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I am also a "grad school washout', though nearly fifty years have since passed. In the 20/20 vision of hindsight. I can see now that my side-step into graduate study was attempted for entirely the wrong reasons -- depressed economic conditions in the industry I hoped to work for (freight rail) and, to be honest, a simple reluctance to grow up. Twenty-five years later, I began taking graduate-level courses in accounting to sharpen my skills, and "aced" all four courses.
So I don't have any doubts that a bad first experience in grad school can be rectified later in life.
In the meantime, while I'm definitely not referring to "nose candy", I'd still advise our OP to "get himself a snootfull" of the real world.
Ok. A lot to uncover here. With that in mind, I will answer in a numbered order here.
1. Someone made a comment about my username, and I got a lot of questions about what my major is. Although my username is “bioman”, I am not a science guy at all. In fact, I hate biology. I am trying to get a masters in museum studies. The bio is short for bionic. I have a metal prosthesis in my leg.
2. Why am I going for a masters in museum studies? My lifelong dream is to work for a history museum, though with the way things are going right now, I am not sure if I’ll be able to fulfill that dream. My college professors and people in the museum field told me I needed to get a graduate degree if I had any hope of going up the rankings in the museum field. So I went for it.
3. Why am I failing these courses? Covid happened, which forced me to have to take classes online. Virtual instruction has been a tremendous challenge for me. I got through undergrad because of four things. The library, the writing center, professors office hours, and help from classmates. I didn’t have access to any of those things while having to learn remotely. Not having those things has made school so much harder for me. On top of that, the workload in grad school is absurd, and I am struggling figuring out how to manage it all. I have attended every class. I have completed every homework assignment. And I have done nothing but schoolwork during these past handful of months. I haven’t even left my parents attic, where I do my homework and virtual classes, in months. I am just as committed of a grad student as everyone else. But virtual learning has created challenge after challenge for me.
4. Why the prosthesis in my leg? I had a fierce cancer that forced me to get bones removed and replaced in my leg. I have been through so many health setbacks as I result of my cancer, which led me to have obstacles all through college as well. It’s amazing how I even got through undergrad with all of the horrible moments I faced during those years.
5. Why not withdraw and wait until after covid is over? I have been through so many setbacks in my life already, that it would suck to have another one. My life has been delayed enough. I am in my mid-twenties and I don’t have a job yet. It’s such a joke.
Life just always seems to screw me over. I have some setback happen, and it causes me to have issues with everything in life, especially school. I hope that one day, god might finally reward me for all of the hard work I’m putting in and the fight I have to put up everyday.
Thank you guys for listening. I hope you can all understand where I’m coming from.
Last edited by bigbioman23; 12-21-2020 at 10:38 PM..
Ok. A lot to uncover here. With that in mind, I will answer in a numbered order here.
1. Someone made a comment about my username, and I got a lot of questions about what my major is. Although my username is “bioman”, I am not a science guy at all. In fact, I hate biology. I am trying to get a masters in museum studies. The bio is short for bionic. I have a metal prosthesis in my leg.
2. Why am I going for a masters in museum studies? My lifelong dream is to work for a history museum, though with the way things are going right now, I am not sure if I’ll be able to fulfill that dream. My college professors and people in the museum field told me I needed to get a graduate degree if I had any hope of going up the rankings in the museum field. So I went for it.
3. Why am I failing these courses? Covid happened, which forced me to have to take classes online. Virtual instruction has been a tremendous challenge for me. I got through undergrad because of four things. The library, the writing center, professors office hours, and help from classmates. I didn’t have access to any of those things while having to learn remotely. Not having those things has made school so much harder for me. On top of that, the workload in grad school is absurd, and I am struggling figuring out how to manage it all. I have attended every class. I have completed every homework assignment. And I have done nothing but schoolwork during these past handful of months. I haven’t even left my parents attic, where I do my homework and virtual classes, in months. I am just as committed of a grad student as everyone else. But virtual learning has created challenge after challenge for me.
4. Why the prosthesis in my leg? I had a fierce cancer that forced me to get bones removed and replaced in my leg. I have been through so many health setbacks as I result of my cancer, which led me to have obstacles all through college as well. It’s amazing how I even got through undergrad with all of the horrible moments I faced during those years.
5. Why not withdraw and wait until after covid is over? I have been through so many setbacks in my life already, that it would suck to have another one. My life has been delayed enough. I am in my mid-twenties and I don’t have a job yet. It’s such a joke.
Life just always seems to screw me over. I have some setback happen, and it causes me to have issues with everything in life, especially school. I hope that one day, god might finally reward me for all of the hard work I’m putting in and the fight I have to put up everyday.
Thank you guys for listening. I hope you can all understand where I’m coming from.
Thank you for clarifying your position on some of these issues. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do to help out. Your best bet is to talk to your college councilors to figure out where you stand (That should be your priority). Have you actually tried that already? Have you spoken to any of your colleagues to find out what kind of grades they got? If most of your classmates performed poorly, you may have a better case. From what you've just said, it doesn't seem like you've got a leg to stand on, as all issues revolve around your inability to handle changes in the work environment, rather than being a physical limitation.
I am in graduate school, and I currently have two Fs. Didn’t hear back a grade for one class yet. If I get three f’s, will my program kick me out?
