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Hi everyone! This is my third year of pharmacy pre reqs in college and I've been feeling pretty burnt out, although I'm not even sure that's the way to describe things. In the beginning of the term (my school's on a quarter system) I was ready and excited to finally move into more upper level work, because last year I took Org Chem (upper div) and loved it everything else has been General Chem, Principles of Bio, Intro to Stats, etc... until this year. I'm able to dive into all upper division courses, because they're all I have left and I'm stuck with Microbiology, Cell & Molec, and Anatomy & Physiology in the science department. Like I said in the beginning I was pumped. I also geared myself up for the fact that I'm admittedly a chemistry person and not exactly a bio fan - so I knew I'd need to put in more work for better grades. However here I am week 10, the week before finals and I'm gasping for air in all 3 classes (meaning a C would do at this point) I think part of it is my fault for taking on such a load because, as I'm realizing now, even though all together I have 12 credits these aren't small classes. Anyway I feel like I'm retreating back to my old habits of not studying and expecting great outcomes. This is something that has worked for me up until Organic Chemistry and Calculus. Those classes pushed me to become a person who actually studies and spends a lot of time in the library I was proud of that. However, today as I'm typing this it's like all of the hard work is unraveling. Now I'm finding any and every excuse to avoid studying, avoid the trek to the library, I even catch myself blocking out lectures. I would physically be there because I know I need to be, but I've gone from actually listening/processing the information to simply just hearing/only getting it in the moment and that doesn't help for exams. This has never happened to me before but I'm noticing it a lot now. Am I having some sort of mental shut down? Is this my brain telling me it's had enough? Has anyone ever experienced this before? I'd love to read your responses. Also, how did you overcome? Did you let yourself quit? I see it kind of as my head noticing a challenge and not liking said challenge therefore throwing a fit and trying to get me to give up... You know if I were to compare my mind to a stubborn child... But how do I push through, successfully? BTW: If your first thought is to ask, "are you sure you want to be a pharmacist" - I honestly believe with all my heart I do. I've worked in a pharmacy and I can't think of being anything/anywhere else professionally I can't wait to be able to do some of the things in there that I can't do right now because I don't have the Pharm D + license combination. I even have this saying where "I only know how much I want to be a pharmacist when I'm in a pharmacy working. It's at school, where I'm preparing my way to be a pharmacist, when I start exploring other options in my head." Let me quit rambling and actually post this thing. Thanks you guys.

Hey everyone, longtime lurker here but first time poster! Since this is not really a profile evaluation, I did not format the following data as such. Details first then some questions. 1. 2nd year undergraduate at Top 5 Public school, ~Top 15 Economics (school is on the quarter system so some of the course numbering may be off). 2. Mathematics/Economics joint major (maybe Statistics minor). 3. Completed Calc (I-IV), Linear Algebra I, Principles of Micro, Principles of Macro, Intermediate Micro I so far but beginning the courseload further on in the paragraph. My questions are as follows and pertain to courses and research: 1. Since I am considering a PhD in Economics, I consulted both my department counselour (mathematics, as the economics counselor said the mathematics department could better assist me) and one of my tenured economics professors I took this part year about the courseload that should take, particularly the mathematics and statistics courses. From my counselor, she generally recommended the following (upper division econ electives are my preferences). Economics Courses: Principles of Micro, Principles of Macro, Intermediate Micro (I-II), Intermediate Macro, Introduction to Econometrics, 5 upper division elective economics courses (international trade theory, environmental economics, investments, international finance and public economics) Math Courses: Calc (I-IV), Linear Algebra (I-III), Differental Equations, ODEs, PDEs, Discrete Structures, Introduction to Programming, Discrete Structures, Analysis (I-II), Topology, Probability Theory (I-II), Optimization Statistics courses: Introduction to Statistics, Data Analysis and Regression, Design and Analysis of Experiments, Data Mining, Computation Statistics, Computation and Optimization Statistics, Monte Carlo Methods, Stochastic Processes When I talked to my aforementioned professor that I took