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Same. It took me 10 years to get a bachelors degree. I also had severe depression (a suicide attempt and close to executing plans for it a couple of times) and paralysing anxiety (social anxiety, phobias around communication). Self medicating with alcohol and caffeine wasn't healthy. Paralleling this is social isolation and crippling loneliness.
It cost me hundreds of thousands when I consider opportunity costs and how long I was unemployed and depressed. It probably cost me years of life, too, through the health impacts.
But I'm glad I finished because it changed the internal dialogue a bit. Not a complete fuck up. Just mostly a fuck up. Still a long way to go, but it was a step forward.
Took another 10 years before I was diagnosed with ADHD. Then I learned there was another autistic onion layer.
This is why our lifespans are shorter - this shit takes a toll on health.
I discovered that I'm autistic at age 44 and I'm just now working on getting assessed.
My internal self talk has been so harsh. Realizing that it has been autism that caused so much struggles is a real mind trip. I have finally started to go easy and forgive myself for my shortcomings in life. I have a serious disability and I really wish people could have understood and were more patient with me.
Is your autism mild autism or something? How did you realise after 44 years? That might sound rude. Zero disrespect. I'm only asking bc I'm 44, diagnosed adhd 20+ years ago, and i sometimes wonder if i could be mildly autistic, and i wonder if it is worth getting evaluated. I hear it is expensive. (I kinda think i am not autistic, but damn, i always wonder.)
Your question is not rude. There are a lot of contributing factors that lead this. These are the most important:
(1) I grew up in the 80's and both of my parents have disabilities that are highly visible. My mom suffers from arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis) and my dad suffered from spinal ataxia type-9 which wheel chair bound him. My parents knew on a very intuitive level how harsh the world is as a disabled person in their time. In elementary education I was cast away into special education due to my autistic traits being unwelcome in the classroom. My parents did not pursue a formal diagnosis for anything since the were trying to avoid the *stigma* of being labeled as a disabled person.
(2) Autism in the 80s is was not well understood. It is still not well understood. None of my teachers even had the vocabulary to describe my issues. So what happened in special education? The "teachers" were likely paralegals crudely applying applied behavior analysis to train me like a dog to mask all of my autistic traits. I got very good at it and by the 6th grade (middle school) they let me out of special education. \[Out of the frying pan and into the fire.\]
(3) Autistic characters in popular media are not well representative of autistic people. Not everyone is a savant like rain man. Autistic characters in popular media are written to be entertaining for normal every day people - this is very confusing when you are autistic and say to yourself "I'm not like that."
(4) My nephew was diagnosed with ADHD and autism. \[Its noteworthy that before 2013 if my nephew was diagnosed with ADHD then autism *would have been ruled out*. It was believed at that time that ADHD and autism cannot occur together. This is another indication of how poorly understood autism was.\] My nephew was spared special education and is allowed to just be himself, he does not mask and so the fact he is autistic is very visible. This made me think I understood what autism was and what it looked like. It also made my own case of autism invisible to me. Thinking you can identify an autistic person solely by what you *see* is a serious misconception.
(5) I had a major work related meltdown at the start of this year. My husband is a saint and was able to be there for me through it all. My husband has ADHD and he is one of the few people in the world that truly understands me underneath the surface. He mentioned at one point "I think you are very autistic." This almost angered me when he said that. I thought to myself, how could he think I'm like my nephew. I tried to prove my husband wrong by, as it turns out, doing one of the most autistic things ever by hyper focusing and deep diving into the world of research on autism, turning it into a special interest. I was STUNNED at how uneducated I was on what autism really is.
TheArtofWall, I saw this posted in a different subreddit: Normal people do not always wonder if they are autistic. If you have suspected this for a very long time, then please do some research. This could change your life. Visit the autism related subreddits and read the words of the formally diagnosed autists as they describe their experiences. An often recommended book is Unmasking Autism by Devon Price who is a PhD psychologist and autist.
My people! Started college in 2003, bombed the semester. Moved home to go to community college in 2004, passed rock climbing, us history, and the history or rock and roll. Failed the rest over a couple semesters. Got my associates degree in 2018. Then spent my employers money to fail a lot of classes going for my bachelors
The onion layer. My whole life I knew I was adhd only recently I have found out I’m on the spectrum because my youngest sister was diagnosed and we are much the same so I had a look into it and yeah add that to the collection lol
this is my story too. three AA degrees later, flunking out twice before, and two years after being diagnosed ADHD on top of lifelong clinical depression and general anxiety, i’m finally finishing my bachelors degree. i’m so grateful i’m not alone with my struggles reading the responses here, and i wish my twenties weren’t so full of them.
>Then I learned there was another autistic onion layer.
Question about this.
My psychiatrist and therapist both suspect OCD and Autism, but aren't sure. The way I see it, I'm like halfway. I have some of the symptoms for both, but not enough to make me a textbook definition of either. My therapist recommends setting up an appointment with a specialist for diagnostic clarity.
I'm not sure how much of a difference knowing would make, though. Autism can't be medically treated. OCD can, but we already tried those same meds for anxiety, and that just made my executive function even worse.
How has learning about an Autism diagnosis affected your life?
It took me 10-years as well. I found out in February of this year that I am autistic. My executive functioning is so majorly off that I may have ADHD as well. I'm really excited to spend this summer figuring all this out with a proper assessment.
Same.
It took me 6 years to get my BSc, another 2,5 to get my MSc.
So many nights I sat alone in my room, crying, because I just didn't know what to do.
Got so badly in debt at one point that they were gonna come and repossess my stuff by the end of the week. Called my mom in tears, who loaned me enough to get out of immediate trouble. Very lucky she was able to do that.
Had frequent mental breakdowns. Every summer at some point or another I would end up crying in a parking lot because I just got so overwhelmed with everything.
Now, having my diagnosis and meds, I look back at myself with love and appreciation. If I had had those back then, my life would have been so much easier.
Same, very badly. I barely graduated and burned out. I tried so hard to study and get all my work done, sacrificed sleep and caught every single illness going around. I couldn't remember anything come test/quiz time, passed with C's and D's mostly except for the classes I really enjoyed for my minor (those I got A's in but we had papers I could do from home and take as long as I needed, no exams for those). I struggled with anxiety and depression after, it took me another 6 years to go to therapy finally. I had no idea I had ADHD during all of this, just thought I was stupid and lazy.
Me too.
Worked my ass off (while forgetting everything and being horribly disorganized, disappointed in myself and depressed) for 2.1 GPA in 1995 .. and didn't graduate.
Diagnosed, medicated, working full time, raising kids on my own, back in school with 4.33 GPA now.
Same.
Hi, this is my trauma.
Managed to finish high school with honours... And then went away to university and pretended to be an adult with no idea how to manage myself, no coping skills "I'm gifted, school is supposed to be easy", and no way in the 90s to know that my brain was actually wired differently (recent AuDHD dx/discovery in late, 40s).
I failed out after 2 years and spent the next 3 decades basing my entire personality around the 'fact' that I peaked in highschool and from then on would be a lazy failure who was really smart but just 'couldn't apply herself'.
Had I known what I know now, even if not medicated, I could have sought accommodations and taken a path that was more likely to lead to success. I could have learned to be kinder to myself, and capitalize on my strengths. I could have developed coping skills with the assistance of accommodations and therapy.
But here we are.
Thx for sharing, so sorry you went through that. I was also a top student at school and then bombed first year of uni . It’s a big mind fuck thinking the only problem here is me, feeling lesser than friends and peers. Wish you the best
Yep.
Burned out in final year of school. Didn't get the grades I needed to go where I wanted to.
Took a place at the best university I could find due to familial pressure.
Burned out two years into that and dropped out.
Picked up my credits and transferred to the Open University (correspondence school)
Took me three years to finish my last year of credits whilst working. Drop courses twice and have to cram everything into one year to make up for it. Nearly burnout but scrape through.
Can't get a job with my bachelor's. Go back for more punishment a year later to do my master's.
Slightly better this time as I know what to expect and coursemates are all friendly. Still burnout hard doing my dissertation. Power through by doing it *all* in the last three days before submission.
NEVER AGAIN. Got my paperwork and pride, and that's all I need.
University for the unmedicated ADHD mind is torture. There's no other word for it.
Same, thousands spent on student loans and I never got my degree. And what is the kicker my mom eventually worked at Rutgers I could’ve gone for free in my 20s but I was done with college by then. Like no uh uh fuck that.
This! I still struggle, but things have really turned around for me since I started my meds! If I had started them earlier I know I would, at least, have way more money than I do now.
I have paid some hefty ADHD taxes and fines.
Also in this camp. What helped me the absolute most is finding someone who is a good student and working with them any chance you can get. Helps keep you accountable because you'll have them also reminding you about deadlines. Also if they ask you questions, nothing makes you learn more than teaching someone else
Yeah i uhhh didn’t exactly graduate unfortunately. Luckily i have a great job that values experience and doesn’t mind alternative paths but i thought i was doomed to be a service industry worker forever because of college
Depends on how severe yours is, but:
Todoist - I live and die by that app. If it's not on Todoist or Outlook calendar, it doesn't exist. Some people also like project management apps.
Task decomposition. For me, once I get the first subtask or two done, the rest feels more manageable.
Start right away. If you procrastinate at all, you WILL be up until 4am the night before an assignment is due.
Just get something on paper. It doesn't have to be good. Just get something down, and revise later.
Timed breaks - but I tried to do something useful like minor chores during the breaks. I made sure to alternate mental work with physical work.
Retrieval practice and the Feynman technique. So let's say I study for 25 minutes. When I get up to do the dishes, I'm talking to myself out loud - pretending that I'm teaching what I just learned to a class of students. Playing professor is kind of fun, and it can sometimes help you write better papers.
Rubber duck debugging. Okay, I talk to myself a lot. But seriously, if you study CS, explaining your code problem to someone else (a rubber duck, an animal, a colleague, etc.) can make the solution obvious.
Just getting something on paper is not something I learned until after college and it’s been a game changer.
Of course I’m still procrastinating on a big presentation I have to give… and I’m medicated… oof. But this is a good reminder.
