Princeton professor shares 'CV of failures'

PRINCETON, N.J. — A professor who teaches at an Ivy League school is expected to have many success to get to that point.

But Johannes Haushofer, a Princeton University Assistant Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, wanted his curriculum vitae of failures to say more.

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The professor shared his "CV of failures" to "provide some perspective."

"Most of what I try fails, but these failures are often invisible, while the successes are visible," Haushofer wrote. "I have noticed that this sometimes gives others the impression that most things work out for me. As a result, they are more likely to attribute their own failures to themselves, rather than the fact that the world is stochastic, applications are crapshoots, and selection committees and referees have bad days."

Haushofer credits his idea to University of Edinburgh lecturer Melanie I. Stefan.

The CV, listed on his Princeton faculty page, lists degree programs for which Haushofer did not qualify, including ones at Stanford University and Harvard.

He also lists scholarships and awards he did not get, and academic positions and fellowships he was not offered at University of California, Berkeley and MIT, among schools.

Haushofer goes on to add that other professors have shared similar CVs of their own, and that his CV is not complete.

"It was written from memory and probably omits a lot of stuff," he wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group