Thread: No break in 2012 :(

I am posting this to whine just a little bit about my 2012 school schedule, which I just got not too long ago.. Don't get me wrong, I AM in the perfect program for me and wouldn't change it for the world, but OMG it's intense.

School starts up next Monday and I will be taking back to back courses for the rest of 2012 with only TWO scheduled breaks: Spring Break and Christmas. Yes, you read that right: I don't even get a day off between Spring and Summer semester or between Summer and Fall. I am happy to be hitting the books again next week, but WOW I am terrified when I think about how my schedule looks. I will really have to plan my vacation this year and hope that I can fit it into Spring Break, or I could be seriously frazzled by the end of the year.

*yikes*

I know the feeling; there are four semesters per year at TESC (grad calendar is pretty much the same as undergrad). I'm taking two courses per semester, beginning with my major courses to complete the grad cert portion, then will go full speed until the end. This is definitely not going to be easy but 18 mos should go by pretty quickly.

Originally Posted by bricabrac

Heee heee - love the little violin-playing guy. Yes.. that is the world's smallest violin and it is playing just for me while I complain about my 2012 schedule ha ha ha.

Can you move ahead in class and then take a week off for vacation?

Originally Posted by ryoder

Can you move ahead in class and then take a week off for vacation?

That is a great question and I may attempt to do so. I haven't had any success yet in moving ahead significantly because the workload is so intense. There is generally a daily reading assignment and class forum posting. No, you don't HAVE to do it every day; you could do it all on one day as long as you meet the Saturday evening due dates for each week, but it's too much for my schedule. I can only read about 50 pages a day maximum and that's when it's in English. My classes in Spanish require much more thought because I'm still not entirely comfortable with Spanish at the graduate level. On top of the reading and forum posting, we generally have one big weekly paper due. This is something that I could work ahead on and the only reason why I haven't is because the forum work and weekly reading greatly contribute to my ease in writing the paper. Our topics for daily discussion often provide interesting debates that can provide ideas for inclusion in my weekly written assignment.

My school also does not provide a lot of advanced notice to what the syllabus will be. Even though class starts on Monday the 9th, I still won't be have access to my class until Friday or Saturday at the earliest. I'm not sure why they do this, but it is a little annoying lol. I think that they're trying to make everyone stay on the same topic at the same time.

All that being said, I HAVE to figure out a way to clear my schedule and work ahead a little bit. I have a really big business trip to Asia the end of the month and I plan to be working all day, and fully anticipate business dinners and meetings to go late into the evening. I don't know how I'll do it without falling behind in school if I don't figure out how to do at least some work before I go.

Wow, that is a lot of work!! Sheez!! I really hope you can get ahead on some of the work! Good luck to you!

Oh, wow! That sounds like a tough road - for anyone, but you. You'll continue to be the amazing student you are, and soon will have that degree under your belt. Bueno suerte. (Okay, that was from high-school Spanish over 30 years ago. If I said something like, "you have dog breath," I apologize. I [U]meant[U] to say "good luck!"

Originally Posted by burbuja0512

I am posting this to whine just a little bit about my 2012 school schedule, which I just got not too long ago.. Don't get me wrong, I AM in the perfect program for me and wouldn't change it for the world, but OMG it's intense.

School starts up next Monday and I will be taking back to back courses for the rest of 2012 with only TWO scheduled breaks: Spring Break and Christmas. Yes, you read that right: I don't even get a day off between Spring and Summer semester or between Summer and Fall. I am happy to be hitting the books again next week, but WOW I am terrified when I think about how my schedule looks. I will really have to plan my vacation this year and hope that I can fit it into Spring Break, or I could be seriously frazzled by the end of the year.

*yikes*

As they say in the Army "Suck it up and Drive on" There's no sympathy here!

My buddy used to look at his work in graduate school and always remind himself that it can't be any worse than being in the army sleeping on the ground while it was raining and not being able to shower for fourteen days. That being said it does sound challenging. Especially being in a non native language. I run into immigrants having trouble completing assignments at American schools so I can see how an American would have trouble competing in a non natural language. Good luck.

Originally Posted by ryoder

My buddy used to look at his work in graduate school and always remind himself that it can't be any worse than being in the army sleeping on the ground while it was raining and not being able to shower for fourteen days. That being said it does sound challenging. Especially being in a non native language. I run into immigrants having trouble completing assignments at American schools so I can see how an American would have trouble competing in a non natural language. Good luck.

I really like comparing my situation to the army and how much easier my life is right now than what many of our troops are going through. It's a great way to put things into perspective and also reminds me of a picture that I have framed on my desk:

It's called lunch atop a skyscraper and you can see the image here: File:Lunch-atop-a-skyscraper-c1932.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I love it because it's also a great way to tell yourself "Hey - you may have a tough time now, but things could be so much worse!!!" I mean, just look at these poor guys eating lunch in such a dangerous place, yet this was totally normal for them and what they had to do to barely make a living and support their family. I keep this picture on my desk and try to look at it on days that are difficult.

Thank you