Just Checking the Boxes

I wish there was a way for me to adequately convey how over graduate school I am. Seriously, so over it. In my first class, they told us to strongly consider going full time & getting out in 2 years because when you do what I've done, which is take 1 class a semester for 3+ years, you want to kill yourself by the end. Hindsight.....

I'm in a class now that I have zero interest in: public budgeting. Aside from a general lack of interest, it's definitely the hardest & most time consuming class I've had to date. I like the teacher, but she's young, she's new & she thinks we care more than we do. And she apparently thinks we have 4 hours a night to dedicate to this class. As my friend (& fellow grad student) Mike said, I'm just checking the boxes at this point. The days of actually reading the chapters are over. I read enough to do the weekly assignments & that's it. If I even do that.

I'm burned out. I had that huge budget memo due 2 weeks ago that I spent an entire 3-day weekend working on & now I have a mid-term coming up on Wed that I need to spend all weekend studying for. The last thing I want to do is spend another weekend holed up in my house because of this class. I've never had a class that required this much work. Again, over it.

I think this is compounded by not knowing what all of this hard work will get me in the end. When I started this, I assumed I would stay with the State & just move up into a higher level (higher paying) job. Now that the political climate has changed so much & the budget is what it is, there are no state jobs. Obviously, I have the option of going back to the private sector, but all of my contacts & connections are with the State. I'm going to end up a secretary with a masters. Which is what's keeping me up at night, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, long story short, I'm sick of school. I've got 2 classes this summer, 1 class in the fall & then I'll graduate in Dec. I think. I need to talk to my advisor & confirm this. Ugh.....