- #1
intwo
- 116
- 1
I’m disappointed with the position I’ve put myself in and I’d appreciate advice on how to move forward. For reference I’m 30 years old and living in the Chicago, IL suburbs.
I graduated with a bachelors degree in 2012. It took five years and I failed many physics and math classes, but I somehow ended up with enough passing credits to fulfill the requirements for an interdisciplinary science degree. I didn’t deserve the degree. I rationalized my failing classes by pinning blame on the school, the teachers, and the textbooks. I spent more effort finding homework solutions online than I did in working out problems. I was fortunate that my university offered me a last-minute position in the masters program.
I started participating in classes, working on assignments myself or with peers, and meeting with teachers when I encountered obstacles. My grades weren’t perfect, but there was a positive progression from undergraduate to the first year of graduate school to the second year. Ultimately, I never finished my thesis and I did not earn a masters degree.
In retrospect, I should have worked harder to finish the thesis. It was an ambitious project for me and it aligned with research at my ideal PhD program. My advisor was extremely supportive and offered to help me finish on two separate occasions after the masters program, but I still didn’t finish. It has been three or four years since I’ve contacted him.
I’ve worked various retail and manual labor jobs the last five years. I miss learning and sharing ideas with others. I miss the challenges of coursework and research. I’d love to return to school, but I haven’t accomplished anything that would suggest that I am capable of handling research commitments. At this point I have a few thoughts on ways to proceed:
(1) Reconnect with my advisor to see if he needs any help with research or if he would be interested in restarting my research. Admittedly, I’m a bit embarrassed to contact him because I haven’t done anything productive in years and I’ve already wasted his time three times in the past. But I feel like this is the only way to continue to a career in math or physics because I would need letters of recommendation from him and other teachers at the university.
(2) Learn programming and find a programming job. I did some programming with my research and it was fun, but not as enjoyable as the math and physics aspects. It looks like there are “boot camps” that get users up to speed in a few months.
(3) Find a better job.
Ideally I’d like to return to math or physics, but I’m open to advice and suggestions especially if anyone returned to school or started school after 30. Maybe I need to do another bachelors degree somewhere?
This was a bit longer than I anticipated. Thank you for reading.
I graduated with a bachelors degree in 2012. It took five years and I failed many physics and math classes, but I somehow ended up with enough passing credits to fulfill the requirements for an interdisciplinary science degree. I didn’t deserve the degree. I rationalized my failing classes by pinning blame on the school, the teachers, and the textbooks. I spent more effort finding homework solutions online than I did in working out problems. I was fortunate that my university offered me a last-minute position in the masters program.
I started participating in classes, working on assignments myself or with peers, and meeting with teachers when I encountered obstacles. My grades weren’t perfect, but there was a positive progression from undergraduate to the first year of graduate school to the second year. Ultimately, I never finished my thesis and I did not earn a masters degree.
In retrospect, I should have worked harder to finish the thesis. It was an ambitious project for me and it aligned with research at my ideal PhD program. My advisor was extremely supportive and offered to help me finish on two separate occasions after the masters program, but I still didn’t finish. It has been three or four years since I’ve contacted him.
I’ve worked various retail and manual labor jobs the last five years. I miss learning and sharing ideas with others. I miss the challenges of coursework and research. I’d love to return to school, but I haven’t accomplished anything that would suggest that I am capable of handling research commitments. At this point I have a few thoughts on ways to proceed:
(1) Reconnect with my advisor to see if he needs any help with research or if he would be interested in restarting my research. Admittedly, I’m a bit embarrassed to contact him because I haven’t done anything productive in years and I’ve already wasted his time three times in the past. But I feel like this is the only way to continue to a career in math or physics because I would need letters of recommendation from him and other teachers at the university.
(2) Learn programming and find a programming job. I did some programming with my research and it was fun, but not as enjoyable as the math and physics aspects. It looks like there are “boot camps” that get users up to speed in a few months.
(3) Find a better job.
Ideally I’d like to return to math or physics, but I’m open to advice and suggestions especially if anyone returned to school or started school after 30. Maybe I need to do another bachelors degree somewhere?
This was a bit longer than I anticipated. Thank you for reading.