Well, its been awhile since I've updated this blog. My classes start tomorrow for Winter Semester, so I feel I should update on the last one. I have been very busy with classes, but to be honest it was a difficult semester and I had a hard time writing about it. But, as many wise people have advised, I've decided to cut myself some slack.
Each one of my classes had three exams, so I will break down the semester that way.
I started the semester with 3 classes, 9 hours a typical graduate school load. Only I am not a typical grad student. I am an old timer with kids. It had been 8 years since I finished my MBA and a few years since my last Calculus class.
The first set of tests were a mixed bag. An A and two Cs. Cs are not acceptable in grad school and my Math class was killing me. After the first round of tests, I dropped my Microeconomics class. It was the only class not required for my PhD, so I felt it was the best choice. I was not able to keep up with the work load for three classes. The A was in Stats, no surprise there since I had a lot of stats in business school. The C was in Math Econ. I was devastated by that. I truly felt like my time here was over. I was lucky that after the first test our study group picked up a new member, one who was actually studied during the day as opposed to in the evening as half our group did. So thanks, Andrew and George, for all those mornings in the library.
Second set of tests did not go well in spite of my decreased work load. I increased the time I was studying for Math but not Stats and got in trouble on my second Stats exam. Both of my second tests were Cs. Not much improvement overall. I struggled to find a good routine and was feeling highly inadequate. Even though I had increased my efforts in my Math Econ class it wasn't translating to the tests. I will say I am very thankful for my friends that helped pull me through this month. Especially my friend Melissa, who watched the girls during my Stats exam when my sitter had a emergency.
Finals were not spectacular. I began to buckle under the pressure of my classes. In the end I feel I did as well as I could on my Stats exam but beat myself on my Math exam. I studies the material and was a prepared as I could be. But I panicked on my Math exam and did not do as well as I know I could have. I ended with a B in Stats and a C in Math Econ. In graduate school, a 3.0 is required so I will begin next semester on academic probation. Not the best showing, but now that is has happened and the world has come crashing down on me I know it will be okay.
I would like to take a moment to thank all of my classmates who helped me through either by studying with me or just listening to me when I was having a hard time. And to those few people that did both. I really feel like at this level we learn as much from each other as we do our professors.
