Anyone here a grad student?

[bammertheblue]

Anyone? Of any age? Anywhere?
I just want to vent to someone who understands- it's the end of the semester (my first in grad school) next week and I feel like I'm drowning in the amount of writing I have to do.
So of course, I'm procrastinating here on DU! Ha ha.

[Left_Winger]

1. I used to be one, but I graduated

and I'll listen if that will help.

[bammertheblue]

6. Thanks

I'm just having one of those days where I think "Why am I doing this? I'm not smart enough for this, everyone else knows more than me, bla bla bla". And it doesn't help that I just moved to a new apartment yesterday so now I feel like I'm behind on all my paper writing.
I just want to YELL!
Ok, I'm better now.

[Left_Winger]

8. What is your field?

Mine was history.

I felt the same way on several occasions. Many times I thought my work was garbage, but it turned out differently.

[bammertheblue]

12. I'm getting my Master's in

Literature with possibly a concentration on teaching. I think I want to be a college professor but sometimes I just want to crawl under a rock and hide. Right now I'm trying to write three papers and finish The Satanic Verses. I love the book but I wish I could read it at a little more of a leisurely pace.

[Left_Winger]

15. Rest assured...

you probably know more than you are giving yourself credit for; I felt the same way in the beginning. It was seven years between my BA and returning to grad school and I always felt like I was falling short somehow. In discussion groups the others seemed quicker and more astute in their statements which made me feel like I was somehow less knowledgeable. I stuck it out and ended up with my doctorate: two years for the MA and six for the Ph.D. In my field the attrition rate was high, but knowledge of a foreign language was a requirement and this eliminated most of my competition.

You can do it if you really want to. Think positive and hang in there.

[eyepaddle]

2. I are a grad student.

Ditto for the rest of it too......sigh

[Thtwudbeme]

3. I aren't a grad student yet

but, the senior seminar shit is eating me alive.....I have 12 more pages to produce.

[Err]

4. I'm an undergrad still (for only one more semester)

but I can sympathize with you. I have a shitload of typing I need to get done within the next two weeks and I haven't started it yet. I usually do my best work at the last minute, though.

But still. I hate typing reports! x(

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. I used to be one, and yes, end of the semester was always

a very trying, awful, stressful time. Especially the first semester.

But, I lived through it all and managed to graduate! As you will, too.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

7. Pffft--I'm still at the HS.

:P :P But I'll listen to you gripe, and remind myself that that may well fall upon me someday...

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. Don't worry, Kid

If all goes well, you'll be graduatin' your own self in five or six years.



:hide:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

11. Hey!

x( x(

:P :P :P

[Writer]

9. I'm in my next to last semester.

It gets better, I promise. I went through a full load last spring and ended up writing more than 100 pages worth of papers that semester.

I hear you about burn-out. I have but one tiny paper to write and haven't started it yet.

Hang in there.

[tiddlywinks]

13. Bless Your Heart

(That was something a very kind professor would say to me when I went to him dumbfounded. "Well bless your heart...etc. etc. etc." It made me feel better!

Bammertheblue:

I did it.
You will do it.
Think these thoughts.

I got through it after two and half years. Somehow. I graduated in August with a masters in Curriculum and Instruction with my certification in ESL. (Don't ask/Don't tell.)

Anyway...

If I can do it, ANYBODY can do it.
My father has been a music professor for 40 years and you know what his advice to me was when I was desperate? "Bullshit!" "Give 'em bullshit!" He said that's what they want!
That helped me and I was top of my class. (You already know that in graduate school you have to be, right?)

Also having moral support--it was my lifeline.
My parents and my SO were there for me through every minute of it.
I hope these thoughts help you. I hope you feel kindred support. What is your degree going to be in?

Just remember: You can DO it! (And you only have two more weeks right? Anybody can survive two weeks, right?!!!)
(Write that paper NOW!! Get it out of your hair!!)

[suzbaby]

14. I'm in grad school

and I just finished defending my thesis proposal. It wasn't nearly as nightmarish as I though it would be. Although the chair of my committe told me I had written a fantastic start for my literature review. I thought...."start?" I thought it was done! She told me that the 20 or so pages I wrote is the "Reader's Digest" version and I really need to add more.

Reader's Digest version......that one stung a bit.

I feel your pain.

[RevCheesehead]

16. oh dear Lord....

I was dumb enough to do that... TWICE! :banghead:

At graduation, I begged my friends to shoot me if I ever thought of going on for a PhD or DDiv.

Believe me, I feel your pain. :hug:

[hfojvt]

18. I thought the opposite after I got my MA

Then I thought, heck, I could have taken lighter loads and have had more time for my own research and writing. I actually quit (graduated) just before it would get easier.

[JVS]

17. I only have 6 more pages to write!

God must have been pleased by my sacrifice of Thanksgiving break upon the altar of hard work

[distantearlywarning]

19. I am, and I can commiserate.

I've put in 12 hours a day for the last two weeks. I am drowning in work (writing as well) and don't expect to see the end for at least another two weeks.

Then I am going to sleep for two days straight.

It's times like these when I wonder why I wanted to be a grad student. My husband spends 4 hours a day playing video games and doing whatever else he feels like, and I have maybe 1/2 hour a day to drowsily watch TV in bed before I pass out in total exhaustion. It doesn't seem fair somehow.