Hey

So, as much as we all love physics, what really irritates you about the field?  

I'm just starting graduate school, doing research over the summer,  and one thing I notice is how cut throat academia is.  I hate how pressured young graduate students feel to publish.  The sentiment I'm already feeling is "publish or perish."  It seems more important to get a lot of publications then a few really ground breaking ones. This is a major cause of stress.  Physics has always been so much fun to study; I'm just hoping the stress to fun ratio doesn't get out of control.

Other things peev me off as well....but most of these are more about the social dynamics of scientific academia.  People generally have big egos...and if their ego gets trampled, you better believe they are going to give you a hard time!  I've already heard horror stories about how a few men, disappointed that they didn't get an NSF fellowship, will vent on the women who did, by saying the only reason they got the fellowship was because of their gender.  As a female in physics, this is an issue that comes up often and it's sad that it does.

I'm curious....what really irritates you about physics?  Do social issues in  physics ever seem as hopeless as the physics GRE?   Do these problems ever seem so overwhelming that they make you question why you are here in the first place?

Post edited July 31, 2008 at 8:52 PM EST.

Post edited July 31, 2008 at 8:53 PM EST.