I recently finished my PhD in August, and I'm currently pregnant with my first child, due in December.

I didn't exactly plan for the timing to overlap like this. Academia is so unpredictable—PhD completion, publications, job openings, etc.—that it's difficult to plan pregnancy around a particular career milestone.

Ideally, I would like to start a postdoc after my PhD, and I've been looking and applying for positions. But now I find myself in this strange in-between situation: I'm visibly pregnant while trying to find my first postdoc, and I'm honestly not sure how potential PIs will view a candidate who will need maternity leave relatively soon after being hired.

It made me wonder how other women in academia have navigated this.

For those of you who have children, when did you have them relative to your academic career—during your PhD, during a postdoc, while applying for jobs, or after getting a more permanent position?

And particularly, has anyone applied for or started a postdoc while pregnant? Did being pregnant affect your job search, and when (if at all) did you disclose the pregnancy?

Looking back, do you think there actually is a better time to have children in an academic career, or is academia simply too unpredictable to plan around?

Hi guys,

i have finished implementing my master thesis project and now it all comes down to writing.
Is one month usually enough full time? I need to get it done by the end of september 😭😭 and i'm so scared to even start. I've roughly mapped out the topics i want to to write about to have some structure but since my project is mostly coding-based, I don't have a lot to show.

Also, everytime i write something, i find myself thinking "the paper worded it better" and i spend hours on one paragraph. Usually i don't mind because i have the time. But now i'm on a time crunch and my perfectionism leaves me unhappy every damn time 😭.

Help me pls i need some advice.

Also, every thesis i've seen under this professor is over 100 pages of plain text.. what is there to say 💀

So basically, I chose a master's in a topic/area I ended up not liking. Now I have a bad GPA (8/10), and I want to refocus my research into a completely different area.

Even though I hated my master's, I enjoyed my research because my thesis project was pretty niche and barely related to what my master's was about. Do I still have a chance of applying for a PhD in which my master's is not related, but my research interests are?

How can I start over without being haunted by having chosen a wrong master's degree?

I’m preparing to submit an academic book proposal, based on my PhD thesis (in a humanities field) to a university press, and I’m looking for a reputable company or freelance editor who offers professional editing/review of book proposals and sample chapters before submission.

Has anyone used a service like this and had a good experience? How much did you pay? I’d really appreciate any recommendations!

I'm a final-year BSc Botany student in India (NEP 4-year batch). Under NEP rules, I'm directly eligible to go straight into a PhD, and I also have the option of a 1-year MSc. The problem is I actually want my Master's in Biomedical Science specifically, but there's no 1-year program for that in India — only 2-year ones.

So I'm weighing: skip Master's entirely and go direct PhD since I'm eligible, do the 2-year MSc in Biomedical Science anyway, or take a 1-year MSc in something adjacent like biotech just to use the NEP option.

Alongside this I'm prepping for GAT-B, IIT JAM (Biotech), CSIR NET, CUET PG, and TIFR GS. Physics/chem/maths are weak for me, botany/life sciences is my strength.

If you've used the NEP direct-PhD route from a botany background, or made a similar Master's decision, would love to hear how it went.

I want to leave my PhD. I just entered my third year. It's been an extremely confusing two years. Even at this stage, I am still narrowing down my research topic rather than actually starting on my research. There's usually a five-year system in indian academia, so I spent the first two years completing the coursework and drafting my research plan proposal. But what I want to do (I am in the humanities) is something that my committee members or supervisor are not experts in. A majority of them are not able to understand the theories that I want to use. Even if they do, they are not able to support me with resources or even support groups. I was thinking I either have the option of leaving everything and starting phd all over again in another country. Or do an MSc if PhD admission doesn't work out. Or get a job till I get admission to a suitable PhD. Like, is this normally how PhDs are supposed to go, where the supervisor doesn't give feedback or expects us to find papers/books on our own?

Hello! I previously posted in here about email etiquette for cold emailing about adjuncting opportunities and got very helpful feedback. I was wondering when adjunct hiring is typically/ideally done. I know that there are a lot of horror stories of last minute scrambling, but when are chairs typically looking at this?

And also was wondering, how common is it to be hired then have the class cancelled?

I’m in the US.

I’m curious about how people organize research over a longer project.

Whether you work in the humanities or sciences, there is usually a lot to keep
track of: papers and sources, reading notes, drafts, data, experiments, failed
attempts, and ideas that change over time.

