectively? What was the ideal solution and what thought process was required to arrive at it, but your mind could not help you? What steps must be taken to sharpen yourself?
When you say you worked hard, are saying that by considering the amount of time you spent on study table or the amount of time you actually spent concentrating? Think about that.
Do not worry about what your professors think or how good your colleagues are. You can still be the best in the world in what you wish to do.
Something is definitely wrong. Find it out. Fix it. Work harder and you will taste success. Best of luck!

Re "in your shows": Do you mean in your shoes (it could a real typo)?

yeah it is (was) a typo. Grammarly in auto mode.

It's hard to identify the root cause for what you're experiencing based on the information you provided, but having been there, I believe you'll find the answer in a few years when you objectively look back at your situation.
This has happened to me twice and I believe there were different root causes. I wonder whether one or both may apply to you too:

I got accepted into the best university for Computer Science in Spain many years ago. Coming from one of the best high schools in my Latin American city, being top of the class and having passed the access exam, I thought I'd do well. But I struggled to keep up and I often had to resit tests. Why? I believe the examinations and the grading was as rigorous as it was back home, but the academic curriculum back home simply lagged far behind and it was hard to keep up the pace in class when lecturers took for granted that I knew all the basics, but in many cases I didn't.
A few years later and with real-world experience, I started reading for a master's in Software Engineering at Oxford. This time I didn't struggle to keep up at all, but I did struggle to get more than a "pass" (a mark in the range 50-69). I must've got 2 or so distinctions, and an equal number of failures. Why? The bar is far higher than I was used to back home and in Spain, where getting grades higher than 70 (or equivalent) is pretty common. To get a distinction (70+) at Oxford, in addition to completing the entirety of the assessment correctly and accurately, your solution must also be innovative.

Ultimately, unless you're planning to stay in the academia, your grades won't be relevant once you graduate. So focus more on learning than acing exams.

Actually in Germany if you want to get a job they usually look at the grades. Then after working for a couple of years the grades do not matter anymore.

Been there, done that.
First years are a mess for the most coming from middle east, I had seen people with highest distinction scholarships crush and burn fairly regularly. Some of them quit due to financial instability, personal life problems, severe depression etc.
I was never 'top grades', 'highest distinction' student, I was mostly passing and above average in one or two courses etc.
My motto when I came to europe was to study 3 times more than what an average student would. For me the language was also problematic, so you might get away with less. The gap might seem large from time to time, but hey, they are human, just like you are, if they managed, you can manage as well.
I can give you some tips for improving your grades that have a high chance to work from experience:

Focus more on improving your quality of life than your grades. Two tips:

Try not to think about currency difference when doing life expenses, which includes socialising. It is not wasted money on unrelated stuff of your hard working parents or your hard working self, or your hard earned scholarship (because it is never easy in middle east for the most). You are networking, and you need that social network for days when you don't know how to do more for an exam or not quite sure how to write to a professor etc.

Try doing some sports. Contrary to intellectual stuff, most sports have fairly clear logic: You do them regularly and get better at them by doing so. This would build up your confidence and your initial failures would be less traumatic.

Ask your peers what they think the professor is expecting, and how they study to respond to it.

Pick an undergraduate text book from the library and try to understand what an average student is expected to know.

For written assignments, read your peers' work after the grading session is done. For good papers, this should make clear what you are expected to do with the knowledge presented in class.

If you know seniors from your country who did the same program, get in touch with them. They can help a lot in terms of what the program is expecting or how one should study for a particular topic. If you don't know anyone, try looking at online thesis repositories and get in touch with those who are pursuing phds. I had never seen a collegue refusing to share their educational experience with his/her compatriot. Do not be afraid to ask them, you might be surprised by their willingness to offer help.

Don't worry it gets better after awhile. Grades are just grades, improve your life , be patient and study regularly, you will see that your grades improve as well. As for "low grade student", as long as you pass, don't concern yourself over it. When all of this is over, you remember what you've learnt during the program and not your grades.

Most of the answers here are guessing the cause so here is a way for you to see if problem was just a culture shock or new university is just harder:

compare your current tests with equivalent graduate tests in your old university(for example could you with your current knowledge ace the equivalent test in your old university)
if possible see how other students from your university do in similarly hard universities

With regards if bad grades are OK: that depends on you personally, and you situation, so it is impossible to answer.

Do you prefer to be in the bottom 20% of the top university or in top 5% of a weak university?
Do you want to continue living in Europe/Germany after university(it might be easier to find a job with German degree)
Do bad grades demotivate you, or motivate you?
...

All I can tell you is that it is not uncommon to struggle in graduate school.

Here's a bit of a checklist to work down, based on the info you have given:
First, are you actually getting lower grades or just lower % marks? There are some big differences; for example, in the US 85% might be a B while in the UK 70% is usually an A.
Second, are you doing worse, or just getting lower grades? As others have noted, in many European countries a B or a C is considered a good grade. For example, at masters level in my UK university a B is a "Merit". I regularly have to meet with international students to reassure them that 65% (a mid B / Merit) is a good mark.
Third, if you are actually doing worse than you expect, then that's the time to start looking at teaching and learning methods and expectations. For example, in some countries (I don't know about yours) the expectation is that students will learn what is in the textbook and then reproduce it in an exam - wheras in much of Europe, especially at masters level, markers will be looking for students to demonstrate understanding and to show that they are thinking for themselves. This can be a difficult change - so if you think this is the issue, look out for resources that your new university might offer to help you adapt (eg web pages with advice, or classes or even 1:1 advice sessions. This sort of thing is sometimes offered by the university library, or the international office, or similar)
Don't be afraid to ask the teaching staff for advice in these areas - ideally with a proactive "I know I need to improve, can you advise me on how, or where to get help?" attitude.


text:
Is there a need to always check for plagiarism?
If you carefully and adequately paraphrase and quote in a given school assignment or a master's essay or thesis (i.e. act ethically), should you use a software or a website to check for plagiarism? Is there a need for such an act? You know, 'just in case'?

did you paraphrase and also cite the source? An additional consideration is that, whoever you submit your paper to will be checking for plagiarism, so it would be your best interest to submit to the same (or similar) type computer programs that they will, just in case your paraphrasing is not different enough, or if you used 3 words in succession that comes directly from the paper you are paraphrasing.

That's my point; everything is done perfectly.

