#but that is not how most unis are structured for undergrad

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

a nuance to the uni/school thing is also i think that like... for most humanities subjects in the uk you mainly won't have "classes" in the form of lessons (languages i think would be a key exception here), you'll have lectures which are a one-way thing and then seminars which are more discussion based and involve reading/prep work beforehand, and at some unis you'll have smaller group tutorials or supervisions

but like. the pedagogical culture is a bit different i think? it is much less like school and more heavily reliant on independent learning. you might only have a handful of contact hours a week and everything else is you in a library doing the reading or whatever; you're not gonna have a lot of short assignments and quizzes so much as, like, a bunch of research essays (how many will vary heavily by course and institution) so it's more like Doing Research than doing Homework the way you would at school, even early on in undergrad

and this is partly due to specialising earlier rather than having gen ed courses so you've got a much narrower range of modules to be doing yunno

(this doesn't apply to like, stem subjects. they've got labs and shit. god knows what they're doing over there.)

[margridarnauds]

Something I'm tossing around in my head re: Chat GPT and academia is that...in some ways, I think it's a symptom, rather than the root problem. Not just of the structural ways that mainstream pedagogy + the general structure of academia (particularly in the States) sets some students up to fail, but in the way that a lot of work, even at the graduate and above level, is in itself treated as a product to be cranked out in the least amount of time possible as opposed to a work of dedication and love that requires thought and care and intricate research.

You want to get an undergrad degree? Crank out ~2-3 essays a year. These can be varying degrees of research, because the point is you need to get them in NOW and you need to get them in QUICKLY and you can't take any more time to do them than necessary.

(And for students who are later along in their academic careers, writing 8-10 page papers is nothing, but to that undergrad who's stepped into class for the first time? It might be the most complicated thing they've written.)

You want a PhD? Crank out that dissertation, and don't you DARE take longer than you should. How can you do it? We don't know, our obligation to you is over at five years. Also, you have a semester to come up with a ~25 page prospectus that gives a detailed plan for your dissertation before you can even begin WRITING it, which you'll have to get approved by your committee, so good luck!

Also, don't forget, while you're doing that, you need to keep submitting articles for publication, which you will, of course, have to format individually according to the style guideline of the journal you're publishing to! Publish or perish, so keep your head above the tide or you'll end up drowning!

And, on top of that, expect to write ~ten page presentations for conferences! Don't worry, you don't need to cite your sources TOO rigorously for this one, but you are going to need to make sure you know what you're talking about, otherwise you might be humiliated in front of the scholars you want to impress! Write, write, write! Create that Powerpoint!

You want academic tenure? Crank out that monograph! And don't forget to do it sooner rather than later while ALSO publishing articles and coming up with teaching plans!

Also, don't forget, with everything that you write, that it should be on something popular! Something in keeping with the latest trends, so you can be on the cutting edge! Wanted to do something else? Why did you enter academia if you wanted to follow your own research ideas?

And the point isn't that I think that Chat GPT is GOOD or that it SHOULD be used to write an entire paper. Frankly, I dummied a dissertation outline on it (note: my uni account...which I still hate that they provided for us...doesn't use it to train data, meaning that the environmental impact is minimal) and it was bland as fuck, factually inaccurate, and dated. I DON'T use it because, beyond the morality or ethics of the situation (which I think are more complicated than a black and white "It's harmless" or "It is an actual technological death cult aiming for world domination"), on a purely pragmatic level, my field is TERRIBLE for it.

RATHER my point is that it's hard to take arguments about the sanctity of human creativity seriously SPECIFICALLY with regards to academia when it's an industry that has systematically pried human creativity out of itself and encouraged creating an unsustainably massive amount of work at once if you want to survive and even though I am going to do everything possible to make sure my students DON'T use it for their assignments as a primary tool...I can kind of get why they would be drawn to it beyond just "they're lazy."

[bleaksqueak]

I wanted to ask you a couple questions about the school structure for the Veil if you can talk about it. It seems like the academy and university are fairly closely linked but do they operate basically the same as our hs/uni do? Like picking a major/trade kind of thing. I think I saw that Audric was listed as a post grad but still a trainee so is there reaper uni classes then a sort of practicum afterwards? I hope this makes sense. I’ve tried to write this ask 5 times now

So, I spent some time rooting around my files, because a long while back I drew a map of the campus grounds for the spire...but now I can't find it, so i wonder if it's one of the unfortunate victims that got jumbled when I moved to my new machine. Ah well. But yes! They're quite literally linked, since that's why I even went looking for the file. The two campuses are side by side and share certain amenities.

so these are some super rough unfinished concept things from my files, but this ought to at least show the physical setup. There's a primary school within the spire as well. Somewhere in there. I haven't decided yet, not that it ultra matters, so let's just say it's somewhere in the middle. As for how they operate-- You got it already, more or less! The schools themselves are famous for their reaper program, having been founded by the same scholar who founded the organization itself. Of course, with Veil attuned students being one of the rarer attunements, the island's --uh, resources , to put it kindly, and the focused study needed to train those who would take on the veil's blight, the schools have a bounty of academic wealth to impart on hopeful magi graduates as well as those seeking to become eidolons. So there's several fields here that will gain a shining education in their field if they put in the hard work (... And, strangely enough, they have a pretty good classic lit department.) Using reapers as an example, the path would be as follows: Enrollment to secondary school and all basic curriculum classes as normal > attunement > undergrad prep courses for the reaper program if it's accepted (most do) > first stage of graduation undertakes the Eidolic Aperature (Uncap Ceremony, breaking the limits of magi's natural magic limit) > If successful, second stage will complete the full graduation ceremony and go on to university > training /studying intensifies, focusing more on study (the nature of liminal tears, wraith winds, corruptions, and the tools reapers operate) and choosing which field they will pursue in the program, while all are given a basic training course in specific magics and hunting techniques that ramps up until > completing the four year program, grad students engage in full trade training, working as the island's main service of hunters, scouts and sentries. Audric is currently in the final stage of this, hence the gossip quoting him as "Just a student, but practically the real deal." Primary school is fairly standard as can be, but it's a bit more fun to learn those classic subjects when you have the fun of enchanted textbooks and a kind, quirky siren for a teacher who plans fun aquatic fieldtrips. At least she tends to be everyone's favorite (She's also a grad level professor who works specifically with Aetherbiology majors and Reapers in their first years of university. She's one of Audric's favorite professors-- if not his top favorite.) Lichgate in general is something of an outlier for how its schools operate, though. It isn't exactly standard practice to smash them together at the very top of a spire, or to offer such an exacting focus from the moment of enrollment (on in some certain cases, attunement) until you've essentially gained your equivalent of a doctoral/masters. The location sitting right on the Veil's most unstable liminal tear is to thank for that-- and of course, even if you don't care as much about your education, it somehow manages to be the safest campus. As long as you follow the rules, obey curfew, don't wander off, and do exactly as your professors say during any off-spire excursions, especially.

