Scantronphobia

Hey, all, Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think I'll try duolingo to begin a language with which I have no facility (but that has been recommended to me to learn), and the others for another language I'm struggling with. Everyone in my program seems to be fluent in, like, six languages, but, having been educated in the US, I had limited opportunities to develop language skills early on when the old brain was most receptive. I am sure some of you can relate. Anyway, your suggestions are very helpful!

Hey, that's what we graduate students get for trying to have a social life, right? Hope you'll be on the mend soon!

What? What kind of a job do you have? That operator sounds ridiculous.

That's a good thought--I'll see if my university has one. Thanks for the suggestion!

Quick question to throw out to anyone who might have some insight. I need to learn a language as part of my program, and quickly. I need reading proficiency mostly, not necessarily speaking fluency. What are the best approaches to do this?

That's the spirit! As far as finding programs that will provide a tuition reimbursement and maybe a stipend, the best way to find out for certain is to 1. look carefully at the website for the program to see if there is info there and 2. call and talk to the director of graduate studies. Best of luck to you!

Oh, to be 27 and just starting grad school! Grab it while you have the chance! You're not so young that you won't appreciate the experience, and you're not too old to fit in with those who might be coming right out of undergrad, either. IMO, 27 is just about the perfect age to do anything. Carpe diem!

Hi--so you are beginning the application stage? If so, look at schools that will pay you to go. That was the best advice about grad school I ever received: Don't go if they won't pay. And yes, I need to try not to be distracted by the age thing. This is, after all, a career move and not a social move. But they are sort of linked in my field.

So glad to have found this thread--have been feeling unusually exhausted and sickly as well. I think it is the stress of a new environment and the knowledge that the program I have just entered is more demanding than anything I have done before. Having to watch what I eat and try to get enough sleep; ironically, I am exhausted but cannot sleep very well. Insane. This is what I WANT to do, but my body is saying otherwise...

Yes, I would like to know as well. Basically, the best remedy for me has been just to forget (or try) how much older I am than the other students while avoiding saying things that draw attention to my age like a lot of people who feel self conscious about their age do. That will, I think, only widen the gap and thus distract from my goals in the program. Plus, when I think about how I feel rather than how long I have been on Earth, it isn't hard to open the mind. With that said, I am very wary of coming across as some immature dope who tries to hang around with people 10+ years younger. Does this make sense?

This is a question that I am having, and I haven't even started classes yet! I just began a doctoral program--a fairly selective one--and had orientations. I am already freaking out thinking what a fraud I am and how I must have really fooled all of those professors into thinking that I have any kind of abilities to do the work they are going to expect. And now I am not so sure that I fooled all of them. I met with some of them this week and suspect that they see through my act with their super intellectual x-ray vision. There is a name for this complex: the Impostor Syndrome. Only I am the exception: I really am the impostor. But maybe feeling certain of that is part of the syndrome, too. At any rate, I don't feel that education is ever a bad thing...for what it's worth.

Yes--good luck. Personally, I don't look at it as starting over, exactly, just changing routes a bit on the journey. Of course, when I met the other new graduate students, I realized that they had gotten a lot farther in a lot less time. That was harsh. Plus they look like babies to me--hard to take them seriously. But then I remember being in grad school at their age (the first time) and feeling like people were thinking that about ME. But I was a baby--maturity wise. I didn't fully appreciate grad school the first go round. Feels kind of awkward. It's like I went back in time without looking or feeling younger, though.

Grad cafe seems great for venting--I am soooo glad to have found this thread! That apartment sounds like an abomination. Can't you bring it up now with the realtor/landlady/landlord? Seems awful to make you do the cleaning.

Yikes! Yes, that would get old. As far as why I could not meet anyone, I have now that orientation week has begun, but I learned that there WAS a mixer and apparently I am the only one who didn't get the "exclusive" invitation. I kind of wondered why they would exclude someone they haven't even met yet, though...they haven't had time to dislike me yet.

Oh--your "days and days of TA training"--yeah, that sounds grueling. But again, maybe you've at least met some people?

Hey, at least you've met the people in your lab--that's way ahead of my situation! We have--get this--three days of orientation-related stuff before classes start.

So glad to see this thread still going...I just began a doctoral program at 40. Orientation was brutal--for me, anyway. Looking out and seeing about 300 faces around 20 years younger was a reminder that it has taken me a lot longer to 1. figure out how to do what I want to do and 2. be in a place in life where I can actually do that. Then again, I look back to who I was when I was just out of undergrad--a mess. And I realize that now is the time for me--I probably would have screwed it up then if given the chance. Hopefully the members of my cohort won't call me mom. Would love to hear others' experiences with being older grad students!