Being certain that you quote correctly is pretty straight-forward (if it's not your words, use quotes), but learning to paraphrase well is difficult for some people.  I think this may be more often the case for those who are not native English speakers: my observation may be less about language than about differences in educational culture.
For a person who doesn't have confidence that they are paraphrasing sufficiently differently for typical scientific writing standards, I could see that running through a plagiarism checker might be useful as an educational tool.  Much more effectively, however, such a person might want to work with a trustworthy writing service (most American universities provide something of this sort free to their students) to get an independent evaluation of the quality of their paraphrasing and help in improving it if needed.
Once you have enough experience to be confident in your ability to paraphrase, however, I would not bother to do any sort of double-check unless you have an extremely nervous personality and it will help you to sleep at night.

After completing an assignment where references were cited and paraphrased, it may be beneficial to run your paper through plagiarism checking software for the following reasons:

You can be relatively confident that your teacher will be performing plagiarism checking themselves, and by performing your own due-diligence, you will be more prepared to understand what they will see. Perhaps a sentence in your essay will be flagged by the software as plagiarism. By receiving this information before submitting the essay, you can modify and/or cite this sentence.
You may believe your essay to be 'perfect' but in a multi-page essay it is easy to make a mistake, miss a citation, or paraphrase a little 'too closely' to the original. By performing a plagiarism check you will protect yourself in this situation.

What is a "plagiarism check?" Using a computer to compare your piece with someone elses?

@TomAu a 'plagiarism check' in this context referred to teacher's use of software to check for plagiarism, such as www.TurnItIn.com or similar websites.

source: Stack Exchange

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text:
Authorship attribution in research papers
This question is egarding an article in a past publication in a journal or conference proceedings with two or more authors.
If subsequently, i.e., in the post publication period any of the authors desires to  mention/record their respective individual contributions or part attributions, how may that be done?
Are there procedures by publishers to record comments by previous authors through any post publication consent form about authorship claims and copyrights?
Or is it better to write a separate new paper maybe including new updated exclusive individual researches?

I am not sure if I completely understand: you want to add a short notice that clarifie which author did what, or you want to update the paper with new results?

The former. To add a short notice to clarify which author did what. Updating  btw was mentioned if that would be a work-around.

What is the reason that you want to include this after already publishing the article? What benefits do you hope to gain?

To attribute author wise and item wise due credits, that may be  proportional to time of research performed and corresponding importance of the research work.

Advice: let it go and move forward. Everyone thinks they did more than others did.

Thanks for the advice , shall take.

No, it doesn't happen in a recognized forum and for a reason. It is a monumentally bad idea to regularly publish author disputes, which would happen inevitably. There are many (many) questions here from writers with disputes over authorship. Allowing them to continue in public post-publication will do no one any good.
The appropriate way to do this is in a "Contributions" section of the paper itself. All authors need to sign off on that. Some fields have traditions about author order, somehow expressing level of contribution, even if poorly. Other fields assume equal contribution, even if not the same kind of contribution in all papers unless otherwise stated in the paper itself.
But any authorship disputes or negotiations should end with the publication of the paper, IMO. Focus on the next intellectual contribution. Work with people you trust. Collaborate.

There is no formal mechanism for doing what you're asking (if I correctly understand you). The only possible grounds under which a journal will agree to add a note to a published work is in the case of an error, or a retraction (for whatever reason). Any further work and contributions should go into a next manuscript, where you can properly record the author-wise contributions.

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text:
Are there examples of journals with an explicit policy on GPT-3 and equivalent language models?
In the question Is it OK to use GPT-3+ to rewrite your own paper to have better English? @gerrit mentions that:

Check the rules of the journal. Chances are they allow automated spelling, grammar, and style checkers, but not text generators such as ChatGPT.

I've tried to Google for examples of journals with an explicit policy on the use of GPT-like language models but couldn't find any. Given that GPT-3 launched over 2 years ago, have any journals created a policy on the use of such models as an aid for writing papers? I'm not looking for an exhaustive list obviously, just one or two examples of such policies.
Please avoid linking to opinion pieces on what editors "should" do, I'm only interested in binding policies announced by specific journals.

I would be surprised to find a journal that had such a policy. I think it would simply not occur to an editor that an auther would use such a service. The only use case I can imagine would be an attempt to trick the journal into publishing nonsense - there are stories to that effect.

@EthanBolker, afaik, no journal has explicitly done that, but there are already guidelines (e.g. ICMJE) which suggest acknowledgement of technical writing assistance. I will list ChatGPT as a writing assistance. There is nothing new about chatgpt that a journal has to take a new action to regulate.

@Pikachu피카츄 normally "technical writing assistance" refers to humans though? Or does it cover tools like Word's spellchecking that have existed for a couple of decades?

By now, several major publishers have implemented policies on GPT-like models. Exactly what they cover varies, but there is at least a consensus that such models cannot be listed as co-authors. Policies allowing the use of such models do require the use to be properly disclosed and documented.
In a Jan 24, 2023 editorial Springer-Nature announced their policy:

Authors. Corresponding author(s) should be identified with an asterisk. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria. Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs. Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript.

In a Jan 26, 2023 editorial the Science journals announced an update to their policy:

Artificial intelligence (AI) policy: Text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools cannot be used in papers published in Science journals, nor can the accompanying figures, images, or graphics be the products of such tools, without explicit permission from the editors. In addition, an AI program cannot be an author of a Science journal paper. A violation of this policy constitutes scientific misconduct.

On or before Jan 26, 2023 Elsevier instituted a related policy. Their publishing ethics page now contains:

Where authors use AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, these technologies should only be used to improve readability and language of the work and not to replace key researcher tasks such as producing scientific insights, analyzing and interpreting data or drawing scientific conclusions. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control and authors should carefully review and edit the result, because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. The authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.
Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies and a statement will appear in the published work. Declaring the use of these technologies supports transparency and trust between authors, readers, reviewers, editors and contributors and facilitates compliance with the terms of use of the relevant tool or technology.
Authors should not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author.

On Feb 17, 2023 Taylor and Francis announced an update to their policies that:

AI tools must not be listed as an author. Authors must, however, acknowledge all sources and contributors included in their work. Where AI tools are used, such use must be acknowledged and documented appropriately.

On Feb 21, 2023 PNAS announced an update to their policy:

Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work. The corresponding author must have obtained permission from all authors for the submission of each version of the paper and for any change in authorship. Use of artificial intelligence (AI) software, such as ChatGPT, must be noted in the Materials and Methods (or Acknowledgments, if no Materials and Methods section is available) section of the manuscript and may not be listed as an author.

