It's totally possible for your italics to have been garbled in the hand-off process between him and the school(s).
Really? Even if others were preserved? (title of article) I would still cling to that notion. Although two of them were PDF uploads.
I would be decidedly taken aback by "flush out the details" and would not care at all if the titles of journals appeared unitalicized in your letter.
Now I want to know why they're in there! Has this undergraduate contributed to three published papers?
He has a publication accepted all his own, one with a group, and one on his own in submission.
Undergraduates these days, with all their publications. I'm so useless. Hooray!
4: so I really am wrong on "flush"? I know my advisor is a smartypants but I still had a faint hope that both were acceptable.
This kid is incredibly independent, and just started polishing papers and submitting them on his own.
heebie is so deflated that she lost her capitals.
Wow. Math always appeared to me to be hard to publish in unusually young: it seemed like even a couple years of grad courses didn't really get one close to the research frontier. I never got to the point in math where I felt like I could read new papers and grok them.
At the risk of sounding like an ass: how does an exceptionally well-qualified kid end up at a place like Heebie U?
He gets a random scholarship that we offer to kids from ko/so/vo.
it seemed like even a couple years of grad courses didn't really get one close to the research frontier.
But this is wrong. There are lots and lots of accessible frontiers, appropriate for beginners, as well as all the extraordinarily remote frontiers.
13
Wow. Math always appeared to me to be hard to publish in unusually young: it seemed like even a couple years of grad courses didn't really get one close to the research frontier. I never got to the point in math where I felt like I could read new papers and grok them.
This isn't really true although it depends on the subfield. There are plenty of unsolved problems that can be explained to a smart high school student.
If the kid otherwise comes off as pretty great, some people will see that. Those people will be looking for a couple phrases in your letter that they can repeat in the admissions discussion when they're advocating for the kid. They'll find those phrases and use them, and that's the best you can do. Italics won't matter.
I hope so. His cv is the most impressive thing in his application.
I can't believe that the italics thing is anything other than completely meaningless; it doesn't reflect on the student at all.
The "flush" thing, however, is unforgivable.
It just seemed like you need to get rid of the details. Flush them down the drain. Like they are little problems.
It just seemed like you need to get rid of the details. Flush them down the drain. Like they are little problems.
What? That's not what the phrase means at all.
Or maybe I thought "thoroughly rinse [the details] out". I knew what it meant, I just had a semi nonsensical visual aid to go with it.
To "flesh out" an idea is to give it substance, as a sculptor adds clay flesh to a skeletal armature. To "flush out" a criminal is to drive him or her out into the open. The latter term is derived from bird-hunting, in which one flushes out a covey of quail. If you are trying to develop something further, use "flesh"; but if you are trying to reveal something hitherto concealed, use "flush."
At least it seems heebie's not alone in her confusion.
To "flush out" a criminal is to drive him or her out into the open.
Flushing them out can be tricky. If you lose sight of them in a foot pursuit, watch out going around those corners because sometimes they're waiting to shoot you in the face.
Unrelatedly, ye gods people really are still falling for Nigerian scams. Sorry dude, I know you're lonely but come on, does it really not occur to you that the girl with the big tits who friended you on facebook might not actually be stranded in Nigeria? Seriously, over three grand this guy wired for various expenses including a plane ticket to get her here. And when he didn't hear back as to what exact flight she was on he drove to the airport and hung out in baggage claim for hours. On Christmas.
I was parked car to car with one of the female cops in my beat while she took this guys call over the phone. He burst into tears while telling her all this, told her she had a soothing voice, and then asked if she could come over to take the report in person. She looked kind of horrified.
I assume you gallantly offered to take the report yourself.
28 & 30: wow. A heartwarming Christmas tale.
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Happy Holidays!
1) Edgy Guy today reviews and links John Dower's latest book. I haven't read Embracing Defeat yet, but everything else I read about the period is in awe of it. The guy is a giant.
2) I spent my Xmas day reading part of a Critical Theory work using Lacanian tools on Kawabata, Abe, Mishima, and Double Suicide by Shinoda. It was brilliant, a challenging pleasure, I gained a glimpse of tools and perspectives that I will use for the rest of my life. I remain admiring.
But then I read 50 pages of Kawabata's Snow Country and decided the Critical Theory writer, while still useful and amazing, was dangerously psychotic. Gross errors of fact, an inability to read due to blinding bias and ideological narrow-mindedness, prejudice and a lack of empathy:these things won't stop me from finishing her book.
Dower, Cultures of war: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq
It also takes some saying, on the other hand, to point out how different the contemporary United States is from the nation, government, and body politic that exited World War II prepared to take on "nation building" abroad.