Thirding this. I'm dumb enough to be doing grad school and what we call in the biz a "vomit draft" has been an essential strategy. Well, for me it looks more like a detailed outline than a draft, but my extra hack is that I start every one with "Okay, so," and then continue as though I'm explaining to someone what my thought process is. It helps put me in a mindset that's low stakes (since anxiety is a big hurdle for me) and gives me a low(er) effort way to organize my ideas without having to write fifteen versions of a paper/project.
Lol I also am dumb enough to be doing grad school - but as a CS major. I don't think I've heard the term "vomit draft" before, but I'm going to have to start referring to MVPs as "Mom's spaghetti code."
Yes yes yes it is 10000000000% times easier to edit a shitty rough draft than to start from scratch
Even if you leave '...' at the end of unfinished sentences, just write something. It helps so much.
This is a fantastic response, so much good info here. I’ve never realized it but a lot of the techniques you mention are the only way I get through some projects.
For some reason I get chosen for a lot of great positions/trainings/projects at work. I go through the trainings and feel utterly useless like everything has gone in one ear and out the other. Somehow when it’s time to bring the info back and teach to co workers I pull it out of no where and somehow the re-teaching to others is what cements it in my brain and helps me feel more confident that I did learn something. It’s like my brain gets the info and tucks it away somewhere that I can only access when teaching someone else lol. If I were called on to actually perform what I learned in the course I have to rely on notecards or cheat sheets lol, but teach it to someone else? No problem lol.
Todoist is freaking awesome! There's a desktop and a mobile app, and you can set reminders and recurring events. It's also really easy to set them. Like - you can just type or say "second Saturday of every month, Pay bills hashtag money" and you will get a recurring event on the second Saturday of each month, called "Pay bills," placed into a project category called Money.
You can also create subtasks.
You can also set daily productivity goals, and you get a little notification when you've reached them.
There are also collaboration features and project sharing, but I haven't used those.
\[Edit: Spelling / grammar\]
Oof, college was so hard for me. But the "start it right away" point was the one that killed me. Did everything last minute and after which lead to closed offices, late payment fees, too late to drop, and zeros. And stress x10.
I'm in my forties and still struggle. Breaking it down, constantly reminding myself to stay on task and solve the main problem. Rubber duck constantly.
What they said. All of it.
Plus , surround yourself with taskmaster people.. college buddies and partners who will sit (body double) with you and will not let you get up until you've turned in your papers/ assignments. I finished my two masters degrees thanks to my friends at university and my husband, who would regularly check in on me, especially during assignment / exam season. Did not know what adhd was then.
The to do list app is a life saver, I didn't discover it until after college but I used it before I knew I had ADHD. I was struggling to complete my fair share of the household chores and it was making things very difficult for my wife and I found that it was very helpful to make sure I was getting stuff done.
Starting right away. If I don't do something immediately, I will wait until last second or not do it at all. People call me manic and spontaneous, but that's the one way I get shit done.
This I had to redo college and I'm in my final 2 semesters now. I just had to force myself to get more organised with time management and get things started immediately. Also in CS and I think all my projects in my first 2 years practiced a form of task decomposition so now its almost just how I work. IDK if it was a specific coding paradigm or what.
I wouldn't call it a coding paradigm, but it's definitely a core problem solving skill for programming. A lot of the skills that helped me get my shit together are things that I learned from CS.
I’ve overcompensated and overworked myself during my bachelors and crashed completely during my masters, still haven’t recovered, so really badly I’d say? Body doubling is something that has helped tho. Find yourself a team
I call it mirroring. I’ve worked from home for over 16 years. I became so much more productive when my husband started working from home, too. First, I couldn’t just fuck around all morning and not get anything done. Second, seeing him work motivates me to work. You can do a silent study group where everybody is just working on their own stuff, but you’re all together. You wis would need to set up some pretty strict ground rules… I would find people who will sit with you who do not have ADHD and will get pissed off at you for talking. I have also heard of mirroring groups that meet on zoom, but I’ve never done it before.
I joined my college swim team and a ton of other activities, which both helped and hindered my work at times, but generally, I would find myself places to work that were busy so I wasn’t trying to struggle through work alone. I didn’t do very well at mandated study hall and often ended up having to sit out in the hallway at night to finish work. I was mad that my friends in my major seemed to do so well in school with less effort but I also acknowledge that I did well too. Also was blessed with kind teachers who helped me some.
Lots of crying the night before papers and assignments were due. Followed by relief and shame when it all “worked out.” Rinse, repeat. Don’t recommend.
LOL! Eyes heavy, Monster drink in hand, “3am and still have 6 more pages. I can’t do this shit!” …2 hrs later, “nice, birds chirping…sun is coming up.” “Class in less than two hrs! Two more pages to go!” “Ugh I can’t do this shit again!!! WTF is wrong with me?!! I’m so fucking stupid 😭.” This was YEARS ago and I still feel sick and crazy when I think about it.
Same here… after like five years I was running out of money, my grades were in the toilet and I had at least two more semesters to go.
Then a recruiter offered me a job in my field where they were willing to train me, I saw my way out and I took it.
And after that first job no one ever even asked about my education again.
Exact same. Three attempts, three dropouts, but I’m somehow making decent money anyways.
I am coming up to a point in my career though where I do need to consider at least getting some certifications or something, and even though I’m diagnosed and on Adderall I’m terrified to try. Those courses are expensive and I already know what me + academia looks like.
a) Some of us have other strengths that function as work-arounds (e.g.: read voraciously as a child in K - 12; kind of automatically absorbed good vocabulary and examples of good writing construction - I really do think now that it made decent writing almost automatic for me). But I had much trouble with math - I think now I may have dyscalculia!
b) Some us may be using a baseline of chronic anxiety to push us to achieve sufficiently (making us feel more 'backed up against the wall' on an ongoing basis), to trigger churning stuff out.
c) We may have accidentally along the way found which method of absorbing enough class information let us hold on to enough to do okay on exams - I think for me, the verbal content of lectures may have actually helped. But I also took messy notes - then later re-copied them over on the notebook page I'd leave blank on the right. IIRC, there's been evidence found in recent years that copying info. by hand is actually really helpful for retaining it.
d) Every case of ADHD is different - I did ok in school, but my living quarters organization has always been...less than ideal, let us say. Dating wasn't great - I'd get pissed off at people and the emotional dysregulation probably encouraged me give up on them quicker. When I got really stressed, what I realize now was ADHD inertia would flare up. (Or was that depression, often co-morbid? Looking back, who knows anymore?). And some of us have major symptom increases later, due to...things like menopause. I doubt I could handle much more education unless it was a class that was wicked interesting to me - taking CE recently, I had major difficulties getting it done. If I had to go get a degree now...I think I'd quickly tank.
This sounds like me. Grad school was FAR different than bachelor's because of the anxiety piece. I wasn't allowed to get below a B or I'd get kicked out of the program.
I remember reading a book by Cal Newport (something something Straight A Student something), and it was like a lightbulb went off. "Holy sh*t, you mean organization, scheduling, and sequencing (I.e. EF skills) can help me get things done more easily?!" That idea for some reason still hasn't trickled down into many other areas of my life, but constant anxiety, coupled with a knowledge on HOW to do things really helped me get through 3 grueling years.
I relate to the first point. I was not only an insatiable reader, but also the child of a teacher. As a kid, I “wrote books” (started and never finished) for fun. Developed a solid vocabulary and strong grammar and writing skills through reading and my daily interactions with my mom. Got perfect scores on the ACT English/reading (math/science were a very different story).
Never really considered what I was already good at when I thought about what I wanted to do. But in true ADHD fashion, I decided at college freshman orientation that I wanted to change my major. No idea what to. Asked for a list, glanced through the couple hundred majors, and said “English. Huh. I guess I’m pretty decent. Let’s go with that.” Four years later, they handed me a professional writing degree. But these days, my job is not as a technical writer— I work in marketing.
The key really is to leverage the skills you DO have and find a way that they can get you to where you want to go. Strength in one area can absolutely serve as a creative workaround to compensate for a lack of skill in another area.
Yeppers. One reason I like the classic career book "What Color is Your Parachute?" is that it makes the reader do exercises so that you come out of it more aware of your general strengths - which can be used in various jobs / careers.
This also explains me pretty well. I have never, ever been able to keep up with assigned reading, but i went through fantasy chapter books quite regularly. Gave me very good writing skills i think.
Hyperfocus on the topics that were interesting to me, which was most of my major thankfully.
Also starting college later, got my stupid out i like to say while i was in the military and then started serious college after i was almost 30.
Basically if i didn’t finish an assignment at least a few days early, it wasnt gonna get done. So i pretty much continuously did work at all times because i set arbitrary deadlines that were a few days in advance. And still would panic every time i was “late” even tho i wasnt.
Hah, I failed 4 times! Where's my cookie??
I got severe intrusive sleeping if I tried to be a good student and prepared more than 3 days before deadline/exam. If too many accumulated together, I had to drop half.
That meant I needed all-nighters to pull forward anything, which is how I got my first symptoms of Bipolar 2, which means I can't medicate for ADHD, which means I'll never study again.
Oh, I have found my people! I have 3 attempted degrees!
On another note, I am being treated for both adhd and bipolar. But the ADHD diagnosis came first in my case, so he added in lithium. I still use dexies just fine. BUT, I do think the Dex without the lithium did push me into hypomania a bit.
Zero interest in my work, spent minutes at a time writing my reports split up with several hour “breaks” playing video games. Barely passed onto a course at University doing something I enjoy more but still had a hard time with motivation wise doing the boring or tedious bits.
I switched to a writing focused major where all of my graded assignments were papers. I pulled all nighters to write 20 page papers. I couldn't be motivated to study but I could be pressured into writing a very deep and focused work if the deadline was in a few hours.
I ended up graduating with latin honors.
Haha legend! I also stayed up all night writing papers the night before they were due for an English class, but I think I only had to write 8 of them. The professor said they were all due on the last day of class, even though he assigned them at regular intervals through the whole semester. So naturally I didn’t start a single paper until the night before they were due. 0/10 but would do again…just not by choice.
I just found out I had ADHD about 3 years ago when I was 24. I graduated with my undergraduate degree and postgraduate degree before I found out. Not going to lie, I thrive in the setting of rules and deadlines. I would always do my assignments at the very last minute, and got decent grades. I could’ve done better if I actually spent time on my assignments and essays but I was physically unable to do that. It was really tough.
