Things you don't want to say out loud in academia [8 embarrassing admissions]

Io today's video, we're diving into the unspoken, controversial, and sometimes downright hilarious thoughts that cross the minds of academics but are rarely voiced out loud!
▼ ▽ Sign up for my FREE newsletter
Join 19,000+ email subscribers receiving the free tools and academic tips directly from me:
andrewstapleton.com.au/newsle...
▶ Become a Master Academic Writer With AI using my course: academy.academiainsider.com/c...
▶ Use my Ultimate PhD Kickstart: 12 Point Success System for Aspiring PhDs to start your PhD strong: academy.academiainsider.com/c...
▶ My best KZbin advice curated into an an easy to follow course, Effortless Academia: academy.academiainsider.com/c...
▶ Applying for a PhD? Get my FREE PhD application resource pack to apply with confidence: www.subscribepage.com/freeapp...
▶ Learn what I wish I had known before starting my PhD in my ebook bundle: academiainsider.com/ebook-bun...
................................................
▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - ideas
1:15 - passion
2:42 - neglected
4:20 - reviews
5:32 - embellishment
6:55 - understanding
8:41 - failures
9:43 - fancy words
................................................
▼ ▽ RECOMMENDED ACADEMIC TOOLS AND SERVICES
AI TOOLS
▶ Best PhD Writing Tool - Writefull - link.andrewstapleton.com.au/w... (Get 10% off with my link)
▶ Chat with PDFs, Websites and more: HeyGPT - heygpt.lemonsqueezy.com/?aff=...
▶ Best Literature Search - Litmaps - app.litmaps.co (Get 10% off with code STAPLETON)
▶ Best Literature Review Writing Tool - Jenni.ai - jenni.ai/ (Get 20% off with code ANDY20)
▼ ▽ RECOMMENDED KZbin TOOLS AND SERVICES
▶ VidIQ - vidiq.com/drandy
▶ Camera - Canon EOS 650D amzn.to/3aDOog6
▶ On camera mic - amzn.to/3iMTzx0
▶ Webcam - amzn.to/43a8YyP
▶ Shotgun microphone - amzn.to/34gzcUX
▶ Portable recorder - amzn.to/3kUzF53
▶ Lighting - amzn.to/2YgbAfv
▼ ▽ Socials for shorts and reels
Instagram: / drandystapleton
TikTok: / drandystapleton

[@christianbolt5761]

So true. Late in undergrad and in grad school, the idea of becoming a professor really lost it luster. I remember that talking about doing anything else other than research was frowned upon. The idea that you don’t want to be just like your professors is sacrilege.

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

That is typically the narrow-mindedness of scientists that I hate and that does not lead anywhere....except to stupidity! And more narrow-mindedness!

[@Marvelous23295]

My Chinese supervisor took care of one of my papers publication during master’s degree and after it had been accepted I discovered that he shifted his name first and my name second and he included another guy whom I never knew 😂…

[@sirmclovin9184]

Err... that is called academic misconduct.

[@francishunt562]

@@sirmclovin9184 True, but it would be a brave student to make a complaint against their supervisor.

[@koalatheworld]

My previous university is situated in a city notorious for substance abuse and addiction. It's no surprise that the university invited my lecturer's spouse, who is a habitual drug user with a criminal history, to deliver a talk on drug consumption and provide students with free injection services. I couldn't help but feel that the spouse was leveraging their partner's position at the university to promote drug use. It doesn't sit well with me, and I believe it's not the right thing to do. Regarding the theft of my research, I discovered that my supervisor had shared the unpublished content with his PhD students, leading to striking similarities between their published theses and my work. When I confronted my supervisor, he denied it and suggested that all researchers draw inspiration from the works of others. To get back at him and his PhD students, I employed the same tactics they used against me. As a result, I now have several books and articles published (plagiarism free), all thanks to their actions. If they steal from you, you do the same to them, and let them have a taste of their own medicine. 😊

[@ogbauweru]

For someone who has stayed in an academic background for years, I hate to admit it -but you are right. Thank you very much, I learn a lot from your channel.

