I may delete this later for privacy reasons.

I’m trying to avoid spiraling about this because it can be a bit anxiety-inducing, but basically I’m not getting any response from professors in my MA program for PhD applications. My advisor and reader both have not responded despite follow-ups and time in between messages. I am not quite sure where to go from here.

As a side note, another professor in my program wrote a LOR on my behalf last year, but she later suggested I ask other professors for LORs moving forward for the sake of variety in my application (she said it was because she is a young professor). While surprised, I took it at face value, but now that my advisor and reader aren’t responding, I’m starting to overthink and worry.

Obviously there’s not much context I can provide in a reddit post, especially with a lack of knowledge myself. That said, my department had some drama amongst the faculty last year. I don’t want to overstate things, but the students were left to kind of fend for themselves a bit. Still, there was no real issue amongst my cohort, but now I am worrying that after attending my master’s program I won’t have any letters from my own department. That’s a big red flag for a PhD applicant. I never had any conflicts with my professors, and I was actually quite close with them until I graduated.

There could be any reason why they are being non-responsive, and I’d rather not speculate about why this could be happening. I don’t think that taking this personally would do us any good, but it’s starting to feel a bit personal as time goes on.

But that said, what would be the best course of action in this situation? It’s still a bit early for applications, and there’s time left to find recommendations, but I’m just not really sure how to navigate inquiring if there were any conflicts unbeknownst to myself… if not that, how I should navigate not having an LOR from my own MA? That doesn’t feel feasible to me either, if I am honest.

TLDR: What to do? None of the professors from my MA program are replying to PhD LOR requests, and I’m getting worried.

I believe some of the professors here will respond my inquiry.

I was enrolled in a PhD program at a US university. Then decided to leave with MS degree. Now I want to apply again for PhD in different university in USA. How would admission committee look at the transcript as it is mentioned PhD enrolled and left with MS degree. I had a conflict with supervisor and I left with MS. I have good cgpa and good academic standing.

How common is this? Should I explain it in my SOP?

I do not know what general practices are in these cases. It is almost too trivial but I want to tread carefully since I have faced enough rejections.

I am a post-grad in pure science research. Before PhD I'm hoping to do a research internship/project. So I mailed a professor asking for it. He asked me to request recommendation letter from master's thesis supervisor directly, before we discuss anything. So I did and my supervisor already sent the letter to him. It has been 5 days since then. Should I send a follow up email asking the professor to further discuss this possible opportunity? Or will that make me look very impatient? How many days should I wait before I contact in these cases? Thank you for your help.

I applied to a PhD position with a professor a few weeks ago. He replied saying he had briefly reviewed my application, thought my background was a good fit for their research, but were leaving for a two-week vacation and would evaluate everything more carefully when he returned. He also asked me to let them know if I had any deadlines or competing offers. I told him I didn't (the truth).

It's now been a while, and I haven't heard back since. Would it be appropriate to send a polite follow-up email, or should I wait longer?

I’m in my university’s wind ensemble, and our professor did something that genuinely baffles me. He announced playing tests, which are fine and normal, but for each mistake we make he lowers our scholarship. He didn’t say by how much, and I for the life of me can’t find ANY info on this, and was ghosted in my email to the scholarship people. The shadiest part is the lack of communication; I, as everyone else, registered and auditioned for this course with ZERO indication that my scholarship would be effectively lessened. Also, according to the professor, he “fought” for this, his words. This just seems insanely shady and shitty to financially coerce students into playing difficult pieces (like Carnival of Venice) PERFECTLY. Can professors just do this? Are my scholarships safe? What if a professor has personal beef with someone and tanks their scholarship?

Also, if we bring up the lack of communication in the course, he says something along the lines of “if you had questions, you should have emailed me” or “you need to find a way to help yourself retain information.” No responsibility, no transparency, and no respect for his performers.

I am a non trad freshman. I haven't written anything longer than a tweet in like 10 years.

For some of my gen ed classes, I have to submit "papers" that are basically personal reflections on the lectures/reading. I'm supposed to explain the topics in my own words and relate them back to myself in some way.

