am I the only one that feels dumb in university?

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I love learning and I love being in university. I am going into my 4th year of my undergrad, and also intend on getting at least a Masters after that. Still, I feel dumb in class. I am not able to verbalize my thoughts clearly as the other students can. They give these very wise thoughts during discussions or ask such intelligent and interesting questions, and I cannot seem to do any of that. I read well, but my comprehension can be pretty poor sometimes. I also have a lot of difficulty understanding abstract concepts, especially in math and science. That is really awful for me because I REALLY want to be a scientist, and I know I do not have the capacity to succeed in such a program. I feel more dumb every single day, it is almost starting to turn into hopelessness. Can anyone else relate to this...or is it just me?...

Well, I always wanted to be a mad scientist. So far I've been very successful at the mad part (just ask anyone who knows me), but as for the scientist part ... That's another matter.

But seriously though, I can totally relate to your dilemma. You see, I had the same problem many years ago. The desire was there, but I lacked sufficient skills to become a PhD in physics. This caused, and still causes, me to feel second rate and a basic failure. I have never been able to accept my limitations. In my mind I was a total failure and I still think of myself that way. Finally however, I came to the conclusion that I had to switch majors and pursue another, hopefully more achievable, career. I changed majors and was lucky enough to become an electrical engineer and have a very good career for 40 years with a large electronics company, where I was eventually to be ranked very highly WRT my co-workers, i.e. almost always 1st or 2nd.

The point of this is that you might want to think about switching your major as well. I know all too well that it is hard to face this, but it might be the best thing to do. The question to ask yourself is not what you think you want to be, but rather what you know you might do well at based on past experience. I was always tinkering around with electronics for years, so the switch came naturally, though I was still disappointed not to have the ability to become what I wanted to. So what are you good at? What tinkering have you done? Perhaps you are going in the wrong direction completely. It seems as if you might want to do some serious self assessment and reevaluate your goals and directions.

Well I spent a year thinking I would major in history, then I decided my reading was too effected by my PTSD yeah I don't understand why that happened probably because I was reading a book up until I realized the school was being put on lockdown so I guess my brain things terrible things will happen if I get too caught up in reading...and history involves lots of reading and I can go read about history on my own if I choose to. Then I transferred to another state college and thought I would give communications a try......but then they said the only real jobs that anyone with a degree in that where likely to get where in advertising and I ended up screwing up that semester.

And now I am on my second semester at a community college, and I am really intrested in psychology and sociology so if I do major in anything it will probably be one of those or both.

Probably not, I've only ever met about 3 genuinely intelligent people, the rest are pretending or just think they are

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln. This is a quote that describes my personality, I don't like to speak in class but I speak when I feel it's important/ related to the topic. I'm a bit talkative around my friends but speaking up in class scares me a little bit because all the attention is focused on you. Sometimes I'm bit slow to grasp concepts and I feel stupid for not getting them straight away like everyone else

I can for sure relate to this when I think about my years at university, its like I can read and follow courses that I took, but there was "something" that was lacking for me that I felt if not all then many other students had. Its almost like there for me has been some kind of "passive" feeling about it all eventhough the lectures and topics are interesting. Also it like I can not analyse the content properly so I feel that questions and links that other students could make would just pass me by.

Now after graduation when I think about it I think it is very likely it has something to do with my method of studying as well.

I feel like an idiot most of the time. When I'm in class, I feel like I understand when I'm listening to my teacher(s). Though later when I discuss the same topic with another student, my teacher, or I'm tested on it, it appears that I never really grasped the concept in the first place.

It is nice to know that I am not alone. I mean, it is terrible that others are going through the same sort of self-doubt, but in a way is still nice to know others know where I am going from.

When I first went to university, I was going for a combined honours in Religious Studies and Social Anthropology. The I realized I really want to work in ecology and conservation, so I attempted to switch to Biology instead. I was doing well at first, but quickly took a nose-dive. Most people say my grades were not bad enough for me to leave, but they were bad FOR ME, particularly because I did not get those grades from full comprehension. I got them because my work ethic was high that semester and because I have a good memory for keeping facts in there until the exams which quickly leave after. I also did not have the comprehension to understand many of the concepts (I could not just take ecology, but had to focus on a very broad biology degree at my university). Next semester I went back to my original degree, and now (less than a year later), I am doing Religious Studies and International Development Studies (ironically, despite all of these changes, I am still able to graduate a semester early, having all credits completed in 3 1/2 years!)

