elanya

I've been doing some reading regarding the whole grad school thing of late, and the conclusion most people seem to harp on is this: Everyone is constantly convinced that their work is subpar, that they are not up on the material, that their papers are crap, and that everyone else is light years ahead of where they are. This is due to the general process of learning, especially in a higher academic setting, being all hidden from the eye of the observer, such that you only see yourself flipping out and pulling your hair out over the goddamn mire of text, and you see everyone's end product of similar labors, thus leading to the whole 'everyone is smarter than me at this' thing.

Also, on people pulling awesome papers out of their asses at the last minute: I do this all the time. This does not, however, mean that I'm better at doing this sort of thing than others; it means that I can't function without the pressure of a deadline. If others are operating in a manner similar to the method I tend to use, they get a whole bunch of information, stuff it into their brain early on, and let it sit and gestate for awhile. Essentially, by the time they sit down to actually write, they've already gone through a draft or two. It's just a different method, and does not reflect in any way on the compotence of the author.

So, um, yeah. Also don't be neurotic. You'll kill yourself.