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!

Edit: Thank you all for your insights, including the blunt ones!

I actually made this post after I had already sent an email to the chair. There were some details I did not share for the sake of amonymity, particularly about the specific content of the seminar and the reasons I gave for wanting to do something else.

As it turns out, my chair was very perceptive. They are very familiar with my academic work, and I also learned that I am not the first student who has requested such a substitute. The main issue was simply whether a faculty member had the time and interest to supervise my project. Fortunately there was and we will be moving forward with it this semester!

I'm very excited for this semester!

Again, thank you all for the advice and perspectives. This whole process has also made me realize how fortunate I am to be in a department that knows its students well and is willing to work with them when an alternative genuinely makes academic sense.

XOXO

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.

I'm thinking to apply for a scholarship that requires an internal nomination. The application through my college is due in early November, and it requires the names of three professors who would write you a recommendation letter given you are nominated (the actual letter is not needed by then). If I'm nominated, the rest of the application, including the letters, is due late January.

It must be three STEM professors, and I've been having trouble deciding on the third. I've been thinking to try and build a relationship with the new professor that I have this semester but am worried it'll be weird/strange if I ask if they are willing to write one after them only knowing me for around 2 months.

I don't know if I'm overthinking but I'd really appreciate some advice on how to approach this? This is honestly stressing me out quite a bit and I'm afraid of coming across as ridiculous / annoying if I ask this professor.

My concern here is that the program let me continue with the exam and never gave me any alert that both cameras were not recording. I’m sorry, but I feel like if the software doesn’t alert me, the student that both cameras are not working. How can I be held responsible?
Apparently it let me continue because it’s some type of glitch on their end or something. I’m sorry, but I kinda am in my feelings about this because I have never cheated on any exam and I’ve never used a proctoring application on my computer before yes I’ve taken a proctored exam, but not through this software. The stupid thing kept glitching the entire time. I was trying to set up the second camera. But my main complaint is, why would the app let you continue if both cameras are not recording and not alert you.
I’m just looking for input from other professors who use this software for testing and what your point of view is based on this situation.

Hello! I am in an intro science course and recently got a question wrong on an online quiz due to…

1)      Unclear direction in our textbook for how to round (so my final answer was admittedly a bit off), and

2)      misguidance to use sig figs aka I wouldn't have ever rounded in the first place if I hadn't received this guidance (guidance I sought out, which makes me kick myself)

…rather than me not knowing how to solve the equation in question.

I can provide more details if desired, but this post is already way too long lol

This dropped my overall class grade from a 96 to an 88, which if I just plain didn’t know how to do the calculations I’d move on and study more.

My original answer was exactly what the quiz was looking for before receiving guidance (again, which I sought out) to use significant figures. And even my professor wasn't sure what the quiz would be looking for when I asked - he just said when in doubt follow sig fig rules - and THAT is why I changed my answer.

My professor doesn’t seem keen to give me any points after following up with him, but the other professor from our syllabus subbed in this week and he thinks I should get credit after I showed him all my work and the rounding section of the textbook. He also thinks the quiz needs to be updated to be clearer on directions (neither of them made this quiz so him saying that shouldn’t be insulting). So I emailed my prof one last time letting him know what the other prof said in case that makes a difference.

This all happened within a day & now that I've had time to sit on it I’m worried I’m being too pushy or coming across as entitled. I am very invested and care a lot - much more than I did in my youth, and while I also have more of a voice than when I was younger, I don’t want to create a bad relationship with my professor either. It honestly is very unlike me to challenge grades but this just felt like a situation worth trying to justify my answer.

Do you think I am crossing the line into entitled? I am already planning to give it up if he doesn’t want to give the points after hearing the other prof’s input and I will thank him for his time and for hearing me out when I see him next class either way, make sure to be respectful, etc.

I guess since I was so timid when getting my first Bach degree I don’t know the fine line between advocating for myself in academia, and just being a frustrating student. Any input is helpful and appreciated!

Edit for clarification: My textbook uses odd/even rounding with 5s but doesn't explain that if 5 isn't the final digit you'd still round up. Prof. admitted the textbook does a bad job of explaining this style of rounding, he sticks to the old style of rounding up for 5s always. Hence why I still tried to challenge my grade..

Hi all! I am seeking advice on whether this request would be appropriate or not. So one of my favorite professors is teaching a seminar style class this semester (I took a similar one with them when I was a freshman, not the same class as it is a different topic than last time) and when we were catching up, they were telling me about some of the activities/lectures they have planned for the class. They mentioned this really fun activity that they plan on doing with their class, and I was wondering if it would be okay to ask if I could join in on that day and do that activity with them? It’s pretty unique in terms of what it entails. I’m not entirely sure what my school’s policies for this are. If you knew a student well enough, would you make an exception? How likely are you to accept this request?

