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Pregnancy shaming or just our imagination?

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About a month ago, I met this beautiful lady at a mutual friend's party. In an atmosphere of good food, drinks and lots of laughter, we started chatting about her experience being pregnant in grad school. She told me she had a very stress free and uneventful pregnancy. So you can imagine my shock when she said in the same breath 'but I had to take one year off school as soon as I fell pregnant'. In my usual inquisitive attitude, I probed further. She explained that she wasn't just prepared for her supervisor to see her pregnant. She was studying Engineering and she didn't want to be seen or treated as the 'pregnant woman' in a male-dominated environment.  Even though she was married and had a supportive husband, she felt like the school was silently not a supportive environment for her pregnancy. She felt like her choice to have a child might brand her as 'unserious' and 'distracted'.  She preferred to take up a job during that perio
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Finding a PhD supervisor

Finding a supervisor can be a somewhat daunting task especially when your school of interest is a plane ticket away - so booking a visit might be impossible.There are various steps to finding a Ph.D. supervisor but I will share a few tips that have worked time and again. 1. Start early- you have a better chance to get that supervisor of choice if you start your search early enough (about a year before your intended start date). However, this doesn't mean you can't get a supervisor  in a few months. Experiences are peculiar. 2. Expand your search- if you're thinking of a doctoral degree, you probably have an idea what area you want to research and maybe an idea what school you think is best. While this is valid, it is important to know that the best supervisor for your area of interest might not reside in your university of interest. So expand your search, be open to new cities, and use the 'very reliable' Google search. 3. Ask Questions - After you mus
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What has a PhD got to do with love?

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When it comes to marriage, do the academic qualifications really matter? I have often heard some men and even women in certain circles criticize single women taking higher degrees (especially doctorates). The summary of their conversation is usually: 1. No man who is yet to attain that level of learning would be confident enough to approach a grad student 2. The ladies will probably be too proud of their achievements to settle for less academically. I believe this argument is flawed because; Not everyone desires to be married. So that lady who you are assuming  to be proud might just be uninterested in the institution. Also, e veryone needs a good dose of self confidence. So as a man who is interested in a graduate student, I suggest you build up your self confidence and approach her rather than criticize a young intelligent woman for her choices. What do you think? As a man, would you mind if your wife had a higher academic qualification? Should single women (
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