I'm a professor at a 4-year college/university... ask me anything!
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Anonymous
| Has a student offered you sex for grades? |
Anonymous
No. All flirting and "offers" came after grades were in or student graduated. |
Anonymous
| How did you find your job? Did you have an in? Did you apply a bunch of different places? What's the hiring process like? |
Anonymous
I cast a wide net. The hiring market is brutal in academia (for tenure track gigs). Even for a place ranked 75th - 125th in USNEWS, you get 150-175 applications for the coveted tenure track gig. You have little control over geography, although I lucked out on that one (won't say anymore). I applied to 30 jobs. I got 2 offers. I had 8 interviews. I had no connections whatsoever to my current gig. |
Anonymous
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I'm a STEM prof who actually needs to raise research grants and do research with students to keep my job. Summer is filled with travel.
We STEM profs hate that you social science profs give this job a bad name by doing as little as possible and taking summers off. What do you think of us? |
Anonymous
I have a relative getting a phd and he plans to only apply to schools in 2 smaller cities. I've only heard accounts like yours--I hope it works out for him. |
Anonymous
You must have a penis. |
Anonymous
I love STEM profs! You help subsidize us. It's great. And I do work in the summer on my research. It's just entirely up to me when, how much, and where I do it. |
Anonymous
We are jealous that you have the opportunity to pull in the kind of money that allows for things like labs, grad students who actually work for you, equipment, and potentially patents that will earn you real cash or a Nobel Prize or something. |
Anonymous
| What do you do op with your summers? Earn extra income, or is 70k enough? |
Anonymous
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Professors and universities are actually subject to some legal parameters, though most professors are unaware of this and believe something like allowing or not allowing an exam retake is totally up to their discretion.
Title IX, for example, guarantees a pregnant student whose pregnancy impacts an exam or other hard deadlines the right to retake that exam or receive other accommodations. Most professors believe it's up to them whether or not to grant extensions or exceptions to stated policy in that case. In the case of the student with menstrual pain, she might also be covered by Title IX. More important is the concept of "arbitrary and capricious" grading. The courts have ruled multiple times that professors must grade according the standards of their university and field, and that stated policies must be followed as stated and applied evenly to everyone in the class. This means that if Student A, who has been a stellar student all semester, misses the final due to the flu and is granted a retake, Student B must be granted the same opportunity even if she has been a crummy student and complains of menstrual pain. Policy waivers can only be granted in extraordinary circumstances, or all students in the class can claim that their grades are arbitrary. The idea is to prevent both favoritism and retaliation. This also means that a professor can't "forgive" an assignment for one student and not for everyone else, or assess late penalties for some students and not others (excluding those that follow extension policies). Other case law has held that the Syllabus is, in fact, a contract, and the professor is bound by the policies and content of that syllabus. Much as they are discouraged from going to the police to report assault and theft, students are discouraged from complaining about unfair, mean, or vindictive professors. The law is on their side, however. Here is a link to the AAUP's discussion of grading law: https://www.aaup.org/issues/grading/who-grades-students |
Anonymous
As a fellow endometriosis sufferer, you should know that pain level varies tremendously in this disease, and may not even correspond to the inflammation. It's more likely due to which locations are inflammed and which are spared. I'm a research scientist, and would try not to judge. I've seen so much terrifying health things. And these kids are at the age where they know nothing. I would always give them the benefit of the doubt. |
Anonymous
I also work in a college and there was a young lady who had such debilitating periods that she registered with disability services. Truly, some of us are unlucky enough to really suffer with our montly cycles. Just so you know. |
Anonymous
+1 An infrequently used one at that. |
Anonymous
That's really crappy you ruin it for the rest of us who actually have these issues. No, I'd never talk to a male professor about my personal medical issues nor would I bring an excuse note. For an exam I'd probably suck it up, but for a class, I'd miss it once a month. No one ever gave me a hard time about it thankfully (but it was easy to track with the absences). I've been hospitalized for migrants and I still wouldn't tell anyone as most people have no idea how horrific they are in less they have them. |