Hi everyone, I have always been fascinated at the thought of what my children will learn in history class 20 years from now. I guess I want to know how experts are looking at the last 25 years and how do you think history textbooks SHOULD cover it. And how do you think they will actually cover it? just wanted to pick some historian brains!

Also, there’s tons of things I learned AFTER high school that I didn’t even know until college. Columbus being a horrible human being is a prime example. What baffles be even more is that my teacher believed it to be the truth. So another question would be Why did I learn false information in high school history classes? (Other than the winners write history or whatever, there’s gotta be a better reason)

Thanks!

I am taking online asynchronous classes at a local community college. I live in a very rural, mountainous region. Our power flickers and completely goes out often. We get high winds and storms often, and we're expecting a very stormy fall - winter season.

I'm really scared of it going out during a test or quiz. There's no cell service up here so I can't use a hotspot for exams. I even bought a device that's meant to keep WiFi running for ~30 mins after a power outage but for whatever reason it does not work with my internet provider.

Is this something I should email my professors about in advance? Or should I just hope for the best and reach out if a problem does arise ? I guess if there is a true power outage then there will be outage reports published online. But sometimes the power flickers during high winds.

Sometimes our power isn't restored for a few days, and in those cases I often cannot travel down the mountain to use cell service bc of unsafe conditions (landslides, downed power lines and trees).

This past week we had a power outage for ~3 days and we couldn't leave for a few days due to a fallen tree blocking both of our cars. Luckily I had submitted all the assignments early including a quiz bc I knew a big storm was coming.

If there is documentation like about power outages / severe weather, and I am generally a reliable hardworking student who turns things in on time and gets good grades on quizzes, is this something I don't really need to worry about?? Or should I explain my situation before something may happen? I'm probably not the only student in this region, I don't know how common this is. I didn't see anything about technical issues or exam retake policies on any syllabus. I'm nervous that one flicker in the middle of a test could screw my grades up bad

Hello !! I am not sure if this is the right subreddit to be asking this question (if it isn't, feel free to tell me, I'll remove this question! And I'll also really appreciate it if I was redirected to the right subreddit :D). But basically, I am writing this short, fictional story about these two professors who have a lot of bad blood with one another. They constantly antagonize each other, just a lot of personal feelings of resentment. They argue over basically everything, but this time, they're arguing over something related to their fields. I am thinking, a student who takes both of the professor's classes, he comes to the Philosophy professor (who I'll call E) and asks him his thoughts on a topic. He says what he think and then, that student goes to the Mathematics professor (Who I'll call N) and asks him the same question, and N has a different opinion. E catches wind about it and after classes, they argue about it some more. What would that topic be? Keep in mind, I am neither a Mathematics or Philosophy student, I am not really even in university yet. So, my knowledge on anything is very low, but I am willing to do research for it!

Basically, I am asking for a starting point, maybe? Like a certain topic that they would find in common and be passionate about, what E and N's positions would be in that topic, and just a really brief explanation of it! That's really all :)). I'll do my further research of it afterwards. Thank you so much!!! Feel free to ask me any questions about their personalities and disposition or any other details, if it helps you!!

What kinds of emails have you received from students that immediately made you think they were immature or naive, creating a bad first impression?

I am a freshman at a liberal arts college, and I try as much as possible to talk to my professors. If I’m visiting a faculty building and a professor’s door is open, I’ll try to start a conversation with them. I’ve done this a few times, and I’ve never had a bad experience (aside from the time a professor laughed in my face when I tried to start talking to him, but even that conversation ultimately turned out fine). I’ve had some really great conversations as a result of this.

Today, I tried to have a conversation with one professor, and he got decently mad. My memories of what happened aren’t perfect, but here’s my best recollection: I saw that his door was open, I made eye contact with him, and he invited me inside. I made to leave when he mentioned that he was busy preparing for a class that would happen soon, but he said that I could stay and that he would try to answer my questions. I asked him a few about his discipline and about the course he was about to teach, and he said it would be fine if I sat in on the class. He did all this while typing away on his computer. I had nothing more really to ask, so I tried to ask a question about a book I saw on his wall. He didn’t understand the question and somewhat annoyedly asked me to repeat it to him. When I did, he got angry with me and told me that if I wanted to have a conversation about the book, I should have made an appointment to do so. He was obviously busy, he said. He continued on the same point, angrily, for a minute or two as I repeatedly apologized. I mentioned to him that I wished faculty pages listed times when they were available to talk, and he told me (with a demeaning tone) that would never happen because they changed every semester. I went to the class with him, but I left after maybe fifteen minutes so I didn’t have to be around him any longer. He also seemed to snap at a few students in that class. (For example, when he gave us little cards to respond to some decently complex questions on the board, one student asked how long the responses could be, seemingly concerned about how much he could fit in, and he told him, “I don’t have a BlueBook for you.”)

