Sava, man. I thought this story was going to end with you whining about a B. When I heard that the guy is marking you down to a C, that is unreasonable. I think you should make your case for a B to this guy and if he assigns a C, you should escalate.

Missing the TH/F exam period is unfortunate. I know you didn't intentionally blow it off, but it is still your fault (again...unfortunately).

When you escalate, I would not mention the "tough grading" on the other papers. It is what it was. The guy is actually holding some standards up. It does you no good to whine about that or how that compares to your other slack classes. When discussing the late final, I would just explain the unfortunate problem with not knowing the F hours. Take responsability that it was your mistake, but emphasize that it was not purposeful.

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I recommend bringing a thermonuclear device to the meeting. Raven http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif

SF reference.

JM

Snowcrash I think.

Originally posted by Eli
Snowcrash I think. Yep. Guy ran around with a nuke strapped to his motorcycle that was set to go off when he died. It seemed effective.

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Almost all Universities and Colleges have short days on Friday or not even open.

Errr....no. I have been to a JC and I am attending CSU Long Beach, both of them on Fridays are empty. Since very few students have class on Fridays( most classes are on Monday and Wednesday, Tuesday and Thursday, or Monday through Thursday. There are some classes that are just on Friday, and even less that are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.) Since there is hardly any students at school and the fact that if it is a public school they have cash problems they close a lot of stuff on Friday and leave early for the weekend.

Originally posted by Jack_www


I have been to a JC and I am attending CSU Long Beach, both of them on Fridays are empty. Since very few students have class on Fridays( most classes are on Monday and Wednesday, Tuesday and Thursday, or Monday through Thursday. There are some classes that are just on Friday, and even less that are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.) Since there is hardly any students at school and the fact that if it is a public school they have cash problems they close a lot of stuff on Friday and leave early for the weekend. I've been at a number of universities and none of them have had reduced schedules. The class schedules at most of them were MWF + TuTh. The class schedule at other one is MTuW + ThF

All of these were large research institutions. Perhaps that's the difference.

Originally posted by SpencerH
Nowadays, within the big biomedical research departments, one does a Ph.D. and 5-10 years as a post doctoral fellow. The key during that post-doc phase is to become 'attached' to a tenured professor so that one can become a research track assistant prof and thus become able to apply for outside grants. These days it's so competitive that most big depts wont even look at you for a tenure track appointment if you dont have at least one RO1 grant (in my line of work around $1M over 5 years) and are on the verge of securing a second grant or renewing the first RO1 (which is often the criteria for promotion to associate prof). Blech. Sounds awful. Things are significantly better in physics. It's not a cakewalk, but it's not that bad.

Yeah. Lecturers are the lowest of the low. Above them is adjunct faculty...

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Yeah. Lecturers are the lowest of the low. Above them is adjunct faculty... One of the few UMD particle theorists (Super Gravity I think) who got a job in academia is a Lecturer (does research in what extra time they have).

In particle theory, I think it is really best to come from Harvard or Priceton or some other such place.

Jon Miller

Eh. In our department the HE theorists are:

Gabor Domokos, Dubna University Ph.D. (1963)
Adam Falk, (Dean, KSAS ) Harvard University Ph.D. (1991)
Susan Kövesi-Domokos, Eötvös Lorànd University Ph.D. (1963)
Raman Sundrum, Yale University Ph.D. (1990)
David Kaplan, University of Washington Ph.D. (1999)
Jonathan A. Bagger, (Kreiger Eisenhower Professor and Chair) Princeton University Ph.D. (1983)

The only two with active research are Kaplan and Sundrum. Neither came from what are considered the "top 5" particle schools...

Yeah, I agree that they appear to mean different things. It is generally a way to pay for someone who can't get a grant.

I thought that at research institutions here you need to bring in the money in physics also. At least, that is what osme of my post doc freinds have said.

JM

I can see the grant application now.

Major equipment: paper, pencils, brain.

It'd cost more for the application than the grant was worth.

And computational time and students both require funding.

JM

Yeah, it is TAships (except for the most senior) at my institution too.

Part (minor part) of the reason I didn't continue in that field.

JM
(I admit that I will probably regret that choice if they don't find the Higgs at the CERN)

Originally posted by Jon Miller
Yeah, it is TAships (except for the most senior) at my institution too.

Part (minor part) of the reason I didn't continue in that field.

JM
(I admit that I will probably regret that choice if they don't find the Higgs at the CERN) Even if they do it's probably going to be weirder than just standard Higgs. They should have already found it...