[inkofamethyst]

Summer Goals 2024

Personal goals while i'm here

get back on track for my 12-book reading goal (starting a nonfiction book last month grinded my progress to a halt, gotta catch up) (prob w SJM)

crochet one (1) item of clothing (preferably in a public park, a la "the most interesting girl in the city" ofc) - complete

learn mosaic crochet so I can finally make a Journey scarf (but the cream and gold one bc mosaic can only use two yarn colors at a time)

keep up with coding! probably just working on my game(s) for fun hehe

hit da club - technically complete 11 may

flirt with ONE man - complete 25 may

export all R code from my undergrad dropbox - complete

clean up my undergrad gdrive - complete

read Nightwing Vol 1: Leaping into the Light (2016(?)) (and also the rest of that run bc the pinterest images have me hooked omg (though apparently it hasn't ended yet which,,,, ugh is annoying))

if not Nightwing then the Hawkeye run which my photo-friend believes is what Nightwing was in response to - complete 24 may

start learning music theory - done

try regular workouts at home or at the campus gym to gain upper body strength and improve cardiovascular health

cut out/assemble the pattern for that dress i wanna make - complete

go to a classical music concert - complete

open a HYSA!!! - complete (eventually)

Academic goals

brush up on my chimpanzee knowledge (1-2 articles a week) to prep for the class in the fall

go through the bioinformatics lectures on youtube from the class at this uni which is no longer taught but is apparently excellent (??? hours per week)

set up my coding environment and learn how to do basic bulk transcriptomic/epigenetic analyses

histology!!! (also fill out my lab notebook omg) - complete

learn how to fully use a citation software (should only take a week or so) - complete (the following year yikes)

Goals for when I visit home

make an indexed pattern binder so i can see every pattern i have up front and stop buying new ones that do the same things as ones I already own

assign many/most of my fabrics to particular projects

finish the black half circle skirt (waistband, bound buttonhole, hem!)

floral sleeveless mock neck top (mock up first?)

finish the trouser mockup

play my uke - complete

play my flute... and earnestly attempt improvisation - complete

binge pjo binge pjo binge pjo binge pjo binge pjo bi

The sewing ones are admittedly a little ambitious, as always, but I think the others are very very very doable, if a little crowded. The most challenging will probably be keeping up with python, working out regularly, music theory, and also finding the confidence to flirt (but who knows? maybe I won't have to force it). I don't anticipate being able to hit them all (I never do!), but it's nice to have options.

I think if I want to hit a lot of them though, I'm going to have to be structured with my day/week. Set up various curricula, timelines, (flexible) deadlines. Plus, some of these goals are very short-term, and should only take a day or week at most. I can totally sketch out what gets done when, and should have enough wiggle room in case things need to shift.

(also i did have 2023 goals i just never published them bc i forgor)

[obliviatestudies]

3rd YEAR of UNI

hey everyone! if you’re just stumbling upon this post and are new here, i’m going into my 3rd year of undergrad in bio for health sci a.k.a pre-med sorta deal! i did this post last year and u guys loved it, i also think its a great ways for us #studyblrs to share more . this is just an update into what courses i’ll be taking this year, life updates, tips i learnt from last year + more!

PICKING COURSES

my courses:

I'm a health sci bio major with a double minor in chem + business! so here is what my full-time year of studies looks like (5 courses per semester)

physiology of neurons & muscles

human development

structural biochem

metabolism & bioenergetics

neurosci

statistics

lab in cell & molecular bio

molecular bio

fundamentals of marketing

managing projects & business plans

for freshman, your courses are pretty set and you likely won't have much choice around what you actually want to take, so unless you're an upper-year, you likely won't see more interesting course titles like what i have above. not much for an update in this section, i planned most of my courses last year, but the most frustrating thing that happened was 9/10 courses i wanted to take were in my fall semester originally, so i have to do A LOT of rearranging, anywho.....

scheduling:

i'll link last years post here as i went into pretty deep detail of how i schedule my courses and how you can too!

other tips + updates:

it’s always okay to change your programs!! (ie. major, minor, specialist) don’t let the standard of “a 4-year degree” fool you into thinking you can’t take longer. its always a good idea to look ahead and try to plan, but this age of our lives is when we're changing the most and really finding who we are and what we want to do with the rest of our lives. it's definitely not something to rush.

if you have to do summer courses, or retake courses, or take an extra semester, don't beat yourself up. it happens to 99% of people!

take me for example!! i went into school thinking 100% i wanted to go down the med path, now here i am starting my 3rd year and I'm not so sure. I'm more so looking at doing my masters in physical therapy. you change, life changes, and you find what works BEST for you and the path you want for your life.

ALSO your path doesn't have to be linear, or the typical; if you want to go to med/law/other post grad school, but your grades or extra curricular didn't necessarily cut it, that's okay! maybe you'll work somewhere for a year or two and go back to school and get in. basically what I'm trying to say is if there is a career path that you love, don't give up, and don't think you have to get there the same way as someone else did.

currently, my fall courses are all completely online (minus 1 in-person tutorial) i hope most of you will be in-person, unlike me. but i'll continue to post both online and in-person study tips as the year progresses.!

LIFE BESIDES SCHOOL

this summer i was lucky enough to work as an online PT, and this will probably continue part time into the school year. besides my other social accounts kinda blowing up, working on Syrse Dawn, I've been crazy busy with everything. I'm a little worried about balancing everything come the school szn, but as usual, i always prioritize my school work

we love academic validation haha....no but seriously, i love learning and school, and doing well has always been important to me, so while my work is important, mental health and school come first.

right now some passion projects and summer bucket list things I've been working on are finishing a current novel I'm writing (haven't finished writing one since 2015), reading 1 more book, filling a sketchbook, going for a sunrise swim and honestly just spending as much time with my friends as fam as possible!

• • • • • •

like last year, i’d love to create a chain of studyblrs doing an update like this, sharing their courses for the year, how they organize them, updates + more! so if you get tagged, add to this chain + tag 5 more studyblr accounts!!

i’m tagging: @studyblr @felix-studies @studyingatsunrise @luminous-studiess @starrystvdy @studylustre

if you have any questions for me, my ask box is always open! i answer all the questions in my ask, so don’t be afraid to hit me up there

hope this helps you a little bit and you get to learn a bit about me xx

[awkwardhumann]

I’m interested in polysci for uni could u elaborate on ur field of study

disclaimer: im only in my second yr of university (kind of) so keep in mind this is all from an undergrad view where i don't get to engage with more specific topics in political science. also strap in this is literally the longest thing ive ever typed on this website. im also assuming you're left-leaning since you are on blue hair and pronouns dot com

i have a complicated relationship with political science because i am a communist. i find polisci interesting and i engage with it on my own time, however, what they teach you in university (this depends on your professors and university as well imo) is to evaluate political issues from a neoliberal and western perspective. most of your course material will be written by westerners heavily influenced by neoliberalism. the biggest indicator of this is when you study any geopolitics. you might get good readings on imperialism and colonialism or you will get straight Nixon era warmongering that deems whatever nations the west views as an "enemy" as "autocracy" or "regimes" or "authoritarian" all of which are useless terms .(in the field of polisci prob not but these r all stupid buzzwords they use to conjure up negative associations w whoever is the big geopolitical enemy) for one of my classes on democracy and technology we had a whole unit on china's social credit system which, i, as a Chinese person, knew was complete bullshit and exaggeration coming from western media. when i challenged this notion to my professors and TAs i was met with dismissal.

basically what i despise about my field is that its a machine that churns out puppets for state agenda who use academia as justification for imperialism and ultimately, to ensure the dominance of capitalism.

you learn about the roots of all this structural inequality, on a local and global scale but they evade any discussion that the effective solution to this inequality is to abolish capitalism.

im not saying there are no leftist or even communist political scientists out there. many revolutionary figures and writers have studied or are even professors of political science, but you will almost never learn about them unless you enter a very specific niche area of research.

what i do like about my field of study is that i have enough interest in it to stay engaged with the political issues we discuss despite hating the "solutions" that are brought up with it. you also learn the roots of western political ideology which, while i despise it, it gives you a basic layout of how neoliberals/capitalists think (and also how fucking stupid they are). you also will meet a lot of left-leaning people. even if the people i meet are not communists it is obvious we are trying to fight the same thing. and depending on which classes you take, you will get a lot of good education on political issues even if it is tinged with neoliberalism.

