# Request for good luck wishes-- grad school trauma, #7b **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 2, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003 "2002-11-02T16:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/1 "2002-11-02T16:03:45Z")
So, after God knows how long I really and for true WILL be taking my major qualifying exams this Thursday (written) and the following Friday (oral-- inquisitional Jedi-mind-trick style). One of my committee is one of the full historiography and methodology with dates and citations types, another is a “big-picture” too-clever-synthetic-analysis type, and the third is a total wild card. Long grueling essays followed by pointed questions. Wish me luck. My best wishes to other out there in similar situations. . . ---
**Author:** ![Kaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Kaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaya)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/2 "2002-11-02T16:49:02Z")
goodluck capybara ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/3 "2002-11-02T17:43:03Z")
Wow - best of luck. I know I’m already dreading mine and they’re still about 18 months away. You can do it. I doubt they want you to fail, really. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/4 "2002-11-02T19:19:56Z")
Good luck! (Eight days apart? Damn, that’s got to be hard – I’m in the middle of four _weeks_ of no-man’s-land between the writtens and the orals. Oh well, at least you get to get it over quickly, before you start forgetting things.) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/5 "2002-11-03T02:26:54Z")
I’m still undergrad, and I am terrified of the comprehensive that I know i’ll have to take as a grad student! Especially the orals - I just can’t think well on my feet - I need to write things out and work through stuff. Oh well, thats a few years from now. Assuming I survive this semester! Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Yersinia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/6 "2002-11-03T17:46:53Z")
I’m in my first semester of graduate school and exams make me nervous already… Good luck to alls y’all! ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/7 "2002-11-03T19:06:07Z")
Good luck, **capybara**. For unknown reasons my department makes us start taking our comps (there are 4 separate exams: translation and history of literature in Latin and Greek) while we’re still taking classes, which makes studying a disaster. Theoretically it’s supposed to get us all through faster, but I doubt it actually has that effect. I have to take my first two at the end of this coming semester and I’m already a nervous wreck. TA, take three classes and study for two exams: where am I supposed to find the time? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/8 "2002-11-04T00:13:43Z")
Good luck! I’m currently in the application process for grad school - I _can’t wait_ to get back to school! (I’m sooo glad the MA program I’m most interested in doesn’t have a qualifying exam - just a thesis. I’m a terrible test-taker.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/request-for-good-luck-wishes-grad-school-trauma-7b/135003/9 "2002-11-04T00:36:33Z")
Been there and done that. Mine was only a Master’s Oral and it was still nerve wracking. Best of luck from a fellow Santa Barbarian. Haj