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Ten minutes talking with this man single-handedly turned me off from attending Harvard grad school. Any environment that would promote him to (I believe) head o

Ten minutes talking with this man single-handedly turned me off from attending Harvard grad school. Any environment that would promote him to (I believe) head of the department was not one I wanted to study in. Glad to see I made the right choice.

ramraj07 3y ago
Do you seriously think Harvard grad school is in some ways culturally that different from any of today’s schools ?
- darthoctopus 3y ago
  anecdata, but at least in my grad school astro department (which will go unnamed) this kind of bullying behaviour would be, and actually was, called out and ostracised, rather than rewarded! granted, it took a whole year for the university to get its act together and do something about it…
  - in_cahoots 3y ago
    Yes, I remember there were a couple of prominent astro cases around the time I finished up my PhD. Glad to see that there was a good end result.
- bannedbybros 3y ago
  [dead]
- in_cahoots 3y ago
  Yes. I interviewed 10ish grad schools, and some were clearly more supportive than others. Either in terms of the personalities of professors, or in the policies around funding and graduation. I chose a school where I thought I would be happy as well as successful. And unlike many of my peers, I (and most of my cohort) graduated in a reasonable time without any of the horror stories so common in grad school.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    My introduction to my "assigned" undergrad faculty advisor (freshman year) was him sitting down the 6 students that were his, explaining to us what tenure was*, and then telling us never to contact him and to talk to his grad student instead. Somehow, I imagine he didn't treat his grad students much better. At the end of the day, individual faculty members and department standards make a huge difference. Mostly because faculty is too busy trying to make tenure or climb the political pole to dean to audit their colleagues. * I have family in academia, so started to grok where this was going at this point.
  - AndrewKemendo 3y ago
    I’m genuinely glad you stuck to those principles, and thank you for telling your story. These kinds of things need to be heard more often so others can feel confident they aren’t alone in having ethics and have confidence in pushing back.
huitzitziltzin 3y ago
As a bit of a joke (not to discount your very unpleasant experience) but most departments do not make their most productive and important members department chair! It’s more of a “someone has to do it and it’s your turn” situation. I’m saying this in part bc sometimes people outside of academia feel like “being department chair” means the person is super prestigious or well respected within the department or outside of it. Generally that’s not actually the case. It’s a bit of a demotion in terms of what academics care about. (Frequently it comes with a raise bc you need to offer a substantial carrot to get people to even take the position.)
- in_cahoots 3y ago
  Haha, I actually can’t even remember who the head of my department was in grad school- or of any other place that I visited post-acceptance. Just goes to show how much this one interaction stood out in my mind.

ramraj07 3y ago

Do you seriously think Harvard grad school is in some ways culturally that different from any of today’s schools ?

darthoctopus 3y ago
anecdata, but at least in my grad school astro department (which will go unnamed) this kind of bullying behaviour would be, and actually was, called out and ostracised, rather than rewarded! granted, it took a whole year for the university to get its act together and do something about it…
- in_cahoots 3y ago
  Yes, I remember there were a couple of prominent astro cases around the time I finished up my PhD. Glad to see that there was a good end result.
bannedbybros 3y ago
[dead]
in_cahoots 3y ago
Yes. I interviewed 10ish grad schools, and some were clearly more supportive than others. Either in terms of the personalities of professors, or in the policies around funding and graduation. I chose a school where I thought I would be happy as well as successful. And unlike many of my peers, I (and most of my cohort) graduated in a reasonable time without any of the horror stories so common in grad school.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  My introduction to my "assigned" undergrad faculty advisor (freshman year) was him sitting down the 6 students that were his, explaining to us what tenure was*, and then telling us never to contact him and to talk to his grad student instead. Somehow, I imagine he didn't treat his grad students much better. At the end of the day, individual faculty members and department standards make a huge difference. Mostly because faculty is too busy trying to make tenure or climb the political pole to dean to audit their colleagues. * I have family in academia, so started to grok where this was going at this point.
- AndrewKemendo 3y ago
  I’m genuinely glad you stuck to those principles, and thank you for telling your story. These kinds of things need to be heard more often so others can feel confident they aren’t alone in having ethics and have confidence in pushing back.

huitzitziltzin 3y ago

As a bit of a joke (not to discount your very unpleasant experience) but most departments do not make their most productive and important members department chair! It’s more of a “someone has to do it and it’s your turn” situation. I’m saying this in part bc sometimes people outside of academia feel like “being department chair” means the person is super prestigious or well respected within the department or outside of it. Generally that’s not actually the case. It’s a bit of a demotion in terms of what academics care about. (Frequently it comes with a raise bc you need to offer a substantial carrot to get people to even take the position.)

in_cahoots 3y ago
Haha, I actually can’t even remember who the head of my department was in grad school- or of any other place that I visited post-acceptance. Just goes to show how much this one interaction stood out in my mind.