im not saying don't study political science if you are a leftist. im just saying as someone who was already very left-leaning (albeit not yet communist) before entering university, there was a lot of dumb bullshit to wade through to get to the actual stuff i was interested in. also hearing the term "corporate capitalism" makes me want to scream.

im a communist, and like i said earlier, despite most universities being generally progressive, western academia is grossly neoliberal and anticommunist and does not evaluate things from a dialectal materialist view, something that literally all Marxists must understand and base their theory on. thus there is an inherent contradiction on how i analyze and process the world vs how they want me to analyze and process the world. occasionally you will also get a lot of pro-capitalist historical revisionism specifically written to paint (usually the USSR and associated countries) as the "bad guys" and downplaying of American war crimes and western imperialist aggression on other countries.

lastly, i want to say im not studying political science as a career aspiration (clearly LOL). im studying it because im stupidly bad at school and will only be able to complete schoolwork if im interested enough in the topic and even then it is a struggle for me. every person is different. i would say ask yourself why you want to study political science and can you stand reading a lot abt neoliberalism and western liberal democracy and about free and fair elections for your first two years. you also read a lot of classic philosophy if you're interested in that!

this is the general gist of my love-hate relationship with my major. if you have any other questions feel free to dm me! i know i shit on the field a lot but i think if you find the right professors and the right courses there's a broad selection of topics and even other fields you can venture into that help really narrow stuff down to your specific interests. <this applies to university in general. 

[psychorangey]

hi, just had a serendipitous moment upon finding your page! i am going back to school in September after a 5 year break and this time i'll be studying psychology. do you have any book recommendations for me to read this summer before uni or any advice? it'd be very helpful! thank you

Oh hello! Thank you for finding it! :) And HUGE congrats on deciding to go back to study psych, you must be super duper excited! 

I actually have so much advice that I would want to share with people who are considering studying psych, or are at the very beginning of their journey, but I always fear I will overwhelm people which I don’t at all want to do. Please note that I haven’t finished my studying either, so I can only share insight from where I’m at so far :) This post is going to be really long so I apologise in advance!!

Firstly, what I think is super duper important to consider is what are your reasons for studying psych? (e.g., is it because you want to become a psychologist, do you want to become a researcher, are you generally interested in the field, etc). If it’s that you want to become a psychologist (or a professional somewhere in the mental health domain), then I would always suggest to start looking into work experience that you can get from early on! Psychology is such an incredibly competitive field, and this is the case for my friends in other countries worldwide, too (I’m from Australia!). So any experience that you can start accumulating, even if only short-term/temporary, or voluntary, will be SO worth your while (if you wanted some ideas on work experience or what I’ve been doing then I’m totally happy to chat about that too - but I already know this post is going to be far too long to add in here hehe sorry). 

Secondly, please don’t be discouraged by the structure of most psychology degrees out there! Often they can actually contain a lot of things that most people wouldn’t think. For example, my maths teacher in high school was a bit of a trickster, and so when he told me that psychology was going to have a lot of statistics in it - I laughed at him. Boy was I in for a wild ride when I sat down in my first stats lecture and realised he wasn’t kidding. Psych degrees (particularly undergrad) do introduce you slightly to the typical world of clinical psych (such as things like abnormal psychology, ethical dilemmas, etc), but it also has a lot of focus on research- so this means things like research methods, statistics, and how to actually write scientific papers. NONE of this is a bad thing by any means, but often people are let down when they realise a psych degree is not all fascinating case studies and the fallacies of memory. 

Also, if your course allows it, make the most of your electives where you can! In my undergrad, I chose sleep and circadian rhythms as one, and addiction studies as the other. While I loved both of these, the way I feel about the forensic aspects of my Honours degree make me wish I had chosen the forensic psych electives in undergrad! I’ve now chosen to pursue research in this area now because it’s my no.1 fav. But either way - I’m glad I was able to get a nice mix in there! 

Lastly, if becoming a psychologist is the pathway that you want to take down the track, it’s also an idea to think about what this pathway actually looks like. In Australia, a minimum six-year sequence of training is needed with a further two years in a registrar program to become endorsed (endorsed meaning specialised training, i.e., a clinical psych, health psych, developmental psych etc) aka EIGHT YEARS, but this can be achieved in such a strange mix of alternative pathways and it can be so confusing. Each country has their own process and requirements, so it’s really good to be aware of what these are! Either way, knowing what’s ahead from early on can give you a bit of a one up from everyone else. It means you already know what kind of grades you need to progress, what kind of experience is needed, and what kind of faculty members to get chummy with. Knowledge is always power!

As for some books to read over the Summer, I don’t have too many to recommend unfortunately! But here are a few:

One I would suggest is The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, which I think is absolutely amazing. It’s written by a neurologist who tells of some of his most fascinating clinical cases that he encountered along his time. Some of the terms he uses are very outdated now, but it is still an enjoyable read. 

Also, The Man Who Couldn’t Stop, which is another very clinically based book (it’s entirely on OCD), but I think it gives some very important insight into OCD from the perspective of those living with it, in a way that is also very much readable. 

Lastly, Case Studies in Abnormal Psychology, which was actually used as a textbook during my undergrad so it’s extremely pricey, but I would really encourage you to see if it’s available in your uni library (or possibly public library??), as it has been my ABSOLUTE favourite. It’s not like your usual textbook - each chapter has a very detailed case study on a particular mental health condition, followed by possible treatments, and then causes and prevalence of that disorder. It’s so amazing, and not at all textbook-y. Strongly recommend trying to find it in the library!! 

Unfortunately I don’t have many other recommendations to give, but I could ask some of my friends if you’d like!

I’m also always SO happy to talk more about anything psych related, or answer any other Qs you may have. I hope I haven't overwhelmed you, and I really hope something in here will be useful in some way! Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with, and let me know how you go when you start! :)

[jawnkeets]

could u maybe recommend some theory texts that u read and actually liked/found beneficial to understanding other texts since u read them? i've been looking a lot at different books abt literary theory lately - i'm a student of english lit getting my bachelors degree but there's not a lot of theory included at my university, and i feel like it would help me to know some. anything would be appreciated! (tho i appreciate u anyways)

hey anon, apologies for the belated reply!

if ur looking for a useful overview of theory which takes you through pretty much every movement from the conception of ‘theory’ in the modern sense (traced back in the author’s opinion to matthew arnold) and ending with very contemporary stuff like eco criticism, then bertens’ literary theory: the basics is a good shout. it is very thorough and picks out each school’s most important and relevant passages so you don’t have to slog through thousands of pages yourself. that said, whilst this is a sort of quick fix, reading it all in one go probably not the best way to learn theory as there’s a lot to take in (speaking from experience). i’d read theory in small chunks, proceeding slowly, e.g. when you have a free hour read eliot’s ‘tradition and the individual talent’ or whimsatt and beardsley’s ‘the intentional fallacy’, rather than deciding you’ll tackle ALL of new criticism and feeling confused and overwhelmed (movements clash internally, too, so any insertion of ‘what new criticism thinks’ into an essay will be an unnecessary generalisation). 

