How do you get over self-doubt (when it comes to academics)

Turn it around a little: If you don’t try you never know.

You can do it!
You clearly have enough discipline (two degrees).

Someone near and dear to me, with a fine arts background (BFA), decided to become a Cardiac Ultrasound tech a few years ago. She took a year of math/science prerequisites then the two year coursework/intership and has now been working in the field for a couple years.

Personally the hard part for me would be memorizing the physiology.
Just put the time in to master the material, go for it.

A little self doubt is healthy. Too much is not. You have to convince yourself that you can do something you have never done before. There is no rational alternative.

Why do you want to “upgrade” your chem mark?

You’re an older student and that guarantees that you will be twice as good as you were back in high school. You are more disciplined. You understand how to study better. You make yourself read. You get things done before the last minute.

These things are all huge and give you an enormous advantage compared to other students in your class. School will not be as you remember it.

I think you have other advantages, too. Certain critical thinking abilities that you demonstrate on fluther on a regular basis. Most students don’t have that.

How do you get over self-doubt? You do what you did. Ask people to point out some strengths you didn’t know you had.

Another thing. You’re half crazy. There is a correlation between some kinds of craziness and intelligence. But I didn’t say that.

“Another thing. You’re half crazy.”

True. True.

Given your success at earning two college degrees, I expect that you will be able to earn a Medical Radiation Tech degree. Chemistry, especially organic chemistry, is a difficult subject. It requires a lot of memorization. However, your abilities have surely improved since you were a student in high school. I have confidence in you. You can and will succeed in this endeavor too.

You can get a tutor if necessary. Is Chem a requirement for what you want to do? If not, I would not bother with a high school mark.

“Half crazy” is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. I’m serious. Keep working at it. One day you might become fully crazy, like me. No, I wouldn’t wish full craziness on anyone. But there are advantages to craziness, and I think it helps with school if you channel it right.

Requirements

edited link

Yes, I was wondering about the chemistry. It looks like physics and biology are required, but I did not see a mention of chemistry. Perhaps I missed it. But based on that, I would definitely not worry about upgrading the chem grade. If you want to take a prep course, take physics. Or get more math.

I figure if so many others can do it, no way that I can’t. The way Alex approaches this is this way “well, figure half of everyone is an idiot…then of the rest, half of those don’t have a work ethic like you do…and keep going…until you can see you really have nothing to worry about.”

Just do it. Either you’ll excel or struggle. We all can’t be good at everything.

Well, that doubt you’re feeling now is nothing compared to the alternative of having all the confidence in the world, jumping in with both feet and then doubting yourself while you’re right in the middle. But it’s more destructive, as it could prevent you from taking that leap and setting up regrets in reservation. Happens to me all the time, it’s just the nature of the human psyche.

The best anecdote about this I ever heard was from the Dallas Cowboys coach. He set up a board between two benches in the locker room and had his players walk across the board, from one side to the other. Then he asked them if they’d still sprint across there like that if the board was between the roofs of two skyscrapers (of course they said hell no).

But why not? They still crossed the board in the locker room. They were capable of it, even with haste and confidence. Why then, would the situation change in the alternate scenario? It’s because fear was introduced. Fear is the single biggest offender in this case, and will bring you down every time.

But more importantly in this exercise than the fear… is the focus. It wasn’t the fear that would keep the players from crossing the board in the sky… it was that their focus was on the fear of the consequence of failing, not on the goal of crossing over.

Focus on the goal, not on the consequence of failure.

I would talk to a counselor at the school about the prequisites you would need before fussing about how you’ll do. They often waive course requirements for more experienced students. Say, “Yes. I CAN.” and go for it. Of course, you can do it. How many times do you have to prove it to yourself?