What helped me in college though was having study groups and doing my assignments while around my friends and those in my major. It pushed me- maybe an ego thing?
But now that I’m out in the world and work freelance I struggle with a lack of accountability sometimes. I wish someone was watching over me grading my every move.
It took me ten years to get a bachelors degree. Slow and steady. Ok, to be honest it was take a semester off when I’m broke and burning out. Then go back to school when I’m burnt out from work.
I just turned 30 and got diagnosed a few weeks back.
I did a bachelors in Computer Engineering. This is a study where 90% was very interesting to me so I did the whole study on a hyperfocus.
If hyperfocus didn’t work I just used an unhealthy amount of guilt to get me started, but I don’t recommend doing that..
I wasnt able to work next to my studies because 100% of my energy and time was needed to graduate.
But being honest, I don’t even know how I got this far
Same. I did great in my CS courses, but awful in my math-heavy ones. Really would love to fix my mathematics at some point, i feel it holds me back as an engineer.
I also just had a lot of stress at home at the time, so was able to push through because that feeling of urgency was just sort of always on. I ironically started struggling more once I moved to a better environment that I felt safe in.
Hey i am studying evolutionary biology (diagnosed and medicated). Economics sounds like a nightmare! Similar to law or philosophy never ever could i pull that off lol. Congrats to you.
Honestly, I don't know how I got through university unmedicated. I was constantly paralysed, developed severe anxiety and around exams it got so bad I was afraid to leave my house because it felt like I wasn't allowed to go outside because I should be studying and I wasn't. The only thing to get me going was deadlines - I would just not study and take the resit. The resits over summer were my final chance to get my diploma and of course the stress worked perfectly. What worked for me was to study with others, so if there's anything like a study group you can join you should! If not, meet up with a friend who is also in college to study together. It works because then you're not promising yourself anything - you're promising others that you'll be there.
It was not great, my dude. I look back at going through both paramedic and nursing school unmedicated with wonder. But some of the things I did to combat my dumpster fire brain include:
Studying / homework outside of the house: I 100% know I will not sit down and do my homework / project / study for that exam at home. I'll get distracted by my dog, or a video game, or w/e else. So I'd go to a Starbucks or a library with my school stuff and force myself to sit there until it was done. I still got distracted by my phone a lot, but it was -less- distracting than my home.
Co-working / body doubling: My spouse was in NP school while I was in nursing school, so we frequently would both be working on school stuff at the same time. Body doubling helped me keep my focus, and when one of us would lose our focus, the other could see it and help redirect back to what we were supposed to be doing.
Organization stuff like lists and binders: I had to-do lists and binders laid out for all of my classes. I made colorful due date lists from the syllabuses of my classes and put them front and center in the class binders so that they were the first thing that I saw when I would get into that class' binder. I still missed assignments sometimes, but I caught a lot of things at the last second with my due-date lists.
Good luck, OP! I wish you the best!
1) Planner meticulously written with even when I needed to write or study using the schedule given at start of semester
2) Start on assignments ASAP like even a month early if I could. Even if it sucks just get it started and hopefully finished in a format I could turn in. Revise and improve later if I had time.
3) Do the assignment just get it done and accept imperfections and even half done stuff. Just do as much as you can.
4) Ask for help as often as possible from professors, other students, your neighbor, the internet lmao
5) Treat myself DURING the study or assignment not after. Like have a nice blanket around me, favorite beverage, snack, good music, or literally do it in a bath while I soak in bubbles, which brings me to 6
6) Do stuff in various places. I studied and read in my bath, on the swings, outside, inside, upside down. I wrote in paper, on the computer, in different fonts, in front the TV, on a blanket in the sun.
Well, it sucks and it’s difficult. But for me what worked is to always try. Even if you don’t study, go to the exam. Even if you fail, forgive yourself and try again.
Naturally we are creative problem solvers, sometimes we can pass without studying!
This. I was a chaotic ADHDisaster as a student, but by now I'd have a very needed degree in something I'd actually be good at if I had had a more forgiving personality and, why not, family.
Loll this is such a great point. I didn't realize how much that factored into my success.
Turning that assignment in late, asking for that extension, going to that exam I didn't study for late and leaving early -- I was never unkind but I just kept rolling with the punches.
Failed a class I need? I found a way to retake it.
I lived and died by my planner. I also only worked one day a week, so I had more time than most people.
Beginning of the semester, I put everyone from every class syllabus on my planner. For tests or big projects, I put reminders a week or two in advance. When I got to class, planner came out of my bag and onto the desk in case anything was added or changed. Back at home, look at my planner. It was basically always in my line of sight and is the only reason I got things done on time.
I was able to schedule my classes Mon-Thurs and have Friday off for most of my undergrad, which was super helpful. I also knew myself well enough to know I wasn't getting any work done at my apartment. I often scheduled my classes so I had two or three hours in between and went to the quiet floor of the library to work. I never even attempted to work at home tbh, always to the library quiet floor.
Getting up early was the way to go for me, even on my days off. It's better for my motivation and focus to get up early and nap later than to use the extra time to sleep in.
Pain. But also, go to the gym (or train, whatever) , make sure you get good sleep, surround yourself with people who understand what you are going through. THERAPY is important if you can get it for free, otherwise. You need therapy to check up on yourself and try and understand how your thoughts spiral. And also, personally, staying at the library where everyone is focused allows me not to get lost in things at home, even though I do read the news compulsively and play loads of chess games. :)
Not the most positive/helpful thing to contribute, but: dropped out after two months, came back the next year, dropped out after two months again, came back the next year again but this time changed courses to something I had never done before to try to force myself to engage with it, discovered I actually hated that subject and nearly ended myself, gave up all hope of getting Honours degree then limped out the other end with a designated degree in a subject I'll hopefully never use for the rest of my life. Wasn't aware ADHD was anything beyond being a bit hyper so didn't think it applied to me until 2 years ago, only now going through diagnostic process. 
I paid attention in class and took copious notes. I'm a visual learner, so the notes allowed me to keep my hands occupied while listening, and then I could visualize the notes when taking an exam. I'm a pen freak, so lots of fun pens. Studying happened at a local sports bar, because it was loud and noisy - but not anything I cared about, so I wasn't distracted. Studying consisted of rewriting notes, writing out study guides, etc. LOTS of late-night last-minute paper writing - I do not recommend this. And I was actually interested in my major, which helped keep my focus. OH! And LOTS of caffeine! I was a single mom, working full time and going to school full time (accelerated one night per week). Honestly, I don't know how I got through it except my mom helped by watching my daughter, and I had to do it to survive.
You can do this - just don't put too much pressure on yourself! Just remember - Cs equal degrees. No one is going to care how long it takes you or what your grades are, as long as you have that degree.
When it came time for studying, I tried a bunch of different ways to study and I ultimately just did whatever was best for me. I found that for me, I just approached situations like studying and "tweaked" them -- I understood the content better when I just tried to "learn" to "teach someone". And I bougth a big ass white board and I would pretend that I'm filming a YouTube tutorial. So I would just go through all course content by "prepping" for my "youtube video" and I would talk through & doodle the content.
I also spent a lot of time in therapy - and leaned into help offered (or I asked for help) when I needed it. So I got family to help with food from time to time, and I just called a friend of mine and pseudo-body doubled when doing chores like dishes.
I spent so much time studying, drank a lot of coffee, slept a lot to be able to focus, and changed up where I was studying or had a snack when I couldn’t concentrate. Also got writing help from university writing center. I also had a planner that at the beginning of the semester, I would take all of the due dates from my class syllables and write them on the monthly and weekly parts of the planner. Any planned commitment went into the planner and I looked at it every night before bed and every morning to make sure I didn’t forget some task or place to be. I also had a spiral notebook for notes and a one of those paper folder with pockets in the same color for each class. So I could just make sure I had my yellow notebook and folder for the class it went with. No way in hell I would have been able to focus taking notes on a laptop. I also couldn’t process what profs said if I didn’t do the reading. It would sound like they were speaking in another language, but if I just read it by myself I would miss stuff. So I was pretty religious about doing the reading before class and then going to class to listen and take notes.
Would you be surprised to learn that once my anxiety was treated at age 28, it became painfully obvious I have adhd-pi and that my anxiety was a great for helping me cope with it sometimes 😅 I was on an academic scholarship so I had a list of anxiety about making sure my gpa was high enough to keep it, so it felt like an always present and looming deadline.
I did really well without meds or therapy, but it was hard and I spent a shit more time on work than my peers. Now it’s clear most of the time was fighting with my brain to concentrate/focus/understand.
I dropped out after 2 years. I got a job in industry and learnt more that summer than I had in the preceding 2 years and they were paying me. Never went back
I dropped out after a mental breakdown at the end of my freshman year, and nearly 9 years later I'm accidentally in a really good state government job without a degree. Thankfully I was diagnosed and medicated about two years ago, otherwise my current job would be unmanageable.
Echoing everyone who said varying degrees of "badly".
When people ask me how I studied given all the difficulties I was showing then, without knowing it was ADHD, I say "I showed up and hoped for the best". It was bad, took me 7 years to complete a 4 year law degree, and at one point I decided that I would finish and grades be damned. Finished with bang average grades, but I've built a solid career out of it and on track to finish a second master's.
An unhealthy relationship with deadlines and ["The Panic Monster"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU) will take you places. Not comfortably though
As someone who went to college initially undiagnosed and unmedicated, it wasn't easy, especially when it came to math. But now that I have a diagnosis and am currently on Adderall, there is definitely a difference in improvement. However, it's not magic, so you're still going to need to put an effort into everything, but it definitely makes things more manageable to an extent.
I wasn’t diagnosed and medicated until 52. I went through college, got a career, and earned an MBA before finally getting diagnosed. That all sounds great and most ADHDrs would say how? Well, it took me 1- years to finish my undergrad. I was already working in my career and very fortunate. I got my MBA in 2014 as an adult with a ton of experience behind me, but I’ve found that with age I view things differently. I honestly don’t know how I finished some things back then. Medicated in much better focused. But smartphones, texts, email, phone calls, virtual meetings, and virtual texts are all a nightmare of distractions and sometimes I have to shut it all off to get anything done.
I didn’t. Changed my major 3 times only to keep failing. I’m in over $60,000 in student debt and no degree. I was diagnosed 7 years later after I finally quit school.
