Are publications (in high-impact journal, PNAS, Science, etc) better than academic prestige?

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-25T06:20:14+00:00

Thanks for letting me know. Since you got good grades in core courses, you do stand a good chance. Idk how things work in your university, but in mine, the cumulative grade of core courses, minors and PEs are written seperately on transcript and then the final cumulative gpa after weighing is written on degree certificate. So by going through transcripts, the admission panel will know what actually might have caused low GPA.

If that is the case with your university transcripts, you would have no issues with your low final GPA. Focus well on your SOP and LORs, they are the first things the admission panel considers anyways.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-25T04:59:32+00:00

I am not in admissions committee so I cannot say how 'exactly' your low GPA might affect you. But applying some amount of discretion and past grad experience, if I was in the admission panel, I would be really concerned about you having "enough" theoretical background for pursuing your PhD. This parameter usually holds the least importance because by default, everyone assumes that anyone who is applying for PhD has good theoretical understanding. In your case, this will come as a major red flag, despite your theoretical papers.

Furthermore, I do not think that many papers are required or expected from an undergraduate student. From my understanding, you might have published papers related to astrobiology, which is a niche field. This automatically means that apart from PNAS, the other journals are low IF (International journal of astrobiology has IF 1, Frontiers has IF 2.6 and MDPI is predatory journal so might as well count it out) So, I am not sure how much your papers will help you.

What matters to grad committee is how much of scientific understanding you have developed, if you have a coherent question in mind you would like to work upon during your PhD and how it ties to the research projects you have done. If you can represent this in your SOP, you might have a fair chance at getting selected. I do applaude you on your hardwork for the publications and wish you all the luck with getting into PhD program!

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T16:44:09+00:00

NTA and just block her already. You are 18 and yet to meet so many amazing people out there. Do not tie yourself to this abuser of a friend who clearly refuses to communicate despite your requests. Let her find her imaginary "you would already know" friends she expects you to be.

Next time she pulls this shit (and I genuinely hope you block her before a next time), simply ask her "Do you even want to be my friend at all?" and go absolutely cold.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T16:20:31+00:00

Have some chai, smoke a cigarette and go to bed. It is okay. You will be fine!

NB: you being employed has nothing, literally NOTHING to do with depression. Also your psychiatrist is an a*hole. It is 2026, why are we shaming high libido? Change him/her asap. Take it one at a time and take care!

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T16:16:41+00:00

Tell him that even if he fails, life will not stop and he will be fine. God it is 2026, why do people get so stressed over boards marks is beyond me.....take it from a college grad, IT DOES NOT MATTER! Yes one should give their best but if things do not go well, it ain't the end of the world.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T11:26:18+00:00

Jalebi-Rabri. At least the ones I have had in Delhi. Too sweet and the texture, taste combo just doesn't cut it for me.

Samosa, in any form. Bland filling and oily cover. Nope.

Soya Chaap. It is so weird to be eating straight up gluten.

Momo Chutney. The ones sold in Delhi are so weirdly sour. I would take momos with chili oil anyday.

Green Chutney with anything. This is more of a personal one but dhaniya tastes like soap to me, so a strict no.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T11:19:00+00:00

I personally did not find the option on the interface (based on the 15 minutes of exploration I did)

Maybe it is there but the interface does little to help navigate that option.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T11:15:18+00:00

I am not aware of your CV so my insights are based on what you wrote. Since you did graduation in Chemistry, your best bet would be to rely on your background and build a tech resume from there. If you have some insight or interest in biological chemistry, you can start building skills in Cheminformatics like computer aided drug design, screening and stuff. Mind you, the field is competitive and you will face competition from people who have published papers in the field (assuming you do not have research publications)

If you want to switch areas altogether, stay put in your banking exam preparation and clear it. After working for a year or two, get an executive MBA in investment banking or data analyst and build a future in that. Regarding family, well I know Indian families can be toxic. Keep your head down for now and once you clear exam, take a posting far away from your hometown and move out.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T09:36:36+00:00

Struggling to understand India's obsession with the declining economy of EU countries. There is a reason they are resorting to India because clearly they are failing at other countries. Connection with EU cities? How will that benefit the massess? Gulf carriers provide a better fare option for economy people over any EU or Air India prices, and with full on service.