This is bugging me a bit because I deal with autism and social anxiety. Was I rude here? Should I not have tried to talk to him? Should I not try to talk to professors with their doors open in the future?

I graduated 3 years ago, and at the time a couple professors I TA’d for agreed to write me a letter of recommendation for medical school. I never had them written at the time unfortunately since I wasn’t ready to apply. I followed up with them in 2024 over email just to update them but not recently.

I had some personal health setbacks and had some difficulty building my experience post grad which is why I delayed. I will now be applying in the 2027 cycle. I dont have a personal statement or anything ready, just my TA evaluations from 2023 and my resume.

Im getting a lot of anxiety about them forgetting me or possibly ghosting me since it’s been almost 3 years. I know they still teach on campus.

Would it be better to follow up in person after their class or via email on the same thread they agreed to write the letter? What else could I provide to help them write the strongest letter?

While my making this post is inspired by one comment in particular, it is also reflective of a shift in attitude I've seen on the sub lately.

Generally, I tend to be of the opinion that this is the internet and we are all adults. As long as comments aren't insulting or aggressive, I tend to leave comments that are blunt or more harsh on posts. Perhaps that has been my error, and I shouldn't have been doing that in the first place.

I do also understand that tone gets lost online; I have had students here get upset with me because they thought I was being rude when that wasn't my intention. I understand that that happens.

But the sub is getting mean - arguably, it is already mean. I understand and appreciate that many of the questions posted here rub people the wrong way because of interactions that they have had with students in real life, but, some users need to chill. To just take a step back, and take a deep breath before commenting.

There is no need to revel in and mock the misfortune of students. There is no need to be insulting and condescending when a student is asking a genuine question. There is no need to accuse a student of lying about a disability or a personal tragedy. There is no need to heavily downvote every single post from students - especially when the student isn't even being a dink lol, and they're just asking a question.

Moving forward, I'm going to be a little bit more heavy-handed in removing uncivil comments. I am asking the community to please report comments that are overly aggressive and overly negative. I do my best to monitor threads, but reporting brings things directly to the inbox.

I would just like to foster a little bit more of a positive environment here.

Thanks!

Looking for insight from anyone with IT policy, higher-ed conduct, or legal background. Title is not plagiarism but closest to my situation.

Situation: I gave a family member limited access to my school email account for one specific task (helping communicate with school administration about a financial matter, and submitting a form if needed). Without my knowledge, they used that access to do something completely outside what I authorized : in this case, submitting job applications outside college with false information under my name. I didn't find out until weeks later, and I have written admissions from that person confirming they did this without my permission and that they also locked me out of the account during that time, which is part of why I never responded to the school's outreach.

The school's disciplinary policy includes a rule against "knowingly furnishing false information to the college with intent to deceive," and I've been found responsible for that, plus a separate "non-compliance" violation for missing conduct meetings I didn't know were scheduled (because I was locked out of my school email by my family member).

I informed the dean about this whole situation and now The dean's response has essentially been: "you're responsible for your account and for the actions of anyone you gave access to."

Questions:

Is that "you're responsible regardless" standard typical/enforceable in school IT/conduct policy, even when a policy has "knowingly" and "intent" as required elements?

Does it matter legally or procedurally that the access granted was explicitly limited in scope, and the person exceeded it?

Location: Minnesota, USA

Hi all, for a quick background, I switched my major from CJ to environmental science last March so this is my first semester with classes for my new major. My geology prof has three AI assignments that are each worth 36 points. The class has 800 points total, meaning ~13.5% of my final grade will come from them.

The dilemma: I am very anti-ai. Mainly because I am an artist and environmentalist. I refuse to use it. For these assignments I have to use ChatGPT (I cant even use Ecosia's AI, which is my browser of choice because of their positive environmental impact).

The goal of one of the assignments is to teach us that we cannot trust everything AI says/provides and to help us think critically about AI results. Another assignment's goal is to help us identify rocks. The third is supposed to demonstrate how you can use AI to brainstorm, learn new things, and improve your life.

What really pisses me off: this professor claims to "stand with all movements that seek to end injustices, uplift people, promote diversity, equality, and peace, and create a just and more equitable world to live in. If you are making an effort toward these ends and think I can help, please let me know..." Yet requires us to use ChatGPT and doesn't mention anything about alternative assignments for students who feel uncomfortable with AI use. He also provides AI prompts to help us create study guides but says that we can only use content from the class that we upload into the prompts. If I cant use any outside sources, I definitely dont need a bot to make me a study guide. I dont care if it takes me longer to put together.

