# How did you manage to graduate college?



## Tfit84 (Feb 12, 2015)

I see a lot of people on here talking about how they are graduating/did graduate from college. I have no idea how this is even remotely possible for someone with a severe level of social anxiety due to college classes requiring participation in group projects, public speaking and being called to speak on by professors. All of these things have made me quit college 5 different times. 

Couple this with the obsessive thoughts that people are looking at me and judging me on the way to class and college truly is a nightmare for people like me. 

Is there some type of disability you got from your college that enabled you to not have to speak publicly or something that your teachers had to respect?


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## monotonous (Feb 1, 2013)

i just enjoyed to see A's on my transcript, A+ gave me orgasms


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## AussiePea (Mar 27, 2007)

I'd say those who have probably do not suffer the same level of anxiety as you do, at least i didn't. As for dispensation for performing orals, it would probably be a class by class basis and one to bring up with the teacher, or have your therapist speak to your teacher.


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## Tfit84 (Feb 12, 2015)

monotonous said:


> i just enjoyed to see A's on my transcript, A+ gave me orgasms


i think everyone enjoys seeing that. I guess my point is how did you suffer through all the things i mentioned in order to get A's and not immediately drop out once you found out you had to present in front of class?


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## Tfit84 (Feb 12, 2015)

AussiePea said:


> I'd say those who have probably do not suffer the same level of anxiety as you do, at least i didn't. As for dispensation for performing orals, it would probably be a class by class basis and one to bring up with the teacher, or have your therapist speak to your teacher.


Its so weird to me how you can have SA and not feel like you are on the verge of death when giving a presentation in front of people or being asked to speak in class. Anxiety is the fear of being judged harshly by others and I honestly cant think of a more judgmental scenario/environment than that.


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## AussiePea (Mar 27, 2007)

Tfit84 said:


> Its so weird to me how you can have SA and not feel like you are on the verge of death when giving a presentation in front of people or being asked to speak in class. Anxiety is the fear of being judged harshly by others and I honestly cant think of a more judgmental scenario/environment than that.


Yes but there are varying degrees of anxiety. I used to get worked up quite a lot and would sweat beforehand (and during) the speech, but was still able to get through it, though the quality of my speeches always suffered as a result.


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## Imbored21 (Jun 18, 2012)

My SA is mostly a problem for meeting people. Public speaking, i can handle (although i still hate it). College does suck with SA, but i find it a lot less anxiety provoking than work. At least they hold your hand through it all.


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## SilentLyric (Aug 20, 2012)

the coursework worried me more than the speaking.

I don't think SA had a potential role in not graduating. More so my lack of worth ethic and lack of motivation.


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## Shinobi1001 (Aug 28, 2012)

Tfit84 said:


> I see a lot of people on here talking about how they are graduating/did graduate from college. I have no idea how this is even remotely possible for someone with a severe level of social anxiety due to college classes requiring participation in group projects, public speaking and being called to speak on by professors. All of these things have made me quit college 5 different times.
> 
> Couple this with the obsessive thoughts that people are looking at me and judging me on the way to class and college truly is a nightmare for people like me.
> 
> Is there some type of disability you got from your college that enabled you to not have to speak publicly or something that your teachers had to respect?


There are a couple of classes that can affect your grade for those of us that have SA. I'm talking about the communications and sociology classes that require presentations/speaking in front of an audience. What's worse? These classes are a requirement to graduate for any major. It was tough for me and I looked like a goof, but I managed to pull through. Other than that, I would say having a job is more difficult than college (unless you're an engineer or nursing student).

I will be graduating this Spring thank goodness


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

It was one of the hardest things I every had to do. From living on campus to eating in the cafe, so hard. My anxiety got worse from going to college. I stayed in my dorm room (single bedroom) most of the time. Very tough days, couldn't go through it again.


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## cybernaut (Jul 30, 2010)

Most people on this site major in things that do not require frequent public speaking in front of an entire class (Computer Science,Economics/Accounting, Engineering,General Sciences). You probably won't be able to get around the group project thing no matter matter the major though. I can personally tolerate those.

If anyone plans to study in a Political Science/International Affairs field like me, then brace yourself for the aspects of frequent public speaking and having to openly expressing your opinions to the entire class. That's been nerve wrecking.


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## boas (Jun 9, 2013)

I consider my anxiety to be pretty severe but a 5-10 minute presentation really doesn't bother me all that much. It did a lot in the beginning but having done six or seven of them over the last couple of years I'm OK with them. Not comfortable but not exactly nervous either.

Although I should add that assessed discussions are hell. That's because it's more spontaneous and off the cuff. You're having to assert yourself and go back and forth with others. Hate every single moment of them.


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## lonerchick (Feb 7, 2015)

I loathe group work. I got through group work because there is always that person that takes over. I let them tell me what to do.
I what to get a graduate degree and they have even more group work, so annoying.


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## LadyApathy (Dec 2, 2014)

I haven't managed at all...I've failed a lot of classes due to my SA and Bipolar disorder. It hasn't been fun for me. I mean, for crying out loud I had to retake speech three times! because I cant stand public speaking but I actually passed it the third time with a B.


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## greyandgreenbean77 (Dec 23, 2013)

Tfit84 said:


> I see a lot of people on here talking about how they are graduating/did graduate from college. I have no idea how this is even remotely possible for someone with a severe level of social anxiety due to college classes requiring participation in group projects, public speaking and being called to speak on by professors. All of these things have made me quit college 5 different times.
> 
> Couple this with the obsessive thoughts that people are looking at me and judging me on the way to class and college truly is a nightmare for people like me.
> 
> Is there some type of disability you got from your college that enabled you to not have to speak publicly or something that your teachers had to respect?


