Argh school is hard!

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I did bad on a test! I don't study enough! I feel dumb! Help help help! I suck! School is hard!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:12 (twenty-one years ago)

No but okay, how can I force myself to get some self discipline and study for significant amounts of time without getting distracted by the computer or tv or wife or shiny objects? I can not set my mind in motion by will alone!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't use to be like this either, I got retarded with age. Tell me I'm not alone.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

you're not alone dan!

i go to the library to study, i find that there are fewer distractions there

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:16 (twenty-one years ago)

At first I thought it said "Art School is Hard", and I was going to roffle at you. Carry on.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I noticed that you can make white noise in Cool Edit. I wonder if I made up a whole CD of that if the white noise would at least protect me from audio distractions.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Books are boring! Statistics is boring!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Can a person just develop ADHD in early adulthood like this?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:24 (twenty-one years ago)

dan, you're not alone. i just went back to school for a couple of days because i thought i was going to take a math class. i did well in math as an undergrad, and i did a lot of it, and it was at a tough school, and what math i did was at a fairly advanced level (i studied physics + chem). so i figured i could sit on an graduate level intro analysis class and hopefully follow along with some hard work. HA HA HA. no fucking dice. it's like they're speaking another language!! and i know the words and the grammar but everyone else is basically fluent. there goes my grandiose plans for the fall.

anyway dan, you'll probably ace the final as you get back in the swing of studying and being in school and it'll turn out ok, so don't worry.

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:32 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah this class that I fucked up the test in we get to throw out our lowest test score, so I guess this'll be the one. It's just that I know the TA and I'm afraid that he'll be secretly mocking me just as I secretly mock the people who do badly in the class I TA (I don't really do that).

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:34 (twenty-one years ago)

The hardest part of graduate school for me so far is learning that it's no different from high school or undergraduate college, and dealing with the fact that any sense of achievement I might have been expecting to feel upon completion of this particular master's degree program will be mostly ruined by the fact that there are some real fucking morons in there who will likely complete it as well. I really honestly wish the academic portion were more challenging because a core degree course that doesn't fail people is kind of, well, really fucking boring and feels like a waste of time. Then again in the modern academic environment I guess getting anything less than a B is failing, hooray meaningless inflated standards.

God I'm about to go on a rant. Let's just say I hate the whole racket that post-secondary school education/training has become, and leave it at that.

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 29 September 2004 12:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Let me finish some of that rant. I'll try to stay on the subject of coursework, and not the many other things I've grown to hate about my particular post-secondary extravaganza.

You are absolutely OTM. This is exactly what I've been feeling for the last year, ever since I arrived into my Master's program. Grad school coursework is so much easier than undergrad ever was, and without the chance to really fail, I don't feel like I'm getting the chance to do anything wonderful either.

After the first semester, my plan was to start branching out at taking classes unrelated to my studies (and to a degree, my interests), with the hope that the very real fear of failing would at least keep my interest. It did for a while.

Between computer science, design, and stats classes boring me and me being over my head when I try to wildly branch out...I just don't feel like I belong here any more.

And so I'm meeting with my advisor this week to talk about leaving permanently. I've got a new job I love now; I'm ready to walk away from school for a while.

― Augustine (Augustine Bearse), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 23:27 (twenty-one years ago)

No but okay, how can I force myself to get some self discipline and study for significant amounts of time without getting distracted by the computer or tv or wife or shiny objects?
When you figure it out, let me know so I can finish writing my fucking thesis. And I'm not married, so I don't even have that as an excuse.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

TOM + AUG = OTM ... it's hard (and I'm in an MFA program) to feel any sense of accomplishment when my acheivement is measured against a few blunderheads. Moreover, knowing that once I've completed the degree I'll be competing for jobs / contracts with people who haven't the education, ability, and/or passion for the work offers very little incentive. At the same time - I've become less resistant to criticism than I was as an undergraduate or high-schooler since it's far less frequent. Instead of gradually toughening myself in preparation for the real-world clusterfuck, this current return to academia is conditioning me to react nigh-violently when I receive anything less than laudatory marks and commentary on my work.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 23:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sorry to have to say this, but you all need to suck it up and deal with it. I came to terms with stuff years ago, and once I did, I stopped worrying about being competitive with fellow grad students and concentrated more on doing the best job I could. And I'm happier because of it.

In *every* walk of life, there are dumbasses who have powerful jobs ahead of more competent and qualified people -- from the president of the USA right on down. Grad school is no exception. In any group of people in any field of academia, no matter how educated, there are always runts of the litter. And the runts won't always finish at the bottom of the back. They just don't.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Well no shit but they're fucking annoying with the stupid questions and the talking all the time. If they kept to their goddamn selves I doubt I'd be thinking about it in the first place!