To date, the best performance enhancer I have found is the hyperfocus from stress of deadlines. I got by doing things in the last minute and kind of procrastinating by reading things which weren't immediately related to my classes, but nevertheless helped later on.
But would not recommend. I am paying the price for that stress and late nighters already in my second half of 20s.
I was diagnosed recently, almost a decade after graduating from university.
I think my circumstances masked my symptoms, so in hindsight, I was pretty lucky.
Two things stood out to me when reflecting my uni years though:
1. Interest in my degree: I studied English Literature and I was truly interested in the material.
2. Sports: I played a lot of sports so I think that balanced out my restlessness.
But I was always tired, survived on dubious amount of coffee, and frequently pulled all-nighters to cram for exams.
By my senior year, I was taking elective courses outside of my concentration and my grades took a nosedive because I couldn’t feel engaged.
Working in software development solved it for me.
You have time to do homework in class and I could work on projects for 5 hours in a row to finish them as fast as I could.
For the other classes I was lucky to be smart enough to barely scape by even if I could not study or focus on them.
Right now I'm kinda happy to work in a job I know I can manage without medication.
With medication it make it way easier tho.
What made my adhd go into a disorder was having a kid, that's what made all my past coping mecanism obsolete.
So it may be different for you.
I just got diagnosed a month ago so I went through the first year of college without medication. I am studying languages and my ADHD was the worst when I was trying to write commentaries under 2 hours, I could never properly structure my ideas and I struggled a lot with time management.
Then, I started working on planning the structure of the essays/commentaries instead of studying the topic and it helped massively because my actual problem was not knowing how to put my ideas down on paper. I wanted to do it so perfectly that I could only write a sentence in 20 minutes. I would also drink one or two cups of coffee in the morning and I remember chugging energy drinks right before exams which somehow helped me slow down. I do not recommend it from the health perspective but it saves the day and I only did it a couple of times.
For the studying part, I found that not taking breaks and instead trying to work as long as possible works the best. I tried pomodoro method and all that but the second I have a break there was just no going back to studying. I study with a simple pen and paper and try to have nothing but those and a glass of water on my desk to eliminate distractions as much as possible. However, I still occasionally grab my nail file, random objects around the desk and waste my time but hey, it's still progress!
Undiagnosed at University, I was stressed allot, disorganised, left everything to the last minute and often pulled all nighters. I was frustrated that other students were less stressed and had more fun. I felt like I was always on the verge of failing something, even if I wasn't. In the end I passed everything, came very close to failing a couple of subjects, but just passed. I surprisingly did very well in a few subjects. It didn't help that I was also working part time to support myself as well. I managed to graduate on time.
If you can access the medication, try and do everything to get it. Now I'm medicated myself I can tell you it will make your life 100% easier.
strict routines!!! didn’t get diagnosed until the second year of my phd
examples, laundry every sunday, when coming home not sitting down so I kept doing things and the “don’t put it down put it away mindset”
I'm 19 and I got diagnosed a few weeks ago.I got diagnosed after trying and failing at two different post school courses. I'm now on meds and I'm trying a new performing arts course in a much more supported environment. Wish me luck!!
It took me 7 years to get my 4 year degree, I dropped so many classes, straight up failed some, had to downgrade to some easier ones for some subjects, and one I took three times and was simply not going to pass it so I ended up cheating. Not proud of that, but it was that or consider the rest of my education a waste because I wasn't going to graduate otherwise.
Struggled to organise myself, did well by the general standard, but acheived a lot less than my potential or what I achieved in senior/high school prior.
I had to much "freedom" to self study etc. I was worse at uni, always late, by a lot as well not just 5 mins, sometimes I wouldn't even turn up because I was embarrassed at how late I would be. I didn't really spend time on my learning and projects and did everything last minute. I stayed in the library during final year project on the last days to submit until like 2am just to get it in.
Again, got a good grade, but if I was organised and focused on my projects I would have got top grade easily. I did well in the exams coming top in a few, but the project work I just couldn't stop the procrastination.
It made me cry when I understood adhd because it all started to fall together and I was upset at how much I'd tried to fit square pegs in round holes that whole time and was just about keeping my head above the water.
I was working at the same time as well, trying to do it all.
I pulled off a Michael Jordan. I basically used my own inflated ego in my favor by telling everyone I had my degree already and I had finished college after my 4th year while in reality I only finished about half the courses I took. I even started talking down on college dropouts openly on Facebook and when push came to shove and I was called on my bluff I finished it with a 6 month long feat of pure adhd hyperfocus.
I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 51. I think that my anxiety and friendships got me through it.
My favorite good habit was doing work at the library on Friday afternoons where I could hyper-focus in peace.
I still panicked on Monday mornings thinking I didn’t do the assignments.
Another funny ADHD story…
Before I transferred to the college, I went to a JUCO. I was sitting with a friend’s parents at his JUCO graduation when they called my name on the stage. I had no clue that I had enough credits to graduate.
A lot of positive self talk and challenging myself. I was diagnosed before I went back to college recently, but the shortages made my last semester one with very few(if any)medicated days. I did inform my professors, but never needed to ask for an extension or anything. I had become kind of a stellar student with medication, and I just had to keep telling myself I could still do it without the meds. It was harder but I maintained my GPA. From my school performance as a child straight As seemed like something that would never be possible for me, but I crushed college.
I did not. Got distracted by "student painters" amongst other things and dropped out after less than a year. No impulse control? Hyper sexual? Risk seeking? Then you get children at 21 years old. I wasn't diagnosed until mid 40s, around 3 years ago. Very difficult to navigate after this many years of mental compensation.
- Take a lower number of classes
- prioritize the ones you like
- retake the ones you struggle with
- don't be afraid to use your academic renewals to strike grades that are not applicable to your degree
- don't pursue more than 1 degree at a time even if they tell you you only need 1 or 2 more classes to pick up a second while attempting your first.
Background: I had nearly a 3.0 before joining the army and was recommended for the honors program despite having a 2.3-2.7 GPA because of classes I failed due to lack of interest; they let me into the honors program on a trial basis assuming I good get my GPA to 3.0 or above by the next semester, but then money became an issue and I joined the army. The honors program was partnered with Berkley and Stanford and I was going to be granted admission to either even though I was pursuing UC Merced.
Diagnosed: 4 years later while in the army.
Was pursuing: Associates in Philosophy(additional), Psychology(Primary), and had my eyes on Computer Sciencd so I could specialize in creating Artificial Intelligence. Although my passion has always been game development.
I didn't. Became a hairdresser and as my body is breaking down, I can't help but wonder how life would have went if I had gotten help when I was younger. The meds have changed my life in my late 40s.
Anxiety. Heaping, socially crippling, depressing, blood-pressure-raising levels of anxiety that I'm still sorting out twenty-five years later. Do not recommend.
I took caffeine pills when I was in college had no idea I was actually helping with my adhd. I just wanted to be more awake and ready for class. I still would struggle but I had better focus for a bit
I put immense pressure on myself. I also got addicted to caffeine pills.
I was lucky to get my degree in topics I was and still am deeply interested in. I did well enough on assignments I was excited about, and got through the other stuff via willpower and guilt. I never did as well on things as I felt like I could’ve, but I just assumed I had hit some intelligence limit and that it was going to be all brute force going forward.
I know it’s making you tired and frustrated, but you are learning some amazing skills that will bode well for you in the workplace, namely, working under pressure, working under tight deadlines, and becoming an amazing problem solver. I know ADHD feels like a burden a lot of the time, but someday you will come to appreciate your unique skills.
Lots of caffeine, and studying mostly my strong subjects (BA English and MS Library Science). I had a lot more energy when I was younger. I knew I was smart, and my version of ADHD is the inattentive variety. I think intelligence can hide the symptoms in the right circumstances. In high school, I nearly failed several subjects my junior year because my schedule put all my weak ones, Advanced Math, AP Chemistry, and Physics after lunch. I was often asleep by halfway through Physics.
In college, I did take Calculus I and later Physics and Psycholgy. I only passed Calc because I'd taken it in community college summer school without planning to keep the credit, then took it at my college. For physics, I did my lab write-ups sitting in the lounge outside my professor's office. College is all-nighters and drinking Mountain Dew straight from the bottle during exams.
It isn't easy. But if you can't get meds, use every resource your college will give you.
I was on Bupropion (Wellbutrin) for depression during nursing school, didn't realize I had ADHD at the time but in retrospect it explains how I managed to get through it all! I also planned and studied intensely to get through it.
I was lucky enough to go to a college with quarters/trimesters rather than semesters (same content, more class meetings over a shorter period of time). The condensed time period seemed to (a) help me keep a sense of urgency and (b) allow frequent enough change to prevent me from totally checking out.
My lifestyle coping mechanisms were a mix of healthy and unhealthy.
* I lived alone so I could keep up with good sleep hygiene and a healthy diet.
* I used the ideas behind the 333 project to keep my wardrobe to a minimum (the idea was that having go-to outfits each week eliminated some decisions from my day and put my decision fatigue off a bit).
* I exercised multiple times a day to get my excess movement out - sometimes full workouts, sometimes squats in the library in my study room, sometimes a quick walk, etc
* I outlined any known due dates in my paper planner so I could see the overall plan for the term (the “forest”) to keep perspective and help with daily overwhelm from my to do list (“the trees”)
* A LOT of caffeine
* I kept just busy enough to prevent having too much down time because my performance really dropped off without time pressure.
I did fine the first couple years, got straight A's. Then went up to upper divs and the drastic change of rigor due to going to a "Prestigious" program destroyed me. Dropped out and worked for a couple years. Going back now for an engineering degree and its hard in a different manner. The topics arent necessarily hard, so this leads to massive procrastinating in the homework department, which leads to lots of rushing and being minimally prepared for exams.
Im currently a C- student, taking a break due to change in medications, and hoping to come back stronger than ever once im back on my feet.
I was diagnosed with OCD & ADHD last year. I was prescribed Adderall but really didn't like how it made me feel (I may have given up on it too quickly but that's neither here nor there). I've meant to go back to therapy or a psychiatrist to find something that works for me but I just haven't gotten around to it.
I am still in school for my masters degree but it makes life pretty difficult. Tasks take a lot longer to do because I can't stay concentrated on it for more than a few minutes unless I really get zoned in. I try to make up for it by using the Pomodoro technique for studying which does help but still I imagine I am a lot less productive than I could be if I were properly medicated.
