I'm not sure i'm cutting it

[frankdux]

Finals week. I did get an A in one class already, but this is my only A and the teacher gave most students an A. In another class I completely bombed the final and I probably barely had a B going into it. My third final is in two days and I'm scared to death because the exam is intentionally noticeably harder than regular exams and I've got a solid B going into it, but I don't know if i can handle anything tougher and I feel like i'm going to blow it.

Yeah, maybe I just have first year jitters, but in all honestly, I really don't like school. I hate having anxiety, I hate having to sacrifice all of my free time to study, and I hate not being able to have the time to hang out with any friends or have some hobbies or anything. I just don't feel like I'm in love with the subject matter for it to consume years of my life in this way.

The only portion of this experience I've enjoyed is being a TA and this is because I have teaching experience and I enjoy teaching.

Thankfully I already have one masters (in teaching), and if i can finish out the year with at least a 3.0, I should have the credentials to teach at a community college. This feels like a much better path for me to take and I think I'd be much happier if I took that route.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

[Roll Right]

Finals week. I did get an A in one class already, but this is my only A and the teacher gave most students an A. In another class I completely bombed the final and I probably barely had a B going into it. My third final is in two days and I'm scared to death because the exam is intentionally noticeably harder than regular exams and I've got a solid B going into it, but I don't know if i can handle anything tougher and I feel like i'm going to blow it.

Yeah, maybe I just have first year jitters, but in all honestly, I really don't like school. I hate having anxiety, I hate having to sacrifice all of my free time to study, and I hate not being able to have the time to hang out with any friends or have some hobbies or anything. I just don't feel like I'm in love with the subject matter for it to consume years of my life in this way.

The only portion of this experience I've enjoyed is being a TA and this is because I have teaching experience and I enjoy teaching.

Thankfully I already have one masters (in teaching), and if i can finish out the year with at least a 3.0, I should have the credentials to teach at a community college. This feels like a much better path for me to take and I think I'd be much happier if I took that route.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Well, I'll say this: You've seen what will be asked of you, can you handle it? So you may have gotten a B? Who cares. Pick up the pace. If this is something you're passionate about you'll do well. If you don't want to do this, that will become apparent if it isn't already.

Frankly, I think you might as well finish it out. Just keep trucking man, the stress and anxiety is a natural part of life. It lives in you, and you can't escape it. Best to learn how to understand the anxiety. Then you can pacify it and understand its a natural reaction to life stimuli.

Edited December 16, 2009 by Roll Right

[liszt85]

Finals week. I did get an A in one class already, but this is my only A and the teacher gave most students an A. In another class I completely bombed the final and I probably barely had a B going into it. My third final is in two days and I'm scared to death because the exam is intentionally noticeably harder than regular exams and I've got a solid B going into it, but I don't know if i can handle anything tougher and I feel like i'm going to blow it.

Yeah, maybe I just have first year jitters, but in all honestly, I really don't like school. I hate having anxiety, I hate having to sacrifice all of my free time to study, and I hate not being able to have the time to hang out with any friends or have some hobbies or anything. I just don't feel like I'm in love with the subject matter for it to consume years of my life in this way.

The only portion of this experience I've enjoyed is being a TA and this is because I have teaching experience and I enjoy teaching.

Thankfully I already have one masters (in teaching), and if i can finish out the year with at least a 3.0, I should have the credentials to teach at a community college. This feels like a much better path for me to take and I think I'd be much happier if I took that route.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

I got an A, an A- and a B this quarter. I got the B in a class that I worked for the hardest. I topped the class in which I got an A but then the professor gave A's to most students in that class. I did almost as well as the others in the class in which I got a B and that was a 5 credit course which brought my gpa down by a lot.. however, things will be much easier for us if we accept the FACT that grades don't matter in graduate school. My own adviser told me this..and every single professor and every single 5th year PhD student I asked about this told me exactly the same thing. The only thing that matters will be the quality of research that you do and the amount of good work that you publish. So the advice they all gave me was this: spend time on courses that are directly relevant to the research that I'll do,..spend just enough time on other courses to take care not to piss off professors teaching those courses. This is exactly what I'm going to follow. I stressed about the B (after having worked my ass off for it) for a while.. but graduate school will remain a pain in the neck if we continue stressing about grades in courses, which in the end won't matter anyway.

[Roll Right]

I got an A, an A- and a B this quarter. I got the B in a class that I worked for the hardest. I topped the class in which I got an A but then the professor gave A's to most students in that class. I did almost as well as the others in the class in which I got a B and that was a 5 credit course which brought my gpa down by a lot.. however, things will be much easier for us if we accept the FACT that grades don't matter in graduate school. My own adviser told me this..and every single professor and every single 5th year PhD student I asked about this told me exactly the same thing. The only thing that matters will be the quality of research that you do and the amount of good work that you publish. So the advice they all gave me was this: spend time on courses that are directly relevant to the research that I'll do,..spend just enough time on other courses to take care not to piss off professors teaching those courses. This is exactly what I'm going to follow. I stressed about the B (after having worked my ass off for it) for a while.. but graduate school will remain a pain in the neck if we continue stressing about grades in courses, which in the end won't matter anyway.

Grades will probably matter to you, but yes, they don't matter very much when considering employment after a PhD. For those studying in a masters....you wanna pull some heavy grades if you want into a PhD. But shit, who said this was gunna be easy? Its natural to worry, in fact this ought to keep you up at night...it should be something that extends yourself. So keep doing what you're doing. It's gunna be hard.

[rising_star]

1) Grades don't really matter as long as you don't lose your funding.

2) Think about your research when the coursework gets you down. That's helped me.

3) Remember that the first year is the hardest.

4) Go do something fun before your last final and use the break to really relax.

[liszt85]

1) Grades don't really matter as long as you don't lose your funding.

2) Think about your research when the coursework gets you down. That's helped me.

3) Remember that the first year is the hardest.

4) Go do something fun before your last final and use the break to really relax.

I did all of the above in my first quarter and it helped immensely! So rising star is absolutely right about the above. I know somebody who stressed about it so much (and worked extra hard, slept like 2-3 hours a night) that he developed an eye problem and had to go see a doctor after the end of the quarter. His gpa is 0.3 more than mine..but I don't think its worth an eye

[frankdux]

I'm the OP and I got my grades for the semester: A, A, B.

Holy crap, am i relieved!!!