for my first intermediate micro class (PhD from University of Chicago, former adcom at ~top 20 (?)), he emphasized to me that I should take mathematics and statistics courses "until my eyes bleed out" and thensome. My department counseler commented that the above courses might not be sufficient and that I should take as many honors forms of those courses as possible. While part of me feel like this amount of math seems like overkill, part of me believes that since I had some trouble in early math courses that I should take as much math as possible to signal to adcoms that I can handle math and statistics. What is everyone's thoughts on this? 2. As a 2nd year, I have had no opportunites to start researching with a professor. I emailed many economics professors at the start of this year and was told that the economics department's policy was generally that one can only begin researching with a professor whom one has taken a course with. Furthermore, the same professor previously mentioned gave me advice, which he said reflected the advice of many of his collegues, of something along the lines of "why would I teach you to do what I can easily get an unpaid graduate student to do". He said that I might only be worth working with once I have a few upper-division math courses under my belt. He also reiterated that, rather than attempting to get research experience (which he referred to as the "icing on the cake" rather than as a requirement), I should just take as many relevant math, statistics and economics courses as I can stomach. I am worried that since I am at a strong research univeristy that adcoms will view my potential lack of research extremely negatively. What are the community's thoughts on this? 3. As a question to all those in upper-division economics / math / statistics courses, how do you study for them? The above plan has me taking 2 years worth of just economics, statistics and math courses. And since my school is on the quarter system, it generally amounts to 2 midterms for each of my classes per quarter, with the above plan having me take 4 math, econ or stats courses a quarter. "It will get really ugly really fast". As much as I like economics (and to a lesser extent mathematics and statistics), I cannot consign myself to potentially brutal courseloads just to get into a PhD program where the first two years would include even more brutal courseloads. I know that this is to be somewhat expected but I am worried that having hesitations this early is a bad signal. Any tips? Thanks to the community in advanced for my long spiel! :)

Hey current and recent grad students, I'm trying to creep out from mostly lurking around here for a while. My question is asked as a quite older student (with a family and a job/current career) who is finishing a previously abandoned undergrad degree and gearing up to apply to econ and a few pp PhD programs this December. I'm guessing/hoping I can just manage admission into a 25-50 econ program or a pretty good policy one with a touch of luck. I will post a profile soon enough and see a bit more about that I suppose, but I am in some relatively heavy resumé building right now. I would love to hear from you members just a bit about how their study habits were as undergrads and how they became as grad students. I will be significantly minimizing or discontinuing active involvement in a small business I run currently upon beginning grad studies and I am mulling over the potential time required in grad school versus what I have gotten in the habit of over the last 2.5 years finishing undergrad. This basically boils down to the following: For the last three semesters at a non-flagship state school with a pretty good micro program (by most accounts. PhD generally top 50-60). I have done fairly good work as an undergrad (a few Bs and a dozen or more As, Honors College, Deans List). Generally I am working about 20-24 hrs./wk and attending school/studying about 30-35 hrs/wk. I'm heading into the heavier math next semester. Last semester I did 13 hrs including MV calc and became a father while keeping up with some attenuated responsibilities at work, got 3 As and a B (though mv calc was the B. Boo.). This semester I am sharing parenting duties, doing the work thing and taking Intro to proofs along with a grad-ish level Game Theory class, as well as some grad-level research assistant credit. I am guessing that taking Linear Algebra and Analysis while keeping a 24-ish hr/wk job going next fall will be a reasonable warm up for grad school, but what do I know? I am a hard worker at math but not a natural. So tell me, can one be a pretty disciplined studier for about 50-60 hrs./wk in grad school and do well in your various opinions? I have read up some of the well-written guides and testimonials, but they usually steer clear of such minutiae. I want to feel out the normal distribution of studying among surviving/thriving grad students. Thanks in advance all!