i am, however, hesitant to push you towards just learning every single ‘school’ (which are more ill-defined than is often presented) and then transferring this knowledge to your work. deciding to ‘do a marxist/ structuralist/ new critical reading’ has always to me seemed a little impositional and at times unnatural if done uncritically and arbitrarily. students often want to learn theory to improve their essays and make them seem more learned (i too have of course been there done that and am still guilty of it), but it can have the opposite effect in the eyes of an examiner, to their dismay. this is because it may seem as if they’re not thinking for themselves, even though they’ve spent loads of time and effort becoming familiar with complicated ideas. in itself that’s great, but the problem then becomes that a marker may think ‘yeah they understand post-structuralism, but so what?’.

a good essay writer will instead read a theory or theorist and latch onto the ideas to improve their own. this is hard to explain and equally as hard to do. it can happen, to my mind, in one of two ways. one is by adapting or applying the particular idea(s) to the book(s)/ poem(s)/ play(s) etc the essay is focusing on with nuance, and seeing how the theory interacts with said book(s)/ poem(s)/ play(s) (i.e. not writing a blanket statement like ‘a feminist would say that…’, but focusing on a very specific idea from one theorist and quoting relevantly from the original work, saying what YOU think at all times - using the theory as a tool, not a substitute for your opinion), and how the passage itself ‘bites [the theory] back’ so to speak, raises questions about its legitimacy, demands modification, etc. the other is by allowing the intricacy of thought, imagination, etc in theory to guide and elevate your intellect, without necessarily using the theorist’s specific ideas at all. to put it in a more simple way, reading clever and edifying things will over time be edifying and make one cleverer. but this should not be to the extent that your own voice is obscured - i personally like the fact that i’m me and write like me and not t. s. eliot!!

i would like to recommend reading classical literary theory/ criticism, too, because i feel like us students often look towards the modern stuff and apply it somewhat impositionally and artificially on texts written beforehand (unless we are careful), whereas a lot of the classical stuff actually influenced much of english literature, especially the slightly older english literature, so it can be integrated into essays more naturally (though of course what i’ve said above still applies). i’d recommend horace’s art of poetry and longinus’ on great writing/ the sublime to begin with! they’re easy reads and quite short, but very rewarding.

there are also really useful books that aren’t mainstream/ ‘canonical’ theory as such but can help you read texts with a fresh perspective, like bennett and royle’s an introduction to literature, criticism and theory (which is very readable and moves away from rigid ‘schools’). my final recommendation is harold bloom’s interviews on youtube. they have helped me ‘read’ texts via reminding me that it’s not necessarily only heavily theoretical stuff that’s going to aid reading (not that bloom’s work isn’t ever heavily theoretical of course) - for example, you can find a strange sort of ‘understanding’ in reading aloud. as bloom says in a 2000 interview, literature ‘alters you a little. it changes you.’ and sometimes going back to the roots of why you chose it can improve an essay just as much as tackling heavy theory. there are different ways of being thoughtful, if that makes sense.

sorry this got so long! i hope it’s answered your question and is helpful and not too patronising; obviously we’re both undergrads at uni so i’m very much still learning all this stuff too. but just my two cents ❤️ if you’d like any more specific recommendations hmu anytime!

[sevenfactorial]

Conveniently, I did take a screen shot bc the whole ask wasn’t appearing while I was I was typing which I found displeasing.

I had a bit more math exposure than most people in high school. I was able to go through multivar calc and diff eqs my last year (less intense but still closely following typical university curriculum, in particular, the local university’s which is where I’m at now) and had some proof exposure from doing math competitions. I also didn’t plunge straight into math since I started as a CS major/math minor (multivar first semester, discrete math for cs majors second, both of which definitely were not easy for me even if they went well in the end). The amount of math I took at a time rather steadily increased from there so I never had like, a shock sort of moment which was kind of more luck than anything else.

Just about everyone who does math says it’s very hard. I think that anyone who says it’s easy hasn’t been sufficiently challenged. For one of my friends, it took him going to a top grad program to be sufficiently challenged but most people get it plenty quickly in undergrad. I never had a particularly bad shock but I am definitely of the opinion that Math Is Hard and Absurd but I’m doing it anyways. So you’re far from alone and there are Real Life Mathematicians in my sample so clearly it doesn’t keep you from success.

Basically, I don’t think finding math much harder now than in high school is a reason to quit. Persistence is actually a huge factor of success at research math especially, just as much or more than natural ability. My success in classes and research is less reliant on my natural intuition (what the fuck is natural intuition about higher dim abstract objects anyways? I’m kinda concern if you have any tbh) and more on the fact that I’m willing to work on a problem for 4+ hrs.

That said, if you have been studying a lot but still are having trouble, then yes, trying out new strategies is important.

These are mostly general enough that they can probably apply to whatever class, whether more intro or intermediate and whatever field but I can’t guarantee it. I’m mostly thinking intro-to-upper-level-stuff like linear alg or odes and beginning upper-level undergrad like intro to abstract alg or adv calc.

The obvious, typical, but really useful advice is talk to people. Your professor/TA is a good place to start but talking to other people as well might be a good idea. So this includes classmates, older students, other faculty. I find collaborating with peers extremely important to my understanding because you can help each other find problems and fix them. Getting help from other people can also be useful because they’ll probably explains things a bit differently than your professor and maybe a different explanation will click much better for you. Like I could not understand finite fields and their notation for over two weeks despite the constant lectures until one of my friends (actually a classmate at the time but he had previous experience) explained it to me differently while we were doing homework.

When you’re studying, sometimes its a good idea to make sure you’re not getting too caught up on details. They are important (for some fields more than others, I’m not sure this advice works for analysis for one) but if you don’t understand the more general idea of a concept or the general structure of a proof, knowing the details probably won’t help that much either (a vague answer is usually enough for partial credit too). I focus on definitions, theorems, and common proof structures (if multiple proofs during a unit feel similar, you probably want to know how it works).

Usually, when I just don’t understand something despite trying multiple times, I will go through the def/theorem/proof/example/whatever very slowly while writing down just everything. Basically my internal monologue as I think through it. I find this very frequently helps me untangle things, at least enough that now I can go to someone and be like, I have a question instead of just, I don’t get this at all. I don’t think this would work for everyone but it’s worth giving a shot.

Some less-solely-academic advice is make sure you have a support network. Multiple preferably. One in your department is the most important in my opinion. I don’t know how I would have fared without other students to commiserate with and faculty to give advice (I’d probably still be a cs double major bc the support I got in the math department was a big draw for me). One of my friends (a MA major at a different uni) isn’t involved in her math department and I do know of a lot of majors I have class with but never really see otherwise but the support has seriously been helpful. Of course, mathblr is also filled with great people and I love it too though it’s definitely different from having something irl. Having friends and family outside math is also important bc it’s probably not healthy to be mired in math 100% of the time.

Another thing is possibly consider getting checked for any mental or emotional things. Obviously I have no clue what your situation is but sometimes it is really tricky to identify genuine problems when you’ve been facing them your entire life but if you can address it, it might have a really big impact. In general, take care of your mental and emotional health. A crisis is most certainly not gonna help anything.

[petite-biology-blog]

Taking an Undergraduate Biology Paper from Good to Outstanding

From a top-scoring undergrad. 

Choose a topic you are passionate about

This is often talked about, but it is so important that I needed to mention it. To get a high grade, you need to be able to pour your time and efforts into your work, and this is much easier to do when you care about what you’re writing about. Your enthusiasm will come through in your work. Don’t be afraid to spend a couple of hours weighing up the pros and cons of different titles. 

Start with a clear structure built up with bullet points 

Being told to link your paragraphs is reminiscent of school, I know, but it is more important than ever to establish the links between your arguments and highly helpful to do this before you start writing. Flow is of vital importance in scientific essays as they can easily be bogged down with processes and terminology.