So, I am in the arts degree and that is where I am successful, but despite my GPA (which was a 4.0 before the science semester, and is now a 3. I still feel so dumb because I never make the intellectual observations the other students do. I never have anything intelligent to contribute to the discussions. Sometimes I second-guess myself thinking I have something dumb to say, and then someone else says it and I realize it wasn't all that dumb. Much of the time, however, I have no thoughts to verbalize on the subject at all. People will ask intelligent questions, and my mind is just blank. I can't help but feeling so utterly DUMB all the time, and that my GPA is really just a fluke, and I will never be able to use the degree anyway because I don't have the mental capacity to be a success since I do not understand a lot of the things.

I cannot get it out of my head that I want to work with animals and get involved with the environment. I like animals in general for more than I like people as a whole, so I really want to help them and the environment itself. I am thinking of going into the Masters of Environmental Studies which is interdisciplinary (you can come in with a science OR an arts degree), but I still want to take a scientific approach once I get there...not an humanities approach. I am really frustrated with myself, because sometimes I don't think I am going to be good at ANY career.



The question to ask yourself is not what you think you want to be, but rather what you know you might do well at based on past experience. I was always tinkering around with electronics for years, so the switch came naturally, though I was still disappointed not to have the ability to become what I wanted to. So what are you good at? What tinkering have you done? Perhaps you are going in the wrong direction completely. It seems as if you might want to do some serious self assessment and reevaluate your goals and directions.[/quote]

I am genuinely curious how this works? Would PTSD impact your concentration when it comes to reading, perhaps?



You seem to have jumped majors a lot too, like I have. Always having things not be quite what you thought...it gets really frustrating after awhile. Psychology and sociology both sound great though! I have considered psychology before as well, and almost switched to have that as my second major. Psychology is one of my obsessions right now where I love to research a variety things, but I don't think I would ever have the people skills to pursue a career in it. Good luck with your studies at the college?

I think your community colleges in the states (is that where you are?) are different that the ones in Canada. Ours are trade schools, but it seems like you can pursue specific subjects at yours?

I like that quote! And I really can relate to pretty much everything you said. Well, I don't have many friends, but I am definitely more talkative when we are casually speaking in our groups or on the rare occasion that I am with an acquaintance. I feel far more intimidated when I am speaking in front of the class like that. It wasn't so bad when I did my presentation and was able to completely prepare and rehearse it. Spontaneous participation is an absolute nightmare for me in the majority of my class though.

If this is true, they do are far better job at pretending than I do because at least they look intelligent to the professors. I end up just looking like a moron.



Yes, this is exactly how I feel. I clearly get through the courses (as is evident by my GPA) but I still miss something. Even though my GPA is higher than many others, it doesn't mean I am more intelligent. I lack something that they have, and I would gladly sacrifice a few points from my GPA if I could gain this comprehension that is so greatly needed.



Yes, I experience this frequently as well. Sometimes I am so excited because I think I have it, only to realize that I don't shortly after when I make a fool of myself by offering, on the rare occasion that I do, to speak up in class.

I am one of those people who speak out whenever I notice something interesting. It is rare for me to speak. I know people who will read the book before class, ask a question that jumps ahead, so they can make themselves seem more intelligent. Then I do not read the book ahead, and I come to the same conclusion. It brings nothing new to the discussion.

A lot of the people who volunteer just regurgitate knowledge instead of being insightful. I rather someone be quiet than contribute something meaningless.

I did feel somewhat stupid in the beginning. It seemed everyone grasped the material before I could. My major is in computer science. I was wondering how all these kids around me could get 100% on all their programming assignments yet they never studied while I struggled to get above 90%. I then found out they cheated and their parents (who are in computers) helped them out or they collaborated with their friends. All of these are not allowed.