How'd the first semester go?

[Roll Right]

4.0 baby! How'd people fair?

[fuzzylogician]

Congrats! You've finished all your requirements for this semester? I'm so jealous!

I don't have any finals, thank goodness. All my classes had a problem set due every week, and two want us to write squibs -- one is done (had a meeting with the prof who checked it yesterday, went fine), one will be done by tomorrow (hopefully, met with the prof today and he says my analysis looks good, I just need to finish writing up the data). I think everyone in my class is going to get an A in all of our courses..we haven't gotten our grades yet, but I'll be shocked if anyone got anything lower than that.

[Roll Right]

yeah we finished about a week ago. No exams, only term papers. We started in August, so we've finished early.

[liszt85]

My squib got me a bad grade in the syntax course that I did.. "too much information, not very well organized" was the evaluation. There were comments with question marks put in by the prof even on stuff that I quoted from the literature. So I got a B in the course.. he was pretty hard on me! I found that professors in any given dept give better grades to students from the same dept even if the performance levels are comparable with students from outside the dept. I don't have hard evidence for this..so I can only talk about it in here.

Got an A and an A- in the other two courses = 3.523 gpa (B in a 5 credit course, A and A- in 4 credit courses). Yea, grad school is not easy but it wouldn't be grad school otherwise!

[cogneuroforfun]

I had two courses, and should do fine in both of them. More importantly, I ended up very happy in my first rotation lab, so I have a good idea of what work I'll be doing for my thesis.

[belowthree]

5 Ss

GPA: undefined

Flawless victory?

(Only two of those were for real classes, the others were seminars, thesis research credit and other crap.)

Edited December 17, 2009 by belowthree

[UnlikelyGrad]

4.0!! I wasn't expecting that... thought I would get a B in one of my classes. I think the prof must have decided to grade on a curve after all.

[liszt85]

4.0!! I wasn't expecting that... thought I would get a B in one of my classes. I think the prof must have decided to grade on a curve after all.

Congrats! Your son must now try to beat that

[UnlikelyGrad]

Congrats! Your son must now try to beat that

Yep. He got all A's as well, though one was an A- (which means he got a 3.9 GPA for the quarter). I don't think my school gives plus or minus grades, so it's really not fair to say I got a better GPA than him but...it's just so fun to rub it in.

He started school right after I went back for my postbac work--I have three semesters to his four quarters--and so far I'm ahead overall, not just this last grading period. As you can tell, I'm an incredibly competitive sort--who else would gloat about beating their own child?

[liszt85]

I don't think my school gives plus or minus grades, so it's really not fair to say I got a better GPA than him but...it's just so fun to rub it in.

I'm glad you're not my mom!

[StrangeLight]

3.699 i think. Two As, one A-. I also did an independent seminar (four grad courses in one semester in a humanities program is too much work, just FYI) but I won't receive that grade for a while. I can't imagine it being lower than an A- unless my professor fails the other student that took the seminar with me.

[purplepepper]

Our semester isn't over yet, and I get the feeling that grades don't reflect all that much. But I love that the people in my cohort are so cool. Just really friendly and collegial...it's a great place to be.

[Eigen]

4.0! I also got my lab set up, research started, and got handed a review article to write, which made for an interesting end of the semester.

I think the biggest change was the almost non-existent winter break- Finals over on the 13th, I worked until the 22nd, then came back on the 28th. Two more classes next semester and my course requirements will be done!

Edited December 31, 2009 by Eigen

[HelloFeminists]

I did great in two classes, though I am *still* waiting on a grade from my last class. Ugh.

So far grad school has been far *less* intense and engaging than my undergraduate experience. It is a bizarre feeling. I may create a separate thread to discuss this, but has anyone else experienced this?

[liszt85]

So far grad school has been far *less* intense and engaging than my undergraduate experience. It is a bizarre feeling. I may create a separate thread to discuss this, but has anyone else experienced this?

Absolutely not! Grad school for me has been really draining, at least this first quarter. School reopens on Monday and I think I would have loved 4-5 more days of rest!

[HelloFeminists]

Absolutely not! Grad school for me has been really draining, at least this first quarter. School reopens on Monday and I think I would have loved 4-5 more days of rest!

I think it's because I became accustomed to being worked into the ground at my undergrad, so I thought "grad school" would be somehow even more over the top. Then I thought it's because it's only my first quarter and it'll be harder later...