Don’t use any unexplained complicated language

There’s no extra points for confusing your assessor - if you don’t fully understand the word you’re using, you’ll most likely use it in the wrong way. Any highly specific scientific word should be explained, even in essays aimed at non-lay audiences. This demonstrates your understanding and improves the flow of your essay. 

Use diagrams

Long biological processes can be difficult to explain when a strict word limit is imposed. Use diagrams to both reduce your word count and to make your essay more interesting to read. No matter how technically good your essay is, it will score better if the marker genuinely enjoys reading it. 

Cite primary literature

I used a grand total of 0 textbooks, 0 websites and over 50 research and review papers for my last review article. Primary literature is almost always superior to the textbooks that summarise it, and websites can be unreliable. A tip for finding good literature while you start to research your essay: go to the wikipedia page of your chosen topic and skim through the citations list - there will always be helpful papers cited there. 

Mark your own work before submission

It always shocks me that nobody I speak to at uni does this - I swear by it. Print out a copy of your first draft and the marking criteria normally provided by your university, or the brief for the assignment if no marking criteria is available. Scribble on your essay as if you were grading it - is anything unclear? Have you missed any of the major marking criteria? It is much, much easier to see this on paper rather than on your screen. I do this a few times with long pieces of work and it’s much more accurate than proof-reading by skimming through a few times. 

I hope this is helpful to someone!

[english-ext-2]

Work Experience and Internships

Most of us go to university with the expectation that we’re positioning ourselves for a better starting salary, improved social mobility, and the chance to do our best work, live our best lives, and retire comfortably. But you probably know by now that a piece of paper isn’t going to cut it in the real world™, and employers expect more than good grades.

Work experience is one of the many ways to distinguish yourself from the crowd. (For more on maximising your graduate employability, check out this post on the boredofstudies forum) Internships, and unpaid internships especially, are an increasingly popular source of work experience to spruce up the CV. Considering how intense competition in the graduate market is these days, students are seeking out unpaid internships from as early as first year.

This post is supposed to be an introduction to internships, with a particular focus on unpaid internships and their accompanying risks and pitfalls.      

What’s an internship?

“Internship” is a bit of a nebulous term to which we’ve attached certain expectations and ideas; in popular culture, interns are akin to coffee runners and menial office workers, or the ones we jokingly blame for misfired tweets, but the reality (as it tends to be) is far more complex.   

You can think of internships as a bridge between academic theory and practical workplace experience - they’re a learning (and often networking) opportunity to give you a taste of what it’d be like to work at a particular organisation or in a particular sector.  

An internship can be structured or unstructured, paid or unpaid, and can last anywhere from a few weeks to twenty four months. They can be arranged through your university for academic credit, or you can seek them out yourself. The content of an internship is highly variable and dependent on the industry and organisation. You may be assigned a project or task, made to shadow senior executives, rotated through several divisions, or even invited to attend networking events and receive professional development.  

The pros and cons of unpaid internships

Pros

Gaining experience in your academic field, or a field related to what you intend to pursue as a career;

Taking on or refining transferable skills that will enhance your employability;

Getting a sense of an organisation’s day-to-day rhythm and a feel for their workplace culture;

If doing an internship for credit, your work and study time overlap;

In some cases, being provided with mentoring, training, career coaching and/or professional development;

The opportunity to form connections and grow your network.

Cons

You are not reimbursed for travel or meals, which means paying out of pocket for what can be lengthy commutes to your workplace;

Employers who don’t respect your boundaries or provide flexibility;

Doing work that is used but not credited to you;

Managing paid work, study and other commitments on top of the unpaid internship;

Being given boring and trivial tasks that don’t challenge you or help you learn, conversely;

Being given a heavy and unrealistic workload for an intern, i.e. doing the work a normal employee would but without pay (this ABC Online report  and Pedestrian TV article cover the pitfalls of unpaid internships). 

This Junkee article also looks at the social implications of unpaid internships, e.g. widening the gap between privileged and underprivileged students. 

Know your rights

Students are often treated as free labour because you don’t have the requisite work experience or skills to justify being paid. That means you aren’t afforded the same workplace protections and rights as paid employees. This makes unpaid internships ripe for exploitation, and frankly, you deserve better. 

According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, an you might be in an employment relationship rather than interning if:

You are doing more productive work than observational;

The work you are doing is normally done by paid employees, and/or is necessary to the organisation’s or company’s daily operations;  

You are expected or required by the organisation to come work or do productive activities;

The company is benefiting more from the the arrangement than you.

Apart from reporting to the Fair Work Ombudsman, you can reach out to Interns Australia, which advocates for fairer and more transparent rules surrounding internships. It also recently launched the National Fair Internship Pledge to help employers and interns identify fair and high quality internship programs.

Searching for internships

Depending on your field of study, internships can be in huge or limited supply. My undergrad was in International Studies, which wasn’t something that had a neat and direct equivalent in the workplace like a Commerce or Business degree. However, communications, media and law internships are practically booming (the problem’s in the amount and quality of competition). So the big question is, where do you start looking?

University careers boards

These should really be your first stop. Get into the habit of regularly checking the careers board; if you know you’ll forget to, subscribe for weekly updates. The big upside of uni job boards is that you’ll see internship ads for small, obscure-sounding companies or organisations that you wouldn’t find when browsing big sites like GradAustralia (see below).  

Also a friendly reminder that your careers centre has resources beyond job boards -- self-assessment tools, fact sheets on just about every aspect of jobseeking, industry news and updates, drop-in career advice and resume-polishing sessions, and careers workshops. Use these! 

Online job boards  

Career One, SEEK, gumtree and Indeed are popular for obvious reasons, but because of their scale, you’re bound to spend most of your time weeding out shifty ads from the legitimate ones.  

I’d advise starting with these websites:  

Grad Australia

GradConnection

Graduate Careers Australia, which manages Graduate Opportunities

Australian Internships

If you’re doing a generalist degree and not entirely sure what companies are suitable, fear not -- the first three sites have an “Arts and Humanities” filter in their search engines. 

Careers fairs

There’s nothing like spending a half-day at the careers fair picking up freebies and chatting to recruiters. They’re a good next step if you’re serious about an internship with a big name company and have done some preliminary research into their internship or graduate programs. 

Meeting representatives and recruiters allows you to get answers from real people, rather than answers from the other side of a screen. It’ll help you get a feel for what kinds of people the company is looking for, and even make some basic connections. (Of course, don’t forget to ask them for tips on what makes a successful application!)    

Applying for internships

It’s always worth checking the credibility of any organisation you want to intern with -- have people mentioned good or bad experiences, is the work they do legitimate, are your roles and duties as an intern clearly laid out? Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a couple of internships, it’s time to do further research.    

You need to be able to articulate why you want to intern at any organisation or company, and that requires knowledge of the organisation or company beyond “your brand is great” and “I want work experience��. What do you hope to gain from interning? How do you fit the company’s values? Make sure your applications are targeted, that you’re not just throwing yourself at any internship in your industry and hoping to land one. Consider your own personality, strengths and skills, and try to apply for internships that match them. If you know you don’t meet half the desired criteria of an advertised internship, then it’s probably best not to apply.    

Which isn’t to discourage you from limiting your options. When you’re starting out, it’s okay to apply to as many places as possible just to get a feel for the entire application process. You need the experience of writing up cover letters and attending interviews, because it’ll serve you well when you start looking for a proper job post-graduation.  