[@rodbhar6522]

Sometimes I think academia would work so much better if researchers were just given a salary and told to do what they want. Research an obscure topic for ten years without publishing? Sure, go for it. Darwin wouldn't have survived in academia today.

[@BookerGoodwin]

Antiquarians are the new academics. The podcast dj’s and KZbin influences are doing the role the academics abandoned. Ivory Tower science killed itself.

[@DaLiJeIOvoImeZauzeto]

That's how it should be arranged. We'll probably never get it...

[@boxeriain]

Damn .. I was dismissed on my idea, and it was pushed back, then my supervisor suggested I did that exact thing 2 weeks later.

[@staciweaver7801]

YEP. Saw this happen too many times to post docs/students.

[@boxeriain]

@@staciweaver7801 Ty for sharing

[@cloudyknight0]

Man, your videos and are so helpful and honest. Been learning from you for the past 1 year. Too bad you aren't in academia anymore; you could have been the best faculty member there is.

[@peteleng3075]

These things most likely happen in other demanding and high competitive professions as well, and some of them are related to our flawed nature as humans.

[@sirmclovin9184]

Some of them are also related to the cooperatization of the academy.

[@gabrielbalaban]

I respectfully disagree about needing to look smart all the time. As an academic supervisor I have found that admitting my ignorance can be very motivating for my students! My students feel smart when they teach me something new and are often willing to work to get that feeling! It's a win win 😊.

[@alcedob.5850]

I wish every supervisor were like you. But it takes dumping their enormous egos and sometimes it is the only thing they have. I'm only a second year uni student but it is striking when someone doesn't know something and tries to hide it. In my experience, the less competent the teacher is, the bigger is his ego and the more he tries to pretend to know everything.

[@tonyrandall3146]

I'd rather this than icy cold smugness. and false pretences about wanting to 'become close'... Yeah right.

[@jrcolmena]

My PhD advisor used to pull the same shit on all of us all the time, we would go in his office suggesting something, he would tell us to forget about it because it was stupid. A month later he would come back with the same proposal, he not only did it to me a couple of times but to many of my lab mates

[@Talentedtadpole]

Multiple friends have had their research and ideas stolen. It's rife. Academia is so dishonest, such an exploitative industry, so much harm, performance and so far from what it could or should be. I wish this would change, it's disastrous for society and individuals in so many ways.

[@trunghieule3680]

Watching this video gives me mixed emotions. I am a PhD student and don't want to be what you described, and I am not by now. To be honest, I cannot understand why people want to appear to know everything when they don't. And what's the point of saying something when we don't really understand it? Fake it until you make it? This is bullshit.

[@boredscientist5756]

I know so many alcoholics in academia. One of them literally drank a full bottle of vodka every evening after work. He was fresh like a baby in the morning...he was ukrainian though 😂. Another one would pop 2 bottles of wine after work. I myself kinda became alcoholic during my thesis writing.

[@5kamon]

how could they afford it?

[@boredscientist5756]

@@5kamon well, strong guys....smart as fuck. They managed very well, trust me 😂. And for a Ukrainian, a Polish or a Russian, a bottle of vodka at night is not so much 😂!

[@evakamenna2916]

@@5kamon Here in mid-europe liter of vodka or cheap alcohol costs like 12-15 dollars :) Loaf of bread costs like 1.5dollars for comparison

[@themanager1980]

Indeed. As a professor, I do not publish many ( maybe 2 or 3 max) because I am the opposite. My colleagues publish like 6 and above articles per year because they literally copy others' ideas. My father calls it " Diarrhea of publications"

[@revoltoff]

So what AI will replace you all, stuck in modern science fueled by money. YUCK!

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

And the diarrhea is smelly besides plus most of it being useless and avoidable!