Similarly, Oxford University Press has the policy:

Note: Neither symbolic figures such as Camille Noûs nor natural language processing tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT qualify as authors, and OUP will screen for them in author lists. The use of AI (for example, to help generate content, write code, or analyze data) must be disclosed both in cover letters to editors and in the Methods or Acknowledgements section of manuscripts.

This isn't even limited to journal publishers. In a Jan 31, 2023 blog post, arXiv announced a policy stating that they

continue to require authors to report in their work any significant use of sophisticated tools, such as instruments and software; we now include in particular text-to-text generative AI among those that should be reported consistent with subject standards for methodology.

remind all colleagues that by signing their name as an author of a paper, they each individually take full responsibility for all its contents, irrespective of how the contents were generated. If generative AI language tools generate inappropriate language, plagiarized content, biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect references, or misleading content, and that output is included in scientific works, it is the responsibility of the author(s).

generative AI language tools should not be listed as an author; instead authors should refer to (1).

Thanks! The policies don’t look too bad though there is a hint of Luddism.

Does this count?

Originality and plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

From Elsevier: Ethical publishing. It should cover ChatGPT: if an AI wrote it, it is not your work. I took Elsevier as an example, but basically all publishers have a similar provision.

I don’t think so? The US copyright office ruled that AI works are not subject to copyright protection.

@JonathanReez Copyright protection is rather orthogonal to plagiarism. You can't claim that ideas are your own just because they are published in works that lack protection because they've entered the public domain (whether from age or licensing) or were authored by the US government.

It sounds like it should be ok to acknowledge if chatGPT was used then. However, if chatGPT would copy the work of others (possibly even accidentally) without acknowledgement, then it could be interpreted as a violation of the policy you refer to.

Exactly this. The other questions and answers here about GPT3 in academic writing suggest that it is okay-ish to use it to some extent, but there are issues which may be out of the authors' control. Still, it is first and foremost the authors' responsibility to ensure that texts they publish under their name adhere to academic standards, and the guidelines of many (most?) journals cover that sufficiently.

@Anyon it hinges on whether or not one may “steal” from an algorithm in the first place. Up until 2020 the answer was a resounding “no”, simply because no algorithm existed that could generate plausible sounding text. Did any journals announce that GPT changes this?

@JonathanReez, what is "stealing" from an algorithm? Whatever you mean exactly, it sounds like going against academic standards, both before and after 2020. And really, that is totally independent of the quality of the text produced, there are much more severe considerations as you can read in the answers to the different questions on this topic on this site.

"Elsevier: Ethical publishing". How ironic.

Yes, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) recently added an explicit policy applicable for the 2023 edition of the conference. While strictly speaking not a journal, I think it is still relevant to this question since top-tier conferences in computer science, like ICML, are comparable (and often better) than journals in terms of quality, prestige, and selectivity.
The policy is as follows (emphasis mine):

Ethics:
Authors and members of the program committee, including reviewers, are
expected to follow standard ethical guidelines. Plagiarism in any form
is strictly forbidden as is unethical use of privileged information by
reviewers, ACs, and SACs, such as sharing this information or using it
for any other purpose than the reviewing process. Papers that include
text generated from a large-scale language model (LLM) such as ChatGPT
are prohibited unless these produced text is presented as a part of
the paper’s experimental analysis. All suspected unethical behaviors
will be investigated by an ethics board and individuals found
violating the rules may face sanctions. This year, we will collect
names of individuals that have been found to have violated these
standards; if individuals representing conferences, journals, or other
organizations request this list for decision making purposes, we may
make this information available to them. Details of this guideline
will be published on the website.

A bit ironic that a conference on machine learning would do this :-)

It is probably worth adding that Nature now has explicit guidelines about using LLMs for producing research papers, too; see the Authors section of the submission guidelines at https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/initial-submission for details. In essence, they say that LLMs can't be authors and that their use has to be made transparent in the Methods or Acknowledgements sections of the submission.

Are there examples of journals with an explicit policy on GPT-3 and equivalent language models?

Yes. Examples:

NeurIPS 2024:

Use of Large Language Models (LLMs): We welcome authors to use any tool that is suitable for preparing high-quality papers and research. However, we ask authors to keep in mind two important criteria. First, we expect papers to fully describe their methodology, and any tool that is important to that methodology, including the use of LLMs, should be described also. For example, authors should mention tools (including LLMs) that were used for data processing or filtering, visualization, facilitating or running experiments, and proving theorems. It may also be advisable to describe the use of LLMs in implementing the method (if this corresponds to an important, original, or non-standard component of the approach). Second, authors are responsible for the entire content of the paper, including all text and figures, so while authors are welcome to use any tool they wish for writing the paper, they must ensure that all text is correct and original.

ACL 2023: https://2023.aclweb.org/blog/ACL-2023-policy/. ACL also mentions their stance on code-generation programs.

CEUR-WS proceedings:

In the past few months, we have witnessed the emergence of novel large language models (LLM) reaching breakthrough performance on NLP tasks. These include ChatGPT and Galactica, which are AI assistants that can produce long and good quality content that can be seeded for authors’ work. Because of their recent emergence, the norms around the use of such technology is not fully established, yet. Hence, it is important to acknowledge its use and elaborate on how it has been employed.
Specifically, we define three levels of AI assistance usage: insignificant, low and substantial. We will group the different use cases according to these three categories and we will define CEUR-WS stance.
Insignificant. Activities like: i) paraphrasing and refining the manuscript content (using Grammarly or other spell checkers), and ii) smart composition (via predictive keyboards) are widely accepted and do not need any acknowledgement.
Low. The use of AI tools for searching and generating literature review is acceptable upon authors’ checks. Authors must review the content and adjust/add references to line up with the narrative of their manuscript. In case of generating unoriginal content (i.e., definition, or description of well-known concepts) may be acceptable provided that the authors have checked it to be accurate and included proper references to the original content.
Substantial. Using AI assistants for generating new ideas as well as new text is unacceptable. Most of the generated content may derive from existing work. Potential issues with such practice are related to originality, plagiarism, ownership, and authorship, whose consequences and impact are not yet clear.
Regardless of the cases above, CEUR-WS publishes original work from named authors, and thus contributions from AI assistants can only be stated in the acknowledgements and/or by suitable references at the original research papers. We require that all authors and workshop editors adhere to these guidelines. Their violation will lead to the removal of the published paper or the whole volume, similar to our procedures dealing with plagiarism.
As this technology is in current development, we plan to continuously review this policy in the upcoming months.
This policy section is partly inspired by the “ACL 2023 Policy on AI Writing Assistance” available here.
Related documents:

US Copyright Office's Guidance on AI-Generated Material (2023-03-16)

IEEE Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Text (retrieved May 7, 2024):

The use of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in an article (including but not limited to text, figures, images, and code) shall be disclosed in the acknowledgments section of any article submitted to an IEEE publication. The AI system used shall be identified, and specific sections of the article that use AI-generated content shall be identified and accompanied by a brief explanation regarding the level at which the AI system was used to generate the content.
The use of AI systems for editing and grammar enhancement is common practice and, as such, is generally outside the intent of the above policy. In this case, disclosure as noted above is recommended.

