Grad School?

[in love w/ fs shuvs]

Grad school is nice.  I was lucky to have my company pay for it.  So I got an MS in EE for free.  The best part for me was that most people have real world experience, unlike undergrad where people are showing up to class super hungover in pajama pants and trying to bang the hottest girl in their row. 

The professors respect you more.  Class is more like a discussion among adults.  People will be like, "At company A we use this tech and would address the problem like this, someone else would say how their company would address it, and someone else would chime in how it would be addressed in the military."

What was ur BS in and what do you do now? EE is sick af. Wish i'd done EE with a minor in Chemistry instead of what i ended up doing. I was considering getting an MS in EE with a specialization in power systems but I'm not sure if i wanna take out loans and go for it.

[Kanye Omari West]

So I'm going to follow up about my last semester in my grad program. It was horrible and honestly soured my last experiences with the program of my alma mater. It's a wild ass whopper so get ready. So I got an internship with a former professor at a nonprofit where they were vp. I went with the position bc my previous internship supervisor was arrested on child molestation charges and was also a former professor of mine not to mention the overall actual experience of working with them just wasn't that fulfilling bc COVID restrictions had actually got in the way of a lot of hands on opportunities. I snagged this new spot because I had a good rapport with the professor and I wanted to get familiar with the workings of nonprofits and budgeting within them. It started off great and I was working with their assistant and learning a lot. The assistant had to take a medical leave for a couple months due to surgery so they tried to show as much as they could within the month or so that I had with them showing me the ropes. The internship initially was unpaid but they gave a month long contract to pay me and once that expired they gave me another one. Everything was cool and I had gotten a lot of what I as looking for out of the experience so it was dope. The last 3 weeks start closing in and I gave me supervisor my mid term eval to fill out and I got shredded. Some harsh criticism, exaggerations and a couple straight up lies. I was pretty speechless when I read it and had to get an answer. Me and the supervisor were going to take a trip in a few days just the two of us and I figured that'd be a good time to ask them what went into the grading and what I can do to change it within the time left. We get on the road to head back to town and I brought it up. I just wanted to know what situations and behaviors landed me in this position because I was fucked (I got a scraping 80% B but that's honestly like a C/D in grad school) and I needed to know what NOT to do and also show that I wanted to be better and get help. She goes into a tirade almost immediately doubling down on the bullshit and it's all trash. She began pretty much insulting my intelligence and I had to stop this shit show because she was getting disrespectful and said although I was familiar with terminology and verbiage used in the field but didn't know what it meant or really how to apply it and I was done letting her bullshit me any further. I told her that if competently using professional terms in the field didn't display and understand then wtf is your definition of understanding to begin with? I blew up that whole argument and realized what the deal was. I just lost all respect for her knowledge or role as a teacher at that point because she wasn't teaching at all. It was just trying to use me as a punching bag for whatever she had going on in that whacky ass mind of hers and up until this point like I said we were all good. We had one hour weekly one on one meetings and there was never any issues of my performance brought up whatsoever and plus why tf would make the conscious decision to pay me if i wasn't fulfilling my role as an intern/employee??? This was a 4 hour car ride and we addressed this in the first 45 minutes of driving so I let her go off and responded and then once I realized she was full of shit I just didn't say anything and let her ramble because it didn't mean anything since it was founded on a warped perception of what was actually happening. (more to follow on this story...)