[@narehakobyan5701]

Exactly. I hardly manage to publish two papers a year, because if I do, at the end I feel exhausted and "dead". In contrast, I see some publish 10-15 asticles a year, plus 5-6 books before the age pf 40, and I doubt that a human can do it. In response, I am criticized for jealousy and less committment😂😂😂 Academia has become a dirty business where anyone with some networking and finances can easily climb to the top with no real virtue.

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

@@narehakobyan5701 I could not agree more about Academia.A dirty business and most of it use- less,without any insights or benefits for Science. Where are the days when Science offered an upsurge of new insights to build up a new world view.....

[@JPSenpai]

If someone said "I'm an EXCESSIVE alcoholic, I would respect that.

[@marynakostiukova]

Hi Andy! I want to thank you for the work you are doing in your channel. We certainly need more deep and honest conversations about academia like the one´s that you started here. It would be especially interesting to hear more about PoctDoc (how to choose the postdoc position, what makes a good postdoc researcher, and how it differs from doing Ph.D.). I am also excited to hear about the academic path in different fields (e.g., comparison of natural science with social sciences or humanities). It would be fun to see a discussion between you and someone from these fields.

[@Talentedtadpole]

Thank you for your service!

[@spongebobby9531]

It’s comforting hearing that you understand the math of the results just enough but that it’s still all fog underneath the surface!!

[@takiyaazrin7562]

Great info

[@ThePixelCrew2001]

I think the language part is something we need to phase out. It makes research inaccessible and prevents the public from critically understanding research, leading to misinformation when news outlets 'translate' these publications.

[@sirmclovin9184]

Nuh, it's not going to happen. The more specialized you are the more specific the words you need to discuss something in your field. Just take, for instance, the names of the parts in a car. The best you can do is make things accessible.

[@brandongroth4569]

Ideas have copywrite protections if you put them in writing. Email your professor your proposal. If they say it was there idea, pull up your email and show it to them as it is possible they have forgotten (they have a lot going on). If they don't back off, they are admitting that they don't care about you one bit. Before going nuclear getting admin involved, get your professor to agree that you be first author for the publication in writing. If they agree to that, then all is well. Else, be prepared to have a very fractured relationship moving forward...

[@Hollytitan234]

I am really pleased by your videos and I think it would great if you talked more about career prospect and for PhD student or academics interested in ether science communication, industry or entrepreneurship. How to get into those fields, what are the needs and required skills and so forth.

[@annyer262]

I have consultants parrot back what I had pointed out to him a week earlier. This was relating to a fairly basic winemaking procedure, cold stabilization!

[@threethrushes]

The worst was having to pretend to be passionate about the pharmaceutical industry when I was in the corporate world. People genuinely thought they were saving the world by increasing shareholders' profits at the FTSE-100 pharmaco I worked at as a middle manager. Academia and corporate world - a plague on both your houses. As small-business owner, I am free from the nonsense.

[@Fonzzzish]

Thanks!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Thanks so much for the super thanks!

[@Dan_Aom]

Hi Andy! I love your videos. I'm a graduate student at Arizona State University. I was wondering about your perspective on the difference between research and evaluation.

[@rikeag4057]

Having your own idea told back to you as a novel insight shortly after you said it? Welcome to the experience of many women. Also a frequent narrative in female academic groups: "I was told to read Smith to get a better understanding of the topic. I am Smith."

[@ytcmtr4917]

Certainly not a woman-only thing, if that's what you are alluding to.

[@WestOfEarth]

lol, excessive alcoholism...worse than normal alcoholism? ;)

[@Dr.P.I.]

10:14 the vernacular ;)

[@carolew8297]

I can’t work out which is more grim, academia or politics

[@pavloshevchuk2454]

Andy, you are hilarious! By the way, thanks for your video on "The fastest way to do your literature review". However, I also disagree with some of your statements. As an undergraduate, I was taught not to use words I don't know the definition of. I'm also not afraid to admit that I don't know something. No one can know everything.