It’s a very, very good idea to ask for help and feedback on your application. Again, remember that your university’s careers centre pretty much exists for this reason. They can provide personalised advice on your resume and cover letter, and if fronting up to staff isn’t your cup of tea, there’s always the online resources.  

International internships

International internships are the logical escalation of everyone and their hamster doing an internship. The “international” part adds a lot of value in soft skills (your independence, organisation, intercultural awareness, etc.) along with experience in your industry/field. Business is global now, and demonstrating your willingness to seek out international experience is a huge plus for employers. But as you can imagine, there’s a lot of preparation involved. 

Finding an appropriate overseas internship

You can look for internships independently on sites like GoinGlobal, browse your university careers board, or apply through an organisation like The Intern Group. The last option is easier in the sense that the organisation will match you to a company, and may offer stipends or cover certain costs. Depending on the organisation, you might be able to access a range of other benefits like networking and social opportunities, professional development, and career training.

Regardless of how you look for an overseas internship, you want something that relates to what you’re studying. That’s also where applying through an organisation can help -- you tell them what you’re studying, and they fit you with one of their partner companies.      

Affording the many costs

Many overseas internships tend to be unpaid, yet you have to fork out a lot of expenses for airfares, accommodation, visa fees, and daily living expenses (e.g. food, transport, leisure), not all of which will be covered by your sponsoring organisation. Many countries will require that you be able to show proof of available funds when applying for a visa, because they need to know you can financially support yourself for the duration of your stay.

You can finance your studies with OS-HELP, which is a loan available to students enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place who want to undertake some of their study overseas. You can access a maximum of two (2) OS-HELP loans over your lifetime. 

Option two is applying for scholarships or grants that might cover part of your expenses. You can contact your university’s study abroad office for a better idea of what’s available and to determine if you’re eligible.  

The complexity of visa application and work permit processes

Don’t underestimate how long it can take to acquire the correct documentation. Every country has different procedures, and some will take longer than others, but you should factor in a few months at most. Some types of visa need an in-person interview, and you have to travel to your city’s embassy or consulate for that. Be aware too that immigration requirements can and do change at short notice, and that you need to be on top of any changes to ensure you’ll be legally working in the country of your internship.

Allowing enough time to prepare

Travelling overseas to work isn’t something you can organise on short notice. You need to book airfares and arrange accommodation well in advance, make a list of all the things you need to pack, and if applicable, allow enough time to apply for and hear back from scholarship/grant providers. Between your organisation, you’ve got all the other minor inconveniences and hassles of student life to manage. So if you truly want an overseas internship experience, start preparing early.  

Work Integrated Learning (WIL)

WIL simply refers to work experience that’s part of your university course, including internships, clinical and fieldwork. It’s good on a couple of levels:

Applying your university-acquired skills to the workplace;

Further developing your soft/transferable skills;

It’s part of your study, meaning that you’re doing work and study at same time, as opposed to fitting odd part-time hours around your timetable;

Your workplace rights are protected by arrangements with the university;

Your learning is structured in such a way that you benefit most;

Networking opportunities with reputable and even high-profile organisations like the Commonwealth Bank, the NSW Government, and various consulting firms (can depend on the university), leading to…

A ‘foot in the door’ for when you do graduate (I have a friend who did so well in one of Deloitte’s vacation programs that they were invited to return once they’d graduated.)

Universities are already moving towards a model of work integrated learning -- Usyd’s new Bachelor of Arts and Advanced Studies includes a fourth-year industry project that has you working on real-life problems and solutions, while the combined Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation at UTS includes a compulsory internship. Some universities have been using WIL for well over a decade, see the University of Newcastle and Macquarie University.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

reblogging in case anyone i know in the states has advice to offer

most people i know who started out in celtic studies over there started out in more general or even somewhat unrelated programmes and then only specialised at postgrad so idk much about the undergrad offerings. a lot of them were actually at unis that didn't technically have anyone doing celtic and they just kinda made it work...

for postgrad i would say harvard is probably the most famous but it's by no means the only option, i just don't know much about US unis (they may even have undergrad options i just don't know. i know more canadian celticists than US ones, randomly). i know that notre dame has an irish language & literature course and that at least one of the faculty there is a medievalist (amy mulligan), but i don't know exactly how they structure things or how hard it skews modern. (amy mulligan is great tho, has written some interesting things about the ríastrad which would probably be of interest given your URL lol)

if you can't find somewhere with celtic studies or irish studies that's viable for you (distinction: celtic studies tends to be the term used when it's going to be more historical/medieval and incorporate welsh and stuff; irish studies will be predominantly modern irish and may involve much more modern history and politics, but i know people in both kinds of depts who do essentially the same stuff!), you might benefit from finding somewhere with a strong comparative lit department; you also find celtic specialists in english departments and general medieval studies departments. i know a couple of people who technically did english degrees but they took nearly all celtic modules by the end bc there were a couple of people on staff teaching them

looking outside the country, in case it's interesting, UCC has an online, distance-learning MA in "irish mythology and folklore" (afaik this is the only postgrad course of its type). it's a new course so i don't know anybody who's done it or whether it's any good but like, i trust the guys there, so, that's an option on the postgrad side of things that doesn't require actively moving to ireland

(fwiw even in ireland and the uk, most people will be doing broader Arts degrees with a celtic studies focus, or they'll be doing joint honours with english or comp lit, or they'll be predominantly in a modern celtic language programme (gaelic, welsh, irish), or they'll be in a medieval studies programme that covers a bunch of different languages... i don't think i know anyone who JUST did medieval irish at undergrad, but there are definitely lots of different angles one can take to get that sweet irish content)

Irish mythology people give me advice for attempting to get a degree in it (also known as my quest to become unemployable)

[terrypearrson]

Uni law degrees don’t prepare grads for law firm life, report claims

Bosses bemoan ‘basic grammatical mistakes’ and lack of commercial awareness

Undergrad law degrees aren’t much good at teaching people how to lawyer.

That’s the finding of research carried out with ten different sized law firms, which concludes that new grads come into the office with a “notable gap of essential skills”.

Kiel Consulting says that unis “tend not to prepare their students” for a working life in professional services and that the industry feels “there is a requirement for change”.

The research involved interviews with partners and recruiters at firms ranging from high street to international. It comes with a disclaimer that it represents Kiel Consulting’s interpretation of those conversations rather than the opinions of the firms themselves.

But it seems pretty clear that partners aren’t blown away by the office-readiness of their new recruits.

Over 90% of those interviewed gave “improved attention to detail” as their biggest ask for trainees. This was mostly to do with their written output, which tends to lack structure and include too much technical language and even Latin phrases (malum in se).

Bosses also bemoaned “basic grammatical mistakes such as the use of apostrophes or the correct use of Yours Sincerely and Yours Faithfully”.

Another 83% wanted junior lawyers to be better able to handle the “hostile environment” of a law firm by building up “resilience and perseverance”. The report points out that, quite apart from demanding clients and aggressive opponents, “there can also be hostility internally, amongst colleagues”.

Secure your place: The UK Virtual Law Fair Series 2020

So if you really want to practice for your first year on the job, ask your lecturer to send you a sarky email from time to time.

The firms fed back that grads with work experience as well as a degree under their belt tend to have more resilience — and to be quicker at building up it as a trainee.

The third most common complaint was our old friend commercial awareness. Respondents wanted newbies to understand the financial mechanics of a law firm, including “accounting mechanics such as WIP, Lock Up, P&L [and] billability targets”.

Seventy-one precent even claimed that superior commercial awareness would put a 2.1 student ahead of a rival with a first in the training contract hunt.

