WTF Archive

Monday, January 18, 2010

WTF: I was at the Health Services last week and the nurse, I guess, after seeing my age asked if I'm doing grad studies right now, and shamefully I had to tell her I wasn’t. My idiotic older sister who's doing her masters had to call last night and tell my parents about some relatives' kid who's doing his PhD in Industrial Engineering. He's 22. Just one more person for them to compare me with and one more reason for them to feel like I will never become anything, and just one more reason for me to get depressed on how nothing ever works out for me. Am I the only 22 year old who’s just in 3rd year? I changed programs a few times. No program has ever felt right. I just never seemed to fit in anywhere. But I’m willing to prove them all wrong, especially myself.


27 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 3:04 PM

    i m 22. wont grad til next year. who cares. did u learn stuff during ur time here? its wut u do when u get out that matters

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 3:20 PM

    I'm only 20 and in third, but I've basically had the exact same philosophy of proving every program is terrible [even at my own expense] because even interesting programs have terrible professors, etc. It's a superficial impression based on taking a wide variation of electives since I don't have the nerve to switch majors, but I don't buy into the whole "everything will be so much better when I switch to Program X" notion. It's not really the content that sucks - I find pretty much anything interesting, it's university that's totally bullshit.

    You might end up have a hard time with interviews explaining why you switched programs if you never found anything you really liked. But who really cares.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 3:43 PM

    I know a 22 year old in first year undergrad :)

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 3:54 PM

    I'm older than 22 and in first year :S

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 4:13 PM

    I know a girl who entered university at the age of 23. You're not alone.

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 4:18 PM

    I will be 22 when I do 2B so don't even worry about it.

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  7. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 4:20 PM

    switching programs for one reason or another is a much more common situation than one might be led to believe.

    people who switch just don't really know each other. So how are they gonna form the "do what's best for you" clique?

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  8. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 4:21 PM

    I'll be 22 when I do 3B, so don't sweat it... Our generation is going to live to be older than many generations previous. I dont' get why people get so hung up over a number.

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 4:37 PM

    I'm 21 and only in second year. I don't regret the time I had off but I agree, I hate the attitude you get from some people on campus.

    I'll be 22 at the end of 2B.

    My philosophy on it is that it's not going to matter what year you graduated your undergrad at, it's where you're going to be in 15-20 years and what you have accomplished then

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  10. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 4:38 PM

    I'm 20 and in 3B but debating on switching programs. I just get frustrated at how poorly the university is run and how bad some professors are. The frustration leads to stress which then leads to depression. Now I question if switching programs will really change things.

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  11. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 5:10 PM

    ^ The problem is that you might have an overly romanticized idea of the program you're going to switch in. If you problem is the administration and not the actual content, it doesn't matter what you switch into since that won't solve the problem. University is generally horrible.

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  12. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 5:12 PM

    I started University at the age of 20. I don't regret doing so because I did acquire skills in the working world which greatly benefit my ability in academia. Some people at UW have the worst social skills I have ever witnessed, and that is extremely detrimental when trying to maintain a good political standing

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  13. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 5:42 PM

    how many of the poeple who have spent time hopping fro faculty to faculty (program to program?) started off in a highly technical field like an engineering or math/cs?

    I'm willing to bet a large majority.

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  14. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 5:54 PM

    from the sounds of it I thought you would be a LOT older.. 22 is not old at all!! lol I'm a year younger than you in third year, not a huge difference at all.. and my program is full of mature students so it's really not a huge deal

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  15. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 6:01 PM

    I kind of am in the same situation. I'm 22 now and (might) be graduating at the end of the summer and nothing being taught in classes here has really grabbed me. It's hard to put effort into getting good marks when you're just not interested in anything.

    I get the depression part too. My baseline has definitely moved down since coming to Waterloo. I equate not being interested in anything to not being good at anything which gets me down. I honestly would rather just work on my own hobbies than be in classes most hours of the week but I feel like I have some duty to not disappoint my parents which is why I'm still doing classes.

    When I walk around town and I see a nook under a staircase or under a deck/walkway I think "that will be a good spot to sleep when I'm homeless" because I honestly do believe that I will be homeless for at least a year at some point in my life.

    It's sort of like I'm stuck. Do not want to graduate because I have shit marks so whenever undergrad is over, that's it. But I'm not interested in any of my classes and so I feel like I could just be working on my own things instead, at least until I run out of money, and I can't really imagine what comes after that but there are several possibilities (homelessness, move back in with parents, eventual suicide).

    Basically I am anxious to see how long I last.

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  16. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 6:32 PM

    6:01 I think you need you definitely need a.) a hug and b.) to reconsider how important it is to please your parents at the expense of your happiness. Take the term off if you need to because if you`re even thinking suicide is in your future you need to take a break and figure out what will make you happy and successful. If you don`t want to take the term off maybe let off some steam at counselling services?

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  17. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 6:52 PM

    I'm in the exact same boat as you 6:01. On top of all that I'm expected to get a good job for the summer which is not looking good as of yet.

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  18. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 6:53 PM

    OP here. Thanks for all the comments.
    6:01, I can relate to everything you wrote, including the suicide part, which i've also thought of. And the depression part has especially taken a toll on my marks. If you want to talk, let me know. I wouldn't mind posting my email here for you. Guess it feels good to know there's someone out there going through the same as me.

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  19. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 6:53 PM

    Not to deviate from OP's issue, which it seems people have been able to addres pretty well, but 6:01 - your parents love you. Chances are if you're not happy, they aren't either, and it's highly unlikely they would want you to feel the way you do.

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  20. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 7:07 PM

    *address

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  21. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 7:10 PM

    The issue isn't that 6:01's parents don't love him, it's that they have no idea what to do if he doesn't. We're told going to university is a good thing, and our parents are told you're a good parent if your kid goes to university. Very rarely is the parent or their child going to have a fucking clue what to do when it turns out that university isn't the fairy tale they were promised.

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  22. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 7:18 PM

    i'm so glad i read this post. i felt like i'm the only 22 year old in 3B because i spent the first few years of uni screwing around, as well as taking random electives trying to decide i wanted to major in. now i'm finally doing courses for my program and decided what i wanted to minor in... but some of my lower year classes are full of immature kids who are still pretty fresh from high school. where are all you other 22+ undergrads??

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  23. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 9:02 PM

    I'm 22 and in 3B too, I've made some mismanaged my time in the past haha ;).

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  24. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2010 at 11:44 PM

    Im 22 in my 3B term. I would stay in school forever if I could.

    Im in no hurry to grow up/

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  25. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2010 at 1:07 AM

    I'm 21 and just started PhD but my ex started her's at 20 :S

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  26. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2010 at 6:43 AM

    ^^rollover and die.

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  27. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2010 at 8:24 AM

    3:54 here. I think it's important to remember that 1) it isn't a race, and 2) 30 is the new 20. I would love to meet some "older" undergrads as well....

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