Hi, about going to Uni

I haven’t been on this forum for a few years, so for those of you who know me, hi, what’s up?

Since I was last here I was hospitalized again (bummer) and I’ve finally come to terms with my illness and what it means to me.

I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and bi-polar disorder.

This year I tried doing what I said I would do years ago and I signed up for University. I’m studying Art History and Archeology.

And to sum it up in one word it’s been difficult.

I would love to hear from any of you about experiences of going to school after the illness. I find it especially difficult to read, and also I am very scared about social interactions.

There is a program in my country for tutoring of people with mental illness but even though I signed up I for it I am hesitant to really go through with it.

Btw, all my classes are Zoom classes so far.

So what’s your advice, how can I make it through the school year?

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I think you’re very courageous to go to university even if you find it difficult to socialize. Not everyone is able to do this. I hope you’ll go as far as you wish!

Get hold of past exam papers and do the exams as practice. It’ll focus your mind on what to study.

Its harder after sz but not impossible. I did one semester in kinesiology university major before getting diagnosed with sz. Then I did my remaining 5 semesters after my sz. It took me 8 years to finish a 3 years bachelor. My grades went down but I still passed my courses. I skipped exams sometimes bcz I didn’t feel ready and was feeling bad when I quit my meds for 1-2 years. I got a Drs note to do the exams later.

Don’t worry, it took me 8 years mainly because I stopped meds for 1-2 years and went crazy.

Thank you for sharing, I did notice people with sz take longer to finish. I hope to do it in 4 maybe 5 years.

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Interesting… Thank you!

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Thank you! I wish you all the best too!

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I’m 33 I should have finished years ago I’m not going back it’s just not something that interests me anymore. I’m not borrowing money and I get too stressed when I work evenings and weekends. I realize I’ll never make a ton of money I’ve never made more than 65k in San Francisco but I’m okay with that. Schools fine I last took precalculus class 3 years ago but I’m done with school.

Good luck with your degree. Hopefully the rest of your classes won’t be via Zoom, because there seems to be a couple of vaccines on the way for COVID-19 and these are likely to be highly effective (I’ve heard about 95%). I want to get a degree but feel a bit too old. I’m 32, I’ll be 33 in July.Interesting you are studying Art History, my sister teaches American students at the University of Oxford (UK), she has a PhD in History of Art. My brother studied his undergraduate degree at Oxford, also. I on the other hand do possess a growth mindset in terms of my capabilities, but realistically I could never compare. I read an interesting article about Maths anxiety and how people who see themselves as simply “good or bad at Maths”, tend not to have a growth mindset and often struggle. My education was disrupted because I went to Thailand as a school student and kept on failing Mathematics. I did not have anxiety, but it was International examinations, whereby the standard in such Asian countries is a lot higher. So I learnt nothing. Eventually I got my C grade at Mathematics. There’s even a UK edition of the book “AS and A-level Maths for dummies”, which is what many take after the age of 16. I’m going to work through it and see if I make enough progress to eventually sit the exams. Online courses are also very useful and the course content, at least for Computer Science, is often more up-to-date than that of many universities.

Thank you!

I am 31 so it’s not too late for you!

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