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text:
Racial discrimination at Duke University's Biostatistics department
The director of graduate studies at Duke's Biostatistics department has stepped down after her racially discriminatory emails, targeted at their international Chinese master's students, went viral on the Internet.
How can an affected Chinese student in the program proceed with their semester safely, without facing retaliation?
They have been threatened with no research opportunities and other possible impediments to their job search, for speaking Chinese loudly in the student lounge and in other areas outside of class time; namely, while I can appreciate the support for the director and distinguishing between her good intentions and unintended discrimination in her email messages to the students, the threats of retaliation by a couple of professors are problematic, e.g. these professors asked the director for photos of the Chinese students and were subsequently targeting them with no research projects.

Is this hypothetical, or are you one of the students affected? Are you looking for a general answer or something actionable?

this question right now lacks specifics, so answers will probably be very general ("talk to the dean"). You should add what is the problem, and what you want to happen

What I don't understand here is who threatened the students? The director of graduate studies who has stepped down? If so, who would retaliate? Has somebody else threatened the student for speaking Chinese, and acted discriminatory after the director has stepped down for that same reason? If so (and if the University is already dealing with discriminatory elements), why not deal with this incident the same way the director of graduate studies has been dealt with, i.e. notifying the proper authorities (dean, or similar?) to the discriminatory behaviour?

Let me give a little more insight as someone who is at Duke- 1. the graduate students were not in the lounge but in the community kitchen. 2. They were being loud during the working day. 3. Megan had to be the bearer of bad news for annoyed faculty who wanted them to respect the working space. Should Megan have made an insinuation about research? Resoundingly no. She should have just told them to clear out. I dont see why they were there. There are a TON of communal spaces in the med center where they could have been without disturbing faculty.

@JWH2006 I think you've completely missed the point. The issue is not that a faculty member asked students to be quiet, the point is that they asked them to not speak Chinese and insinuated that continuing to speak Chinese on their own time rather than English would come with consequences. The clear emphasis in the email was that Chinese language was the problem, not loud conversation. "To international students, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep these unintended consequences in mind when you choose to speak in Chinese in the building."

@BryanKrause I still don't follow who is currently threatening the students, and who might retaliate against them. A faculty member did something discriminatory. That faculty member stepped down as a consequence. If the question is saying that the students fear retribution from the rest of the faculty, or that the rest of the faculty has blamed them for director stepping down, I would understand the question. Like this, it seems like the students are in an environment which actively deals with discrimination - hence the director stepping down - and therefore I can't understand their fears?

@penelope I agree, that's partly why I voted to close the question.

@penelope Reading an article about the incident, it says that there were also other faculties involved (investigations seem under way). So probably the discrimination is not so isolated.

@BryanKrause What discrimination is going on at Duke? The whole triangle area is extremely cosmopolitan. I think this question would be better served if there was some articulation on the exact concerns that the poster has? A large portion of the biostats faculty IS Chinese (and very talented at that, the paper with the largest impact published last year was from a Chinese faculty member). Where is this person feeling unsafe and what resources available have been exhausted (e.g. the ASA here on campus)?

@JWH2006 Have you read the email sent by the former head of the program? That demonstrates the (blatant) discrimination. Blatant enough that the person responsible for the email immediately resigned that position. I think overall the biostats department handled it just fine from my outsider perspective, but unless Neely misstated the positions of her colleagues there were multiple people in the department with these views.

@BryanKrause I read the email and I know of the underlying situation that led up to that email being sent. I listened to the president's response to it as well. I also heard the support for Megan from the Chinese graduate community in the stats/biostats departments. Megan isnt tenure track so I imagine her contract will not be up for renewal.  That said, I also know about the work she has done to help connect the Chinese masters students with the tech industry here in the triangle. I think reading the student testimonials from Chinese students in support of Megan might change your view.

@JWH2006 I can appreciate the support for Megan and you distinguishing between intentions and unintended discrimination in her message to the students.  However, the threats of retaliation are problematic, e.g. the professors asking Megan for photos of the Chinese students and then targeting them with no research projects, for example.

@user103955 The situation you describe in your last comment adds a lot to the question, and gives a concrete context to your question and explains why the students in question feel threatened. If you edited that into your question (and/or any other example of actions following the directors resignation that have been similarly threatening and problematic), we could consider reopening it since we could give more targeted responses.

@user103955 Am I correct in my understanding that these professors asked for photos (bad, bad thing) of the director after she had already resigned due to her racially discriminatory e-mails (making it even worse), and she actually provided them after already facing consequences of her discriminatory actions? (terrible thing bordering idiotic with self-destructive tendencies).

[citation needed]

I believe that for the students the situation has resolved itself. But I expect that it was collective action on the student's part that brought it to the attention of higher powers. I might be wrong in all of this, of course, but I think that people have been made sensitive to the problem and will be less willing to engage in (blatant) discrimination.
So, it may be that in the short term, things will improve.
But in general, it is collective action that is needed to bring such things to the fore. Bad things can happen in dark alleys. The light of day is a good disinfectant. But when someone powerful is acting badly, individual action might only make it worse for the individual. There is power in numbers.
If the students are still threatened, it is good to stick together.
Individuals can, of course, seek reassurance from their professors. If it isn't forthcoming, more light is needed.

"If the students are still threatened, it is good to stick together."  This might be interpreted as "Only interact with people of your own race." which is bad advice.  I think you intended "work as a group to address racism."  My (limited) understanding of Chinese culture is that working as a group is customary.

@AnonymousPhysicist, actually, I think most students, whatever their race, would be appalled by such behavior of a Dean. And collective action should, in general, be as wide as possible.

