I was just reading the “fall Semester role call” and it seems like a lot of new grad students are out there. I just finished my MS and will start my PhD this fall. I taught for three semesters and it isn’t as bad as you think regardless of what topic you teach. Your undergraduate students assume you know more than they do. If you have gotten this far, you do know more than them. And if all else fails, just be honest; nobody likes a pretentious TA!
Any other grad students feel like they are dumber by the day? It seems like the longer you are in school the more you realize you don’t know.
Well, I certainly haven’t gotten to the point where I know nothing yet, but I do feel completely unprepared for grad school. Which is sort of funny - I’ve probably taken more classes in my field than most recently-graduated-from-undergrad people, and I have written a 30 page thesis. Still, I should know so much more!
It’s a gradual annealing process-- by the time you get out you’ll have gotten some self confidence and will suddenly realize that at some point you did become almost an authority and that the standing in front of students rambling no longer fazes you. You’ll walk into archives and tell them you’re researching something and not feel like a imposter kid playing academic dress-up. I am graduating Thursday (woo! Need to start a thread about that) and, just in time, feel more like super-junior faculty than I do like a grad student.
I’m starting grad school in a month and I feel like I know less now then I did when I started my BS. While I understand this is dumb … I clearly learned something in college, the tension of waiting is wearing at my nerves.
Ummmm…you are kidding. You must be kidding.
I’ve been through grad school. Work is worse. As I type this, I sit with heavy lids, waiting until the signal arrives that tells me I can shut down my notebook and go to sleep. Why must I wait? 'Cause after the job I’m waiting to finish finishes, I’ve got to start the next one manally. And I’m waiting. And waiting. It totally sucks. Look at the timestamp on this message, and remember that it’s West Coast time.
Congratulations!!
I know what you mean about starting to feel less and less like a little kid playing academic dress up. I’m just coming to the end of my PhD too, and its getting to the stage where I’m writing my own research and observing proposals, I’m planning my own research, and heck, I’m telling my advisor which way this project is going, not him telling me; its rather a nice feeling.
But yeah, sometimes being a grad student sucks, but sometimes, most of the time, in my opinion, the downside is definitely worth the benefits.