/lit/ - Literature

>measures how MANY books he's read in a year as an accomplishment

Wanna know how I know you're a pseud?

>>10601224
There’s always someone more driven and capable than you. Welcome to academia. And he’s probably going to realize something similar at some point when he realizes that some other person he encounters will be more influential than him in the future. Assuming this is a STEM field, your superior you’ve encountered is going to eventually crack like you did when he realizes he’s a brainlet compared to Terrence Tao. Eventual Tao will crack when he realizes that he’s not going to be the next Gauss.

Move on. PhDs and academia are for the select geniuses and the 99% of the others that get them have some sort of inferiority complex that they’re trying to mend. OR... they just enjoy their field and don’t worry about some sperg that’s better than them and pursue it anyways. Maybe both. But I suspect ur the former

surprises me that you're getting rejected for phd programs if you're as well-read as you claim. what programs are you applying for? what did you get your master's in? what is your research topic and how solid are your letters?

>>10601224
if you are looking to be an author, then dont worry. you dont need to be smart, just seem clever.

Im a really smart guy. I know this because I spend a lot of mental energy keeping track of how smart I am compared to others. I am definitely not a boring dick head that everyone secretly hates.

>>10601261

I got my masters degree in MENSA. Looking to research some novel techniques of passive aggression.

>>10601224

>tfw someone's better than me at school

PhD student here. Universities are full of literal manchildren and womanchildren who become neurotic if they don't receive positive feedback from authority/parental-resembling figures past their 20s.

>>10601282
Erm... you got your master's degree in the high IQ society MENSA? I didn't know they gave out degrees.

I don't really know much about admission to psychology phd programs but I assume it's ridiculously competitive, even for academia, cause everyone is trying to study psych right now. It's the most market-oriented humanities subject. Maybe you gotta get some publications down before you go for the phd? I dunno mate. I need more info.

I congregated with some PhD students at Harvard not long ago when I was a visiting researcher there. They were mostly in English, a couple in math.

Without a doubt the most insecure sheep-like people I've met in my life. These are supposed to be the smartest youths on the planet and they just follow whatever dogma is fashionable. There's no radicality, no courage, nothing really exciting or groundbreaking going on. Just perpetuating the status quo. I think there are probably a select few people in that world who are blowing hurricanes through the marble halls but for the most part it's just business as usual, like any other sector. What you saw was probably just a particularly efficient laborer anon.

Who is the highest achiever living?

Fredric Jameson?

i think aggrandizing ppl like that is a way of holding onto hope that you'll someday reach your fantasy. like you think if you were just " hard working " or something you could reach your idealization of what you think his life was instead of realizing how chaotic life is and valuing yourself and what you have.

Tfw never went to school and havent met these type of people. God being surrounded by pseuds like op sounds awful.

>>10601345
idk what is up with the people in this thread but getting admitted to phd programs at the best unis in the world is one of the most competitive things you can possibly achieve. i think /lit/ either has sour grapes or has just never actually hung around these people who actually get admitted. they're ridiculously specialized people with a ton of training and knowledge about their field. maybe it's not the most revolutionary thing to be doing but they're basically rockstars, at least while they're students. after they graduate who gives a shit.

>>10601284
What're you doing yours in? Care to share a bit on how you got in and what it's like?

you get out what you put in

>>10601365

sorry too afraid to be recognzed by other phd students... sometimes I get the feeling that my whole department just hangs around here (except the peterson posters, they're all teens from /pol/)

>>10601261

I've applied for regular scholarships in Europe. Mostly my home country is Scandinavia. My Master's is in English lit, and my research area is defined with help from one of my former professers. My proposal deals with narratology. It's a solid enough idea, but my choice of literature is probably not the most academically popular.

>>10601430
Sounds interesting, anon. Do you mind talking more about it? Is it like, the study of recurring patterns in narrative?

>>10601224
People in school usually aren't really smart. I'm 'doesn't fit in the iq graph' smart, and a drop out. I knew someone like this too and he shot himself. The other really smart person I know is a schizo alcoholic who's barely articulate, you'd probably think he's a retard. If you compare yourself to the really smart people, chances are you'll feel better. It takes a lot more than just intelligence to achieve great things. I certainly don't mean to downplay you and the person you met, in reality I think it's incredible for people to be able to find a balance between intelect, achievements, and not being a drug addict. Keep doing you.

>>10601443

Like everyone else, I'm hesistant of revealing too much on 4chan, you know?

>the study of recurring patterns in narrative?

Something like that, yes. Generally it's about identifying and mapping the different narratological structures of different types of narratives. There's obviously a wealth of theory that provides a toolset for doing this, but it's incomplete and untested in certain areas. Hence my proposal.

>>10601429
Is that you matt?

>>10601429
I highly doubt they come to 4chan for it's obvious high level of discourse nigga.

I envy people too. I got green when there was this girl who won a science fair and I realized I wasn't dealing with any larger goals myself. I had wrestled and done scouts but there was never anything overarching. Then I calmed down and realized my goal at the time was my gf and that I was just having a knee-jerk reaction. That was back in hs and now I've been a depressed nothing for the past few years. How people can work amongst discovering some turmoil or facet of life unsavory is strange to me. I guess they defer their present emotions for a later goal but how do you do that when you arent sure you want to live? I also dont know how to balance work and play. Sure I could spend all my time working towards a goal but the moments of my life I enjoyed the most were random happenings with friends. This is coming from someone who used to tell them to fuck off so I could spend more time wrestling. Too much work would make me feel like a robot but I don't have a life now anyway and I'm approaching an age where I'm too old to make friends. I also don't talk to people much. I'm in a limbo. Just talking to myself a bit here really. One thing that eases the mind on this subject is that no matter how much I run I'll never beat Hussein Bolt. It just isn't physically possible. I do have control over the effort I put in though. Is our effort the only thing we own? You also don't know this person. You might be comparing your backstage to his headline show.

