Quote:
Originally Posted by chelledotcom
I seem to max out at four classes per semester in terms of keeping my grades up. I have ridiculous expectations of myself, and I will not accept C's, and B's make me almost cry. AND YET, I just sat down, in the bath, to read a book for class (Ive always been good at reading in the bath), and I got maybe three pages read, then I flipped through the book, then started playing with bubbles, then talked to the cats, etc...I got nothing done! With no specific distractions!
I am going directly into grad school, I dont want to break (loans will come due), but full time in grad school is 3 classes (thank God!!). I have to have 5 to graduate, and I know I can do it, I just have to get focussed! Maybe my doc can help with that. Im trying to save up to go see him in the next week or two. Its taken me two days in a row to clean my house, and Im only halfway done! This is so frustrating!
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I'm sure you know that grad school is
a lot harder than undergrad. I didn't apply for grad school until getting an ADHD diagnosis and treatment. And I did
much better in grad school than undergrad! A few years off probably didn't hurt either, but the ADHD meds made all the difference in the world.
Since you probably have to pay for grad school (unless you're among the lucky few) the best advice I can offer is to get a diagnosis and treatment before your classes start. Otherwise it can be a risky investment! Definitely save up and get yourself to a doctor who can make a proper diagnosis (i.e. not the school's health center).
If you check with the Office of Disability Services (or equivalent) they can give you info about how to get a proper diagnosis that can be used for accommodations, which may also include info about where to go for a diagnosis. You may not need accommodations but it's worth checking out just in case, because grad school is hard stuff and a minor accommodation here and there might make all the difference.
They are probably more knowledgeable at ODS or the college counseling center about how to get ADHD evaluated, so make sure you're seeing the right people to get the help you need. In my case, it turned out the university health center was better than the counseling center for getting anything to happen, but your mileage may vary. In any case, even if your student health center doc doesn't want to believe ADHD (they get a lot of students trying to fake it for Rx's for Adderall, so you can hardly blame them) you can still ask for help getting an evaluation done by someone else. This would also show that you're serious about it and not just trying to get some uppers.
As a grad student, they will probably offer you student health insurance through the university, and if you don't have other coverage, you should probably give it some consideration. It's good to be able to go to a doctor when you need to! And if you do get an ADHD dx, you will probably get a prescription to go with it - most of them are pretty cheap on the generics but again, it's nice to have insurance just in case...
Good luck!