If these students believe that there existing/prior/future opportunities and outcomes have/will been adversely affected by racial discrimination that falls afoul of university policy or discrimination law, the best thing to do would be to put in a formal complaint to the university to this effect and seek an appropriate remedy (e.g., being granted the missed opportunities at issue).
One of the benefits of a formal complaint is that it almost always triggers non-retaliation requirements so long as the complaint is a bona fide one.  If retaliation were to occur then this should be pursued with another formal complaint, and so on.  Of course, there is never a guarantee that people will not retaliate in defiance of policy/law, but having put in a formal complaint puts the students in a position of strength against such action.  As in all cases where a person is considering formal complaint proceedings, it is important to document relevant events, gather relevant evidence, and collate it in a clear way.


text:
Is there a way of obtaining a copy of a thesis remotely?
Apologies if my question is a little vague. To hopefully clarify, I mean a thesis that has been digitized, can be downloaded by members of the holding institution, and is available on ProQuest. But, what if I am the other side of the world to the institution, have no institutional credentials of my own, and have no access to ProQuest?
And, tragically, I don't know anyone there either!

The usual approaches: Does your country have something like a catalogue of all holdings of the bigger libraries together? Have a look - you may be lucky. Then, is the author of the thesis still in academia? Drop an e-mail, perhaps you get a PDF copy. Less likely to work is asking the former supervisor of the PhD student by e-mail. Then, does ProQuest sell you an individual copy without a subscription? This may of course be too expensive for you. But perhaps you school provides support for such cases?

Ask one of their librarians.

Thanks to you both! It was a simple matter of emailing the library. Took  a discussion of less than five minutes. Madness. I must be so dense not to have considered that! Thanks very much!

Just curious - in what sense do you have "no access to ProQuest"? I was under the impression they would sell a thesis to anyone with a credit card. Obviously it'd be better to get it for free if you can (which in fact you did), but paying should still be an option if all else fails. Or did you simply mean that you don't have free access and can't afford to pay?

Nate—I learn something every day! I didn't realise they sell the theses they hold (I assumed that it it wasn't already freely available/OA, then it was restricted by copyright). I've checked, and in fact what I was after was indeed there. So yes, as it happens I have had a better result, as you say, but $40 wouldn't have broken the bank, I'm lucky enough to say, so it's something I will (hopefully!) remember next time I'm in the inevitable bind...

oatd.org will find links on major repositories; it's meant to provide access to thesis which are freely available.  For my thesis it finds both my institutional repository and the British Library's EThOS service (which is still down after a cyber attack).  Both allow downloading by anyone, in this case.  In general most UK theses end up on EThOS; other countries also have national repositories.
Google (regular or Scholar) is very patchy at indexing theses hosted by institutions, though it actually does find mine with my surname and a few uncommon keywords from the title.
Another tool is ndtld.org, but perhaps its most useful page is their index of national indices

Thanks Chris. Yes, EThOS is a major loss; I suspect it's at the bottom of the list for repair! But many thanks for those resources; OATD on its own seems a gold mine. It'll be very useful.


text:
CGPA for PhD. applications in the US
I'm a computer science student in Turkey. I would like to apply a grad school in U.S., possibly Columbia University or University of Michigan or University of Pennsylvania with scholarship. I will probably apply for Natural Language Processing.
My CGPA is 3.92 right now. I will go exchange (to NUS) next semester and I'm told that my GPA at exchange won't affect my CGPA. It seems that my CGPA over this semester will be my finalized CGPA to apply to schools.
This semester I took Intermediate Chinese I as an additional course (which is not on curriculum.) This is the 5th Chinese course I have taken and I just took it because I think it could be fancy on the transcript. Now that I thinking of studying at NLP, I think it would be beneficial. However there is strong possibility that I will get A- from that course, which drops my CGPA.
I also took linear algebra and differential equations and I have done pretty bad at the test so I will get something like B or B+ from it, which again drops my CGPA very badly. If I withdraw it, I can easily take A from this course when I retake it.
I have also other lessons which I do not know if I will get A or A- so it is not certain that withdrawing from these courses helps my CPGA at not dropping below 3.90
So my question is, should I try to keep my CGPA as high as possible? Is it a good thing that I took Intermediate Chinese I and took A- of it? Is it better to withdraw from a Math course then take A or take B+ at the first try? Does CGPA matters that much?
Note: I still have no research experience but I will try to have some at exchange and in my home university when I return. I hope they can get me good reference letters.
I know these are odd question that may not affect my future dramatically, but I have to make a decision. I appreciate your comments.
Note2: My current major CGPA (only CS courses) makes up to 3.82, I expect it to become 3.80 or 3.85. add in math courses except linear algebra makes it 3.90

It’s been nine years. How did things turn out for you? Sharing experiences and that sort of thing …

Does CGPA matters that much?

I don't think so. Your current CGPA 3.92 is good enough. I think you have other things to worry if you want to get into the graduate schools you want to go. They are recommendation letters, GRE and TOEFL scores (if you are supposed to take TOEFL) and the research experience.
You do have some weakness in your major CGPA, however. Your math courses do not look too good. B/B+ grades for linear algebra and differential equations are simply below average unless you have other very strong math course grade to show on your transcript. How was the grade of your statistics? discrete math? Any other upper level math courses you have taken?

Is it better to withdraw from a Math course then take A or take B+ at the first try?

Withdraw from those math courses may be too late now. I would suggest you to study much harder to get the grades above A- if all possible. "I have done pretty bad at quiz so I will take smt like B or B+ from it" is just an excuse to me. A few bad quiz scores could beat you?
You certainly need to take more advanced math courses after this semester. One possible way is to take more advanced math courses while at NSU (National Singapore University?). With your current math knowledge level, I am not sure you would be able to survive in the NLP programs you listed in the question even if you manage to get into one of them. The bottom line is, you need to strengthen your math.

They are (probability, discrete mathematics, calculus 1 and 2) all A. Forgot to mention, linear algebra and differential equations is one concerete course. It sounds funny bad Quiz really deter the letter grade much, each quiz with 0 pulls it down by 2.
Adding extra math courses never occured to me. Thank you! I think I should do that really.

