Karen Kelsky writes: "Academics tend to struggle with negotiating job offers because of the enduring monkish quality of the scholarly life, which is ideally meant to forsake material gain for a higher calling of dedication to the truth. How this ideal has endured to 2013 is beyond me, but endured it has, and it does a tremendous disservice to the young Ph.D.s attempting to finalize the terms of their first professional positions."

We all know them — research minions, professor’s pets, lab divas — those bench mates who seem to get all the attention and resources even though you are just as talented as they are. They often exhibit selfish behavior (e.g., leave common lab spaces messy, use up lab supplies, etc.), and for some reason, the principal investigator seems to reward them for this science superstar attitude, creating a perception of lab favoritism among team members.