Academia Ghetto Thread

[Reginald Ret]

Got 88% on my Cognitive Neuroscience midterm, evidently because I didn't use enough bullshit jargon terms, and also apparently because I needed to explain the words "mechanism" and "stable".

I don't even want to talk to him, he's a senile dinosaur trapped in a mire of psychology jargon. He keeps talking about how cognitive neuroscience needs a "grand unified theory" and I want to dropkick him and his whole class and shit on them from a great height.

Isn't 88% good? What are the grade boundaries?

The reasons for the point deductions were bullshit though.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Got 88% on my Cognitive Neuroscience midterm, evidently because I didn't use enough bullshit jargon terms, and also apparently because I needed to explain the words "mechanism" and "stable".

I don't even want to talk to him, he's a senile dinosaur trapped in a mire of psychology jargon. He keeps talking about how cognitive neuroscience needs a "grand unified theory" and I want to dropkick him and his whole class and shit on them from a great height.

Isn't 88% good? What are the grade boundaries?

The usual, above 90% is an A.

However, I have no problem accepting a B if I earned a B. The problem I have is that my essays were completely sound and he marked me down only because I failed (read, refused) to use his pet jargon words, many of which I'm pretty sure he made up himself.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Got 88% on my Cognitive Neuroscience midterm, evidently because I didn't use enough bullshit jargon terms, and also apparently because I needed to explain the words "mechanism" and "stable".

I don't even want to talk to him, he's a senile dinosaur trapped in a mire of psychology jargon. He keeps talking about how cognitive neuroscience needs a "grand unified theory" and I want to dropkick him and his whole class and shit on them from a great height.

Isn't 88% good? What are the grade boundaries?

The reasons for the point deductions were bullshit though.

Yes.

[Reginald Ret]

Got 88% on my Cognitive Neuroscience midterm, evidently because I didn't use enough bullshit jargon terms, and also apparently because I needed to explain the words "mechanism" and "stable".

I don't even want to talk to him, he's a senile dinosaur trapped in a mire of psychology jargon. He keeps talking about how cognitive neuroscience needs a "grand unified theory" and I want to dropkick him and his whole class and shit on them from a great height.

Isn't 88% good? What are the grade boundaries?

The reasons for the point deductions were bullshit though.

Yes.

I can only imagine a very limited set of situations in which "mechanism" has to be explained, and even then it would only be necessary if the reader is somehow incapable of using context clues.
I am not aware of any confusing or contradictory definitions of "stable", unless he was thinking of the building with horses?
Other than that, fuck jargon. If you can explain it using simple words, good. that means you not only "know", but also "understand".


*Know: This concept indicates absorbing but not necessarily understanding data.
**Understand: This concept indicates a deeper insight in the intricacies of the subject matter, it usually allows the 'understanding' subject to apply knowledge in unusual ways. Compare "Grok".

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Got 88% on my Cognitive Neuroscience midterm, evidently because I didn't use enough bullshit jargon terms, and also apparently because I needed to explain the words "mechanism" and "stable".

I don't even want to talk to him, he's a senile dinosaur trapped in a mire of psychology jargon. He keeps talking about how cognitive neuroscience needs a "grand unified theory" and I want to dropkick him and his whole class and shit on them from a great height.

Isn't 88% good? What are the grade boundaries?

The reasons for the point deductions were bullshit though.

Yes.

I can only imagine a very limited set of situations in which "mechanism" has to be explained, and even then it would only be necessary if the reader is somehow incapable of using context clues.
I am not aware of any confusing or contradictory definitions of "stable", unless he was thinking of the building with horses?
Other than that, fuck jargon. If you can explain it using simple words, good. that means you not only "know", but also "understand".


*Know: This concept indicates absorbing but not necessarily understanding data.
**Understand: This concept indicates a deeper insight in the intricacies of the subject matter, it usually allows the 'understanding' subject to apply knowledge in unusual ways. Compare "Grok".

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Now I feel like going into his office and offering alternate explanations for those words, just to rub in how completely ridiculous he is.

But actually, it looks like instead my Scientific Ethics professor is going to let me use him for my term project case study, so in the end, I win.

[Reginald Ret]

Now I feel like going into his office and offering alternate explanations for those words, just to rub in how completely ridiculous he is.

But actually, it looks like instead my Scientific Ethics professor is going to let me use him for my term project case study, so in the end, I win.

Yay for winning!

[Cain]

Final essay (barring dissertation) sent.

Now I can kick back and concentrate on the important things: sleep.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Final essay (barring dissertation) sent.

Now I can kick back and concentrate on the important things: sleep.

Oh the beautiful magic of sleep.

[Cain]

Blargh, half a point off a distinction grade in my Al-Qaeda paper.

I probably could have got it, if I had not farted it out in the two weeks before the due date.  It occurs to me if I ever actually sit down and plan my work consistently ahead of time, I'd be pretty fucking awesome.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Blargh, half a point off a distinction grade in my Al-Qaeda paper.

I probably could have got it, if I had not farted it out in the two weeks before the due date.  It occurs to me if I ever actually sit down and plan my work consistently ahead of time, I'd be pretty fucking awesome.

I am having a similar feeling this term.

I'm usually good at getting things done waaay early, but this term, not so much. Burnout I guess.

I also decided to go ahead and apply for the MD/PhD program, and I have an appointment on the 27th to talk to them about it. This is totally stressing me out but I know it's the right decision, even though this now means that I have to take a full year of physics, which means that I made this decision in absolutely the nick of time. Also due to some weird prereq mismatch I have to take a math placement test, which I am trying not to think about until after Finals.

After Finals, I brush up on math, take the GRE and the MCAT, and start working on my application. I have letters of recommendation from the director of the School of Public Health, the director of the Honors College, and as long as I don't fuck up, the lab I work in. If my test scores are high enough and I keep my grades where they are now and also somehow give a convincing interview, I think I have a very very good chance at getting in.

[Cain]

Our system sounds so much more...relaxed than yours.  Like, my application was literally my academic transcripts, an essay and proof of ID/basic personal information.  And prerequisites are basically "is your course one of X degree courses strongly correlated with this field of study"?  No interview.  No having to take classes (aside from a refresher course on academic plaigarism, which was a requirement for everyone).

Still waiting to hear back on that last essay, but I suspect it wont be entirely terrible...and even if it is, average score grade should drag it up to something respectable.  Then I can dissertate and look at how I can fund a PhD.

[Cuddlefish]

Graduation today. Nothing sounds more fun than hours in the sun and humidity in a silly black dress.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Graduation today. Nothing sounds more fun than hours in the sun and humidity in a silly black dress.

Congratulations, Mister College Degree Having Man!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Our system sounds so much more...relaxed than yours.  Like, my application was literally my academic transcripts, an essay and proof of ID/basic personal information.  And prerequisites are basically "is your course one of X degree courses strongly correlated with this field of study"?  No interview.  No having to take classes (aside from a refresher course on academic plaigarism, which was a requirement for everyone).

Still waiting to hear back on that last essay, but I suspect it wont be entirely terrible...and even if it is, average score grade should drag it up to something respectable.  Then I can dissertate and look at how I can fund a PhD.

I has envy.

The extra classes and one of the tests are for the medical school part, because to mess about with people's physical health you have to have a year of all three physical sciences. But I can make it work.