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The past week has been quite the exhilarating ride for me. On Tuesday, I learned that my grandmother was going in for surgery to get a pacemaker installed. The placement of the pacemaker went ok, but somehow the surgeon nicked her lung (which caused the lung to collapse) (similar to what happened to Brandon Banks, though my grandmother wasn't involved in any stabbings other than that of the surgeon). The good news is that she is stable, and improving rapidly, and if all goes well she'll be able to leave the hospital tonight or tomorrow.
On a personal note, I had one of the worst days of graduate school yet - it was so bad one of my professors took it upon himself to inform me that I wasn't PhD. material. I think the next few weeks will determine a lot in terms of my future - will his admittedly harsh (and hopefully unfounded) words come true and defeat me or will I manage to overcome his nastiness and succeed? If you would have asked me yesterday I would have said that I was about to give up...but luckily time does heal most wounds (whether physical or mental) and so I'm cautiously optimistic today.
Finally, in one bit of good news, I learned that I was officially named the winner of this year's Gint-a-Cuffs. I've got to think of something fun to do with my prize box - some sort of contest or something... Ideas are appreciated there.
One more note, I know I owe a bunch of you email replies for trades and what-not, hang in there. I haven't had the time to do much in the way of card stuff all week - but I hope to catch up with everything this weekend.
On a personal note, I had one of the worst days of graduate school yet - it was so bad one of my professors took it upon himself to inform me that I wasn't PhD. material. I think the next few weeks will determine a lot in terms of my future - will his admittedly harsh (and hopefully unfounded) words come true and defeat me or will I manage to overcome his nastiness and succeed? If you would have asked me yesterday I would have said that I was about to give up...but luckily time does heal most wounds (whether physical or mental) and so I'm cautiously optimistic today.
Finally, in one bit of good news, I learned that I was officially named the winner of this year's Gint-a-Cuffs. I've got to think of something fun to do with my prize box - some sort of contest or something... Ideas are appreciated there.
One more note, I know I owe a bunch of you email replies for trades and what-not, hang in there. I haven't had the time to do much in the way of card stuff all week - but I hope to catch up with everything this weekend.
Comments
DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP! THE EGOS OF COLLEGE PROFESSORS IS UNEQUALLED EXCEPT BY MDs (I work in a hospital).
ReplyDeleteKeep pushing! You can do it!
(guess what the word verification for this post is..."career" - if that isn't ironic!) : )
Not PhD material? Hell, I would take that as a complement. I know way too many d-bag PhDs to think that it is some sort of magical designation that makes you better than everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI once had a teacher in high school say he wouldn't recommend me for regular calculus because I couldnt handle it. I told him, to his face, that he was a terrible teacher and I was actually going to take AP calculus. He said I would fail. I aced AB and BC calc exams. I recently had an opportunity to revisit my high school as an aerospace engineer to talk to calculus students. I swung by his classroom on the way out and let him know how much I appreciated his ignorance.
My WV is "press", so press on my friend.
yup - as a college professor (yikes, it's true!) and as a guy who was told he couldn't cut it at various points of my life - i know both sides of that fence. there are plenty of egotistical idiots with phd's. thats one reason i refuse to call them doctor. point is, dont let that person's opinion stop you from going after what you believe in or want to earn. just push on and prove them wrong. if it's in you, it will show. the best is when you succeed and they tell you they were wrong. i had it happen a few times. dont give up, brother.
ReplyDeletei agree with everyone here....you're only Ph.D. material if YOU decide to do a Ph.D. (and pass the qualifying exams). Anything else that anyone else says (including professors and advisors) are just annoying roadblocks. I don't know anything about the research needed in the mathematics field, but the most important character traits needed for a Ph.D. are stubbornness (to get through it), dedication (to get through it), and the ability to deflect or channel criticism (because they will never be satisfied even after 4-5 years of backbreaking research and many published papers). Good luck and if you want it, go get it!
ReplyDeleteI hope everything goes well with your grandmother - and don't listen to the mean old professor. It sounds like this was a flippant comment, not in a constructive feedback / evaluation kind of environment. Comments like that come from frustration or insecurity from the commenter.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your grandmother, hope she gets well soon.
ReplyDeleteYour professor is a douche. Be an even bigger douche than he is and show his ass up. Get TWO PhDs! Roll up the diplomas and go air drum a kickass drum solo IN HIS FACE!
What the hell is PhD material anyway? Do or do not, there is no material.
What everybody else said! All over again!
ReplyDeleteDitto, with another story. I'm getting my master's in special ed teaching. 5 years ago I volunteered in a classroom and the teacher told me, after 5 minutes of being with the kids, that I would be "more of a friend to the kids than a real teacher."
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say she was fired a year later and I'm a month from student teaching lol.