But I think it is important to see that the sickness and decadence of American Empire and late capitalism do not belong only to the right, or to the Marxist Left, or in the "decent" center-left. A psychotic culture can only generate psychotics.
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I think an undergrad with published journal papers isn't going to be leaning too heavily on your recommendation for admission.
I wouldn't sweat the italics. I would be skeptical of a mathematician who preferred Microsoft Word to LaTeX though.
Isn't this where you cash in one of your "hey, I know you from graduate school" chips? You gotta know someone who's at an appropriate place where you can send them an email saying "this guy's actually really good."
35 and 16 both get their respective things right.
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If You Like The Descendants You Are a Terrible Person The Last Psychiatrist includes a Louis CK routine about American Beauty. If you liked AB, you will like TD, and are double terrible.
But that isn't where I read about Reaction Formation, the Right, and homophobia. Can't remember. It was pretty funny, but while I was reading, I was thinking:"Can I also apply this to liberals?"
From the Wiki:
The person wants what he fears. He is not afraid of the object; he is afraid of the wish for the object. The reactive fear prevents the dreaded wish from being fulfilled.
What do the fears and dreads of the Center-left tell us about what they really desire?
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Christmas is Over
If You Want It.
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Reading the Dower
"The attacks on Manhattan and the Pentagon also became likened to kamikaze attacks, even though these Japanese suicide tactics were no adopted until late 1944 and had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor..."
Wrong on the facts. Five two-man midget-submarines were sent into Pearl Harbor and were definitely not expected to survive the mission or come back. There were also famous three-man suicide teams carrying bombs against fences and fortifications in China prior to PH. The "glorious sacrificial death" goes way way back in Japanese hegemonic culture.
But even though Dower is wrong on the facts in a very specific way that shows bias and lack of objectivity, this does not bother me. We all do it, and asking for more (like was done with Graeber) is the rigid puritanism of psuedo-science and legalism. I ask for personal insight and informed judgement, not "truth"
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Unfoggetarian, would you email me if you get a chance? Thanks!
Or can I shoot you one? (not sure how).
I once mailed a recommendation letter for dental school one day late of the submission deadline. I attached an incredibly apologetic note and fell on my sword for being so irresponsible to the admissions committee.
She (the student) got in anyway.
(But I was a TA -- why the heck was she asking me for a recommendation anyway?)
re: 43.last
Because she didn't have many other people to ask? I can't speak for the US, but I was pretty much oblivious of the need to assiduously network and make contacts with senior people until it was far far too late.*
* And then, unfortunately, the main supervisor I'd worked with for several years died suddenly.
Motherfucker should've given ttaM a rec.
44 was me. One of my grad school recommendations was from the non-tenured "lecturer" who taught the 101/102 courses. When I told this to other first years, their response was, "And you got in???" As a TA I saw that many undergrads pursue independent studies/suck-up opportunities in a way I was completely oblivious too, because grad school was not on my mind at all at age 19.
I also learned that undergrad independent studies never yield any interesting research (in my field), which makes Heebie's student doubly impressive to me. For example, the rule of thumb at my work is that for a 12 week internship you should plan a project that would take a full time employee 1-2 weeks.
re: 46
I was getting pretty close to submitting my doctoral thesis before I really cottoned on, by which time it was a bit late to do anything about it. I was staggeringly naive. I was aware that other people were sucking up, and really cultivating contacts, but I wasn't aware how important that was. Just 'being good' being no fucking good, without people to trumpet that for you.
I had a friend who was publishing papers as an undergrad: in serious journals, co-authored with an internationally known scholar in her field. Years later she has an insane CV -- dozens of papers in big journals, her stuff gets cited widely outside her own discipline, etc. I've even come across references to her work in philosophy papers that overlap with my stuff. Yet, she's still struggling, somewhat, to get a job commensurate with her skills/experience. When I look at her I think what chance did I have?
46: I did an independent study with an undergrad on ancient invective poetry. It yielded awesome results. (He's a stand-up.)
47: In most areas of American life, and seemingly British life too, connections and networking seem to be decisive. My understanding of this is that personally-connected people have been vetted for loyalty; you're "clubbable" if you pass certain tests of how you'll perform in sticky situations and prove that you won't let the team down. Talent is sometimes required too, of course, but talent just gets you to the testing phase.
Journalism is a visible case of this. Even Yglesias has proven too edgy for the bigs. Wonkette and Ezra Klein said the right things. Douthat and Jonah Goldberg didn't even require testing, but just needed a very cursory examination of their talent.
re: 49
While I'm sure there's a lot of class-based 'clubbability' tests around,* I don't even think the situation in the academic job market is as complicated as that much of the time (although it can be). In any given year, the graduate program I attended would be turning out something like 20 qualified job candidates. Pretty much all of whom would have identical CVs. Add in a couple more equivalent institutions in the UK, and each year there are dozens and dozens of equally qualified candidates. There'll be one or two unambiguous stars, a few obvious chancers, and a big pool of people in the middle. All of them chasing an ever smaller set of jobs. So, unless you've assiduously padded your CV, and made contacts with people who are going to actively campaign on your behalf, you're fucked.
