One more Cover Letter entry (I think), and then the voting will commence, tomorrowish. Apparently this is a slightly modified version of a real letter.
Female,
I do not understand why you did not reply to my email
yesterday.
You interviewed me last spring for a postdoc position. Before you could offer me a position I
told you that I did not want to work for you because I wanted to work with BigNameProf
instead and he had offered me an interview too. It turns out that BigNameProf did not hire me. I do not understand this either.
Anyway, I really, really want to work for you now. I promise
to be an amazing postdoc. I
attached my CV in case you do not remember how amazing I am.
Sincerely,
I do good research but have no idea how to communicate grad student
One has to wonder how such brains function.
ReplyDeleteWhat about a contest for the rejection letters you wish you could write in response to some of these? Yeesh. That would be a great stress reliever.
ReplyDeleteSome undergrads sent me emails like that. All of them were male. Do male professors get this type of email? I suspect not.
ReplyDeletethat someone like this can get a postdoc gives me hope...
ReplyDeleteYael - yes - male prof here - I got this almost verbatim. I'd even offered the candidate a position that he accepted, then he backed out to go work for "Famous prof X". He then asked for the position again when Famous Prof X fell through.
ReplyDeleteMy first experiences working with PhD students as an undergrad were with guys who eventually went a bit nutty, and this level of myopic self-absorption was part of the nuttiness.
ReplyDeleteParanoia was in there too -- witnessing the whole, "I don't understand why you didn't drop everything to attend to my needs," bit play out in person was something to see. Evidently your not responding the same day means you want to sabotage his research because it's a threat to you (since you obviously can't keep up with his awesomeness, as proved by your failure to drop everything to attend to what he wants).
When I started my own PhD I made a friend swear to slap me upside the head if I ever showed signs of turning out that way.
like you said,, no one cares too
ReplyDeleteThat's why we don't need female scientist who spend more time on bogus blog rather than high quality research...shame on you & in your personality,,