And the firms also want their juniors to work like dogs. Partners want their billing fodder to be “proactively asking for work” and “working long hours to meet deadlines”. The report says that asking about billing targets at interview comes across well (and at least you’ll know what you’re in for).

The report draws on interviews with senior staff at Ashfords, Browne Jacobson, Coodes, GA Solicitors, Michelmores, Nash & Co, Trowers & Hamlins, WBW Solicitors, Wollens and Womble Bond Dickinson.

The post Uni law degrees don’t prepare grads for law firm life, report claims appeared first on Legal Cheek.

source https://www.legalcheek.com/2020/06/uni-law-degrees-dont-prepare-grads-for-law-firm-life-report-claims/

[jasminwiniarski]

Interview answers

Here are all the replies I got from undergrad students:

1. Nathalie, 19, female, Chemistry

2. Yesterday

3. Yess, basically every day

4. I use it to get the molar mass of elements    

   unnecessary  are the different colors of elements and the boiling points

5. /

6. at Uni for different calculations and I need to learn the periodic table for the exams

7. /

------------------------------------------

1. Michel, 21, male, I am currently in the third year of my Physics Bachelor studies here at Luxembourg University. I am kind of sporty (playing football), love a good laugh with friends and enjoy doing physics, math and chemistry.

2. Last week during the Modern Physics lecture

3. At least once a week but there may be weeks where I use it more often.4) I mostly use it to find the atomic number (Z) or to see which elements are unstable, which are unreactive or very reactive.

5. I got used to it, but at the start it was hard to find the elements I was searching for because the table is quit large and often crowded in values.

6. University

7. At school maybe start with a small periodic table and then add more elements slowly? All in all I think the periodic table looks good as it is.

------------------------------------------

So first, my name is Jérémy, I'm 21 and, yes obviously I'm male. Even if it sounds like if it's an introduction in a support meeting, I'm not a drug addict. There's very few to talk about me, I'm a boring dude with a boring life. I study physics, I'm currently in the 5th semester.The last time I used a periodic table was not so long ago, maybe 2 or 3 week 🤔.For the 3rd question I will answer it depends. Because, depending of the course and the topic currently studying. So, let's say sometimes I use it.I use the PSE because it's easy to use... everything is categorised and in a specific order, it makes easy to find what you want such the atomic mass or the valance electrons as well as the shell number. In the past I used it more for the atomic mass, but now it's more to now the quantum states of the electrons.I like question 5 😂. Damn I hate it when you search by name or initials (I don't know how they call the short name, so I call it initials). Like go and search for Hf. Where the hell is it!!???There's only one motivation: you don't have a choice. If you want to know something about some element without using internet, there's only the PSE. Or imagine you want to search for an element with some particular characteristics, well it's more difficult to search it on Google. With the PSE, the characteristics of the elements are in a logic order, it says directly which element you're searching for.Last question. I would change nothing. Because on paper you can't change anything more or do it even more efficient. Well I'm not a specialist neither a designer, but it's just what I think. If you can improve the PSE in paper format that would be interesting and great 😊. For the bonus points, so you want to do a PSE with a focus on what element can be found in which planet? 🤔 If I understood it right, then I suggest you to add the value (like in €/kg) of the elements since Luxembourg want to do spacemining. I would also add the distance between us and the respective planet. So that it's easier to calculate the cost of mining, and so to see if it's worth it. 

------------------------------------------

1. Dino, 21, Male, B.Sc. Chemistry

2. Couple of days ago

3. I definitely use it regularly, at least weekly

4. I use it to explain why certain molecules react in a specific way. Sometimes you need to know the position and the mass number so you can argument why a component is in a stable/unstable state. I often need to know the molar mass of a molecule for calculations but I don‘t calculate it myself as there are online molar mass calculators. The electronegativity is also something I often need to know so I can tell about the strength of a chemical bond, but this is missing in most periodic tables. All information in the periodic table about an element is vital.

5. If I can‘t find a precise one immediately. 

6. Except for studies I don‘t use the table so I guess none. I also don‘t use it always directly as I had to study it by heart so you should know the most important parts without looking at one.

7. It would be nice if (in the case of program as for your app) the periodic table is interactive and you can just display the information you need right now. I think you‘ll be able to find the information you‘re looking for much faster. The lanthanoides and actinoides don‘t need to be displayed as you nearly never need them. 

For the bonus question I think it would be nice if the radioactive elements have a sign. 

------------------------------------------

Name: Benan 

Age: One shall never ask a lady for her age!... Try putting a TOE next to a TOE :)

Gender: Take a guess if you’re smart enough;)

Background about myself: I have a beige-coloured wall behind me. Is that background enough for you?

I’m a Turkish-Luxembourgish-Belgian student living in Luxembourg since my childhood. I speak 5 languages (and the 6th language; Czech, is on the way).

Studies: 3rd year in Bachelor in Physics (haha I’m a Bachelorette)

Currently as a Free Mover in Prague (wonderful city!).

When was the last time you used the periodic table?

Today!

Do you use the periodic table regularly? On a daily, weekly basis?

I would say 2 times a week.

What is your principal reason for using the periodic table, what is the information that you usually seek from it?

I have a course called “Solid State Physics” and we actually use the periodic table quite regularly in order to investigate the electronic structure of different elements and materials. We see what makes up the bonding states between atoms. We analyse why a metal is a metal, where the ferromagnetism comes from, how superconductor and semiconductors work in electronic basis and what their properties are. We also analyse different crystal structures like diamonds.

What causes you frustration when using the periodic table?

It reminds me of chemistry courses from high school and hence my high school life itself. It wasn’t really the best time of my life, but it was still funny!

What motivates you to use the periodic table?

Henry Moseley’s contribution to the periodic table and the fact that he was shot by a Turkish sniper during the Battle of Gallipoli.

Also, the fact, that if I work with the periodic table, I might pass the exam, if I pass the exam, I will get my Bachelor’s Diploma in Physics and hence officially be a physicist!

What would you change about this experience?

Life is an experience, time is relative and the past may never be changed.

Bonus question:

Bring it on, lady!

Name, physical properties (colour, shape, softness,..), mass, smell (actually that would be interesting, you could explain by means of smells we know how that element smells, e.g. they say space smells like burnt meat), percentage of abundance of that same element on Earth, lattice structure (face centred cubic, base centred cubic, or or or), what it’s useful for, how old the element is, atomic number, etc

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

In less than 300 words, explain why you are a good candidate to work at MIRI.

(Not actually serious answers, mostly just stuff that occurs to me when I'm bored, but I think they are funny and I do not want to leave them unanswered)

My only real skills or knowledge about AI are:

grad school physics, which in hindsight is totally over-specialized, but has produced some results

undergrad/grad math (I've worked through almost all the classical/modern mathematics I've studied, although I admit I probably don't know the "right" way to reason about a lot of it). I have a lot of experience with proofs, but my intuition for what kind of structure a proof needs is pretty fuzzy

grad school CS, where I focused on AI safety, and on formal verification of systems, for the last ~5 years.