[Astaroth]

3.5 (basically an A- and a B+). Perfectly happy with it. I need to maintain a 3.0 to stay in grad school so anything above that is fine by me, I am not really trying to get straight As. I am learning a lot from my courses but the research is really what I'm here for.

[Roll Right]

I think it's because I became accustomed to being worked into the ground at my undergrad, so I thought "grad school" would be somehow even more over the top. Then I thought it's because it's only my first quarter and it'll be harder later...

I second that. The first semester was a breeze. Nothing compared to my undergrad. Although I took 21 credits and a thesis my final semester....

[rising_star]

I think it's because I became accustomed to being worked into the ground at my undergrad, so I thought "grad school" would be somehow even more over the top. Then I thought it's because it's only my first quarter and it'll be harder later...

I too was worked into the ground in undergrad. I didn't think grad school was "easy" when I started my MA, but certainly didn't find it as difficult as some of my peers did. But, once it came time to start doing the MA thesis research and writing, I remembered/learned that grad school may not be more work, but they do expect a higher quality of work.

[mudlark]

I did great in two classes, though I am *still* waiting on a grade from my last class. Ugh.

Me too, although it's the class I'm the least worried about. This semester went pretty well. I liked not TAing for a change, and being able to just focus purely on my course work. Taking three classes at a time (as opposed to two at a time in my MA) and learning German on top of that more than made up for the extra time I had, though.

So far grad school has been far *less* intense and engaging than my undergraduate experience. It is a bizarre feeling. I may create a separate thread to discuss this, but has anyone else experienced this?

I found that was the case in the first term of my MA. It turns out I had two softies, and the second term was much more rigorous. I hope that things pick up for you next term!

Anyone else have a class from hell this term? I had one that felt like it lasted forever... next to no conversation, presentations were all over the place, and the prof was an unpleasant, joyless person with a persecution complex who treated every question with disdain. I got out of it with three credits and a good grade, but good riddance.

[StrangeLight]

i didn't find the first semester of undergrad difficult. the work and readings weren't hard. but i was taking more than the recommended amount of classes and so the amount of work was pretty high. that was my own fault and my unwillingness to tell my advisor that at some point i'll need to sleep.

[zilch]

didn't do great. didn't do horrible either. 2 classes, an independent study and some preliminary work on the ever important thesis. was also working part time which cut into study time. Biggest complaint is definitely the use of legacy textbooks (texts that are used because they're written by a faculty member from that university).

overall, classes feel like a distraction. I'm probably going drop my credit load a little next semester so I can focus more on research.

[belowthree]

overall, classes feel like a distraction. I'm probably going drop my credit load a little next semester so I can focus more on research.

My approach has been to get them done with as soon as I can. I just need to finish this quarter, get my petitions accepted and then I'll only need one last course for next quarter and I'll be set. If lightening your courseload drives out the date before you can truly focus on your research too far then I think that might be a loss for you.

In the intervening period, my plan is simply not to sleep. Ever.

And how many credits is a relationship again? A lot, I think.

[Eigen]

My approach has been to get them done with as soon as I can. I just need to finish this quarter, get my petitions accepted and then I'll only need one last course for next quarter and I'll be set. If lightening your courseload drives out the date before you can truly focus on your research too far then I think that might be a loss for you.

In the intervening period, my plan is simply not to sleep. Ever.

And how many credits is a relationship again? A lot, I think.

This is my idea. 3 courses my first semester, 2 my second, and hopefully a transfer course. After that I'll either take one more course when one comes around that interests me, or just take independent studies (read: research based) with my adviser for the rest of the credits I need.

Of course, I've already got a review article I'm supposed to be writing, and a nice, multi-faceted research project- and my adviser mentioned to me yesterday that he wants to give me a second project to work on sometime this semester.

Edited January 6, 2010 by Eigen

[Matilda_Tone]

(New member- hope you don’t mind me joining in!)

I found that the first few weeks of graduate school were not quite what I expected. It wasn’t more work than undergrad, but I quickly discovered that the department where I am now has a different approach to history than my undergrad school (and I now feel stupid for not fully grasping what “known for its emphasis on intellectual history” would mean in practice). The people who did their undergrad here seemed more prepared for it than I did, but after a month or so I managed to adjust. Things can still throw me a bit, and I often wish I had taken a few philosophy classes in undergrad- I also hope to return to my previous university for the PhD (doing MA now).

Decently happy with marks so far- all of my classes are full year, so I don’t have official marks. Based on assignments so far I think I have two As, and an unknown in the class I just handed in my first essay for (Very worried about that class. Sigh.)