[@misy2012]

The same in Poland. Thank you that somebody finally said it

[@Mystiverv]

Hey Andy I’m a new PhD student and want to start applying for scholarships and other things like that. I was wondering if you could make a video on this topic with resources for students trying to find awards and other sources of money / recognition. Thank you!

[@12e3pi]

Frankly Andrew, your personal 'brilliance question' has become so strident you're broadcasting 'THIS WAS MINE!' on the most trivial process the whole field already uses, they're too busy actually making real contributions to notice this trivia. We're here for one thing: we ❤ following your sad-🤡 caterwauling!🎉.

[@yeshwantnaik1498]

It depends on which part of the world you belong to. Academics in the Global South do not have the same challenges as in the Global North. The Global North is full of bragging about their research and academic activities, all for money. Funding projects and research in countries like India is an unusual phenomenon. Academia in India is more focused on teaching and has little or no research profile. In India, an academic is not just an academic, he can also run a business, he can be an artist and so on and so forth. They certainly don't work like a hermit.

[@aleciamiaric8799]

I'm at the tail end of the 2nd trimester and there are still theories I can't wrap my head around. I feel so stupid but this video just made me feel better about myself. 😅

[@shafaatoo9328]

good luck on your pregnancy

[@nicholasmckenna8614]

Can you do a video on essential tech for PhD students

[@jameelabduljalil25]

I liked this video.

[@JosephFabs]

This is fun! HAHA

[@user-bp4ot9ql6u]

4:44 A paper of mine is keep getting rejected by the editorial board (befor being peer reviewed) of the journals I am sending to because "It does not fit the scope of the journal". I think this is not true and they publish papers in this field. My paper got a low pligarisim percentage and a lot of novel points. Why do you think this is happening? Is it related to the affiliation? Did you experience similar thing?

[@boredscientist5756]

What's the journal?

[@user-bp4ot9ql6u]

@@boredscientist5756 Many journals in Elsevier

[@boredscientist5756]

@@user-bp4ot9ql6u very strange, I have never experienced such thing! May I ask what is your field?

[@user-bp4ot9ql6u]

@@boredscientist5756 Electrical Engineering

[@boredscientist5756]

@@user-bp4ot9ql6u very strange then, EE is blooming for many applications (I am myself in an EE department)! Your department director never had problems? Are you working on an outdated subject? Which country are you working at btw? Your situation is very weird! I mean few journals ok, all of them again and again....WTF!

[@tamaris9341]

I wonder how Talkien and CS Lewis wrote all those books. Today,rven with computers and tons of teaching you feel no time even to read those nice books. Maybe before was different to be in academia then today.

[@Talentedtadpole]

I woner if there is a country with a better academic system. Anyone know?

[@aakashmehta108]

100% true

[@nickplatten]

That last one is what LLMs are doing! So basically we are all LLMs?

[@0mon0zz]

God, academia has become so cringe with its elitism and bullshit around intellectual property. I'm genuinely quitting my PhD this year because, 1.5 years in, my CRC has given me a "sign or goodbye" agreement (deed poll actually, can't even contest it) which goes directly against what was agreed to in the beginning about IP. I'm sick of it. I'm out. I will pursue my ideas in industry and/or my own company. The way the uni wants it I would have the CONS of being a student (low wage) AND a staff member (no ownership of IP) without also having the pros of a staff member. Ridiculous. How far we've fallen; it's depressing beyond measure.

[@boredscientist5756]

Things are better in some countries 😅. Some countries pays 5k during your PhD.

[@0mon0zz]

@@boredscientist5756 i am on a $35,000/year stipend

[@boredscientist5756]

@@0mon0zz 😢

[@staciweaver7801]

After you sign on the dotted line - you realize what exactly academia is and you're "stuck".

[@boredscientist5756]

@@staciweaver7801 in good academia, you are one foot in industry. Always been my case in my field....

[@barumbadum]

👏👏

[@user-3jd6hek5h]

I didn’t watch them do it 😂

[@glharlor]

"I'm a conservative" 😅

[@philhermetic]

Stealing others ideas? Narcissism rife in academia? Phil