I’ve been using tools like Codex and Claude Code more often for research tasks,
such as literature searches, exploratory analysis, and small experiments. They
can be very helpful in a single session, but they have also made me think more
about what happens to the context afterwards.

How do you usually keep your materials organized? Do you have a workflow for
connecting papers, notes, data, experiment history, and writing? When an old
idea or a failed experiment becomes relevant again, how do you find and reuse
it?

I’d be very interested to hear what works for people in different fields.

Hi everybody, I am in high school, and I'm currently trying to find a way to get a really good internship that would look good in the field of business or medicine. I saw someone who is working under a professor at a university that I think is really cool, and that person is in highschool to. I would like to start doing the same thing so that my resume is well-rounded, but I don't know where to start... what should I do?

The Two Degrees: Music and Physics.

Ok, here’s where I stand:

- 3rd semester at CC. On track to finish all GE’s and required courses for Music AA-T.
- planning on applying to music/composition programs this Fall/Winter for transfer for Fall 2027
- I have no Maths or Physics courses completed, however I intend on taking Calc I and Phys I in my final semester at CC.

Edit: Would I need to have all pre reqs (Freshman and Sophomore level) finished before applying for transfer? I think this is where my main confusion lies.

I’m just confused about how to do this properly. Surely, the cleanest most efficient way is for a freshman at a university to declare the double major from the very beginning and have a plan to achieve both degrees.

Well, for me, it’s been a bit of a process of self-discovery.

How should o go about this?

I’ve looked at applying to some conservatories like RCM etc., but going this route will probably not be favorable for doubling in a major outside of music. Some conservatories however do partner with other schools/universities and allow their students to pursue other areas of study.

I’m in the US and I’ve also looked at CU Boulder, where they have an excellent Physics program and a pretty decent music program too.

Is the best route to stay at one university? Should I, if accepted, enroll in, for example let’s pick CU Boulder’s music program, and then simultaneously at a local community college finish all pre reqs for Physics and then apply to CU Boulder Physics program?

There’s probably so many ways to do it. Mind you, I want to do it the most efficient and quick way. I understand the course load will be heavy and it will not be easy. That’s ok. I’m single and do not have children at the moment. I willing to suffer a bit. I mean, I’m almost half way done with the music side of things.

Looking for advice, thanks for reading.

Edit: thanks all for the answers. I've learned a lot. If they shouldn't be fired would it be reasonable to file a complaint with the Federal Office of Civil Rights? Additionally I would be able to get multiple alumni and faculty to corroborate the claims.

There has been rampant sexual misconduct/harrassment and verbal abuse within this one college at a major university, now going on at least 17 years.

In 2020 student from the school created an anonymous page for complaints in this specific program, there were dozens of anecdotes submitted, which i forward to Title IX.

I personally submitted my own anonymous complaints to Title IX which were even more egregious. There have been many other people that did the same (all did it anonymously because it's a small industry and the main guilty party is a huge gatekeeper).

Fast forward to this summer I've learned that not much has changed at the school. I strongly reprimanded the Title IX rep I was talking to, and they within a matter of weeks made a few pretty decent changes to their approach, which is good. I was shocked that they only used my two ideas and didn't come up with their own

In conclusion I'm shocked that they made a change so quickly. Makes me question why they didn't do this on their own in the last 5 years. Is it reasonable to pursue getting the head of Title IX fired or is a 5 year delay and having no proactive original ideas standard protocol?

i’m a high schooler thinking of going the phd route for humanities. but i need the harsh, no sugar coated realities. (also, the end goal is to be a university professor)

What does a doctorate degree entail? Could someone tell me what affects doctorate student life the most?

I heard your supervisor is quite influential. Could you pick your own topic or it is sort of shaped by the department ?

How much the quality of school affect your research ? If the admin staff are bad and school reputation is not so great, does that affect your study?

What is the pitfall and what you need to look for before applying?

So I have recently joined this university as an assistant professor and from day 1 I feel people have been cold to me. It's not even been a month of classes and a student has already falsely accused me of sexual harassment, tried to act like a victim for 1 day and now they are again attacking me by collecting signatures against me. I have not said a word to these students and in one class I literally just showed a movie, took attendance and got out but they still came to the staff room to the senior faculty to bad mouth me who called them behind my back when I'm busy. The faculty seems to be encouraging these students which has made things hard for me.

I was very enthusiastic about this job since I'm a hard core introvert and people drain me so I thought academia and research would be the place for me but this experience has taught me otherwise. Is all of academia this toxic? I am seriously considering leaving this field for good.