>tfw you are really conscientious but have zero industriousness (Or is it the reverse?)
>once I start something, and have some Red Bull, then I can go on for hours at peak human efficiency
>but I never start shit
Must leave this place; the webs of lethargy.

>>10601553
That's the rub isn't it? Almost paradoxically, starting is the hardest part.

>>10601224
Tfw know someone whos did undergrad at cambridge and a phD from harvard. Hes a advisor of some big companies.

Truly a frightening individual.

>>10601485
I understand. Thanks for answering anyway, anon.

All my knowledge on the subject starts and ends roughly at the concept of the hero's journey. Which, according to different opinions I've heard, is either too general or too specific. Personally I think there's some truth to it, but it's more about a broader concept of tension/release: something in a narrative is satisfying because we expect something and get it, but it's not exactly what we expected.

mind I'm practically talking out of my ass here, but I'm drunk and bored so

>>10601603

>mind I'm practically talking out of my ass here, but I'm drunk and bored so

You sound like the average academic. Friend of mine is doing a PhD, and his department has this unspoken rule about ignoring emails from a certain professor after xx o'clock because he's blasted drunk and angrily rambles away in his responses.

>>10601224
Intelligence isn't doesn't just a memes does not exist doesn't meme

>>10601612
ha, I'll take that as a compliment

So you read a book every week?

That is less than 2 hours of reading a day.

>ultra-marathons in mountains and does ironman triathlon
Long cardio sessions are f*cking retarded. Is there anything else that you do to prove you are competitive?

>>10601650

>muh academia
When will you retards understand. You are worse than a wageslave who watches american idol. No one gives a fuck about your PhD and that other guy's PhD. Do something interesting for once, please.

>>10601657
>>>/tumblr/

>>10601515

I would never confess it, e-even if you were right

>>10601553
Set goals and get a piece of paper that says starting is the hardest part and keep it around you

If you think humanities or arts PhDs are really smart then you have a low IQ. Sorry to tell you that.

>>10601650
>Long cardio sessions
how much is too long? an hour?

>>10601429
No one is going to recognize you. I’ve blatantly stated what topic my dissertation is on and no one has called me out for who I am, even though I wouldn’t care if they did. Stop lying that you’re in a program. It’s fucking 4chan, you faggot

>>10601318
Being a good writer doesn't necessarily entail being a good speaker. One is spontaneous and the other is reflective

>>10601224
>Anon discovers he's a brainlet

Acceptance is hard but you'll be happier once you do

>>10601660
>flyover detected
It's a fact that rubes hate the educated. It's okay to admit you're a plebeian, anon-kun

>>10602120
When did I say they were bad speakers? They were fantastic speakers. Strikingly eloquent and impressive, or whatever words you might use to describe a great speaker. Obviously one can't get very far in the humanities if one can't converse properly. You need good rapports with your professors, and that comes through conversation.

We're not talking about performance. Obviously what got them to where they are is performing well. Anyone can be a stellar writer with enough discipline and free time, same thing with speaking. I'm talking about their beliefs and their ways of living. And in that regard I stand by what I said. They're brainwashed.

I fed up with meting people who are smarter, more intelligent and more successful than me.
And I live in a shit hole.

>>10602253
>I fed up with meting people who are smarter

everybody betray me

i fed up wid dis wourl

>>10601224
you sound stupid, extremely boring and incapable of expressing genuine sentiments. im convinced that we need to gas 90% of college educated peoples, the man in pic related being the general archetype that needs to die

>>10601238
How?

>>10601430
>home country
>Scandinavia

Jeg antar at du er norsk

>>10602351
you think that consumptive habits rather than creative output and depth of natural understanding is a measure of intelligence. also you didn’t just state your major, iq or occupation at all but appealed to an allusion of some kind of status but were too sheepish to let on as to why we sud take seriously the first claim in the OP. im contemplating you digging your own grave in a forest in Norway right now

>>10602373

>also you didn’t just state your major, iq or occupation at all

This is 4chan, why the fuck would he do that

>>10601430
Funding is very hard to get if you don't have a degree from Oxbridge anon. That is the simple truth if you are applying in the UK. Outside of that I don't see why you would need funding. Graduate school in France and Germany is nearly free is it not?

>>10602392
>Graduate school in France and Germany is nearly free is it not?

Depends on the program, I'm looking at a CS course and it costs 15k in Ecole Polytechnique

>>10601892

oh yeah? how many humanities or arts phds do you have smart guy?

>>10602401
Per year?

>>10602405
Well its a one year masters so yeah

>>10601224
how is the terror of inferiority an abstract feel

>>10601259
>tfw 140IQ brainlet pseud (hence the use of IQ as self validation
>chose earth sciences field full of dumbasses
>will be able to dominate despite comparative handicap
pick your battles anon. realistically being the best of the best will never happen. but you can easily be a big fish in a small pond depending on your choices in life.