* I've hit a few brick walls in this area myself. It's definitely true that being a certain type of person opens certain doors.
When I was an undergraduate, we were supposed to ask all manner of people, including TFs, to write us general recommendations. These were supposed to be kept in the House file so that the Senior Tutor (now called a dean) could use them as background material when writing a general letter for graduate programs, mostly for professional schools, I think.
Not just class-based, but more general clubbability -- academic lineages. And some people are more obviously comfortable within the approved paradigms and are following the approved new directions.
I have been asked to write a recommendation for law school. I told the young person in question that I would write her an outstanding recommendation, no holds barred, and that any school would be lucky to get her (which is all true).
Then I spent 20 minutes presenting her with factual information trying desperately to talk her out of law school. Zero headway.
I'm going to head into 2012 at something like 1/15 in talking people out of law school. I'm mulling over a new hypothesis, which is less unkind than my previous hypothesis. This one says that for kids who are keenly aware of the enormous, life-or-death sacrifices their parents made on their behalf, no amount of rational analysis is going to turn them away from what they and their parents believe to be a prestigious, respectable career.
What's the worst that could happen?
I would guess something like "your student ends up with a whole load of undischargeable debt, in a non-tenured position in a career structure that doesn't really exist any more".
What's the best
that could happen?
I would guess something like "a gifted mathematician with Central European language skills is exactly the sort of person that the European development banks are desperate for".
I think you did the right thing.
54 showcases the unique ability to give what is objectively good advice in the most smug and irritating tone possible, guaranteeing that that advice will not be taken because it comes with the undercurrent of "You are so very, very stupid for not considering this possibility that seems self-evident to me. Either keep on doing what you're doing, or admit how stupid you are and how smart I am, you dummy." Fortunately it's not going to be read directly by the student.
Alternatively, it was a joke. Happy Christmas Ned, and I hope whatever bug is up your ass tonight is successfully expelled by the New Year.
54 I would guess something like "your student ends up with a whole load of undischargeable debt
Debt from grad school in math? Shouldn't happen.
53: This one says that for kids who are keenly aware of the enormous, life-or-death sacrifices their parents made on their behalf, no amount of rational analysis is going to turn them away from what they and their parents believe to be a prestigious, respectable career.
This sounds about right. I don't know what else to say.
48: Awesome people will yield awesome results. But the expected outcome from an undergraduate research project in CS, especially from your typical "my goal is to make myself known to tenured faculty in order to leverage future opportunities" student, is a lot of busywork that amounts to nothing.
Maybe I just went to a crap school.
53 I've given up altogether. It's just so hopeless.
OT: Browsing for free books on the Kindle brings up way more porn than I would have figured possible. Also Star Wars novels.
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still ****ing peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
Or you can join the managerial class and wield the whip against the debt peons, excuse me, get a job for a European development bank. House "peasants" are treated better and feel superior.
"Fortunately it's not going to be read directly by the student."
No harm in learning a little about your boss ahead of being hired.
58
Debt from grad school in math? Shouldn't happen
This is correct. If you aren't getting your tuition and expenses covered that means you aren't any good and shouldn't be going.
DD is providing a great service in showing us the world to come, one in which the only way to perform service to humanity is to go to work for a fucking investment bank.
Representative Gov't is being downsized after the hostile takeover, folks. All the accumulated social capital of a century is being liquidated as we watch.
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The modern world, therefore, makes two contradictory promises to those who live in it. First, its fundamental processes--processes specific to itself--can be grasped via abstraction, but second, once so grasped these processes assume license to rule over those who created them. Thus the "contract" at the heart of modernity is not only between people, that is, a matter of institutional arrangements, but also between people and their own ideas. Abstraction is leviathan.
Andrew Barshay, The Social Sciences in Modern Japan:Marxian and Modernist Traditions
But who is more racist, Calhoun or Woodrow Wilson? The promise of the Web has been betrayed, and is the intellectual's wasteland, Desperate House Servants now in syndication.
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64: Think I was born on this wretched earth for you to govern and kill?
In your stinking factories and offices with your stupid systems and skills?
Think I've got nothing better to do than to grovel in the shit and the crap?
What's the worst that could happen? I would guess something like "your student ends up with a whole load of undischargeable debt, in a non-tenured position in a career structure that doesn't really exist any more".
As others have said, he shouldn't be in debt. If he has grad school debt, I've done a poor job advising him. Plus mathematicians are generally very hirable in industry.