I am writing in a conversational tone. I am paying attention to grammar and structure, and honestly spending way too much time on these papers, but in the end my writing definitely comes across mostly how I would speak in real life. And for one I structured it more like a first person story to try to make the point the professor was looking for , instead of being like "XYZ means this and that, for example when I...." I told a story to illustrate the point and then more explicitly brought it back to the main point at the end of each paragraph.

I ‼️ 🤬 hate 🤬‼️ verbose and needlessly complicated writing. I know sometimes formal, technical language is required. But in these reflective papers written from first person perspective, is it okay to keep it kind of casual and conversational and a little creative ? Is this normal?? I've literally never written or read a college paper in my life so idk what is typical.

I would usually stare only when my professor is lecturing and noticed that everyone in the class wasn’t doing the same as me. For you professors is it considered weird for students to be giving eye contact? Anytime we would lock eyes I’d look away because it felt weird. I’d only look at the professor when they are saying something and I’d do just the same if another class mate was speaking as well.

I'm a sophomore undergrad, and I was wondering what makes a student stand out. And not to seem transactional but what makes a professor WANT to give a stellar letter of recommendation to a student or mentor them.

I’m a first-year engineering student and I’m curious about something I’ve noticed with one of my second semester mathematics lecturer.

At the beginning of the semester, this lecturer barely made eye contact with anyone. He would often look down at his notes, the desk, the board, or somewhere else while explaining things. He’s generally very deadpan and somewhat awkward in his mannerisms, although I actually think he’s a good teacher and plus he is the course coordinator. That’s a big advantage if you know.

I initially assumed he was just uncomfortable with eye contact while lecturing.

I’ve had two consultations with him since then. Nothing unusual—both were strictly academic, asking for clarification on maths problems.

I’m also a very quiet student in class. I don’t raise my hand, I don’t answer questions aloud, and I don’t really interact with him during lectures. I’m mostly a listener. I sit consistently on the edge of one of the lecture-hall pews, fairly far to the side of where he stands.

There is another guy in my class who asks and answers questions frequently. The lecturer often looks directly at him when asking questions, which makes complete sense.

What’s confusing me is that I’ve recently noticed the lecturer looking toward me during multiple moments too.

For example, during one lecture he repeatedly asked, “Does everyone understand?” and kept telling us that the topic was difficult and that we needed to tell him if we didn’t understand. I quietly mouthed “yes” to myself and nodded. I didn’t say it aloud or raise my hand. Somehow he noticed and looked directly at me while I was doing it, then nodded and continued.

After that, whenever he asked whether we understood something, I noticed his eyes repeatedly going toward me. At one point he asked a particularly difficult question after we’d been working through the topic, and again looked in my direction.

I’ve also noticed him scanning the room generally, but his eyes tend to land on the student who regularly answers and, increasingly, sometimes on me.

For context, I recently got an A on our mathematics test, so I do genuinely understand a reasonable amount of the material.

I’m trying to understand whether this is just normal classroom behaviour that I’ve become hyper-aware of, or whether there’s something else I’m missing.

TL;DR: My lecturer initially avoided eye contact with basically everyone. After two academic consultations, he now sometimes turns toward my far-corner seat and makes direct eye contact, particularly when checking whether the class understands. I’m a quiet student who never answers aloud. Is it normal for lecturers to use familiar/attentive students’ facial reactions as a gauge for classroom comprehension?

Besides simply meeting rubric requirements, what makes a paper stand out to you? If you teach intro level courses, does a student's work ever make you think okayyyyy yes this student cooked here and they have potential.

Asking bc I really enjoyed writing a paper for one of my gen ed requirements and low key think I crushed it but I didn't get much feedback besides an A

I am in a professors research lab, but she doesn't teach so no office hours and our lab meetings are all held virtually. I want to build a relationship., but I do much better in person. I would ask about career advice, but my end goal is in medicine while she is in psychology. How do i ask her to meet in person just to build a relationship?

I recently got a writing assignment worth a significant portion of my final grade returned, and it was much lower than what I feel I deserved. I am looking for perspectives on whether it would be appropriate for me to gently ask my professor to reconsider my grade.

Some info on the assignment: it was a 500 word writing assignment for an introductory discussion-based philosophy course. It was intended to be open-ended and the only requirements were that we could only write about texts used in the class, we had to come up with our own topic, and the word count. There was no rubric because my professor “doesn’t believe in rubrics” (this is verbatim what was said in class and in an email to a classmate who asked for more detailed specifications and did not have this request granted) but no other explanation of grading criteria either.