[Kanye Omari West]

So after I stop engaging with what she's spouting we get about 3 hours into the drive and she starts trying to hold casual conversation with me and I'm pretty much just floored this person has the audacity to talk this much shit to my face and then ask "Are you mad?" and have small talk. Shit was crazy and so was this bitch. We get back to town. I realize I need to walk on severe egg shells for the next couple weeks so I can not blow this semester up with getting an unwarranted failing grade from somebody that I now know is unstable. Within those last weeks, I attended my first and only  quarterly staff meeting where all the employees come and have a brunch while the unit directors talk about their units and shit. It's apart of their office culture that new hires say a short intro bio and display a talent in front of everybody. I wrote a quick, funny 5 sentence bio about being passionate about sushi and hot wings and did the robot and everybody was eating that shit up. It was cool and even the CEO (my boss's boss) was vibing with me. We wrap the meeting up and go back to the office and the CEO comes to my little office one on one and says I should take a job with the company because there was an open position. He credited me with being the only reason why my supervisor made it through the last couple months with the normal assistant being gone and having to step up with little to no training. This dude knew I was worth my salt and just reaffirmed that I knew this other bitch was tripping. I was extremely flattered and told him I had to move back home to be with my family once I finished my program and he understood. The job was pretty decent but even then I wouldn't want to be in such a toxic space near this fucking head case. I tiptoed the following couple weeks and got the same scraping by bullshit 80% B (WHILE NEVER HAVING LOWER THAN AN A IN ANY PREVIOUS INTERNSHIP EVER) and graduated. Here is where shit starts to get real spicy...

[Kanye Omari West]

I am owed one final paycheck and I provide the mailing address for it. I reach out with one final email asking if it was on the way and was told it should be mailed out in a couple days. The very next day I get another email saying that I was not going to be paid anymore because there was a stack of papers I did not hole punch and that it was a summation of my work this entire semester. I am pretty fucking blowed because this bitch could just send me my money that I had already worked for and earned and leave me TF alone bc i wanted nothing more to do with these people solely off of my experience with my supervisor during the internship. I'm not sure how to handle this because I had no money coming in since I hadnt found work yet and it was a pretty decent size check that I had made plans with to take a trip I had already booked and not to mention this was going to float me until I found some work. I know this is illegal and my mind was just exploding with how this devil woman won't take her claws out of me. I lost full respect for her as a person. Just straight trash. a bad human being period. So i write a formal email explaining how i had already worked for this money, the time sheets and what not had already been submitted, i was never terminated and i was also passed as a student so refusing to pay me under the given justification was insufficient so in other words give me my fucking money. I CCd this bitchs boss to let him know wtf was up because this was a private conversation between me and my supervisor but she needed to get a leash put on her rabid ass. she  responds with a conversation will be had with her boss and theyll get back to me with a decision. I'm asking my parents, my friends, my friend that just graduated law school and how i can fight this. nobody can really provide a real answer aside from get a lawyer but i reach out to my mentor that is also very experienced in my field and knows this shit inside and out. she tells me that im under the protection of the school because they brokered the internship and im a student before anything else so they need to get involved. I wanted to contact my department head about this being a rocky road near the end of the semester but never got a chance to have a one on one convo but i had reached out via email a little before this shit escalated into illegal territory and never heard back. I had a classmate/friend that worked in my programs department as well that knew what was happening as these things developed because i was filling them in. I told her that this supervisor was batshit crazy and out here wilding. I hear from her the supervisor in question is in the department heads office shitting on me and spinning a revisionist narrative that Im just the worst student ever and fucking her up by involving her boss and just lying even more. My plug urges me to reach out to the department head and clear the air so i send ANOTHER email and finally get hit back one day 2 weeks later. By the time this phone call comes I actually got the check in the mail one day but after I got this womans boss involved. I didnt hear any further correspondence on what the final decision would be because the work email i was using was coincidentally deactivated the day after I involved her boss and I had no further way to get any more emails on that thread because I no further had access to it. This bitch so dirty bro

[Kanye Omari West]