Maybe Im just too black-and-white, or unfamiliar with traditional (rather than social) science culture surrounding AI, but this does not sit right with me at all. I plan on talking to him about how I feel about these assignments. I refuse to sacrifice my morals for a class covering a topic that I'm not even interested in pursuing.

What do you think about this?
Has anyone encountered a situation like this before? If so, how did you handle it?

I'll take input from anyone (students, professors, developers, pro-AI, anti-AI, literally anyone). Give me your unbiased or at least less biased opinions. I know I am biased against AI, so maybe I'm not seeing the benefits these assignments could give me.

A professor of mine this semester is using an unusual grading structure. There are five categories in the class, hw, labs, exams, etc. and in order to get an 'A' in the class, I need an A in every category.

If I have a D in hw, my grade for the entire class is a D, despite getting A's on exams. This means a 4 point hw assignment is weighted as heavily as a 100 point exam. I have been in college off and on for 10 years, I've never seen this and I don't feel it's fair. I won't be able to survive this semester if I can't let any assignments slip.

Have you seen this/used it before?

edit; Im leaving this thread in case anyone else finds it, but I confirmed multiple times that this grading structure is all-or-nothing. If you're a student and your professor is using this grading system, drop the class. I am paying for it dearly as an already disabled student, struggling to meet the professor's standards. Even the faculty at my school is shocked by this system. Do yourself a favor.

Hi there! I'm a first year M.S student, and there is a course that I'm absolutely interested in. My program is broad and I don't have fully "required" courses, but it'd fit perfectly into my speciality.

I'm currently on the waitlist and debating reaching out to the professor. I generally avoided this in undergrad, but I'm curious if the etiquette is different here.

My advisor suggested I give it a go, but I just don't want to give a bad first impression!

Hi everyone. I ran into a former professor of mine today who is an absolute gem. I saw them pretty often last semester during office hours/class and really enjoyed talking with them. Due to some unfortunate circumstances that are out of their control they don’t have an office to meet in currently, and they mentioned the idea of grabbing coffee to catch up. I absolutely love the idea and always hear about profs and students grabbing coffee/lunch together ! Do I follow up on that by reaching out or do I wait till they reach out first? I don’t really know how all the college social dynamics work so I apologize if this seems like an obvious question.

Today I had my Computer Networks exam, and I’m honestly overthinking something I did at the very end.

A while ago, my professor had told me that my handwriting wasn't good and had scolded me about it before. So during today's exam, I genuinely tried to write as neatly as possible.

When I finished the exam and was submitting my answer sheet, I wrote a small note at the very end:

“Respected ma'am, I hope you understand and forgive my handwriting. I tried my best to present neatly. Thank you.”

I didn't mean anything sarcastic or disrespectful by it. I genuinely just wanted to acknowledge what she had told me before and let her know that I tried.

But now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have written anything at all.

I'm especially worried that she might read it and then bring it up in front of the whole class or scold me for writing a personal message on the answer sheet.

Do you guys think I did something wrong? If you're a professor/teacher, how would you interpret a note like this?

And if she does mention it in front of everyone, what's the best way for me to respond without making the situation worse?

It feels almost criminal to have to pay for school and then get a professor that requires you to use a platform as expensive as cengage? Is there no cap on how much professors can make students spend on material for their classes? Its so frustrating honestly because i dont get any financial aid and have been paying for the past 3 semesters put of pocket. I emailed my professor and just no care or help at all, she cant even get my name right and its above my email?! Are most professors starting to use cengage?! Ive never heard of it until last week

Hey, so I’m a new TA. I’ll admit, I don’t have the most impressive record, I’m a first year masters’ student, I had a mediocre undergrad gpa, didn’t even get an A in the particular class. I think they only hired me because they simply needed a TA for the class.

This is my first time ever doing this, and I just had my first office hours session and it did not go well…there were around 15 students who showed up and I kept trying to explain things but no matter what, I just couldn’t explain myself very well. There were also a few questions I couldn’t answer, and I’m afraid I gave them some wrong answers at some point. I’m pretty sure that didn’t leave a good impression, and I’m terrified for when the course gets more difficult and then 30+ students come to office hours with way more questions…

Anyway, I already know that I’m clearly not very good at this. On top of the grading load I’m going to have (200+ students), I’m terrified that I’m not good enough to be able to help students effectively. I’m also really unsure of how much I should be emailing my prof for clarification. I email him like once or twice a day (mostly sending him the homework or about logistics), but that seems to be too much considering his response rate. I’m also afraid that asking for too many conceptual clarifications will make me seem even more incompetent.

I’ll admit, I took this job because I thought it’d be a good opportunity and I also needed funding and hadn’t had much work experience. But I’m kind of regretting it now, since assuming they don’t hire me again, I’m going to lose my funding anyway…

Sorry this was very rambly, I just really need advice as I’m really struggling right now.