DU Grad Students ....

[amandae]

How are you feeling out there?? Anyone stressed yet, as the semester winds down to finals and final papers?

I'm trying to stay sane ... I find though that being a grad student, in general, is difficult. Primarily because I am part of a large commuter university so there is little exchange of ideas outside of class. It's so much easier to truly learn new concepts and get a handle on the profession your studying to enter, when you have someone to talk to about it. Anyone else feel that solitude?

:hug: :grouphug: to fellow grad students along with :donut: :donut: :donut: :donut: (emphasis on the coffee!).

BTW, I'm studying Political Science ....

[Sandpiper]

1. Law Student Here

And not stressed quite yet. I'm on Spring Break, so it's the last calm before the storm.

I also go to a commuter school, so I understand your frustration about limited opportunities for interaction with fellow students outside of class.

On top of that, I'm married, so that rules out me going clubbing or hanging out at bars with my classmates during my leisure time.

Anyway, hope that all goes well for you as the semester winds down.

[amandae]

14. I hear what you're saying ....

Hanging out with classmates during leisure time impossible here. I have no leisure time. Between school, my husband, house and three kids (ages 6 and under), there's NO time to grab a cup of coffee with a classmate and discuss what we're reading. It does make you feel isolated. It feels as though there is a HUGE gap between my school life and home life, with very little in either of those lives intersecting.

I'm glad that I'm in school, I enjoy what I'm learning ... but this time of year I begin to question my sanity for staying in school ...

Good luck with the rest of your semester!! And enjoy Spring Break!

:hi:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. Finished one paper, two more to go!

No sweat.
Just acres and acres of gastric ulcers.

[mike_c]

3. awww, you guys have got it too easy....

Back when I was a graduate student we wrote code in FORTRAN and COBOL and pounded on ancient keyboards until our fingers bled. Why, in those days we either had to hunt and kill our lab material or do dissections upon ourselves. Sure, we whined about it too, but pain built character! So quit your complaining and read another paper! Somebody should tell your advisors that you've got time to be posting on DU....

[Sufi Marmot]

6. Advisor? I have an advisor?

Somebody should tell your advisors that you've got time to be posting on DU....

Who is this mysterious "advisor" you speak of?

-SM, only somewhat bitter...

[DrWeird]

4. It looks like our new post doc isn't going to show up.

We hired him so we could get some results for the June 1st deadline of the grant application I need to fund my thesis. My workload may soon double.

[Sufi Marmot]

5. I've started writing my thesis and I'm trying to write a paper...

as well as finish experiments for that paper. Pray for me.

-SM, oh so tired of grad school...

[drhilarius]

7. I've got three 20 pagers due at roughly the same time. n/t

[ChrisNYC]

8. Enjoy School

I just graduated from law school last year (May 03) and what you hear really is true -- work is much worse. There is no break. I may take a week of vacation, but then it's back to work. I want my summers back! I want a month during the Holidays! Oh well, at least I can pay my bills.... (Sort of)

[Interrobang]

9. Depends on your programme, I guess...

My MA was year-round; we started in early September and finished in mid-August -- no real "summer break" to speak of. If I'd gone directly into the PhD programme (aieee!), I would have had about 3 weeks between wrapping up and starting over. I could easily see it overlapping for some people, but I was one of the few students hung up about submitting paperwork (not papers, paperwork) and stuff on time.

I found I worked *much* harder in grad school than at the job I got laid off from in October. Then again, between the loans, grants, and the income from the two part-time jobs, the money was better, although the workweek was arguably longer. (Never mind the "term break," such as those are, either, because I had pneumonia and nearly died. At least when you're working people aren't usually so hypercompetitive they call you a wimp and ridicule you for staying home when you've got a 103F fever and a hacking cough and an infected everything like my colleagues did in grad school...when I went to the clinic, the doctor said, "It's a good thing you came in here today instead of tomorrow. If you'd come tomorrow, you'd've been leaving by ambulance to the nearest hospital, and I would have made them admit you.")

So depending on where you are and the programme you're in, you might have an easier time of it in grad school, or at work.

[curse10]

11. My law program is year round

:-( I have a two week break at the end of May, then start my scond year June 1.

[curse10]

10. Law student

In the final stretch of my first year. It's actually going to get a little easier here next week. This week was hell, though. Community Lawyering projects due, a memo in Contracts, excessive reading all around.

[kodi]

12. old grad student here. you will look back in 10 years & relish this time

count on it.

at no other time in your life will you be able to gain as much nascent wisdom. its just that you dont see it because you are too close to it now. but in reflection these will be your finest days for growth.

carpe diem!

[Viking12]

13. Amen kodi!

I long for the days when my #1 priority was reading good books, talking about them with good friends, and writing papers on them. Now it's dealing with truant undergrads, department politics, & finding a frekin' parking space. Summer, and the time to catch up on some serious reading, is almost here. :)

[RobinA]

15. I'm Working

and going to grad school. I have one test to go. Work is causing me a lot more problems that school. I wish I could quit work and go to school fulltime.