- #1
Fellowroot
- 92
- 0
When I was in high school I loved science, NASA and outer space stuff. For some reason even though I loved science, I never really applied or pushed myself academically. When I finished high school I started taking classes at my local community college.
I only took a few classes at a time and had to drop some remedial math classes. Then I had a life changing event happen to me and I decided to really take college seriously. I started making good grades and got interested in science again. I got really excited about physics and decided that I wanted to become a scientist and make a contribution to science.
I double majored in math and physics and I will be graduating in the fall of 2012. For the past few months I have been thinking about grad school and how to apply and get in. Now I realize that you are supposed to apply in the fall and NOT graduate in the fall! This is really upsetting and disappointing to me. The way my double major worked out was erratic, since it's a small university, classes don't happen when you want and you can only take was is available.
Nobody ever told me this information or guided me through this process before. I'm the first and only person in my family who is going to go to grad school. I thought I was doing a good job by trying to plan out grad school a year in advanced. Of course I could stay at my current school but here is the deal. I need to decide if I want to go for math or physics.
Option 1) \(\displaystyle Do grad school for math at current school. There are classes to take in spring.Option 2) [PHYSICS] If I do physics, I have been told that I need a class called Math Methods. For the fall I have two math classes still left and one of them conflicts with Math Methods. So I would have to take a math class at another school and transfer. The other required math classes are Abstract Algebra and Logic.
Option 3) Take off and apply to schools in spring. I could use the time to do well on the GRE. Or doing something that I've wanted to do for a while. For the last 3 summers, I've been in summer school with no breaks. I would like a break, but this would just seem to be too long.
There maybe other options. I don't know.
Has anyone ever been through something like this before? I could take a break from school, but I don't know if that's a good idea. I have decided that I want to get a PhD or at least try my heart out to get one.
Also, sometimes I worry about physics for grad school. I'm pretty confident with math and I'm pretty sure I could complete a masters in math, but the darn thing is that I had this dream of becoming a scientist. I guess I feel as if I don't do physics I won't be that scientist I thought I was going to be.
When I took Differential Equations I understood the material very well but now I'm in Classical Mechanics and I'm doing the work, but pretty darn hard to understand. Sometimes I think that I am not a confident in physics as I am in math and it leaves me to self doubt myself.
I almost want to say, I always wanted to do physics but now that I'm doing it I don't even know if I want it anymore. I know that sounds strange, but its just a weird feeling and I think the only reason why I get this feeling is because I've done only math for such a long time.
Honestly, right now I'm just tired. I almost feel as if I've given up. I've worked so hard for so many years and had to FIGHT to get this double major to work and one thing that I really don't need right now is to know that I'm graduating in the fall and not spring.
I know I wrote a whole story here, but that's the best way I can describe what's going on.\)
I only took a few classes at a time and had to drop some remedial math classes. Then I had a life changing event happen to me and I decided to really take college seriously. I started making good grades and got interested in science again. I got really excited about physics and decided that I wanted to become a scientist and make a contribution to science.
I double majored in math and physics and I will be graduating in the fall of 2012. For the past few months I have been thinking about grad school and how to apply and get in. Now I realize that you are supposed to apply in the fall and NOT graduate in the fall! This is really upsetting and disappointing to me. The way my double major worked out was erratic, since it's a small university, classes don't happen when you want and you can only take was is available.
Nobody ever told me this information or guided me through this process before. I'm the first and only person in my family who is going to go to grad school. I thought I was doing a good job by trying to plan out grad school a year in advanced. Of course I could stay at my current school but here is the deal. I need to decide if I want to go for math or physics.
Option 1) \(\displaystyle Do grad school for math at current school. There are classes to take in spring.Option 2) [PHYSICS] If I do physics, I have been told that I need a class called Math Methods. For the fall I have two math classes still left and one of them conflicts with Math Methods. So I would have to take a math class at another school and transfer. The other required math classes are Abstract Algebra and Logic.
Option 3) Take off and apply to schools in spring. I could use the time to do well on the GRE. Or doing something that I've wanted to do for a while. For the last 3 summers, I've been in summer school with no breaks. I would like a break, but this would just seem to be too long.
There maybe other options. I don't know.
Has anyone ever been through something like this before? I could take a break from school, but I don't know if that's a good idea. I have decided that I want to get a PhD or at least try my heart out to get one.
Also, sometimes I worry about physics for grad school. I'm pretty confident with math and I'm pretty sure I could complete a masters in math, but the darn thing is that I had this dream of becoming a scientist. I guess I feel as if I don't do physics I won't be that scientist I thought I was going to be.
When I took Differential Equations I understood the material very well but now I'm in Classical Mechanics and I'm doing the work, but pretty darn hard to understand. Sometimes I think that I am not a confident in physics as I am in math and it leaves me to self doubt myself.
I almost want to say, I always wanted to do physics but now that I'm doing it I don't even know if I want it anymore. I know that sounds strange, but its just a weird feeling and I think the only reason why I get this feeling is because I've done only math for such a long time.
Honestly, right now I'm just tired. I almost feel as if I've given up. I've worked so hard for so many years and had to FIGHT to get this double major to work and one thing that I really don't need right now is to know that I'm graduating in the fall and not spring.
I know I wrote a whole story here, but that's the best way I can describe what's going on.\)
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