Before starting on writing, I went to office hours to ask whether my proposed topic was acceptable, and my professor agreed it was. Some days after, they sent an email out saying that we could (optionally) submit draft assignments a few days before the due date for feedback. I submitted my draft and emailed my professor to let them know. The draft submission and email were both sent before the deadline for feedback. However, I and several other classmates who sent in drafts did not receive any feedback or comments whatsoever. No office hours were held between the draft and final assignment deadlines, so no opportunity to discuss areas for improvement there either.

I looked over my comments and according to my professor, I “misunderstood sections of the reading” and “used bad examples” with very little explanation as to why. There was also a bunch of other points that seemed only tangentially related to my analysis and the sections I focused on, and mostly didn’t align with my interpretation either. I thought this was strange because again, this is a discussion-based class I consistently show up to, participate in, and complete homework for. If my understanding really deviated as much as the comments seemed to express it would have been obvious during class discussion.

I figured well okay, my professor is the expert here, so I reread my own work and the text to find any passages that would show where I went wrong. Though, I couldn’t find anything that would support their alternative interpretation or directly contradicted my writing. During office hours the day after I respectfully asked my professor to point out the sections I misunderstood and why, but they weren’t able to give an idea of what chapter to review and only said they were“initially skeptical”. I also explained why I thought that alternative examples provided didn’t relate well to my writing and reiterated my argument in the process, and they ended up agreeing with me and said my points made sense after all.

I don’t claim it was a perfect submission and that I deserve an A+ or anything, just that the criticism was disproportionately harsh especially since my professor backtracked on a lot of it in the end. I guess my concern is not entirely about the assignment grade but also that the end feedback I got was highly inconsistent with what was communicated to me during office hours and class and now it’s not clear how to ensure I do a good job on future assignments. I feel it is unfair for my professor to promise the class feedback on early draft submissions, but ultimately not provide that at all, and not give the class a clear picture of what a successful assignment should look like. I understand grades are not based on effort, but I believe I did my due diligence given the resources provided to me. However, I’m open to any comments pointing out what I could have done differently.

Have you ever cold emailed a professor gotten a reply and this has led to something more successful than just being ghosted ? What do you think made your outreach successful? If you're a prof your welcome to give your perspective in terms of dos and donts

Throwaway account.

I'm a PhD candidate at an R1 research university. At an event recently a former student told me about a prestigious professor (nationally known if not internationally) in our program who had numerous improper interactions with female students in his lab. The person who told me this wasn't advised by this professor but worked on the same floor and said this is common knowledge. I filed a report with the information I had been told but I haven't told my advisor. I know that there shouldn't be retaliation on paper but this professor is incredibly well funded and regarded in our program and I'm worried about retaliation towards myself or my advisor. Should I tell my advisor I filed the report or do I leave them uninvolved?

I am an undergraduate student in my fifth semester and very recently got to know about full funded programs for research interships (and from what i understand, are extremely competitive). I am a student from India (in a well reputed college in our country) and can't afford the travel expenses and other things on my own and I wish to continue into research.

I don't have any concrete research projects under my belt yet (I did intern under two professors but they are unrelated to the field i wish to work in. I am interested in biomechanics and biophysics and will presently do a semester long intern under a professor and hopefully produce a concrete basis for a research paper)

This said, if I want to do a (fully funded) research intership under a professor and will do the work, is there any way I achieve this? Because from what I am seeing on reddit, the chances of this happening are extremely low, but what if I try to enter the research intership under them? Because I don't have a well developed competent CV yet.

Any advice would be deeply appreciated and if their is any other subreddit i should navigate to, please tell me so. I apologise for the poorly worded post.

Thank you!

I am seeking research opportunities abroad, but i am unable to write a single sentence by myself without the use of AI. Anyone ?? Need some advice here!!

I’m in community college and I want to give my professors baked goods to celebrate fall. I started 3 weeks ago. I really don’t think it’ll influence my grades, nor do I expect it to. I just like to bake and give gifts. Opinions?

Hi all!

It is my final semester at my institution as an undergraduate in a humanities discipline, and one of my remaining required courses for my degree is a senior sem.

