confidence and science

[Chrissy McAllsiter]

In article <30f1uf$bo8 at nermal.cs.uoguelph.ca>, sannis at uoguelph.ca (Seanna Annis) says:
>
>I really love this newsgroup !  I thought I was the only person who was 
>nervous, insecure and tentative starting my Master's.  I could not 
>believe what I had gotten myself into.  I am now completing my PhD, and 
>my confidence, ability to speak up, and general disregard on nonsense 
>from others have all increased.  I can't believe what a timid soul I 
>was.  The confidence of learning new techniques and eventually getting 
>them to work has rubbed off on my personality.  I still don't know if 
>this happens for all women (or men) as grad students.  I have some 
>friends who bailed out after or during Master's.  One friend in particular 
>could not learn to take the failure of her experiments as something that 
>sometimes just happens, rather than a personal failure.  I think learning 
>that ability or discovering it has helped my personality.  I no longer 
>feel the necessity to have everyone like me, accomodate people all the 
>time, or most of all take the blame for things beyond my control.    
>Though it has been a very long haul, I am really glad I went to grad 
>school.   
>Seanna    sannis at uoguelph.ca
>  

Wow!  I, for one, am glad to hear someone say something like this.
I am contemplating heading off to grad school next year, but sometimes
feel overwhelmed by the thought of it.  Being in my present job, I have
discovered an assertiveness in myself that I didn't know was there 
(which is not the same as the arrogance I was talking about in my last
post).  Seanna, do you have any advice for someone who is probably
in a mental position somewhat similar to yours prior to going to
grad school?

Chrissy McAllister
ca_mcallister at pnl.gov