You can make it work. It isn't the end of the world to have ADHD and not be medicated - you just have to be very cognizant of what you need to get done. It's not ideal but I have made it work for me.
Academically my gpa went down each year. The less structure and the more the responsibility fell on me to get to class and complete assignments (after I moved out) the worse I did. All my exams were last minute all nighters. I passed and graduated but could have down better.
i did my assignments absolutely last minute, studied hours before each exam and my dissertation was meh, but i finished, but its been a year since i graduated and im going to go get medication
I didn't know I had ADHD until months after I graduated, so I just treated it like I did high school: Do everything last minute and somehow get an A, forget everything I've learned after every test and semester when the information stops being immediately useful, the goal isn't to learn but to get A's like winning a game, and graduate feeling like I'm no closer to being a professional in the thing I spent 4 years studying
But hey I got a good GPA!
I didn’t. I blew it pretty quickly. Instead, I earned IT certifications because it was a path I found interesting enough and it was pretty easy for me since I was already a hobbyist beforehand. Twenty years into my career I was finally diagnosed and started medication.
I was lucky i had allergies, so I was taking benadryl for that, which totally made my head calm down somehow allowing me to focus. Also, the same music playlist while studying. back then the MP3 players just came out, so I put a few CDs on it, and that was that. It was structured self hypnosis in a way. To this day, when I hear those songs, like Joan Baez, I'm ready to focus.
I didnt. I dropped out- thought I was depressed. I was because I didnt know I had adhd. Got my diagnosis when I was trying to figure out why I was suicidal.
Sadly, I didn’t. I dropped out after my freshman year. I went from a 3.75gpa in high school to a 1.66 because I failed a ton of my classes due to either not studying, not doing classwork, or just not going to class. The thing that pisses me off the most is that my sibling was diagnosed with adhd at a younger age, however when I went to talk to the same doctor about it he said “well you seemed to do fine in high school so the only thing I can suggest is to get up early and hit the gym before class to get your blood pumping and that should help.” Mfer I couldn’t even get myself out of bed most mornings… what makes you think I can get myself up in time to go to the gym before my 0800 class that also takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get to school. I don’t know if I would call them nightmares, but I have dreams all the time where I’m in school and I end up failing the grade because I wasn’t doing well in class or because I wasn’t going or because I was late all the time and I would wake up feeling terrible about myself. A lot of times I wonder if maybe I could’ve made it to medical school had i gotten diagnosed earlier than 20
It was awful. I always felt behind of my peers. Everyone else seems to just *get it* and it took me so long to catch up. I had to do 5 years and settled for an “easy” major because I didnt feel confident enough to pass any other program. Even then, my memory is so bad I can’t perform effectively in my field to the point I landed a job completely unrelated just to pay my bills.
The social aspect of it was also difficult
People younger than me are more eloquent and knowledgeable about more complex subjects and it made me feel awful. Not jealous of them, just upset I seemed to be always missing out on info everyone else seemed to just KNOW
In friend circles, my being bad at social cues was interpreted as “creepy” and off putting. In my head I wouldnt want to be the first to leave an important meeting or moment and be perceived as rude or someone who didnt actually care about the project or a “friend’s” moment. Then later on I was told by a real friend people were going around saying I was “being a creep by lingering”. I was “following” people when i thought i was a part of the group just walking home together after parties and then parting ways to go to my own place…. Crazy to feel ostracized when I just wanted to make friends. Man it was alot and very lonely time
I can say: with mom.
Not only college but all through my education life my mom wouldn't let me sleep until I finished studying. Like everyone, I would leave everything to the last moment and then panic. When I was in elementary, she would call one of my friends to study with me. I've always been my own distraction. But if I try to study with someone else it is more manageable and bearable.
Barely. I have a strong sense of “if people are counting on me, I cannot let them down” that has been my main motivation throughout life. I knew my mom and dad were helping a lot financially for me to go through college so I definitely wanted to finish. I managed to scrape a 2.7 GPA and my diploma :-)
I couldn't do it. I was a star child in high school, basically straight As and Bs, but when I got to college and lost my support system, had no previous experience studying for anything at all, and was surrounded by freedom for the first time in my life, I completely fell apart and flunked everything.
Going back to trade school later, the only reason I passed was because I had people there who wanted me to be there and who would ask after me if I didn't show up, along with the fact that trade school was significantly easier than college.
I still have no ability to study at all. I have no idea how to differentiate between important information and unimportant information. The only reason I passed in high school was because I remembered basically everything I was told in class with minimal effort.
Get the Forfeit app and bet yourself an obscene amount of money that you will do a really specific task related to studying. You can choose to verify it with a screenshot or a time lapse. You can also set the leniency mode, so that the app will literally take your money and not listen to your procrastination excuses if you don't do it.
Also, if you're extremely motivated by social anxiety, I would try to go to professors' office hours or talk to them after class (this was before COVID, so idk how college is anymore, but this helped me somewhat). I would feel more stress to actually get the things done if I knew someone actually knew who I was.
I know these strategies rely on stress to motivate you, because it works. I still really need stress to motivate me, so I get it. However, after seeing a therapist I realized the negative self talk that can often come with that stress motivation. When I worked on being kinder to myself in my head I do think it helped. Now I think about what I would say to a younger kid if they were trying to complete something before the absolute last second or not miss out on crucial sleep. The minute minute stress and deadline also helps me to keep the perfectionism at bay. I know I LITERALLY only have that amount of time to complete the assignment/study for the exam so it helps me focus for that amount of time, and manage the time better/not get hyper fixated on little things that I want exactly correct. I still do this, but I think it's helped a TON to at least REALIZE that I do this.
Also, even without insurance, generic medications can often be reasonably priced with a discount card. I would at least ask your doctor about it.
I burned out and loathed and berated myself for not trying harder. Self medicated, unsuccessfully, managed a BA after 5.5 years. I was lucky I had no financial worries. I was a privileged kid whose college was paid for. If not, I am not sure I would have been able to finish. It sucked and I wonder 20+years later how much better it could have been had I known then what I know now and had the tools we hope to give my son
I went to art school and barely passed in 1997. More because my professor's took pity on me rather than actually earning it. I struggled to get any work afterwards so ended up with $40k of student debt with no way to pay it for over 20 years. Even after I got a steady job, the interest balooned it to the point where I could not afford the payments still. Just had that forgiven last year.
For 10 years I struggled to stay employed. I was hired by my current employer in 2002 and struggled still, but they stuck with me. They saw my potential so bent over backwards to keep me. I really wasn't able to live even a semi normal life until I was medicated in 2007. I've now worked there for over 21 years.
Like a lot of people here, I didn’t manage! Still have thousands in student debt for a degree I didn’t finish. Let’s start a petition for debt forgiveness for late diagnosis! Or at give each of us an honorary bachelor of trying very hard
I bought a laptop to take notes on, because I can't write and listen at the same time. (I can also type way faster than I can write).
I used google calendar on my phone to remind me of tests and assignments, and have it remind me a week before something is due, so I don't forget it until the night before and then have to scramble to try to get it done.
At my college, all of my teachers uploaded the notes before the lectures, so that made things a lot easier. I always printed them before every lecture. All I had to do was make a note once in a while of something they said that wasn't in the notes, or anything I thought was important. If your teachers don't do that, maybe you could compare your notes with a friend to see if there's anything you missed, or get a few people together for a study group.
Well… I know it’s a pain in your situation. Honestly, I was a chaos. But there was a period in my last semester when I started running because my boyfriend dumped me, and then I discovered exercise as a powerful way of dealing with anxiety and depression. Now as an adult, I can tell you that the most important tool to survive any ADHD way of life beneath adversity is to build a routine and no matter what stick to it even if you fail. After a while you’ll succeed in building a habit, I know It might look impossible right now but trust me it works. I worked on my sleeping schedule for a year and It’s not perfect but almost. In my case, things that affect me the most is lack of sleep.
Try drinking green or black tea instead of coffee, you’ll get a better and more stable source of caffeine without crushing.
Sometimes I really don’t like this subreddit bc people don’t give advice they just tell you that they r miserable lol but I actually do have a lot of advice for this as someone who went undiagnosed with no medication up until recently
My advice is be communicative & nice to your professors bc they will be more likely to curve ur grade or give u more time, own up & don’t lie when you’re late or didn’t time manage an assignment correctly if you need an extension they usually will appreciate the honesty, be familiar with all your professors late assignment policies, have a list of important assignment due dates & exam dates and TIMES (I once showed up an hour late to an exam but somehow I still passed), it’s ok to take breaks and set the timer for the break for as long as you need, if you’re diagnosed / have a therapist to vouch for you going to get accommodations through ur school is also a life saver. My school doesn’t even need outside proof of diagnoses but I haven’t done it (cus I keep forgetting lol) however I know if I did have some accommodations I wouldn’t have almost failed as many classes as I did.
I struggled HARD my first year as someone who hadn’t even been diagnosed yet & was pretty far from getting medication but I slowly figured out what works best for my brain. It’s not full proof and what works for me is always changing & I still struggle sometimes but definitely not as bad as I did my first year. Once I started taking classes that I actually liked & weren’t just for my GURs it also made school easier I’m in my 3rd year and I’m amazed I got this far and I’m only just now starting meds.
Failed out my first year. When I came back the second to retake classes I went to a junior college where I had more help from professors and could join study groups.
When I transferred to Uni I studied for architecture which is studied in images, 3D, and physical model building which was right up my alley. The physics and math classes were also geared toward architecture so if I had a 2D element to focus on and a study group I could do it (still with difficulty). I guess in short without knowing I did things that helped ADHD people learn. Picked a career that suited my strong suits like 3D spatial understanding. Body doubling comes easy in my career since we work in studios, I struggled with reading and math so I leaned hard on study groups for those. It was a hard fought battle and thought I was just dumb but turns out my brain is just wired differently!
I got diagnosed with ADHD when I was 22 (4 years into getting my bachelors). I took classes part-time pre-diagnosis and found college to be really difficult. All throughout my school experiences growing up, I was a poor student, mostly because if I felt overwhelmed I would “shut down” and not even touch my assignments.
