pet_sounds

Thanks everyone for your wonderful advice! I really appreciate it.

Hi everyone, I just finished my first semester of my PhD program and recently got my grades. They were fine but all my professors basically said the same things about my performance: they wanted more from me in seminar, and that I didn't engage with my classmates in discussion as much as they would have liked. I've always been on the shier side, and class participation has consistently been a problem for me (since undergrad). I got into grad school and got good grades this past semester by the strength of my writing but as my professors have told me, I can't get by with writing alone. Anyway, any advice for improving for next semester? I think it's mostly a confidence issue--I'm the youngest in my cohort and one of the only ones without a masters. I'm wondering how other people have overcome this problem. Thanks!