3 ms·

My guess is that you don't have a PhD and didn't go through such a qualifying exam. > I also don’t completely buy into the narrative that educated families mak

My guess is that you don't have a PhD and didn't go through such a qualifying exam. > I also don’t completely buy into the narrative that educated families make a difference in your PhD performance. Your parents or people around you having a PhD makes a massive difference! Because they can tell you what to do if your advisor doesn't. Most students who still need to deal with this system (most departments moved decades ago to written exams or to largely proforma quals) don't know that you need to: 1. Pick a committee based on their likelihood to pass you, not on their closeness to your field. The world is sadly full of assholes who want to prove a point. 2. Choose people who your don't want to screw over your advisor for some reason. It's important to ask your advisor "Oh, by chance, does X happen to hate your guts?" Because.. academic politics are nasty. 3. Choose an advisor with some pull, so that they can keep people in line. All of these fields are so complicated with so many intricacies that if I want to fail any student, no matter how brilliant they are, rest assured I can easily ask questions that will lead to failure. This includes students who are much smarter than me. I have guided many of my own students through this system. If you think your chances of success depend only on your ability and not your insider knowledge, well, you're wrong. Also, on behalf of this poor student. This is not her failure. It is the failure of her advisor. Who was negligent for creating the conditions that lead to failure. Her advisor should have rehearsed her talk, her group should have grilled the student on related questions, and if the committee was asking totally inappropriate unrelated questions her advisor should have stepped in.

exmadscientist 4y ago
> Most students who still need to deal with this system don't know that you need to... In my program everyone knew these things. Because we talked to each other. Our individual backgrounds didn't matter so much because we were really in it together in many ways. I didn't pass my prelim (what most people call "qual", I think) because my parents taught me (they didn't) or my advisor was competent (he was, but he was also even more distracted). I passed because the previous years of students told us how to do it, and we told each other. > if I want to fail any student, no matter how brilliant they are, rest assured I can This I agree with. > This is not her failure. It is the failure of her advisor. Who was negligent And this I strongly agree with. We all knew in my program that if someone failed their prelim or orals, it was because their advisor dropped the ball. Badly. (At least, it would have been bad if it had ever actually happened....)
- ramraj07 4y ago
  Yeah the only valid point OP made is that a student failing prelims is a failure of the professor but that doesn’t mean we should let the student continue to fail upwards?
ProjectArcturis 4y ago
Those are 3 very important pieces of advice.
ramraj07 4y ago
I have a PhD. In fact it took me close to a decade. I was an immigrant and knew no one in the entire country. In fact my first year I didn’t even know the language! No one in my family was super educated though my father was an incredibly thoughtful smart person. I don’t think he helped me with anything academically since maybe 7th grade though. Over the journey I made most of my friends so almost all of my friends have a PhD or quit one midway (coincidentally the smart ones quit if you ask me). My experience is that people who complain about quals like this should not be doing a PhD. Failing them at Quals is at least somewhat forgiving compared to wasting half a decade of their life.

exmadscientist 4y ago

> Most students who still need to deal with this system don't know that you need to... In my program everyone knew these things. Because we talked to each other. Our individual backgrounds didn't matter so much because we were really in it together in many ways. I didn't pass my prelim (what most people call "qual", I think) because my parents taught me (they didn't) or my advisor was competent (he was, but he was also even more distracted). I passed because the previous years of students told us how to do it, and we told each other. > if I want to fail any student, no matter how brilliant they are, rest assured I can This I agree with. > This is not her failure. It is the failure of her advisor. Who was negligent And this I strongly agree with. We all knew in my program that if someone failed their prelim or orals, it was because their advisor dropped the ball. Badly. (At least, it would have been bad if it had ever actually happened....)

ramraj07 4y ago
Yeah the only valid point OP made is that a student failing prelims is a failure of the professor but that doesn’t mean we should let the student continue to fail upwards?

ProjectArcturis 4y ago

Those are 3 very important pieces of advice.

ramraj07 4y ago

I have a PhD. In fact it took me close to a decade. I was an immigrant and knew no one in the entire country. In fact my first year I didn’t even know the language! No one in my family was super educated though my father was an incredibly thoughtful smart person. I don’t think he helped me with anything academically since maybe 7th grade though. Over the journey I made most of my friends so almost all of my friends have a PhD or quit one midway (coincidentally the smart ones quit if you ask me). My experience is that people who complain about quals like this should not be doing a PhD. Failing them at Quals is at least somewhat forgiving compared to wasting half a decade of their life.