The day comes that I finally hear from my department head and she has an apathetic tone on the phone. This is somebody that I've known for several years, been in class with, developed a relationship with, and had a good rapport with as well. She says she knows why I'm calling and I just know this isn't going to go well. I give my side which is MUCH closer to the truth and she couldnt fucking care less by this point. Shed already appointed me as the one in the wrong during this situation. She blamed me for not speaking up sooner despite, when things started to go sideways I was in too deep and a couple weeks out from graduation and although it was a toxic environment, it wasnt unbearable and i was almost out the door. If i say something then whats gonna happen? I have to find a new internship 2 weeks from graduation? I dont get an opportunity to get paid since this was my only income at the time? there was no real option aside from stick the shit out and tread lightly. Since my supervisor had an issue with me shouldnt she be in as much communication as well??? I got thrown under the bus because i wasnt a factor anymore. i was no longer a student and so it was better to make me the scapegoat versus hold a decade or whatever long employee in question and hold them accountable. I told her the check showed up and i fulfilled what was required to earn that money being hours and services while not getting fired and also passing as a student and it made no difference to her. she said they werent going to be paying students at internships anymore and credited me with that blame. at this point there was nothing left to say since i had my money, my degree and left town. i was just out the picture and had a gross feeling of complete betrayal by everybody i had really respected. its a shitty story but i just learned that this is the real world and your bosses can be pieces of trash. try not to rely on your resources because if they somehow turn on you then youve gotta recover from that. really shitty way to have to end my time there but we on to better things. working on a couple potential job positions and waiting on the final calls next week to finally start the career. its gonna be fine.

[Acky Jacky]

I don’t know why I’m in this thread, but that’s a wild story Kanye. I hate hearing stories like that, where there is no redemption for you in the end. Hopefully karma has some way to sort it out for you, but I’m not sure I’m a big believer in that. Good on you for keeping your emotions in check and riding it out. I couldn’t do that.

[Kanye Omari West]

I don’t know why I’m in this thread, but that’s a wild story Kanye. I hate hearing stories like that, where there is no redemption for you in the end. Hopefully karma has some way to sort it out for you, but I’m not sure I’m a big believer in that. Good on you for keeping your emotions in check and riding it out. I couldn’t do that.

I appreciate it. This person that went to war with me is in a powerful position at an 8 figure non profit organization with no remorse for what they did. The supervisor before them was a pedophile that was working on diversion programs for troubled youth. Both of these individuals were social workers. Both of them are responsible for contributing to the progression of society. Both were predators in their roles. Ugly exists where you can least expect it. That shit is scary.

[LUGR]

Me and the supervisor were going to take a trip in a few days just the two of us

What’s the deal with this part?

Seems wildly unprofessional for both of you to be taking a road trip together like that.

[Kanye Omari West]

Expand Quote

Me and the supervisor were going to take a trip in a few days just the two of us

[close]

What’s the deal with this part?

Seems wildly unprofessional for both of you to be taking a road trip together like that.

So this internship was at a grantor that funded smaller nonprofit programs. We took a trip to go in person to see one of these programs in a town 4 hours away. It was basically a mock site visit which they actually do from time to time but those last several days while this was just a pop up one day thing. Got a rental car, drove down, did the visit for an hour, got to the hotel, left the next morning.

[lampshade]

Expand Quote

Grad school is nice.  I was lucky to have my company pay for it.  So I got an MS in EE for free.  The best part for me was that most people have real world experience, unlike undergrad where people are showing up to class super hungover in pajama pants and trying to bang the hottest girl in their row. 

The professors respect you more.  Class is more like a discussion among adults.  People will be like, "At company A we use this tech and would address the problem like this, someone else would say how their company would address it, and someone else would chime in how it would be addressed in the military."

[close]

What was ur BS in and what do you do now? EE is sick af. Wish i'd done EE with a minor in Chemistry instead of what i ended up doing. I was considering getting an MS in EE with a specialization in power systems but I'm not sure if i wanna take out loans and go for it.

I did my BA in Economics.  I ended up working for one of the big consulting firms and got exposed to a lot of tech.  Got a few certifications and was lucky to have a good friend who wanted to do the same program.  My company had a great realationship with the state University system, so they basically paid for two classes (Six credits) a semester.  It was tough.  I had to go to class twice a week, and it was about 20 minutes away in DC traffic.  Working all day then going to class from 7:00pm - 9:50pm was not that fun, but I learned a lot and it was worth it. 