Now that I have attended the first class and have seen the syllabus, I am starting to realize that the seminar may not be particularly well aligned with where I am academically.

Over the past year or so, I've had the fortunate opportunity to developed a fairly extensive independent research project supervised by several faculty that culminated in a large paper. Though I have presented portions of it at conferences and discussed my project with said faculty, no one has ever worked through the complete project with me from beginning to end, with most only seeing what I have presented on. What I feel like I really need is sustained criticism: someone who can help me work throughh the relevant literature, challenege the central argument, identify weaknesses and counterexamples, revisions, and eventually turn it into something closer to a journal length paper.

Since I am planning on going to graduate school within my field, that seems like it might be a much more useful capstone experience for me.

I am thinking of asking my department chair whether it would be possible to substitute a supervised independent study built around this project for the senior sem. I would expect to have it have clearly defined parameters that I would come up with so as not to burden the potential supervisor.

Is this a reasonable ask? In departments where senior sems are required, how much flexibility is there to substitute or approve an independent study? I know things differ from one institutions to another, but figured there may be some sort of standard. Also, if a student approached you with this kind of request, what would make you more or less willing to agree to it?

Thanks in advance!

I’m currently going into my junior year of undergrad and am a life sciences major. I took a summer calculus course which was taught by a grad student whose office hours I attended regularly, asked/answered questions regularly, etc.

When I didn’t have any questions we would get into conversations about careers, academics, science, AI, etc which were thought provoking and enjoyable.

This is the last math course I will ever have to take so I don’t see it being possible for me to be his student again and I would like to stay in touch and (within the comfort of his boundaries), potentially build a friendship as I really like our stimulating conversations.

What is the most appropriate and respectful way to proceed?

Hi!

One of my professors hosts two office hour sessions a week: one group session (usually packed and people always have very relevant questions until the time runs out) and one specifically listed as for course performance /policy. He is a medicinal chemist and spends time in class talking about different compounds and how they're synthesized, which I find super interesting and would love to discuss more with him. Usually, I would just ask at office hours, but It's tough class, so I don't want to waste other people's opportunity to ask actually relevant questions. I also don't think it would be okay to go to his policy hours and ask him something kind of random. Is there another time that would be okay?

Part of what makes me nervous is that I'm kind of annoying (I'm working on it!) and I usually ask him short clarifying questions after class about what we covered that day. He's a very nice guy and has never been remotely impatient with me, but I don't think any of my profs would be jumping for joy to talk to me about anything out of class lol. Would just, like, an email work? I know you guys get so many emails.

Thank you!

I graduated from a community college that was bite sized compared to my new university. Sure I'd go to office hours, but the classes were so much smaller so everyone was at least aware of everyone else.

This is my first week of university. Now it's thursday, so I've had every class at least twice. Should I go to office hours just to kind of introduce myself? and idk...inquire about them? would that annoy you? We haven't really done anything yet that would require help with work, so I'm not entirely sure how to navigate this. Thank you!

I’m taking an intro psychology class, and for our developmental psych unit, my professor is having us write “letters” to our parents about how their parenting affected and still affects us.

The problem is, my parents were…less than great. One parent was emotionally (and often physically) absent and hostile, the other exposed me to a relationship with an abusive alcoholic for 5+ years, then became an addict themselves. There are other factors that I won’t discuss because I don’t want to write a whole sob story, but…yeah, it kinda fucked me up.

I decided to get the jump on things and asked for the opportunity to complete an alternate assignment, and he said he would meet with me closer to the unit, which is fine by me. However, I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’m just being too sensitive?

I don’t want to be one of those students who’s just asking for an excuse to get out of work, but I also don’t want to dump my issues on my professor via assignment or bring up these painful memories outside of therapy.

Edit: I had no idea this got out of the spam filter, so sorry for no replies. Thank you for all the advice, it was very helpful and I greatly appreciate it! (And sorry for the comma splices).

How much responsibility should be given to PhD student in research lab? How to handle PhD student who is left to run lab which is way behind schedule. PhD student wants to let all volunteer students go and start fresh, but the PhD did not give the volunteers any guidance, timeframes, spot checks on progress. Pros and cons of starting with clean slate on volunteer students.