This is old enough that it may be moot for you, but future readers may have similar questions.
You are too focused on GPA for US admissions. The admissions program in the US is broad based and relies quite heavily on supportive letters of recommendation from people who know you and your work and can honestly predict your success in the program and thereafter. Doctoral admissions in the US isn't a numbers game, though many places have a cut-off for consideration and you are far above that.
Moreover, you are too focused on too narrow a range of institutions, all near the top of the rankings. If you really want to study here you should cast a broader net since the competition at such places is very intense with lots of good candidates for a limited number of seats. Being rejected by one institution is somewhat correlated with being rejected by similar ones.
Finally, a "scholarship" is unlikely as they are rare, especially for international students. Much more likely in a CS or math field is a Teaching Assistantship which will pay your fees and provide a modest living stipend. A Research Assistantship may also be possible, but not as common unless you are truly outstanding, not just in GPA, but in letters of recommendation. But TAs are essential to the running of a large undergraduate program, so most students finance their doctorate this way in those fields and some others.
I hope you have found success in your chosen path.

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text:
In my 2nd year of PhD, and I feel like a technician
I am in my 2nd year of a neurosceince PhD in europe. The project had a very clear vision even before I had applied. This meant that I came into a project which was well defined and planned with many intersting findings ahead of itself. My previous experience during my master's project was quite challenging as I had a supervisor who was often harsh and critical. So, it was very refreshing to have my current supervisor and post-doc advisors. They are extremetly nice people, and I could not be happier with them.
My first year was very productive where I did many experiments (as planned), and one point my supervisors even joked about me being a "super PhD student". In the begining of my 2nd year however, I hit  a big snag. I fell into a deep depression, during which I found no joy in any aspect of my work, not even in basic activities like eating and sleeping. My primary task was to perform computational analysis on certain experiments, but I struggled immensely with it. I genuenly belived that I was incapable of figuring out the coding part of the analysis, or come up with anything new. This went on for 8 months. Eventhough my supervisors were very helful, I did not go to them soon enough becouse I was afraid of being kicked out. I continued doing experiments, but did not come up with any data or results to show people.
Right now, I am in the last 3 months of my 2nd year. I seem to have suddenly gotten my mojo back, and started to read and write again. I have mental strength and energy to bounce back, but my post doc supervisor has mentioned that she is loosing faith in me. The kind of work I do takes time, but because I am not doing statestics correctly, it is making my post-doc worried that she will have to go through the stats after me.
I have done original work on my own before, and that felt different. In those instances, I was able to handle most tasks on my own, although I acknowledge that the difficulty level was very low. But here, I am just following orders to complete a very intereting project. I only introduced one experiment on my own, rest everything is their idea. I feel like my job can be done by a technician. This is again effecting my good spirits, which was very hard to get back. Eventhough I have thought of quitting and ending things so many timmes this year, I have decided not to do so.
Realistically speaking, I cannot do anything "new" in an years time in this feild working with animals. But also dont want to feel like I am getting a degree that is not my own. What should I do here to stay motivated? I am planning to talk to my supervisor, but I dont know what to say so that I don't sound ungrateful. Because, I am very grateful for this oppertunity. Pursuing this line of work has been a lifelong dream, and I'm concerned that I may not be meeting their expectations as a PhD student, which worries me even more about the situation.
PS: One important observation I made - in both good and tough times, I've been consistent in my teaching efforts. I've mentored students and organized science events successfully (from the feedback I got). This makes me wonder if I might be more suited for teaching than research. Even though I enjoy research a lot, the stress associated with it ( especially during challenging times) has me questioning if it's the right path for me. And if its worth it.

Welcome to Academia.SE. Can you clarify the question? We're a Q&A site, so while you may really want "mentoring" or general advice, we tend to be most helpful if you can identify a particular decision you need to make or an unknown you need to understand.

This is a long post, but one part jumped out at me:

The kind of work I do takes time, but because I am not doing statistics correctly, it is making my post-doc worried that she will have to go through the stats after me.

Your post is framed in terms of personal shortcomings and abilities and feelings, but this criticism is not about any of these. It's a very important professional criticism of your work. You need to learn how to respond to professional criticism, which often involves learning new skills and understanding new areas of research. These are the essence of the learning process during the PhD, you will not be successful if you feel okay with not doing statistics correctly.
I'd work with your advisor(s) to better understand your shortcomings and then learn what you need to learn for your research. This is not about what you can and can't do, it's about what you haven't learned yet and now is the time to do it.
I think the more you feel confident in all the different steps involved in your project the more proud you will feel about your overall contribution. It's common in biology that a student's contributions to designing new projects come later on: you may help write and collect preliminary data for a grant that will fund the next student, just like a project was handed to you. You'll get to participate in all the pieces of the adventure even if it's not all the same adventure.

It is normal to feel the way you are feeling during a PhD. But it's important to remember that a PhD journey is not just about the destination but also about the journey itself. It's about learning, growing, and becoming a better version of yourself. It's about overcoming obstacles and coming out stronger on the other side.
Remember, it's okay to struggle and it's okay to ask for help. Your supervisors are there to guide you, not judge you. Don't be afraid to reach out to them when you're struggling. They want you to succeed just as much as you do.
Regarding your concerns about not doing anything "new", remember that every contribution, no matter how small it may seem, is valuable. Even if you're following orders or doing work that could be done by a technician, you're still contributing to the larger goal of the project. And who knows? You might stumble upon something unexpected along the way.
As for your worries about not meeting expectations, remember that everyone progresses at their own pace. Don't compare your journey to anyone else's. Focus on your own growth and development. And most importantly, don't forget to celebrate your victories, no matter how small they may seem.
Also, regarding your interest in teaching, it's great that you've found something you're passionate about! Teaching is a noble profession and if it brings you joy, why not pursue it? You could consider becoming a professor or a lecturer after completing your PhD. That way, you can continue doing research while also teaching and mentoring students.
Remember, this is your journey. You get to decide what path you want to take. Don't let fear or doubt hold you back. You've got this!


text:
Would having some flaws in a perfect English SOP be bad?
I have my native friend who is willing to check my SOP. I just have added a part to present the reasons why I want to pursue in department X. Unfortunately my friend is on their vacation and I don't want to bother them. The rest of the SOP is already written and proofread. Of course I will proofread it myself, but in case I cannot find any mistake, how would this be bad if I just submit this SOP?
My TOEFL writing score is 23 btw.

Can you proofread this question and find anything wrong?

I just add some bit, hope it's better now

You probably need someone to proofread your SoP again. I am not a native English speaker. But I know there is something wrong with your question text. If you have more than one friend proofreading your SoP, you should have said friends, not friend. If you had only one person proofreading it, you should have said him (or her). Based on this observation, I suggest you to find someone proofreading your SoP. You don't want a bad one.