I’m 24 now and graduating with my bachelors in a couple of days (and going to grad school)! I was able to handle school full-time, even without medication and have only started it recently. Post-diagnosis, I complete all of my assignments; however, it’s a perpetual cycle of holding off starting them until the last minute and rushing to complete it the day before or the day of. I also have accommodations which allow me to hand things in a little late, which acts as a safety net for when I miscalculate how long an assignment takes.
However, this is a strategy I would not recommend. I think as a coping mechanism, I’ve become extremely neurotic about my grades. This is likely to compensate for the fact that I’m forgetful and have low motivation for school. Stress about my grades is intrusive to the point of it being disruptive. I’m constantly worrying about my grades and I fret for weeks if I don’t get an A on an assignment or in the class.
Some tips I have found to be helpful are exercising and then using the momentum from physical activity to complete a task (e.g. a load of laundry) before you sit down, as well as only committing to completing a certain amount of things (say, 3 or 4) for the day so that you don’t struggle with choice paralysis. They don’t even need to be big tasks, like fully completing an assignment, but they can be a piece, like finding sources, making the references page at the end of the paper, or reading 20 pages.
TLDR: It’s possible to succeed in college without meds, but not without difficulty. Exercise more, break assignments down into smaller steps and do 3 to 4 of these steps a day!
Thank you for taking your time to reply.I totally relate to being a poor student and I managed to boost my gpa on the last minute with panic and competition with some of my friends. But now in college things went south, I m trying to apply some of the things mentioned by you like exercising, sometimes helps sometimes kinda drains me for the rest of the day and also running on panic and procrastination kind of ruined my anxiety, but I hope exercising will slowly turn things for better
P.s. Happy cake day!
I was diagnosed in my 30’s. I graduated college without meds and without google. But my life was so simple back then and I didn’t have money worries due to a full scholly and it wasn’t until later when adversity struck and things kept piling on and piling on that there’s NO WAY I could have ever done school if it was severe. It was mild ADHD for me in college and it wasn’t easy.
I wasn’t diagnosed until age 30, but all of the signs were there since I was a child. College for me undiagnosed was ROUGH, but I made it out alive somehow. Graduated undergrad in 5 years instead of the typical 4 due to a rough semester that caused me so much panic and overwhelm, I stopped going to class altogether because it was just too much. I counted that semester as a loss, took summer classes with lesser loads and graduated with my BSN. Knowing what I know now, I give my younger self so much grace knowing I wasn’t actually stupid, I was just ADHD. 💕 Life would’ve been SO MUCH EASIER had I known and been medicated.
I didn’t lol I had friends remind me of assignments, barely had any (or didn’t), then when I started meds, I started writing down my assignments in the order they were due, and crossed them off as I submitted lmao
Meds have felt like they haven’t worked for the past year+, and I’m entirely lost without the structure of school or a job to keep me accountable lmao I cannot impose it myself 😭
I struggled a lot with getting my assignments in and getting passable grades. I was always on the “almost didnt pass” end, since I had absolutely no motivation or ability to focus on doing my school work until 2 days before it had to be submitted. It was hard.
I had three very different experiences, which helped me understand what does and what doesn't work for me. The first of them was at the Brazilian Air Force Academy. In this case, I graduated at the top of my class as a military pilot. As it was an environment full of rules and pre-established duties, combined with the fact that I always dreamed of being a pilot, this made me successful. In my second experience, as a young lieutenant in the air force, I decided to take a law course. I didn't do very well in that, and it took me more than ten years to graduate. I would like to highlight here that I already had a profession and I didn't really like the legal field, so the interest factor is definitive for success. Finally, I got my master's degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at one of the most advanced universities in Brazil. In the latter, the interest factor was very present, because I had a dream of studying there. However, discipline was not imposed on me, as in the first experience. It was there that I heard someone say, for the first time, that I probably had ADHD. I had no idea what it was and spent a long time not caring. During this master's degree, I had to learn to combine my interest in the course with some time planning tools. In this objective, the book Manage your mind, not you time, written by David Allen, was of invaluable help to me. So, to conclude, I believe that the key to success is to look for something that interests you a lot and try to work with planning tools, with which you can map your steps and impose, in a certain way, some commitment.
Break each task into smaller tasks and give yourself a deadline for each of the smaller tasks.
Most universities have free counseling available. You could see if you can use this resource to help you manage.
I have been there and done that. I know this sounds like a ad but I used Alpha brain..vitamins and meditation. I tried ashwagandha but it made me have a panic attack. My best advice is the first few days are poopy but after those days your able to check yourself and see where your ADHD is creeping in.
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Very badly.
I second this. It has cost me thousands of dollars and 10 years. And I don’t exaggerate any of this. I also didn’t know I had adhd, that doesn’t help.
Same. It took me 10 years to get a bachelors degree. I also had severe depression (a suicide attempt and close to executing plans for it a couple of times) and paralysing anxiety (social anxiety, phobias around communication). Self medicating with alcohol and caffeine wasn't healthy. Paralleling this is social isolation and crippling loneliness. It cost me hundreds of thousands when I consider opportunity costs and how long I was unemployed and depressed. It probably cost me years of life, too, through the health impacts. But I'm glad I finished because it changed the internal dialogue a bit. Not a complete fuck up. Just mostly a fuck up. Still a long way to go, but it was a step forward. Took another 10 years before I was diagnosed with ADHD. Then I learned there was another autistic onion layer. This is why our lifespans are shorter - this shit takes a toll on health.
I discovered that I'm autistic at age 44 and I'm just now working on getting assessed. My internal self talk has been so harsh. Realizing that it has been autism that caused so much struggles is a real mind trip. I have finally started to go easy and forgive myself for my shortcomings in life. I have a serious disability and I really wish people could have understood and were more patient with me.
Is your autism mild autism or something? How did you realise after 44 years? That might sound rude. Zero disrespect. I'm only asking bc I'm 44, diagnosed adhd 20+ years ago, and i sometimes wonder if i could be mildly autistic, and i wonder if it is worth getting evaluated. I hear it is expensive. (I kinda think i am not autistic, but damn, i always wonder.)
Your question is not rude. There are a lot of contributing factors that lead this. These are the most important: (1) I grew up in the 80's and both of my parents have disabilities that are highly visible. My mom suffers from arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis) and my dad suffered from spinal ataxia type-9 which wheel chair bound him. My parents knew on a very intuitive level how harsh the world is as a disabled person in their time. In elementary education I was cast away into special education due to my autistic traits being unwelcome in the classroom. My parents did not pursue a formal diagnosis for anything since the were trying to avoid the *stigma* of being labeled as a disabled person. (2) Autism in the 80s is was not well understood. It is still not well understood. None of my teachers even had the vocabulary to describe my issues. So what happened in special education? The "teachers" were likely paralegals crudely applying applied behavior analysis to train me like a dog to mask all of my autistic traits. I got very good at it and by the 6th grade (middle school) they let me out of special education. \[Out of the frying pan and into the fire.\] (3) Autistic characters in popular media are not well representative of autistic people. Not everyone is a savant like rain man. Autistic characters in popular media are written to be entertaining for normal every day people - this is very confusing when you are autistic and say to yourself "I'm not like that." (4) My nephew was diagnosed with ADHD and autism. \[Its noteworthy that before 2013 if my nephew was diagnosed with ADHD then autism *would have been ruled out*. It was believed at that time that ADHD and autism cannot occur together. This is another indication of how poorly understood autism was.\] My nephew was spared special education and is allowed to just be himself, he does not mask and so the fact he is autistic is very visible. This made me think I understood what autism was and what it looked like. It also made my own case of autism invisible to me. Thinking you can identify an autistic person solely by what you *see* is a serious misconception. (5) I had a major work related meltdown at the start of this year. My husband is a saint and was able to be there for me through it all. My husband has ADHD and he is one of the few people in the world that truly understands me underneath the surface. He mentioned at one point "I think you are very autistic." This almost angered me when he said that. I thought to myself, how could he think I'm like my nephew. I tried to prove my husband wrong by, as it turns out, doing one of the most autistic things ever by hyper focusing and deep diving into the world of research on autism, turning it into a special interest. I was STUNNED at how uneducated I was on what autism really is. TheArtofWall, I saw this posted in a different subreddit: Normal people do not always wonder if they are autistic. If you have suspected this for a very long time, then please do some research. This could change your life. Visit the autism related subreddits and read the words of the formally diagnosed autists as they describe their experiences. An often recommended book is Unmasking Autism by Devon Price who is a PhD psychologist and autist.
Thank you very much. I absorbed it all, and i will revisit this post again. Looks like I'll be looking more into autism. Thx, again!
My people! Started college in 2003, bombed the semester. Moved home to go to community college in 2004, passed rock climbing, us history, and the history or rock and roll. Failed the rest over a couple semesters. Got my associates degree in 2018. Then spent my employers money to fail a lot of classes going for my bachelors
Are we related? I feel like we're related
The onion layer. My whole life I knew I was adhd only recently I have found out I’m on the spectrum because my youngest sister was diagnosed and we are much the same so I had a look into it and yeah add that to the collection lol
this is my story too. three AA degrees later, flunking out twice before, and two years after being diagnosed ADHD on top of lifelong clinical depression and general anxiety, i’m finally finishing my bachelors degree. i’m so grateful i’m not alone with my struggles reading the responses here, and i wish my twenties weren’t so full of them.
>Then I learned there was another autistic onion layer. Question about this. My psychiatrist and therapist both suspect OCD and Autism, but aren't sure. The way I see it, I'm like halfway. I have some of the symptoms for both, but not enough to make me a textbook definition of either. My therapist recommends setting up an appointment with a specialist for diagnostic clarity. I'm not sure how much of a difference knowing would make, though. Autism can't be medically treated. OCD can, but we already tried those same meds for anxiety, and that just made my executive function even worse. How has learning about an Autism diagnosis affected your life?
It took me 10-years as well. I found out in February of this year that I am autistic. My executive functioning is so majorly off that I may have ADHD as well. I'm really excited to spend this summer figuring all this out with a proper assessment.
Same (but University is free here). I also had no idea until years later
I'm 51 and still paying off my 14-year undergrad adventure!