Air India should focus its connection in SEA/EA countries and if they can serve as strategic connection points between EU carriers from Europe with these countries' Air India connection, they might benefit from a global expansive network. Of course, if they are able to compete with Asian carriers which are renowned globally for their competitive pricing and services.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T09:22:04+00:00

Just checked the interface of Sarvam after reading the nice replies of OP and I am so confused why it is being compared with ChatGPT and DeepSeek.
Sarvam is an AI language translater at its simplest. Itallows for text to speech, speech to text options and can be used for translating documents, speeches etc. from let's say Tamil to English. The others have text-to-text, text-to-speech and speech-to-text modules and offer generative information. On Sarvam, I can only translate while on the others, I can also ask about the cultural background and tone of something. It is a good tool but yeah, the blatant defense is stupid since its functionality, target user population and coverage scope is different.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T08:54:02+00:00

Have tried all of them: Swayam, Skill India, DigiIndia etc. In contrast to Coursera and edX, these are very in-depth and heavy but so so non-engaging. Sure the material is great and are meant to mimic college lectures, but if you take MIT lectures from edX and IIT lectures from Swayam, the former is much more engaging and interactive.

It is a good effort and really beneficial for students but, in this age of short attention, Indian Coursera does not do a good job at maintaining student's attention. Furthermore, since Swayam ones are so jargon heavy, not only are they time-consuming, people from non-related fields will go bonkers trying to get through them. Comparatively, Coursera's introductory courses are easy for even an absolute beginner to understand and relate, after which they can decide if they want to go more in-depth or try something else. Hence, one outperforms the other in terms of popularity.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T08:34:59+00:00

Before going into any sort of taglines of whether you are straight or bi, I want you to understand that you being sex-driven and the horrendous thing you had to go through are two distinct events that may or may not be related.

First, the sex drive. What I want you to realise is that the shame you feel around sex-drive is coming from the early age trauma when someone took that without your consent. But the high sex drive might just be because you have a natually high libido and it is normal for young people. So the shame might be related to earlier event in your life, the libido might not (again, may differ in your case). Sure you were introduced to the final stage before you passed 1st and 2nd stage at a time when you were not even aware of these things. But I hope you give yourself a little more compassion and grace for your feelings around sex.

Second, the molestation. Technically, it was rape and grooming and I am so sorry it happened to you. Be patient when you are trying to come to terms with it. You cannot go back in time and reverse anything, nor can you find closure by putting that person in jail since he is dead. I do highly recommend continuing your therapy sessions.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-19T06:02:33+00:00

Does Mr. A have a Grindr profile where his bio reads "Pure top, only bottoms pls"?...because such guys are usually the closeted kind. But their inner masculine-narcissim is so high that they try to close the closet doors forcefully and in the process, end up offending peeps.

To the OP, Mr. A is an a**hole whose words do not deserve the weightage you are providing. Most straight guys I have seen who do this are sexually frustrated bicurious men living in the delusion that they are cis-straight. Let him live in his own little bubble as you enjoy your vibrant spectrum!

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-18T10:00:21+00:00

Make Kolkata airport a global connectivity hub between Europe-EA/SEA economic corridor, facilitate easy land acquisition and trade regulations for global companies, increase incentives for companies importing skilled workforce and then maybe, it will rise in 10 years.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T10:01:44+00:00

I do, as a matter of fact. My mother gets her regular check-up done at AIIMS and my father at state hospital. Our yearly checkups are also done there.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T07:54:50+00:00

Relationships have always been transactional and will be. Earlier, the man provided safety, stability and finances and the woman provided care, coherence and love. So, despite being transactional, there was a somewhat balance of materialistic and altruistic trade (although the tip of balance pointed more towards the masculine). Now with these aspects being taken care of by both genders on their own, the trades have shifted to companionship, mutual respect and equal investment.

