Its week 2 and already feeling dumb

[Sconnie]

I've learned relatively quickly that my Masters was a joke compared to everyone else is in my cohort as they spout of scholars and theories I've never heard of.  I got a 33% on my first assignment for a methods course.  Granted it was only worth 3 points and I got 1 but still.  Am I being irrational when I am starting to think this whole PhD might be short lived because I am grossly under qualified or is this just me having that impostor syndrome that everyone talked about so much during orientation?

 

 

If no one responds, thats fine it just felt good to get this thought out there in the world since there arent many people I can talk to about it.

[nohika]

One of my professors told me this morning that if I'm not feeling stupid, I'm doing something wrong. A second-year student told me she still feels like the dumbest person in the program sometimes.

 

It's normal.

 

/brand new first-year MA/PhD student who just graduated with her BA in May and who feels dumb as a bucket of rocks

[MsDarjeeling]

I'm in my 2nd year of a Master's program and I feel stupid all the time lol.  It's perfectly ok to feel that way, we all do.  Just keep asking questions and studying, eventually you'll feel less stupid.

[shadowclaw]

I agree with the above posters. It's ok to feel dumb. You are a student. You don't know everything! I have also felt a bit dumb this week as I am attending my first week of courses. I have been to 2 of my 3 courses, and while I feel confident about both, I felt extremely inadequate and dumb in my second. The professor introduced us to his teaching style, the Socratic method (which I was only vaguely familiar with from a movie), by going through a review of topics we likely encountered as undergrads that are pertinent to the course. There were some things I had forgotten about and some things I had never seen before, and I sure felt dumb as a brick, especially when I was given my question and I could only answer half of it. However, I was glad I could answer half of it, because there were several people who couldn't answer any of their question. I'm sure the class made everyone feel quite dumb, and it's ok. As the professor said, we should all be happy because we just learned something new.

[Cog-Neuro Guy]

I too just finished my first week of my first semester in the master's program at UT Dallas. I have a couple of things working against me at the start: I was a sociology major with a psychology minor in my undergrad. My master's is in cognition and neuroscience. The one saving grace that I have at the moment is, I studied cognitive psychology at the undergrad level and I took a lot of brick/ mortar psychology courses, including two stats classes and an experimental class in sociology. Other than that, the systems neuroscience class really hit me in the head. On top of this, the sheer amount of reading for my two classes plus my internship I am doing in neuropsychology at UT Southwestern just makes it seem like ...."what happened"

 

Other than this, I am actually very excited to learn all of this, I am the most nervous about how the examinations may be constructed in my neuroscience class...and how the hell do you take notes at this level? This isn't a typical undergrad class where we can just notate bold-faced terms or abstract ideas and memorize them for the test.

 

Other than that...I'm still hanging in there! 

[daydreamer254]

I feel stupid in one of my seminars, and having my classmates give intelligent responses doesn't make me feel better. I was called upon to answer a question and I didn't respond correctly...wow, that totally made my night. Thankfully, one of my good friends who went through grad school told me that my classmates and professor's don't (bleep) gold, and that I have something unique to contribute and that I matter; I may not know it yet, but I'll realize it soon enough. (Still trying to get over our first discussion).

 

I agree with nohika and what their professor said, if you don't feel stupid, something is definitely wrong.

[Guest |||]

Let me tell you, let me, tell you.

 

I was at a conference and was going to give a talk right after lunch so I didn't really have time to get food and instead had to set up.  While I was setting up, an attractive prof who I somewhat knew came over and asked if I wanted anything from the lunch menu, as she could grab it and bring it over.  Flustered, I asked what she was going to have and she said ceaser salad and apple juice, to which I said "Oh that sounds great, I'd love some salad juice!".

 

 

So, we all sometimes are dumb, and sometimes its embarassing, so, laugh it off and carry on!

[gatorwild]

Thankfully, one of my good friends who went through grad school told me that my classmates and professor's don't (bleep) gold, and that I have something unique to contribute and that I matter;

 

 

From my MA experience, I felt the exact same as most people in this thread- stupid for the first two weeks. Most people were giving answers that were eerily similar, while I had different ideas that I was hesitant to express. However, when I started expressing my views, students and professors were amazed at my ability to see things that the "common" student didn't see.

 

I agree with what daydreamers' friends said- contribute something unique. Remember, an MA program is not the same as a BA/BS program. BA/BS programs are concerned with learning information more in a black and white way. MA programs want to provide you black and white, but have you explore the gray- this is why it's not easy and gives many people a hard time. Once you learn to embrace the gray, back up your view with sound experience or information, and understand thinking different is an asset and not a hindrance- you will be fine.

 

It is my personal opinion that MAs are for exploring concepts that are a mixture of right and wrong. You are not stupid for not knowing what others know,  nor are you unqualified to be there because your answers are not as polished. Shift your focus to what you bring to the table and not what everyone else has on the table.

[MikKar]

I'm not a grad yet, but there are SO many things that you don't know about, so many things that could have a significant impact in any way or form in your field of study, that if you start thinking about it : you feel tiny. Like, REALLY tiny. And that's at my work place (I'm working as a research engineer). I'm assuming a graduate student will feel exactly the same.

 

I personally stop battering myself about feeling dumb and so unknowledgeable. I just tell myself that no matter how much I try to learn, there will always be an impossible amount of things to learn about and my brain only has a limited size so... . I just try to do the best I can with what I know, what I can learn, and not try to batter myself with it.

[ADL]

Something I try to remember is that grad school is all about growth. If you walk into a room and you are the smartest person there then it's time to get a new room because those people won't challenge you and help you grow. I've also found that a huge disproportionate amount of my time is spent handling my freakouts. If I was more confident I would probably have more time to do work and do better in school. Conclusion: freakouts do not help - they are wasted time better spent studying to improve your grades

[callista]

I've learned relatively quickly that my Masters was a joke compared to everyone else is in my cohort as they spout of scholars and theories I've never heard of. 

 

Hi Sconnie! I have no Comm background myself, so starting a (rather quantitative) PhD from an anthro background, I sometimes feel like I'd better catch the hell up in a hurry...

[pears]

Hi Sconnie! I have no Comm background myself, so starting a (rather quantitative) PhD from an anthro background, I sometimes feel like I'd better catch the hell up in a hurry...

 

i'm just starting an anthro (archaeo) MA, & one of my classes is seminar that's mega-heavy on the theory. i had, quite literally, never dealt with a single theory in a single undergrad class. the best way to compensate, i've found, is getting really good at scanning quickly through wikipedia entries & the first 5-10 google scholar results that pop up when i search for a specific theory by name. then, i do all the readings for the class with those points in mind, and if i'm confused, i read them again. even if it's all news to me, it's worth the extra bit of effort to at least have enough to say to pass it off like i know what i'm talking about with some degree of comfort & familiarity.

 

in sum: if it's all new & confusing, become an expert at semi-BSing & speed reading!

[callista]

in sum: if it's all new & confusing, become an expert at semi-BSing & speed reading!

 

Absolutely!  Fortunately, there is a lot of theory cross-pollination in my other classes, so that helps me a lot.  And Mendeley has become an essential tool in a few short weeks... for stashing all those PDFs.