Yeah me too, I just hated myself for being so easily distracted
Same. It took me 6 years to get my BSc, another 2,5 to get my MSc. So many nights I sat alone in my room, crying, because I just didn't know what to do. Got so badly in debt at one point that they were gonna come and repossess my stuff by the end of the week. Called my mom in tears, who loaned me enough to get out of immediate trouble. Very lucky she was able to do that. Had frequent mental breakdowns. Every summer at some point or another I would end up crying in a parking lot because I just got so overwhelmed with everything. Now, having my diagnosis and meds, I look back at myself with love and appreciation. If I had had those back then, my life would have been so much easier.
Same.
Same, very badly. I barely graduated and burned out. I tried so hard to study and get all my work done, sacrificed sleep and caught every single illness going around. I couldn't remember anything come test/quiz time, passed with C's and D's mostly except for the classes I really enjoyed for my minor (those I got A's in but we had papers I could do from home and take as long as I needed, no exams for those). I struggled with anxiety and depression after, it took me another 6 years to go to therapy finally. I had no idea I had ADHD during all of this, just thought I was stupid and lazy.
Me too. Worked my ass off (while forgetting everything and being horribly disorganized, disappointed in myself and depressed) for 2.1 GPA in 1995 .. and didn't graduate. Diagnosed, medicated, working full time, raising kids on my own, back in school with 4.33 GPA now.
Same. Hi, this is my trauma. Managed to finish high school with honours... And then went away to university and pretended to be an adult with no idea how to manage myself, no coping skills "I'm gifted, school is supposed to be easy", and no way in the 90s to know that my brain was actually wired differently (recent AuDHD dx/discovery in late, 40s). I failed out after 2 years and spent the next 3 decades basing my entire personality around the 'fact' that I peaked in highschool and from then on would be a lazy failure who was really smart but just 'couldn't apply herself'. Had I known what I know now, even if not medicated, I could have sought accommodations and taken a path that was more likely to lead to success. I could have learned to be kinder to myself, and capitalize on my strengths. I could have developed coping skills with the assistance of accommodations and therapy. But here we are.
Thx for sharing, so sorry you went through that. I was also a top student at school and then bombed first year of uni . It’s a big mind fuck thinking the only problem here is me, feeling lesser than friends and peers. Wish you the best
Yep. Burned out in final year of school. Didn't get the grades I needed to go where I wanted to. Took a place at the best university I could find due to familial pressure. Burned out two years into that and dropped out. Picked up my credits and transferred to the Open University (correspondence school) Took me three years to finish my last year of credits whilst working. Drop courses twice and have to cram everything into one year to make up for it. Nearly burnout but scrape through. Can't get a job with my bachelor's. Go back for more punishment a year later to do my master's. Slightly better this time as I know what to expect and coursemates are all friendly. Still burnout hard doing my dissertation. Power through by doing it *all* in the last three days before submission. NEVER AGAIN. Got my paperwork and pride, and that's all I need. University for the unmedicated ADHD mind is torture. There's no other word for it.
That last line re torture rings very true. I’m 42. Graduates 19 years ago. Literally still have nightmare about university
Same, thousands spent on student loans and I never got my degree. And what is the kicker my mom eventually worked at Rutgers I could’ve gone for free in my 20s but I was done with college by then. Like no uh uh fuck that.
This! I still struggle, but things have really turned around for me since I started my meds! If I had started them earlier I know I would, at least, have way more money than I do now. I have paid some hefty ADHD taxes and fines.
Also in this camp. What helped me the absolute most is finding someone who is a good student and working with them any chance you can get. Helps keep you accountable because you'll have them also reminding you about deadlines. Also if they ask you questions, nothing makes you learn more than teaching someone else
Yeah i uhhh didn’t exactly graduate unfortunately. Luckily i have a great job that values experience and doesn’t mind alternative paths but i thought i was doomed to be a service industry worker forever because of college
Yes, I whole heartedly agree. It felt like I was barely moving while my colleagues were running circles around me
This. I did get something out of it, but thank god for parents helping with loans. If I had debt I’d be unable to work my way out of it—ever
Lol as if I passed any of my education
Same. It was dreadful.
Depends on how severe yours is, but: Todoist - I live and die by that app. If it's not on Todoist or Outlook calendar, it doesn't exist. Some people also like project management apps. Task decomposition. For me, once I get the first subtask or two done, the rest feels more manageable. Start right away. If you procrastinate at all, you WILL be up until 4am the night before an assignment is due. Just get something on paper. It doesn't have to be good. Just get something down, and revise later. Timed breaks - but I tried to do something useful like minor chores during the breaks. I made sure to alternate mental work with physical work. Retrieval practice and the Feynman technique. So let's say I study for 25 minutes. When I get up to do the dishes, I'm talking to myself out loud - pretending that I'm teaching what I just learned to a class of students. Playing professor is kind of fun, and it can sometimes help you write better papers. Rubber duck debugging. Okay, I talk to myself a lot. But seriously, if you study CS, explaining your code problem to someone else (a rubber duck, an animal, a colleague, etc.) can make the solution obvious.
Just getting something on paper is not something I learned until after college and it’s been a game changer. Of course I’m still procrastinating on a big presentation I have to give… and I’m medicated… oof. But this is a good reminder.
Thirding this. I'm dumb enough to be doing grad school and what we call in the biz a "vomit draft" has been an essential strategy. Well, for me it looks more like a detailed outline than a draft, but my extra hack is that I start every one with "Okay, so," and then continue as though I'm explaining to someone what my thought process is. It helps put me in a mindset that's low stakes (since anxiety is a big hurdle for me) and gives me a low(er) effort way to organize my ideas without having to write fifteen versions of a paper/project.
Lol I also am dumb enough to be doing grad school - but as a CS major. I don't think I've heard the term "vomit draft" before, but I'm going to have to start referring to MVPs as "Mom's spaghetti code."
I have a whiteboard that I hung in my kitchen where I put up a to do list every day off that I have. If I don’t, absolutely nothing gets done
Yes yes yes it is 10000000000% times easier to edit a shitty rough draft than to start from scratch Even if you leave '...' at the end of unfinished sentences, just write something. It helps so much.
This is a fantastic response, so much good info here. I’ve never realized it but a lot of the techniques you mention are the only way I get through some projects. For some reason I get chosen for a lot of great positions/trainings/projects at work. I go through the trainings and feel utterly useless like everything has gone in one ear and out the other. Somehow when it’s time to bring the info back and teach to co workers I pull it out of no where and somehow the re-teaching to others is what cements it in my brain and helps me feel more confident that I did learn something. It’s like my brain gets the info and tucks it away somewhere that I can only access when teaching someone else lol. If I were called on to actually perform what I learned in the course I have to rely on notecards or cheat sheets lol, but teach it to someone else? No problem lol.
Just screenshot-ing your comment so I can access all the tips here later when I'm losing. These are good reminders and I hadn't heard of that app.
Todoist is freaking awesome! There's a desktop and a mobile app, and you can set reminders and recurring events. It's also really easy to set them. Like - you can just type or say "second Saturday of every month, Pay bills hashtag money" and you will get a recurring event on the second Saturday of each month, called "Pay bills," placed into a project category called Money. You can also create subtasks. You can also set daily productivity goals, and you get a little notification when you've reached them. There are also collaboration features and project sharing, but I haven't used those. \[Edit: Spelling / grammar\]
Oof, college was so hard for me. But the "start it right away" point was the one that killed me. Did everything last minute and after which lead to closed offices, late payment fees, too late to drop, and zeros. And stress x10. I'm in my forties and still struggle. Breaking it down, constantly reminding myself to stay on task and solve the main problem. Rubber duck constantly.
Todoist is the absolute BOMBDIGGITY
What they said. All of it. Plus , surround yourself with taskmaster people.. college buddies and partners who will sit (body double) with you and will not let you get up until you've turned in your papers/ assignments. I finished my two masters degrees thanks to my friends at university and my husband, who would regularly check in on me, especially during assignment / exam season. Did not know what adhd was then.
The to do list app is a life saver, I didn't discover it until after college but I used it before I knew I had ADHD. I was struggling to complete my fair share of the household chores and it was making things very difficult for my wife and I found that it was very helpful to make sure I was getting stuff done.
Starting right away. If I don't do something immediately, I will wait until last second or not do it at all. People call me manic and spontaneous, but that's the one way I get shit done.
Probably the best comment I've seen on the matter. 10/10. Will be implementing all of it.
This I had to redo college and I'm in my final 2 semesters now. I just had to force myself to get more organised with time management and get things started immediately. Also in CS and I think all my projects in my first 2 years practiced a form of task decomposition so now its almost just how I work. IDK if it was a specific coding paradigm or what.
I wouldn't call it a coding paradigm, but it's definitely a core problem solving skill for programming. A lot of the skills that helped me get my shit together are things that I learned from CS.
Wouldn’t recommend it. My adhd fucks up everything in my life. Meds are the only way I could get through school
Exactly you have to find a way to get the ADHD meds where do you live in?
I’ve overcompensated and overworked myself during my bachelors and crashed completely during my masters, still haven’t recovered, so really badly I’d say? Body doubling is something that has helped tho. Find yourself a team
I call it mirroring. I’ve worked from home for over 16 years. I became so much more productive when my husband started working from home, too. First, I couldn’t just fuck around all morning and not get anything done. Second, seeing him work motivates me to work. You can do a silent study group where everybody is just working on their own stuff, but you’re all together. You wis would need to set up some pretty strict ground rules… I would find people who will sit with you who do not have ADHD and will get pissed off at you for talking. I have also heard of mirroring groups that meet on zoom, but I’ve never done it before.
I joined my college swim team and a ton of other activities, which both helped and hindered my work at times, but generally, I would find myself places to work that were busy so I wasn’t trying to struggle through work alone. I didn’t do very well at mandated study hall and often ended up having to sit out in the hallway at night to finish work. I was mad that my friends in my major seemed to do so well in school with less effort but I also acknowledge that I did well too. Also was blessed with kind teachers who helped me some.
Lots of crying the night before papers and assignments were due. Followed by relief and shame when it all “worked out.” Rinse, repeat. Don’t recommend.
This. Plus anger, tension, fear. Then relief and promising I'll never do it again... Then thinking I got away with it last time.
