Grad School - Spring Semester

School is back in session! I came into this semester with my head held high and ready to do the work.

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Then I started reading the syllabi, textbooks, and getting homework and got the reality knocked into me.

But to be honest, this semester has been MUCH better than last semester for a number of reasons. I (may) have found my people. I am taking 3 classes on Monday and Wednesday from 4pm until 7:55pm. Now you may be wondering why I didn't just say 8pm, but we'll get back to that in a few. I also have class on Tuesday, which is a 50-minute problem session related to the proof course I'm taking. 

Now let's get into these people whom I've been drawn to and vice versa. The proof class I'm taking is HARD y'all. To put it in perspective how hard this class is, there was eight of us to start, and now there's five. Our professor, a Black woman (side note: this the first Black woman I've had teach me math since my sophomore year of high school), told us the first day that if we didn't have any prior knowledge of proofs that we'd should drop this class and take another that would solidify the foundation. Now if you remember my struggles last semester, you'll understand why I was hesitant to reach out to my classmates to start a study group. So I tapped on my classmate who held me down last semester to get a study group going, but he flaked and I had to do it myself. I reached out to everyone and only one person got back to me. And guess what! She's a Black woman! (important because last semester I didn't have any classmates the mirrored my primary identity). She and I have been meeting up every weekend for the past month to work on homework for this class. Just about everyone else has given us the cold shoulder, but we have each other and that's what matters the most. We are succeeding and failing together and I LOVE it! 

She and I have another class together and we have formed a study group along with a male classmate of ours. We've been getting together on Sundays to get homework done, which means I've been on campus 7 days a week for the last six weeks. And let me tell you, this better pay off. On average I have been spending 8 hours on campus every weekend in an effort to get homework done. In fact, spring break is next week and we're planning to get together a few times to complete the assignments that are due when we return. I am so grateful to have connected with some of my classmates this year who are willing to collaborate, crack jokes, and just be ourselves together. I've grown more comfortable with my classmates and the PhD students and it's been a blast. Just a couple of weeks ago we had an intense discussion about iconic Black movies and Denzel's best movies. 

On the flip side though, I've grown annoyed with other things. For example, a classmate and I were having a discussion about our frustrations with our Real Analysis course before the start of our Statistics course. A classmate in the Statistics course, interjected (issue #1) and began to tell us that Real Analysis is manageable and that we needed to buckle down and study and work with our other classmates (issue #2). Now let me explain why I have these two issues. For the first issue, she an I were having a conversation with each other and he rudely shared his unwanted thoughts and suggestions. And secondly, his statements were completely out of turn because he doesn't have that class with us and does not know our work ethic nor did he know that we had made a number of attempts to work with our 4 other classmates and they curved us every time. I also don't appreciate this young man trying to man-splain how graduate school works to me. 

Another annoyance I've had this semester is professors not ending class on time. For perspective and as I mentioned earlier, I have class Monday and Wednesday from 4pm until 7:55pm. My first class is from 4-5:15pm, second class from 5:20-6:35pm, and last class is from 6:40-7:55pm. As you can see, I have 5 minutes between each class. That means five minutes to go to the bathroom, grab a snack, or make a quick phone call if necessary. Now I'm not sure if these professors just don't know what time class ends, can't tell time, or just don't care but they have not been respectful of my time. The professor of my first class was habitually ending class late, like going until the start of my next class. I wasn't a fan of just walking out because I already wasn't understanding the material and didn't want to miss anything. Eventually, I grew tired of it and told him that some of us had a class immediately following his and that he was forcing us to choose between leaving and missing important material or being late to our next class. He didn't get the hint the first few classes after that conversation, so I began to do what every classroom educator abhors, I started packing my stuff up 2-3 minutes before class was set to end. If he wasn't finished by the time class is scheduled to end, I left.

 Now my second professor is pretty good about ending on time, so I have no beef with her in that area. However, during our last couple of quizzes, she's been farting and excusing herself which is THE FUNNIEST thing to me and my classmate. Lastly, by the time I get to my third class I'm honestly checked out. I try to pay attention as best I can, but when 7:55pm hits I'm ret ta go! This professor will wander in a couple minutes after the class start time and then still be teaching 5+ minutes after class is supposed to end. Bruh, it's 8pm! I should be in my car pulling off to go home! One day this man looked at the clock at 7:53 pm and I kid you not, he said, "Oh, it's almost time to leave" and proceeded to teach for ten more minutes!! Finally, the next time he went over time, a classmate interrupted and then we as a class made him aware that class ends at 7:55pm. And from that day on, he's been timely. He even let us out twenty-five minutes early this week! Moral of the story is to speak up and make people aware of the qualms they have with you. They will either adjust their behavior accordingly or remain the same and then you can rest easy with whatever choice you decide to make. 

I'm at the point where I don't hate it here (as much) and I've grown comfortable with my discomfort. Turns out, grad school isn't so bad after all! As always, if you have any similar stories or just have thoughts, you're welcome to share them in the comments below! 

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