Other stuff that might be relevant, but that I don't know enough about to describe:

various "hard" CS concepts

computer architecture

systems programming (e.g. C/C++), though I learned most of it as a hobby

software engineering in general, although that stuff only applies to one (small) thing that I've done professionally

ML, although my intuition is that deep learning is probably an over-hyped idea that won't pan out

some of my CS education is about more specialized AI-relevant topics – e.g. I really wanted to learn how to design neural network architectures, and had to learn that stuff by studying the math literature, which was the only way to really understand it (I'm told that I know too much math because this is the case? – I still am not sure). (It's easy to spend a long time reading some paper and not get much out of it because the authors didn't really "get it" either, so your intuitions will be muddled. Also, it's harder to get that stuff right the first time.) I've had the opportunity to actually build some NNs from the math, but the experience was underwhelming and I'm not sure if I really "got it"

I have done research in "hard" CS (machine learning) for the past year, but I did it mainly for the money (at my undergrad school, they were a big source of my tuition bill), and don't expect it to contribute much to the overall value I can provide as an employee. (I'm thinking this is probably correct because I'm a physics grad student with a lot of math skills, which is not at all what I think most people working at MIRI are)

I did some work this summer tutoring kids in an online high school course that used python (and in retrospect I should have tried to do something with it, I had a lot of experience with coding, although I didn't really know much about Python), and I've also taught high school calc 1 courses using Python as well as a course in computer science (analogous to intro CS but not necessarily the same material) at my local uni, so I've had exposure to other kinds of math teaching.

My biggest advantage might be that I've got a reputation as someone who thinks about the question in a serious way (which seems like part of the problem) – I may have done some good research work, but in my grad school work I tended to talk about a lot of stuff that sounded impressive even though it was pretty obvious and obvious-sounding.

(This is related to my habit of constantly wondering why things I do are "impressive" even when they're totally pedestrian and uninteresting)

I'm not totally sure whether my "intuitions for what kind of structure a proof needs," described in the first bullet point, are the "right" ones, and whether any of the stuff I've done is at all valuable.

I think the thing I'd be the most valuable to MIRI at would be as a general intellectual/problem-solving facilitator. (I do not speak the language of AI theory, I don't have experience with this, but I know a fair bit about a lot of things I'm sure would be relevant to the problems they're trying to solve) This would be useful, I think, because MIRI doesn't really have people in that position who seem to be well-suited to it; they mostly have technical people whose expertise is narrowly-focused.

MIRI has the reputation of being run by people who are smart and really hardworking – I wouldn't say this is just an exaggeration, but it is definitely not the case that they have the sorts of people who are "well-suited" to intellectual work that involves math, and so I'm not sure how they plan to fill this gap. (As a consequence, the sorts of people who are not well-suited to the work there can end up feeling like some of it isn't serious, and like there are some weird weirdos in the mix who think they're getting something out of it and don't realize they're not actually contributing anything useful)

(I have a feeling that this is a very general problem that exists not just in MIRI but also in the world – there are lots of things where the people who are really good at that work don't get to have the full story told to them because nobody is around to do it and so nobody can convince them that the things they do are valuable in the first place)

There may be people who think like I do about AI-related math, and that's why they think they're a good fit to work at MIRI. This may be false – I have been wrong about a lot of things in the past, so I might be just the wrong person to ask here. If there are people like me in MIRI, I want to know about it, and I'll definitely bring it up if I see/talk to them. (I'm also curious if there are people like me in MIRI, so I'll keep an ear open to see if I can figure it out)

If any of my answers were unclear, or if there is a specific point I should bring up, feel free to say so and I'll fix it or elaborate.

[muneerahwrites]

There’s a point in time when you just feel so tired – whether in school/uni/work (I haven’t worked long enough to say but I know enough from my parents haha) – and you just want to stop, go home, eat ice cream and binge watch random YouTube videos. I can say that I have reached this point with Arabic. I started learning it properly at the start of my undergrad (6 years ago in 2011 LOL mA). It’s such a beautiful language but IT IS SO DIFFICULT T.T It’s the kind of language that you need to revise everyday and spend time and energy in the speaking, listening and reading to progress in anyway. It felt as if the year out in SG (with minimal revision) pushed the four years of Arabic back by 2 and now “re-learning” or “revising” it is exhausting and tiring. Arab-speaking friends in SOAS are so lovely and patient in trying to speak Arabic to me but I always say one word in reply because its too exhausting to form coherent sentence and embarrass myself not remembering the vocab for “meet” or "sun".

I decided some time back to stop using my money, time and mental energy with Arabic classes and consoled myself that as long as I know what I’m saying in prayers and basic sentence structures in the Qur’an, I’ll be ok. Life goes on. But whenever you intend to do something for Allah – whether its such a small intention 6 years ago that you forgot about or didn’t even directly intend to do something specifically for Allah but it pleases Him – the barakah (blessing) of it is continuous.

But a few weeks ago, a classmate of another faith, told me that she’s learning tajweed through apps on her android phone. She also listens to the Qur’an and is trying to memorise Al-Fatiha . When I asked her why, she said “I’m learning Arabic! Its good when I engage with the Qur’an. It’s also more fun than class.” Literally stunned. If anything could slap me awake, I think it was this moment. I claim to be Muslim, I claim to believe that the Qur’an hold the words of God but what even is my relationship and engagement with the Qur’an as compared to hers?

Then today, I was last to leave the Arabic evening class the ustadha, may Allah increase her and bless her, randomly told me in Arabic that I am learning the most important language in the world. And me, smirking at the statement of Arab pride, I said do you know it’s also the most difficult language to learn. Somehow, while walking out of class, we had a conversation about why Arabic is so important for everyone to learn and if you really want to connect with the Qur’an and with God Himself, you need to know what He is saying with no middle man. I told her it’s not easy, “All you Arabs are lucky then, you were born with the language.” I told her how much we struggled, how I see my parents trying to memorise these verses that are in a foreign language, how every Ramadan in the mosque we hear the Imam crying but we don’t understand why. She told me to keep learning, no one learns Arabic for a year or two. This journey is for a lifetime, for Arab speaking peoples and non-Arab speaking peoples. She then said that a non-Arab can definitely be at a higher standing in Allah’s regard as compared to an Arab, taqwa (God consciousness) is not colonsied by any language or nation but she said, learn Arabic for yourself and see how your communication with your Lord and His Qur’an changes. The language is divine. With more words of encouragement, she left me and I continued to walk on to my flat by myself.

For all of yall who looked up tonight, the moon is shining gloriously and its brilliance was accompanying my solitary walk home. So while admiring her beauty, I remembered:

تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ فِي السَّمَاءِ بُرُوجًا وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا سِرَاجًا وَقَمَرًا مُنِيرًا Blessed is He who has placed in the sky great stars and placed therein a [burning] lamp and luminous moon.

وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ خِلْفَةً لِمَنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يَذَّكَّرَ أَوْ أَرَادَ شُكُورًا And it is He who has made the night and the day in succession for whoever desires to remember or desires gratitude. (25:61-62)

Lol don't laugh, I actually memorised the ayat literally just because my name is in it ("qamaran muneera"). So while walking under the moonlight (and in London, many streetlights too) I properly reflected and realised that despite the struggle, there has been progress alhamdulillah. Understanding the grammar and having some vocab in my hands, Allah's words were actually accessible. When reading, I recognise grammar structures and its impacts. I recognise words that my friends taught me in everyday convo (eg gosebumps/shivers) in the Qur'an. Most importantly, during prayers, when I actually understand what is being recited, it is like Allah is literally talking to you, giving you counsel, motivation, rebuke, everything you need.

So I won't quit just yet la eh. As ustadha said, I have to keep learn Arabic my whole life. And all of yall learning Arabic, I feel you! And we can be frustrated together but don't ever stop. Keep striving, this is what this world is for. When you renew your intentions, you know you have Allah on your side and you will have continuous minor victories always. All of yall yet to approach it (cos too scared/overwhlemed) just start, baby steps. Join a class, get Bayyinah TV subscription, get those who know Arabic to teach you, we're in this tgt.

And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember? (54:17)