This will be set by the individual institution, in some cases, by specific program. Personally, my graduate program allowed for one C. Any other grades at that level or lower, you were placed on academic probation. If not rectified, you had to withdraw from graduate candidate status, and if you wanted to, you could apply for remediation and attempt to be readmitted to the program. Typically, if a graduate student is pulling C or lesser work, there is something extenuating going on in life outside of school that is affecting academic focus that might be rectified in the future, or they're simply struggling with the requirements of program and likely not a good fit (and probably shouldn't have been admitted).
This is not the time to be down on yourself. COVID has created challenges for everyone in too many ways to count.
You have some excellent writing skills and clear logical thoughts about all of this. You should realize, then, that the hopes and dreams of, well, just about everyone, is on the rocks right now.
Here's something you should know: 5 years from now, it will be the future
In 5 years, you can be here WITH a grad degree, or you can be here WITHOUT a grad degree. Your choice.
As many others have suggested - you need to speak with your advisor ASAP. Many libraries are still available, and you can use them, as you did before. I think you should consider this: If you find "remote" learning a problem, you should figure out why - because a career at a museum will involve a boatload of solitary online learning with limited resources, and you will be expected to excel - not fail. Instead of accepting this as a weakness, you need to figure out how to overcome it.
3. Why am I failing these courses? Covid happened, which forced me to have to take classes online. Virtual instruction has been a tremendous challenge for me. I got through undergrad because of four things. The library, the writing center, professors office hours, and help from classmates. I didn’t have access to any of those things while having to learn remotely. Not having those things has made school so much harder for me. On top of that, the workload in grad school is absurd, and I am struggling figuring out how to manage it all. I have attended every class. I have completed every homework assignment. And I have done nothing but schoolwork during these past handful of months. I haven’t even left my parents attic, where I do my homework and virtual classes, in months. I am just as committed of a grad student as everyone else. But virtual learning has created challenge after challenge for me.
As I said, the workload in grad school is much heavier than undergrad school (those replying here who haven't actually gone through grad school can't understand exactly how heavy it is). And the expectations are higher: a grad student getting an F not only reflects negatively on a student, it reflects negatively on the department's ability to recruit quality grad students -- and among them will be the next generation of professors. Being in grad school means you're a potential future peer for your professors. I passed the written exams for one of my programs with flying colors, but had a mediocre performance on one of my oral exams. One of my advisors came up to me afterwards and read me the riot act because my poor performance reflected negatively on him as my mentor.
You need to talk to your advisor pronto, and you may need to talk to the department head as well. If this is your dream career, you have in my estimation one chance to get this right; you should have talked to your advisor as soon as you realized you were having a problem with remote learning, and come up with a strategy to address the problem. The fact that you didn't is likely to be taken by the department as immaturity and lack of good judgement on your part. If it were me, I'd see if there's any way you can take a year off, study the course materials while you're on your "sabbatical", then post COVID redo the three courses you failed. You can suggest that to your advisor. And prepare yourself for a possible no: think about what you're going to do if you can't repair the damage.
Ok. A lot to uncover here. With that in mind, I will answer in a numbered order here.
1. Someone made a comment about my username, and I got a lot of questions about what my major is. Although my username is “bioman”, I am not a science guy at all. In fact, I hate biology. I am trying to get a masters in museum studies. The bio is short for bionic. I have a metal prosthesis in my leg.
2. Why am I going for a masters in museum studies? My lifelong dream is to work for a history museum, though with the way things are going right now, I am not sure if I’ll be able to fulfill that dream. My college professors and people in the museum field told me I needed to get a graduate degree if I had any hope of going up the rankings in the museum field. So I went for it.
3. Why am I failing these courses? Covid happened, which forced me to have to take classes online. Virtual instruction has been a tremendous challenge for me. I got through undergrad because of four things. The library, the writing center, professors office hours, and help from classmates. I didn’t have access to any of those things while having to learn remotely. Not having those things has made school so much harder for me. On top of that, the workload in grad school is absurd, and I am struggling figuring out how to manage it all. I have attended every class. I have completed every homework assignment. And I have done nothing but schoolwork during these past handful of months. I haven’t even left my parents attic, where I do my homework and virtual classes, in months. I am just as committed of a grad student as everyone else. But virtual learning has created challenge after challenge for me.
4. Why the prosthesis in my leg? I had a fierce cancer that forced me to get bones removed and replaced in my leg. I have been through so many health setbacks as I result of my cancer, which led me to have obstacles all through college as well. It’s amazing how I even got through undergrad with all of the horrible moments I faced during those years.
5. Why not withdraw and wait until after covid is over? I have been through so many setbacks in my life already, that it would suck to have another one. My life has been delayed enough. I am in my mid-twenties and I don’t have a job yet. It’s such a joke.
Life just always seems to screw me over. I have some setback happen, and it causes me to have issues with everything in life, especially school. I hope that one day, god might finally reward me for all of the hard work I’m putting in and the fight I have to put up everyday.
Thank you guys for listening. I hope you can all understand where I’m coming from.
This is all stuff you need to explain to your advisor or DGS. You have real challenges due to covid, your leg, and presumably from being cooped up in an attic. Present your case to the appropriate people. GWU also has disability support services that you should get in touch with.
OP deserves to be kicked out. One should never let it get to this point. If one has extenuating circumstances (accident, injury, other life issues) that are going to prevent effectively applying oneself to their studies then they should immediately speak with a counselor about withdrawing. At this point, the best course of action is to speak to a counselor, have a real good explanation or plea for mercy, and hope for academic probation over expulsion. I do not know this for sure but I suspect that schools are going to be extraordinarily lenient in making "covid" exceptions right now but it will still be easier to resolve if you are pro-active about it than if you stick your head in the sand and wait.
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