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 29 September 2004 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Damn right, but they're not going anywhere and they're not going to change so there's no point in getting too worked up something you have no control over.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Holocaust was a catastrophic catastrophe!"

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Thursday, 30 September 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I had to sit through a pretentious 2 fucking hour student-lead presentation on 'The Wes Anderson Canon' ... noteworthy in that it didn't mention the words 'visual / graphic / viewable / script / story / plot / theme / main idea / edit / cinematography / intention / concept / emotion / heart / interest / intelligence ' a single time. I'm estimating that the words 'quirky' 'counter-culture' 'anachronistic' 'sincere' and 'ironic' made at least a three dozen appearances each. I drew a picture in my notebook called 'twelve feet' of 'twelve feet' of my classmates, each shaded in a different manner and colored in Red, Blue, and Black pen. I pay $40,000 / year to attend this program, and I'm not just going to roll back and let the dummies roll over me without complaint.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 30 September 2004 00:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Take my words to heart, folks.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned stop making us read you asshole

― TOMBOT, Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, but read once and then never read again (except at your own pace).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:23 (twenty-one years ago)

what grad programs are you in? i think it really depends. i know some folks in grad programs that are truly challenging.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Im going to apply to go to grad school in Petrograd.

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:29 (twenty-one years ago)

For real? That's the coolest thing I've ever heard, no bullshitting!

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm doing a graduate law degree, it makes my brain hurt every day

― gem (trisk), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

No probably not for real but I'm becoming tempted to apply for a fellowship to study for a couple weeks over winter break. I'll probably not do it.

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope I'm not one of the dumbasses you guys mentioned. I wouldn't say I'm really having a hard time of it yet, other than that test, but I can definitely see the potential for it going in that direction (except that it won't since I'm all newly resolved and stuff). Maybe I just have a really cool department or something, but I have nothing but respect for the other students in my class; I just hope they're all not a league above me. Today someone mentioned Pascal's Triangle in statistics and I had no idea what they were talking about (although I do now and I see that it's not like it's really complicated or arcane or anything).

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

q: what do you call someone with a degree in energy resource management?
a: a petrograd! har har

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Good lord, Amst. (Then again I've done worse.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm doing a graduate law degree, it makes my brain hurt every day.

this applies to the ENTIRE process of american legal education (including the bar exam).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 September 2004 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

uhh, yes, i agree with the law thing.

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 30 September 2004 02:34 (twenty-one years ago)

that's all i'm contributing to this thread ... no-one wants to hear me rant for the zillionth time about the 3 years of expensive, pretentious uselessness that is american legal education.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 September 2004 02:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i am australian as it happens. although i'm sure it applies to the entire process of australian legal education too. although i think perhaps not completely pretentious. and hopefully not completely useless either!! errrr hopefully....

― gem (trisk), Thursday, 30 September 2004 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)

being a student has lots of perks, though, such as paying $15 for $48 seats for the lyon opera ballet tomorrow. a standard perk is access to all sorts of licensed content -- journal articles, ebooks, databases, etc.

― youn, Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

i still remember crying in class (what a dope! but i was flabbergasted!) after getting back my first midterm in calculus my first quarter of college. i think i've forgotten all the calculus i thought i knew.

― youn, Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

q: what do you call a student who is in their 10th year of a doctoral program?
a: a stalingrad! get it? "stallin' grad"? har har har

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:07 (twenty-one years ago)

oh man i kill me

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:07 (twenty-one years ago)

q: what do you call a 1950s studies major?
a: a retrograd!

(take that, am!)

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:09 (twenty-one years ago)

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "1950s STUDIES"

― pedanteur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:14 (twenty-one years ago)

1950s studies = obsessively watching "i love lucy" and "happy days" reruns?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:16 (twenty-one years ago)

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "1950s STUDIES"

haha how much do you want to bet there soon will be?

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:24 (twenty-one years ago)

$17,000

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks, I'll take a check.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

By day 2 of this quarter, I was already behind in the reading.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Thursday, 30 September 2004 03:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll be dressing like Joe McCarthy.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 30 September 2004 04:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I like how this answers this thread and the Halloween thread at once.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 September 2004 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

this is my costume: http://www.swchick.com/images/events/dc_2003/images/dc_2003_134.jpg

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 30 September 2004 04:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I like how the guy behind you is appreciating your package.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 September 2004 05:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Zombie Foucault the Trekkie!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 30 September 2004 05:11 (twenty-one years ago)

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