Some stuff you tough out for the sake of your future. It's also not as easy for some as it is others. I have a secondary disorder that causes me to smell bad in public, just developed it. I've also had severe cystic acne for 12 years and a hoarder mother w/ schizophrenia/bipolar disorder. I attend class even though I get harassed daily by random people. I've managed to get job references, work in two undergraduate research positions, and major in biochemistry. How do I get through? I take the embarrassment. I tell myself people aren't that important. I cry a lot. I pray. Basically one day at a time. The struggle is different for everyone though. Some people have a harder time with SAD than others. Do what you want to do even if you have SAD. It's not going to be easy though.


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## bfs (Jan 9, 2015)

Me personally I didn't have a problem with talking to people ONCE I got passed the complete stranger mode. I wouldn't dare initiate a conversation with someone in general but once it got passed a "hey how you doing" or a "introduce yourself to the person next to you" I was ok AS LONG AS I wasn't on the spot in front of everyone.

But this was over the years of working on my anxiety. To this day I still get nervous on presentations. Much easier when I had group presentations so I wasn't the only one. Presentations I think I just accepted that I will never be used to it. 

Other than that for me it was just go to school. Go to class. Go to the basketball court by myself and shoot around not talking to anyone and go home. Very little social activity.


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## bruised (Feb 10, 2013)

Ive had stressful days but got through it and I don't really have a problem with the social aspect of going to class anymore


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Took many many years and 3 tries, years apart. Exams really suck. Fighting procrastination is super hard. Then you find a 9-5 job and see how much better school is than work.


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## Bored Alien (Feb 5, 2015)

I lived at home through college and it was just easier to go to school than to go through the effort it'd have taken to change course and drop out and have to find a job or whatever. Presentations suck but i got pretty good at them actually.


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## Ender (Aug 5, 2012)

Took me 18 years to get my BS. I took a lot of online classes and dropped lot of classes when they got to be too much. I also wasted a lot of money.


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## Raeden (Feb 8, 2013)

Tfit84 said:


> Its so weird to me how you can have SA and not feel like you are on the verge of death when giving a presentation in front of people or being asked to speak in class. Anxiety is the fear of being judged harshly by others and I honestly cant think of a more judgmental scenario/environment than that.


Well, I'm in a major where I rarely give presentations. The majority of my classes are just the attend-study-take exams sort. I still am utterly terrible at giving presentations, but it doesn't make me nearly as anxious as it used to when I first started college. After a while, I realized that nobody actually pays attention to student presentations, so I'm essentially giving a presentation to a room of comatose patients.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

komorikun said:


> Took many many years and 3 tries, years apart. Exams really suck. Fighting procrastination is super hard. Then you find a 9-5 job and see how much better school is than work.


Of course, I didn't get much support from my family. My dad kept threatening to cut me off financially on my first try. Kept saying I had to get a job to help support myself. Not so easy, after being a hermit for 5 years and not going to high school.

And on the first try I was too young (still considered a dependent student) to get financial aid.


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## GloomyTracy (Jan 17, 2015)

I often wonder how I made it through college, that is the thing with social anxiety, sometimes I look back at life and wonder how I was able to complete a fairly big task in the past, especially if I had a small failure recently, with something such as being able to enter a busy store on a Saturday or something.

I knew by senior year of high school, I would not be able to live on campus, so I was a commuter student. When I say I commuted, I did just that, would arrive on campus 5 minutes before the class started, and would leave campus 5 minutes after the class ended. 

I avoided the following subjects: Communications, Education/Teaching, Social Work, Sociology, Psychology

I took classes in the following fields: (Business area) Math, Finance, Economics, Business Law, Environmental Law, Geography, ... and I rarely had to make group presentations.

Another trick I would do, is that I would take classes in the summer, when the classes were smaller, I would often take 3 or 4 courses during the summer.


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## Michael1973 (May 25, 2005)

That's basically what I did. I commuted to college, and the highlight of most days was going home. In all my life, one of my biggest regrets was not trying to have a social life in college. My mother tried to encourage me, but I was still scarred from events in my early teens that I could not let go of. I did, however, have one class that required presentations and, while it was terrifying, it somehow remains one of my most memorable classes. Weird, no?


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## ShrimpSauce (Jan 12, 2012)

I suffered the entire time. I essentially faked a different personality.


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## seeking777 (Oct 24, 2012)

I actually had several presentations in a lot of my classes; I majored in a social science subject and international relations. They were almost all group presentations thankfully but I still bombed most of them. I mean I got through them but I wasn't very good. I actually had an episode where I got light-headed and nearly fainted in one presentation. It was awful, but none of the presentations were a big enough fraction of my grade to affect them much. I still passed all of those classes with As and Bs. I had no choice but to push myself through college, I HAD TO graduate, too many people in my family were expecting it. 

Now, socially, my college experience was a disaster. Most of the time I was alone in my room. I attempted to interact in a few groups and had varying success, mostly failure but I can recall a few positive moments. I was able to have a few 2-4, friends and acquaintances who I spoke and hung out with regularly. They were what got me through honestly. Ditto on the comment about work being worse, IT IS. 

I would really like to go to graduate school though. I finally have gotten into therapy and learned a lot about how to deal with anxiety and build my social skills and I want another try at the social aspect of school. Anyone here gone to graduate school?


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