@scaaahu I use the singular they intentionally. It's acceptable for native speakers.

I suggest OP to close the question. The question is impossible to answer without reading OP's SOP, but you shouldn't post your SOP because it would become a shopping question.

You almost certainly need someone to proofread it again. In the current question I can see at least 4-5 errors/awkward phrases that a native speaker would hopefully catch and fix.

Do you have a deadline that makes you want to submit before your friend has finished their vacation?  Or are you asking just to not bother them/get it out of the way?

@Kimball I have a soft deadline. It recommends me to submit soon because I can get a privilege to have a financial support

@YuxinZhou I don't see why this question should be closed. In a perfect English SOP, a suddenly flaw will make the native speaker notice immediately. What I ask is when that notice appears, will it makes a bad impression on me?

@RogerFan if you are in the committee, when you see a perfect SOP in English then the last part is written like this question, how would you react?

@Ooker I think any mistakes would affect my judgement at least a little. I'm not sure how much though, and I suspect many would consider it a minor thing if the rest of the application is strong. Though in this article, spelling/grammar errors and poor writing are listed as two of the graduate application "kisses of death" (see page 21).

Possible duplicate: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/14203/19607 (situation is different, but answers should be about the same)

From the survey Kisses of Death in the Graduate School Application Process by Drew Appleby and Karen Appleby:

According to several respondents, spelling and grammatical errors found anywhere in the application are an immediate Kiss of Death.

My job should finish here, but I want to summarize the paper after a quick skim. 5 major Kisses of Death are:

Damaging personal statements: personal mental health, excessive altruism, excessive self-disclosure, and professional inappropriateness.
Harmful letters of recommendation: undesirable applicant characteristics, letters from inappropriate sources
Lack of program information: not researching the general focus of the program, not exploring how the applicant’s research interests fit the focus of the program.
Poor writing skills: spelling and grammatical errors, poorly written applications
Misfired attempts to impress

Thanks Roger Fan for linking this survey.


text:
Different CV for applying to university and applying to fellowship?
After reading through all (yes, all) questions in the cv tag, I have a thought that CVs for applying to a position of a university are different to CVs for applying to a fellowship. When applying to a position of a university, the quality of the CV is define by your papers, research experiences, education, etc. While when applying to a fellowship, a good CV is the one can show your leadership, volunteering jobs, etc. Yes, there are some overlapped sections, but these two are not the same. Are CVs for applying to universities different to applying to fellowships?

Can you give some details on the kind of fellowship you're asking about?

A CV should be tailored for a particular fellowship just like a resume/CV for a job (any job) should be.

@silvado sorry for the late respond. I missed the notification. My fellowship is a fund from US gov, only give for STEM field. Every year it receives apps from my country and hold an interview to select.

@mkennedy and what about CV for universities?

Unlike a resume, the contents of your CV should typically be comprehensive and complete, including both research experience and service.  You might want to reshuffle the positions of sections within the CV for a target where you want to emphasize one aspect vs. another, but the content should be no different.


text:
The GRE vocabulary is infrequent to meet in academic life. What is the purpose of learning them?
My question stems from this paper: An analysis on the validity of the lexicon required by GRE® test takers.
According to the paper, "the great majority of these words are too infrequent to be deemed as useful tools for graduate life". Only 15 out of 302 analyzed words (about 5%) found to be frequent in academic corpus.
So why do they exist in the Graduate Record Examination?
My experience is that those words are especially helpful when you read articles from reputed newspapers and magazines, where the demand of complex language is high. Sometimes I do meet a GRE word that I've learned in a scientific paper, and thanks for my studying in GRE I don't have to look up the dictionary. I do use those words to show off in my TOEFL test, and I have a high score in writing and reading skills. In short, I am wholeheartedly advocate to learn advanced vocabulary, for the sake of getting fluent in the language. However, I don't understand why the GRE requires the test-takers to learn words which are too infrequent for their academic jobs.

I don't know if I would say obfuscating so much as technical and precise, but yes, decent verbal scores are a minimal sign of sufficient linguistic competence to write in philosophy.

Regarding the study, the study doesn't prove what you think it proves. It proves that 302 words used in Cracking the GRE's "Hit Parade I-IV" don't have a high incidence rate in the academic section of the corpus of contemporary english. The article mentions in passing that many recommend "memorizing a lengthy list of more than 3000 words."

The article doesn't explain how the 302 words are representative of the 3000 words people think you should learn... ergo, it's not clear how we can draw conclusions about the GRE's word list from it. Instead, we could at most draw conclusions about the usefulness of the Cracking the GRE's list.

@virmaior true, but the book claims that the 302 words are the most frequent words amongst the 3000. If we can rely on that, then we can conclude that the GRE list are rarely appear in the academic corpus.

So if we can rely on the distribution the authors picked (what methodology?) and then the distribution in the corpus (which sought to be balanced), then we can infer that these words are infrequent across an averaging of all academic disciplines. But can we infer that they are all uncommon across all disciplines?

@virmaior for a particular discipline, there might be a Subject GRE for it. So I think there is a (small? tiny?) subset of these words that is widely used in that discipline.

If the 302 chosen words are, as you wrote, "the most frequent words among the 3000," they might have gained in frequency by their use in ordinary English rather than in academic English. Other words might have higher academic frequencies. (Or did you mean rather that they're the most frequent in academic use?)

@AndreasBlass well, the book claims that the 302 words are the most frequent words among the 3000, which in turn the most frequent words appear in the GRE. The GRE is designed for academic students. The study I linked is to measure the frequency of the 302 words in academic corpus, and conclude that it has a low frequency to be a useful tool for graduate life. I don't know if they gain in frequency by their use in ordinary English or not. The study only questions the validity of the GRE.

but the book claims — Of course it does.  Otherwise nobody would buy the book.