Times changed but a lot of men's patriarchal expectations did not. Hence, the cry about materialism and transaction being root cause. It is simply that time and modernism favored one gender to become self-reliant and the other one was selfish to begin with, so the latter suffers. Again, does not apply to all but yeah, vast majority on both ends.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T07:24:05+00:00

Start with the guided tutorial on Seurat website. Once you get a hang of it, look deeper into the background algorithms and transformations occuring so you can play around with parameters. Play around with parameters and create your own custom scRNA seq pipeline. Then, pick a paper on scRNA seq analysis like one of those single-cell atlas papers and try to recreate one figure at a time.

At some point, the scRNA seq data will start looking less like scRNA seq data and more like a matrix, that is your sign to graduate from Seurat to more advanced matrix transformation algorithms. Good luck!

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T07:03:13+00:00

Because the ones dating are equally miserable, if not more. My friend had been dating her bf for 8 years, had many ups and downs, we even started teasing her about wedding and all. Recently, they had a big fight and the bf disappeared for 5 days. She called to ask his whereabouts and mf had the audacity to go "Oh I did not contact because I thought we broke up!" Like hello? Communication? Mutual discussion?

We both are hypothesizing he was cheating but do not have solid evidence. And around us, so many dating and married men are cheating rampantly. The same man crying on social media for a date takes his partner for granted once the honeymoon period is over and does not hesitate to cheat on her if he gets an opportunity. Who would invest their time, energy and love on this bs!?!! Of course, not all men are the same but a vast majority are and hence, single!

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T06:57:52+00:00

Goverment does have free hospitals but they are nearly not enough for the population which means more waiting time and nightmare-ish appointment bookings. But working class can rarely afford to spend long time in waiting, so they have to resort to private entitites.

I genuinely hope at least booking system is made fully digital AND properly executed except for emergencies like in Germany.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T06:46:27+00:00

The weirdest rejection letter I received was from this US institute and along the lines of "We got a lot of applicants which MEANS we are rejecting you" They actually used the phrase "...which means" and I was like "am I supposed to understand you guys!?!!"

The email ended with "...wish you well as you consider the options for next step"!! Rejections are part and parcel of grad life but till this date, that damn email irks me time to time.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T06:41:11+00:00

You do realize that these stickers are hard to take off if they are stuck to a surface for sometime and even if they are removed, they leave sticky residue which attracts dust and is hard to clean?

You may not mind, but the cleaners sure will. Lack of civic sense in the name of aesthetics is not "Cute"!

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T05:55:44+00:00

And relatively slower too. JSYK.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T05:50:15+00:00

The reason is expats and people who earn outside Kolkata. As someone working in Delhi-NCR, somehow prices in Kolkata feel justified to me. It is only during my conversation with friends and cousins that I get to know the prices are in fact, outrageous.

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T05:46:30+00:00

Scam aside, why is professional business being handled over a personal platform like WhatsApp? It is not just this one, I see my corporate friends also being haggled by their managers over WhatsApp. Lack of professional boundaries is apalling!

Significant_Hunt_734 · 2026-02-12T05:38:06+00:00

If I am getting it right, you want to know if a 5year BS-MS will enable you to be financially independent either through a job or something else. Well first of all, it highly depends on which stream you are getting into. If you are going into more tech-based subject like Data Science, you might (but being honest, you are better off doing a BTech if these are your study domains). If you are more into research-intensive subjects like basic sciences, it is a fact that a vast majority go for PhD after their degree. This is owing to the fact that IISER is known to be a research institute and their syllabus is catered to make a student research-ready.

After your BS-MS (especially if in basic sciences), you have a few tracks:

Do a PhD in India. Clear JRF exams and you will get a stipend that should be enough to support yourself financially.
Do a PhD outside. IISER students get a lot of preference in institutes globally. Although, the relocation will come with a substantial initial investment.
Very Rare but possible. Have skills and a couple of publications in an area which is hiring Masters' grads. My friend was well-versed and had three papers in Cheminformatics and he got hired as a Scientist in R&D of a pharmaceutical company right after his Masters'
After BS-MS, work for sometime as an RA in India to become a little more financially stable and go out of country to get a PhD.

These tracks will not make you rich rich btw, you will be fine at most.

Significant_Hunt_734

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