i think i may drop out of grad school.

basically, i keep sucking at it, and it's making me really unhappy.  kind of inexplicable, but there it is.

neuroscience.

Well, if it's making you that unhappy, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to step away from it. It will always be there if you decide to go back. Do you know yet what you would like to do instead?

oh noes! taking time off is something i highly recommend. i dropped out of college to go do hair a few years ago, and now i'm planning on going back this fall, fully prepared and excited.

Find an internship. It's much easier to do before you quit, and it's often a good foot in the door for a real job. Plenty of people take a semester off for internships and end up with nice jobs in industry. It worked great for me.

i know what you mean. i've almost got a degree but i can barely do it anymore.

I am ALL FOR people dropping out of phd programs. Fuck them! Fuck them! i've known a couple of people to drop out almost right before the end, too, and they were SO HAPPY afterward.

Welcome to grad school! It's miserable. You're supposed to be unhappy, in large part because advanced degrees are less about intellectual capacity, and more about the stubborn refusal to give up, even when you're being beaten down constantly.

I wanted to quit at least…oh, twelve times, if not more, when I was in grad school.

I've seen people stick with it; I've seen people drop out. Neither group seems to have a market on happiness. But it's also not the end of the world if you leave, and you certainly wouldn't be the only one to have done so.

I took a semester leave too, and may take more time off. As everyone says... it's just what it is.