I think it helps a lot here to understand the American cultural context, and in particular the liberal arts model of education that is quite common in the US.
The GRE, and the departments and universities that care most about them, thinks of graduate training as pointing towards a career as a professor, not as a researcher.  In the US, the majority of jobs as professors have teaching (at the university level) as a valued component, and in the US, students at university are supposed to take a broad range of courses rather than courses focused on a single area of study.  This means that professors are also teaching an audience that isn't solely focused on their subject but rather students with a wide range of interests (at least in the ideal case - in non-ideal cases, they may be teaching students with no interests).
Even though I'm a mathematician and teach only mathematics courses, I think I am a better teacher (and academic advisor) because I know a fair amount about philosophy, religion, history, literature, economics, sociology, computer science, and so on.  I'm not an expert in any of these things, and I make this clear, but I can make analogies to a broad range of ideas and use them in conversation with students.
For an American, the vocabulary section of the GRE is meant to test, not whether you can memorize the meaning of a large number of words for the GRE, but rather whether you are a widely read person who has already encountered many of these words in the course of their life and studies.
Certainly the verbal GRE scores are generally taken into account much less seriously (or not at all) when making graduate admissions decisions for non-American students, particularly when the student has no plans to remain in the US after their studies.

I'm not sure the verbals parts of the GRE are really taken into account for many American graduate programs in the sciences. I was told I only needed to score well enough to prove I was a native English speaker.

@Ric likewise, many literature programs don't place a large emphasis on the math score, just expecting a basic level of competency.

It may surprise some people here that when I'm looking at applications for admission to my grad math program, I do pay considerable attention to the verbal, and not so much to the Math subject test (much less general math). For one thing, it is the hardest part to "fake" by just "training/drilling" prior...  But, still, letters of recommendation and personal statement are far more important.

@paul garrett: FYI, back in 1976 or 1977 a senior faculty member of the math department at a branch campus of a certain state university (this one for those interested) told me that, for awarding special scholarships to the top one or two entering students planning to major in math, they used high verbal SAT scores to make the selection, as their experience was that this by far best correlated with success in the math program. The simple fact was that there was a huge variation in later success among those with a high math SAT score, so something additional was needed.

@DaveLRenfro, very interesting! Doesn't surprise me that someone caught on to that (apparent) pattern!

@paul garrett: Just to be fair, remember this was 40 years ago so there wasn't much else to go on (AHSME wasn't always available or known to students, math olympiad was in its infancy and above the level of the people they'd get applying anyway, and probably other things I'm not aware of) and ESL (or nearly so) students were nearly nonexistent. That said, I'm sure if someone was demonstrably sufficiently strong in math but had less than stellar verbal SAT scores, they would have made an exception.

The point is not to "study for the GRE", but to have a good vocabulary, so that if/when other people use subtle words, subtle concepts, figurative phrases, and/or references to things outside the immediate textbook, it's intelligible. I say this as a mathematician, who often finds reason to make analogies to things more obviously part of the external world, and sometimes in terms that are not inside a small vocabulary. Thus, students, especially grad students doing more sophisticated mathematics than most undergrads, would benefit from acquaintance with a larger vocabulary (and with the referents of those words).
(Still, let me be clear, I am not a fan of the GRE itself, for a variety of reasons...)

Interesting point. Can you give me an example or an article that explains a complex idea in math that use an advance word?

I can't gauge what might qualify as "advanced word" for you, but I think experienced writers deliberately use the simplest-possible language, exactly to reach the largest audience. But in spoken language, not only in my seminar but in my discussions with my research students, I find it useful to use whatever words come to mind. To some degree I do so in the graduate courses I teach, also, although less in my written-up notes (for the same reason) than might happen in my lectures. It's not so much "advanced" words as "useful". E.g., my use of "instantiate" was once greeted with surprise.

I have no evidence, but I'd be shocked if I don't use the word 'reify' (or 'reification') at least once or twice each semester in an upper level or graduate class.

@AlexanderWoo, indeed, that's a useful notion! Now that I think about it, also "epistemological" and "ontological" are useful...

The vocab in the GRE is a measurement of verbal reasoning. The GRE never makes any claims of being practical. It strictly wants to know how well you can do on a general test that measurements several factors related to graduate studies.
Naturally, there have been complaints about the GRE's ability to predict graduate school academic performance. However, as of now, this is a required test for admission to many graduate schools

I think there are a lot of issues in the methodology of the paper that you linked. Not in terms of what they did, but what it means to the GRE.
The GRE verbal section tests whether you can read academic writing. Like the math section, this varies a lot from discipline to discipline. For example, if you don't get just about perfect without studying in the math section and you're applying to math programs, then something is wrong. The verbal section is like that as well: if you've done undergraduate philosophy, creative writing, or English, this part of the test is a shoe-in where it's easy to expect close to perfect without studying. Because, with the proper background, these parts of the tests are truly pushovers, I don't see why they would lower the ceiling on the difficulty (if anything, they could raise it so it's not so truncated by 100%s).
However, it's not expected that someone in the sciences does well on the verbal section of the GRE because scientific writing, though containing a lot of jargon, does not contain as much "high vocab" as these liberal arts disciplines. That's why low verbal scores are accepted.
But the paper you linked didn't take into account how many journal articles are in different disciplines. If you look at publication volume, I am pretty sure that the broad biology/chemistry/medical field accounts for the vast majority of the literature output. There are reasons for this, including the fact that the departments are larger and generate more function, much of liberal arts research is published in the form of books instead of in academic journals, acadmeic articles in the liberal arts usually much longer with the first publication/book being published at the end of a PhD, etc.
Compare this to how often people in Bioinformatics/CS are publishing and it's pretty clear that the study favors "academic section" to mean the sciences (especially since it they did not include academic books), and then it's clear how it gets a conclusion that the tested words are not used very often in their sample. But again, I don't see why a broad mix of "spoken, fiction, popular magazines, newspapers, and academic journals" should be used as the high end marker for GRE vocab instead of 19th/20th century continental philosophical writings.

I'm considering to accept this. +1. Why is more research in liberal arts published in the form of books? And I think that the words found in those books is also considered to be in academic corpus, right? And why are 19th/20th century continental philosophical writings more important then a broad mix of spoken, fiction, etc? They should be test in the philosophy GRE (if any), shouldn't they?

Those philosophical writings are not "more important", but they are more important to academics. It's hard to read Sociology, Woman's Studies, Art History, etc. without having read Kant, Hagel, Sartre, and all of the other classical works. Because of this, most liberal arts grad programs have some form of a "methods" course where one has to read all of these. Thus for a broad category of graduate programs, the ability to read these kinds of works is a predictor for graduate success and many of these disciplines do not have a subject test (philosophy does, but it caters to philosophy programs).

I see. So what about the other questions? "Why is more research in liberal arts published in the form of books? And I think that the words found in those books is also considered to be in academic corpus, right?"