Really wish I could RDWHAHB School sux

[sonofgrok]

Yes, this is a b!t@#, moan, vent thread.
No I am not some 20 year old in college for the first time. I am in my 30s and decided to go back. One day about a year and half ago I decided that I really hated my job (a rather successful career actually). I decided to go back to school to get a PhD in pharmacy so I saved up a little cash, quit my job and went to get re-learned. Along the way I decided that I had fallen in love with biology and chemistry. So I decided to get a BS in Bio with a minor in chem and then do the grad school thing and do a PhD in bio. Money wasn't the issue. I quit a job making 6 figures and in the bio field will probably make a quarter of that but who cares if you love your work right?

Everything has been going swimmingly until this semester. Awesome grades, enjoying classes etc. This semester I decided I was a badass and overloaded my schedule. I even had to get departmental permission to take certain classes together at the same time due to their workload. The result is that I am getting absolutely raped by school this semester. What the hell was I thinking? It doesn't help that I am simultaneously taking 3 labs (1 organic chem and 2 bio labs). I also happened to get a couple TA Nazis in those labs that have decided their stupid 1 credit hour lab should require more work than any ultra intensive 3 or 4 credit hour lecture class.

I am at the cracking point and really just need to relax and have a homebrew. Too bad nothings bottled.

Actually... I feel a little better already just bitching about it. Time to write a scientific paper and study some more o-chem.

 

[Homercidal]

Look on the bright side. You can always RETAKE those classes...

 

[HawksBrewer]

Just keep your vision planted squarely on the light at the end of the tunnel. When I was in school for my doctorate I had days like that and weeks like that. It is all worth it to do something you love the rest of your life. Work no longer exists, you are just going to do something you love that you happen to get paid to do. Life will be good for you man!

 

[Quadrupled]

So while I was working on my PhD, I did fine in my classes but perpetually felt like I was an idiot and somehow the chemistry department mistakenly let me into the program. After classes finally ended and my research was the sole focus of my time, again, I was doing fine but was always second guessing myself and my abilities to be a "doctor".

Only after earning my PhD did I learn that nearly every single scientist who I currently work with and went through graduate school had the same self doubt/loathing/misery the same as I had experienced. Unfortunately, most people feel that they are all alone and leave the program early (I had a few friends leave with Masters degrees because of this).

One of the the things that I later concluded was that graduate programs don't necessarily grant degrees to folks because they are exceptionally gifted, but grant degrees to gifted folks who have exceptionally strong wills and are able to ride through the hills and valleys.

Good luck, and remember others have done it and you can make it through the hard times. Also, don't be too proud to admit you've over done it; if you have too many credits, consider dropping the load down a bit.

 

[sonofgrok]

Thanks for all the reassurance. My grandfather (double PhD) always tells me "They don't give doctorates to the the smartest people. They give them to the most stubborn".

 

[Quadrupled]

"They don't give doctorates to the the smartest people. They give them to the most stubborn".

BINGO!!!



On a side note, doing it once is damn rough, I can't even fathom going through everything another time to earn a second PhD. Wow, congrats to him.

 

[david_42]

Too bad nothings bottled.

Get a long straw. Sometimes, you have to push the schedule.

Worst term I had was second term my sophomore year. Carried 23 hours (a normal load was 13-15), just to get all of my prereqs and ROTC classes done. Then the last term senior year I only had 12 hours to finish, so I added freshman astronomy - Carl Sagan lecturing!

"They don't give doctorates to the the smartest people. They give them to the most stubborn".

So right! My third sister took seven years on her's. The department head finally told her "adviser" to back off and send her to the orals.

 

[bierhaus15]

Worst term I had was second term my sophomore year. Carried 23 hours (a normal load was 13-15), just to get all of my prereqs and ROTC classes done. Then the last term senior year I only had 12 hours to finish, so I added freshman astronomy - Carl Sagan lecturing!

Aww, I wish Carl was teaching (or alive) when I went through, I would have totally taken his class. Hated ROTC though.

 

[headbanger]

"suck it up sissy-boy".. that's what my math teacher, Linda Mayhew, would tell you. She had a 12-hour final for calculus 1-4, there was an optional 2-hour final but in the 30 or so years she'd been teaching nobody had ever passed it. I was there for all 12 hours on both the calc-one and calc-two finals and didn't finish either one, got a B on both though and felt very fortunate.

Funny thing is she was, and still is last I heard, teaching at a local community college, I transferred to a university after my second year and breezed through calc 3 and 4 along with diff equations, discrete math, etc... She had taught me all that and more in two years and she made me learn it, I really didn't have a choice..

Anyway, best teacher I ever had but damn sure tough as nails. Did I mention that she chain smoked marlboro reds and drank coffee all day? Imagine that aroma wafting over your shoulder while your trying to learn the same stuff NASA teaches to chimps in about 30 days.

Which really brings me to my point I guess. Suck it up and come to the understanding that once you obtain that coveted Phd you'll basically be nothing more than a well trained chimpanzee.. that sentiment should at least relieve some of the pressure you've been feeling of late.

Just kidding really but hang in there and good luck.