As a student of a STEM, I am required to take a lot of labs, such as: general chemistry labs, organic chemistry lab, physics labs, and microbiology labs. Within those labs I am required to write many, many, lab reports. However, out of the six labs I have taken so far, only two of those labs I received detailed feedback on what I did wrong and what I can do better for the next lab report. It was frustrating to receive the same low grades on the lab reports without receiving feedback. Even if I asked my TA "hey what did I do wrong" they just say "oh just don't do that again". Well, honestly that just doesn't cut it. I understand that TA's have a lot of papers to grade and they have their own classes to worry about, but this is MY grade and I need feedback. This also effects me for future lab reports, I think "I don't know if I can do this correctly because I don't know what I am doing". There have been many times where I would sit for hours at my laptop or notebook trying to get those lab reports done which then I start to think that I cant do this right and I'm going to get a bad grade. Thinking negatively like that also effected me with my exams. I started relating my performance of my lab reports to whether or not I'll do well on an exam.
Reading Seven Ways to Crush Self Doubt in Creative Work, I related closely with #1. Don't Compare Yourself to Others. I have the tendency to compare myself to others when it comes to grades in class. For example, I was constantly comparing myself to my friend who I was in Physics 1 and Physics 2 with. My friend (who wont be named) is crazy smart and he did phenomenal in both physics courses. He was getting A's on all the tests and did well on the homework. Of course, this was frustrating to me because even though we'd study for exams together and he'd help me understand everything, I still did horrible on those physics exams. Now that both physics courses are done and passed with B's, I realized that there was no need for me to constantly compare myself to him or my other friends who were in that class. I passed and realized that physics is something I will never fully understand, and that is okay!
I also read the Why Rejection Hurts so Much article and the portion about self-worth and social connection hits close to home. Not only do I have the tendency to compare myself to others, I also tend to have a low self-worth when it comes to something I am not good at or feel that I am not "good enough" to be part of that friend group. For example, in high school, while I had two or three really close friends, I never fit into a group of friends (even my when I was with 'lunch friends' I didn't feel that welcomed). I rarely got ask to hang out with anyone or a group of people outside of school, unless it was for their birthday.
My best friend since 8th was the one who I spent the most time with in high school and I am grateful for her. Plus, I still do regularly see her regardless the distance between Norman and Lawton!
Since I've been in college, I have become part of two welcoming and loving friend groups. Both groups are complete opposites too! I can enjoy a nice girls day out with the girls who I work with and also have a fun game night with friends from when I was in ROTC for a few semesters.
I'm also a member of Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies which also is filled with amazing members who make me feel welcomed in the STEM major community.
Reading Seven Ways to Crush Self Doubt in Creative Work, I related closely with #1. Don't Compare Yourself to Others. I have the tendency to compare myself to others when it comes to grades in class. For example, I was constantly comparing myself to my friend who I was in Physics 1 and Physics 2 with. My friend (who wont be named) is crazy smart and he did phenomenal in both physics courses. He was getting A's on all the tests and did well on the homework. Of course, this was frustrating to me because even though we'd study for exams together and he'd help me understand everything, I still did horrible on those physics exams. Now that both physics courses are done and passed with B's, I realized that there was no need for me to constantly compare myself to him or my other friends who were in that class. I passed and realized that physics is something I will never fully understand, and that is okay!
I also read the Why Rejection Hurts so Much article and the portion about self-worth and social connection hits close to home. Not only do I have the tendency to compare myself to others, I also tend to have a low self-worth when it comes to something I am not good at or feel that I am not "good enough" to be part of that friend group. For example, in high school, while I had two or three really close friends, I never fit into a group of friends (even my when I was with 'lunch friends' I didn't feel that welcomed). I rarely got ask to hang out with anyone or a group of people outside of school, unless it was for their birthday.
My best friend since 8th was the one who I spent the most time with in high school and I am grateful for her. Plus, I still do regularly see her regardless the distance between Norman and Lawton!
Since I've been in college, I have become part of two welcoming and loving friend groups. Both groups are complete opposites too! I can enjoy a nice girls day out with the girls who I work with and also have a fun game night with friends from when I was in ROTC for a few semesters.
I'm also a member of Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies which also is filled with amazing members who make me feel welcomed in the STEM major community.
Olivia, Misty, and I at the Grand Canyon
My ASK family (there is a lot more of us!)
Hiking trip with some friends from ROTC
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