| Pirates | Grad Students |
| Drink A lot | Drink A lot |
| Are often disheveled | Are often disheveled |
| Rarely leave the ship | Rarely leave the lab |
| Pillage Villages | Pillage the Free Food |
| Are Rebels | Want to Rebel |
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Professors = Ninjas?
PhD comics has an interesting comparison chart mapping out the similarities between Professors and Ninjas. Interestingly, I know quite a large number of graduate students who really like Pirates. Everybody knows pirates and ninjas do not get along. I feel like there is some kind of deeper truth here, but it is eluding me. I will have to ponder this further...
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6 comments:
But what about the monkeys and the robots? and do they still all join forces to battle the zombies?
If profs are ninjas, and grad students are pirates, then are undergrads zombies? (especially the premeds?)
Undergrads = Zombies?
PostDocs = Robots?
So the academic life cycle is
zombie-> pirate-> robot-> ninja?
Man, and I thought parasites had weird development cycles.
No, I think Undergrads = Monkeys (this has been firmly established after much experimentation). Zombies I think = "unwashed masses". I'm not entirely certain that Post docs = Robots either. Mostly because I'm failing to see any direct comparisons. also the Monkeys Vs Robots aspect goes right out the window if Post Docs = Robots, because most undergrads don't even know Post Docs exist. However I think that undergrads, grad students and profs would definitely team up to fight the unwashed masses. Still missing Robots. I'm also not sure where Alien's fit in... I'd say they could be the Post Docs (a lot of em come out a little "weird" after just getting through grad school), but saying Post Docs = Aliens might come off a little tacky... Although if the unwashed masses were instead the Aliens, then would that make PZ our Sigourney Weaver?
We cannot give pre-meds the cool distinction of being zombies. The pre-meds I've dealt with are nothing more than academic parasites.
In the defense of pre-meds, I know ONE who is totally awesome. This guy worked in the lab I'm in for years and produced an amazing amount of data. I really consider him more of a "scientist who wants to experiment on people" than a pre-med, really. (He is starting MD/PhD in the fall - I am so proud!).
OTOH, I have taught dozens and dozens who I sincerely hope never get near medical practice, and some real horror stories about these kids... and it's really frustrating the way a lot of them weasel into labs for that precious "semester of lab experience," waste everyone's time, then show up a year later asking for references. Academic parasitism is about right for those cases.
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