Loans are tough.  I went to a state school (GMU).  I looked at some of the private schools around DC (Georgetown, GW, American, etc.) They are pricey. It really depends on what you want to do.   

[LUGR]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Me and the supervisor were going to take a trip in a few days just the two of us

[close]

What’s the deal with this part?

Seems wildly unprofessional for both of you to be taking a road trip together like that.

[close]

So this internship was at a grantor that funded smaller nonprofit programs. We took a trip to go in person to see one of these programs in a town 4 hours away. It was basically a mock site visit which they actually do from time to time but those last several days while this was just a pop up one day thing. Got a rental car, drove down, did the visit for an hour, got to the hotel, left the next morning.

Oh, that makes some sense. Two hotel rooms? Or one to cut down on expenses?

[Kanye Omari West]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Me and the supervisor were going to take a trip in a few days just the two of us

[close]

What’s the deal with this part?

Seems wildly unprofessional for both of you to be taking a road trip together like that.

[close]

So this internship was at a grantor that funded smaller nonprofit programs. We took a trip to go in person to see one of these programs in a town 4 hours away. It was basically a mock site visit which they actually do from time to time but those last several days while this was just a pop up one day thing. Got a rental car, drove down, did the visit for an hour, got to the hotel, left the next morning.

[close]

Oh, that makes some sense. Two hotel rooms? Or one to cut down on expenses?

Lol it was separate rooms.

[IUTSM]

yeeeehaw for grad school.

after taking last year off, I'm 8 weeks into my last year.

Still on the digital/zoom/distance learning platform even though I live 15 minutes up the road. I thought I wouldn't like it, but to be real, I very much prefer not having to leave the house and all that than spending 2 days, 8am-8pm, on campus, wearing a mask with people I probably don't want to hang out with and trying to get work done in hallways and shit.

I'm fortunate that my job is my internship, but it also means that while I've got full time class 2days, I've got work the other 3 days. At least on the weekend, I can go into my space at work and use it in lieu of a library for writing papers and doing research (class is one thing, y'all know that writing papers never goes well at home...)

It's a fairly intensive thing going on this year- 5 standard classes plus two additional 90 minute half seminars per week and a monthly 3 hour collaborative seminar for a grant I was awarded. Developing two very different mindfulness based SEL curricula, while implementing it real time and also collecting data.

It's super busy but I'm stoked because it's got me on the road to sustaining myself by a really higher level of work. It feels good to have the gears turning again

For anyone wanting to try grad school or going back to school, it's hard at first but it gets easier. It'll be 19 years from the time I ended high school til the time I earned a Masters. 

[SaySo]

yeeeehaw for grad school.

after taking last year off, I'm 8 weeks into my last year.

Still on the digital/zoom/distance learning platform even though I live 15 minutes up the road. I thought I wouldn't like it, but to be real, I very much prefer not having to leave the house and all that than spending 2 days, 8am-8pm, on campus, wearing a mask with people I probably don't want to hang out with and trying to get work done in hallways and shit.

I'm fortunate that my job is my internship, but it also means that while I've got full time class 2days, I've got work the other 3 days. At least on the weekend, I can go into my space at work and use it in lieu of a library for writing papers and doing research (class is one thing, y'all know that writing papers never goes well at home...)

It's a fairly intensive thing going on this year- 5 standard classes plus two additional 90 minute half seminars per week and a monthly 3 hour collaborative seminar for a grant I was awarded. Developing two very different mindfulness based SEL curricula, while implementing it real time and also collecting data.

It's super busy but I'm stoked because it's got me on the road to sustaining myself by a really higher level of work. It feels good to have the gears turning again

For anyone wanting to try grad school or going back to school, it's hard at first but it gets easier. It'll be 19 years from the time I ended high school til the time I earned a Masters. 

Props! Hella dope you're pursuing the path of learning. My homegirl from high school is on track to polish off her PhD in the next year just short of the age of 48. Keep it up!