anyone here have a master's degree? i'm 3 weeks into my MSW program and I was surprisingly not freaked out...but now the assignments are coming and im stressing...my personal issues aren't helping much...how did you manage your time/self and get through it?

I went back to school and worked full time and what helped me was setting aside specific times to study at the time of day that worked best for me. This meant being at my desk studying at 5 am, so I could get a good hour or so in before leaving for work. Then I blocked out bigger blocks of time on the weekends. I was lucky that my partner at the time was very supportive of my going back to school, so she didn't bug me too much about not having much time for her. We set aside time on Sunday mornings for our time together. Good luck and try to have fun with it. I have to say that grad school was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done for myself - including writing the thesis.

i've been trying to set aside as much time as possible. i'm working as well...i have class 9-4 on monday and tuesday, and internship 9-5 wed. & thursday....and i work 5-11 mon & tues., 6-11 wed. & thurs...and 9-5 on friday. im pretty good keeping up with the readings...im just worried about getting my papers done. im lucky that im able to do some studying at work, at least. my partner is being supportive also, and shes probably starting grad school next year. im just worried about over-working myself and not enjoying life. i guess today was just a bad day and i wasnt feeling into it. there is one class im not interested in much at all, so im having trouble motivating myself. hopefully that will get better...

Focus, focus, focus and ceased having a social life. I found grad school to be largely an exercise in time management. It was exhausting, but it was worth it.

i got mine right after undergrad so i was still in the mindset of having little to no commitments besides schoolwork, so i don't know if i'm much of a help. now that i'm back in school i try to manage it like a job...use the workday hours on schoolwork as much as possible even if you're techniy not in class. and remember to give yourself a bit a break either at nights or on weekends. i don't know about your family commitments, though. i'm still young and single so i don't have any experience otherwise.

i'm still young too i'm 24. i took two years off because I didn't have the money...I think it would have been easier if I had gone right away, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I do live with my partner, but shes been very supportive with me being gone from 7am - 11pm everyday. Last night I came home and she had gone "back to school" shopping for me and I now have a whole new wardrobe!!! I guess I'm just worried about not being good enough. I have about zero self-confidence and while I'm getting my master's in social work, it's not my end goal, so i feel a bit isolated from my classmates.

I went back for mine at age 37 I got a part scholarship for the first year, and I worked, but mostly work-study at the college to help pay tuition. And the freelance stuff I got to help pay bills was in my area of study. That helped me stay on track. Other posters have said a lot of what I would say - set aside specific study times, stay focused on the big picture, etc. It's only two years, you can do it! Being passionate about what you're studying, and interested in what you'll do with the degree when you get it, are good motivators, too. As hard as I worked, I was sad when it was over. I'd do it again! Good luck! You'll do fine.

I have a MS in Counseling from SFSU The only advice I can offer is to do the classwork like it's any other program, and get your personal therapy and consulting outside the program. If you're going to be licensed find out what the BBSE (or whoever the licensing agency is in your neck of the woods) is looking for and master that. Internships are training ground, expect the hardest/impossible cases and don't expect to really help anyone until you gradutate and get to do therapy your way and even then, study the statistics and have a level head about what's possible. Don't ever lose sight of the fact that you can help.

That SFSU program is hard to get into good on ya Skippy.

Hard to get in and hard to get through I never did get licensed, too many post grad 'free' hours (3000) required. So I am qualified to assess but can't treat.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but what you're going through is normal. If I had a dime for every time a new MA student told me they were overwhelmed, not sure they were able to handle grad school, and/or not sure they belonged in grad school, I'd have enough money to hire hookers for all the couples seeking a third that wander through here. When you feel overwhelmed, stop, go for a walk, relax, play a game, whatever. Then take a deep breath, sit back down, and get back to work. Scheduling work times never helped me, but rewarding myself for work completed did help (e.g., when I finish xyz I can watch a movie.) Give yourself time to adjust - you'll figure out what kind of work strategies work for you. Good luck.