Oh lord...graduate school is kicking my ass. My moods wander in a desolate wasteland between despair and self-doubt. It isn't that I can't handle the stress or the work; I've been doing quite well grade-wise. But it's my personal sanity that's in danger here. The whole damn degree program seems designed to beat out of me the interest that I had in public policy to begin with.

Help!!! Does anyone have any words of wisdom...any advice...personal stories from their own grad school experiences...anything? I need some cheering up.

KingSausage said:

Hey there! I'm also in graduate school, working on Master's in Comperative Literature with a Teaching Credential. I seem to be in the same situation. I love the English classes but the Education classes are absolutely depressing. The ED classes are definately designed to weed out the people that have no business teaching and it's making me wonder if I'm one of them

All I can say is to hang in there...when do you graduate?

good to hear from you KS!!!! we miss you around these parts but it's great you're doing school.

here's a mantra for you to repeat when life drives you crazy:

this too, shall pass

I wish I was back in grad school.
[Edited 2/18/05 12:02pm]

KingSausage said:

How many classes are you taking?

Thank you all for your well wishes (or just plain wishes!). I will be graduating in December, so if I just hang on...

Really glad to hear from the King! There's only one King.

Here's the perspective I've been getting through school with and I think it's in a movie.

"Everything is a test" this includes waking up in the morning, reading, working, excercise and most of all SCHOOL.

When I want to give up I just think "Fuck that, this test is not going to beat me" Muthfuka going down if it kills me trying and sometimes it feels like it's going to.

Stand your ground, hold steadfast and beat this program that is designed to make people quit, you own it!

Grad School?! I'm still dreading my undergrad courses. Anyway...hang in there.

Hey, sausage boy.

I feel ya. I've been through one horrid grad program and plan to start my next soon. My wife also just completed 6 years in a program that was brutal. BOTH experiences corroborate your claim: These programs do seem designed to break you, not make you. It's sick! And I think on some level it boils down to fear of the students by the teacher. After all, once you walk across that stage, you're competition to these faculty members.

You need:

1) Comrades. Commiserate with them. Get drunk with them. Joke about quirky profs with them. Rely on their mutual experience. Just stay loose, and realize you're not in this alone.
2) Lots of sex (with your wife, that is ). It takes off a LOT of tension (clinically shown to, in fact), frees your mind for study or writing, and it serves as a nice, free short-term reward at the end of a hard day.
3) A reward in the waiting. Promise (and begin to save) to send yourself to Italy or somewhere. But don't cheat... only after you earn it by graduating!
4) A kid, or at least the vision of one. There's no better motivation in the world than a kid relying on you to keep your career in high gear. That degree means a potentially better lifestyle for your entire family. Just tell yourself "I HAVE to do this for little Johnny."

You can do it, man. You only have a few more months!!
[Edited 2/18/05 12:24pm]

Thanks for the continued advice...I will try to "own" this nasty bitch of a program....and I definitely rely on the help of my friends there. It's the sort of "foxhole mentality," you know?

Right now I have a full load of 13 credits...some nasty shit, too. "Regression Analysis." "Cost-Benefit Analysis." "Policies on Work & Pay." "Multivariate Techniques." Yikes....

umm...and what do i have to do with any of this?


hope the tide is almost over.....



next time you snuggle!!


good luck..good speed john glen..



na nu na nu...

and may the force be with you!!


-sos

ps. live long and prosper...

KS! Seems like everybody's visiting this week. Awesome.

Keep it up.

I got through it and I"m glad I stuck with it.


What helped me was realizing that I needed more material than what was provided in my curriculum.

I literally spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars buy "for Dummies" books, aquiring "Audio help" tapes and DVDs for whatever subjects I was doing--they suplimental material made me much stronger in the subject matter.

But, I obsess over things, as some of you guys probably already know.

Hi mate!

I know something that will definately work ----->