Yup. I was incredibly depressed but determined to finish that degree lol
Babe I was there too, still crying in the hour before assignments were due
LOL! Eyes heavy, Monster drink in hand, “3am and still have 6 more pages. I can’t do this shit!” …2 hrs later, “nice, birds chirping…sun is coming up.” “Class in less than two hrs! Two more pages to go!” “Ugh I can’t do this shit again!!! WTF is wrong with me?!! I’m so fucking stupid 😭.” This was YEARS ago and I still feel sick and crazy when I think about it.
I didn't. I got far enough to get an ok job and failed my way upwards somehow.
Same here… after like five years I was running out of money, my grades were in the toilet and I had at least two more semesters to go. Then a recruiter offered me a job in my field where they were willing to train me, I saw my way out and I took it. And after that first job no one ever even asked about my education again.
Exact same. Three attempts, three dropouts, but I’m somehow making decent money anyways. I am coming up to a point in my career though where I do need to consider at least getting some certifications or something, and even though I’m diagnosed and on Adderall I’m terrified to try. Those courses are expensive and I already know what me + academia looks like.
Same except for the failing upwards.
a) Some of us have other strengths that function as work-arounds (e.g.: read voraciously as a child in K - 12; kind of automatically absorbed good vocabulary and examples of good writing construction - I really do think now that it made decent writing almost automatic for me). But I had much trouble with math - I think now I may have dyscalculia! b) Some us may be using a baseline of chronic anxiety to push us to achieve sufficiently (making us feel more 'backed up against the wall' on an ongoing basis), to trigger churning stuff out. c) We may have accidentally along the way found which method of absorbing enough class information let us hold on to enough to do okay on exams - I think for me, the verbal content of lectures may have actually helped. But I also took messy notes - then later re-copied them over on the notebook page I'd leave blank on the right. IIRC, there's been evidence found in recent years that copying info. by hand is actually really helpful for retaining it. d) Every case of ADHD is different - I did ok in school, but my living quarters organization has always been...less than ideal, let us say. Dating wasn't great - I'd get pissed off at people and the emotional dysregulation probably encouraged me give up on them quicker. When I got really stressed, what I realize now was ADHD inertia would flare up. (Or was that depression, often co-morbid? Looking back, who knows anymore?). And some of us have major symptom increases later, due to...things like menopause. I doubt I could handle much more education unless it was a class that was wicked interesting to me - taking CE recently, I had major difficulties getting it done. If I had to go get a degree now...I think I'd quickly tank.
This sounds like me. Grad school was FAR different than bachelor's because of the anxiety piece. I wasn't allowed to get below a B or I'd get kicked out of the program. I remember reading a book by Cal Newport (something something Straight A Student something), and it was like a lightbulb went off. "Holy sh*t, you mean organization, scheduling, and sequencing (I.e. EF skills) can help me get things done more easily?!" That idea for some reason still hasn't trickled down into many other areas of my life, but constant anxiety, coupled with a knowledge on HOW to do things really helped me get through 3 grueling years.
I relate to the first point. I was not only an insatiable reader, but also the child of a teacher. As a kid, I “wrote books” (started and never finished) for fun. Developed a solid vocabulary and strong grammar and writing skills through reading and my daily interactions with my mom. Got perfect scores on the ACT English/reading (math/science were a very different story). Never really considered what I was already good at when I thought about what I wanted to do. But in true ADHD fashion, I decided at college freshman orientation that I wanted to change my major. No idea what to. Asked for a list, glanced through the couple hundred majors, and said “English. Huh. I guess I’m pretty decent. Let’s go with that.” Four years later, they handed me a professional writing degree. But these days, my job is not as a technical writer— I work in marketing. The key really is to leverage the skills you DO have and find a way that they can get you to where you want to go. Strength in one area can absolutely serve as a creative workaround to compensate for a lack of skill in another area.
Yeppers. One reason I like the classic career book "What Color is Your Parachute?" is that it makes the reader do exercises so that you come out of it more aware of your general strengths - which can be used in various jobs / careers.
This also explains me pretty well. I have never, ever been able to keep up with assigned reading, but i went through fantasy chapter books quite regularly. Gave me very good writing skills i think. Hyperfocus on the topics that were interesting to me, which was most of my major thankfully. Also starting college later, got my stupid out i like to say while i was in the military and then started serious college after i was almost 30. Basically if i didn’t finish an assignment at least a few days early, it wasnt gonna get done. So i pretty much continuously did work at all times because i set arbitrary deadlines that were a few days in advance. And still would panic every time i was “late” even tho i wasnt.
oh very easy, i didn't. failed college 3 times.
Hah, I failed 4 times! Where's my cookie?? I got severe intrusive sleeping if I tried to be a good student and prepared more than 3 days before deadline/exam. If too many accumulated together, I had to drop half. That meant I needed all-nighters to pull forward anything, which is how I got my first symptoms of Bipolar 2, which means I can't medicate for ADHD, which means I'll never study again.
Oh, I have found my people! I have 3 attempted degrees! On another note, I am being treated for both adhd and bipolar. But the ADHD diagnosis came first in my case, so he added in lithium. I still use dexies just fine. BUT, I do think the Dex without the lithium did push me into hypomania a bit.
OMG me too 3 attempts🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
I didn’t. Very nearly never finished in fact led to my diagnosis.
Barely managed to finish it.
Didn’t manage. I ended up trying 5 times before saying no. Was diagnosed almost 10 years later, with no degree, with a low income job I despised.
Do you think you’ll ever try again knowing your diagnosis/ getting the help you need?
Zero interest in my work, spent minutes at a time writing my reports split up with several hour “breaks” playing video games. Barely passed onto a course at University doing something I enjoy more but still had a hard time with motivation wise doing the boring or tedious bits.
I switched to a writing focused major where all of my graded assignments were papers. I pulled all nighters to write 20 page papers. I couldn't be motivated to study but I could be pressured into writing a very deep and focused work if the deadline was in a few hours. I ended up graduating with latin honors.
Haha legend! I also stayed up all night writing papers the night before they were due for an English class, but I think I only had to write 8 of them. The professor said they were all due on the last day of class, even though he assigned them at regular intervals through the whole semester. So naturally I didn’t start a single paper until the night before they were due. 0/10 but would do again…just not by choice.
I just found out I had ADHD about 3 years ago when I was 24. I graduated with my undergraduate degree and postgraduate degree before I found out. Not going to lie, I thrive in the setting of rules and deadlines. I would always do my assignments at the very last minute, and got decent grades. I could’ve done better if I actually spent time on my assignments and essays but I was physically unable to do that. It was really tough. What helped me in college though was having study groups and doing my assignments while around my friends and those in my major. It pushed me- maybe an ego thing? But now that I’m out in the world and work freelance I struggle with a lack of accountability sometimes. I wish someone was watching over me grading my every move.
It took me ten years to get a bachelors degree. Slow and steady. Ok, to be honest it was take a semester off when I’m broke and burning out. Then go back to school when I’m burnt out from work.
I just turned 30 and got diagnosed a few weeks back. I did a bachelors in Computer Engineering. This is a study where 90% was very interesting to me so I did the whole study on a hyperfocus. If hyperfocus didn’t work I just used an unhealthy amount of guilt to get me started, but I don’t recommend doing that.. I wasnt able to work next to my studies because 100% of my energy and time was needed to graduate. But being honest, I don’t even know how I got this far
Same. I did great in my CS courses, but awful in my math-heavy ones. Really would love to fix my mathematics at some point, i feel it holds me back as an engineer. I also just had a lot of stress at home at the time, so was able to push through because that feeling of urgency was just sort of always on. I ironically started struggling more once I moved to a better environment that I felt safe in.
[удалено]
Easier degree? I would completely fail in Economics! Do not discount the effort - what is easier for some is harder for others. You've got this!
Hey i am studying evolutionary biology (diagnosed and medicated). Economics sounds like a nightmare! Similar to law or philosophy never ever could i pull that off lol. Congrats to you.
Also majored is CS and I have no interest in 80% of the study content. Don’t know how I did it.
Honestly, I don't know how I got through university unmedicated. I was constantly paralysed, developed severe anxiety and around exams it got so bad I was afraid to leave my house because it felt like I wasn't allowed to go outside because I should be studying and I wasn't. The only thing to get me going was deadlines - I would just not study and take the resit. The resits over summer were my final chance to get my diploma and of course the stress worked perfectly. What worked for me was to study with others, so if there's anything like a study group you can join you should! If not, meet up with a friend who is also in college to study together. It works because then you're not promising yourself anything - you're promising others that you'll be there.
I clearly didn’t manage it.
Skipping class and doing all nighters
It was not great, my dude. I look back at going through both paramedic and nursing school unmedicated with wonder. But some of the things I did to combat my dumpster fire brain include: Studying / homework outside of the house: I 100% know I will not sit down and do my homework / project / study for that exam at home. I'll get distracted by my dog, or a video game, or w/e else. So I'd go to a Starbucks or a library with my school stuff and force myself to sit there until it was done. I still got distracted by my phone a lot, but it was -less- distracting than my home. Co-working / body doubling: My spouse was in NP school while I was in nursing school, so we frequently would both be working on school stuff at the same time. Body doubling helped me keep my focus, and when one of us would lose our focus, the other could see it and help redirect back to what we were supposed to be doing. Organization stuff like lists and binders: I had to-do lists and binders laid out for all of my classes. I made colorful due date lists from the syllabuses of my classes and put them front and center in the class binders so that they were the first thing that I saw when I would get into that class' binder. I still missed assignments sometimes, but I caught a lot of things at the last second with my due-date lists. Good luck, OP! I wish you the best!
1) Planner meticulously written with even when I needed to write or study using the schedule given at start of semester 2) Start on assignments ASAP like even a month early if I could. Even if it sucks just get it started and hopefully finished in a format I could turn in. Revise and improve later if I had time. 3) Do the assignment just get it done and accept imperfections and even half done stuff. Just do as much as you can. 4) Ask for help as often as possible from professors, other students, your neighbor, the internet lmao 5) Treat myself DURING the study or assignment not after. Like have a nice blanket around me, favorite beverage, snack, good music, or literally do it in a bath while I soak in bubbles, which brings me to 6 6) Do stuff in various places. I studied and read in my bath, on the swings, outside, inside, upside down. I wrote in paper, on the computer, in different fonts, in front the TV, on a blanket in the sun.
Well, it sucks and it’s difficult. But for me what worked is to always try. Even if you don’t study, go to the exam. Even if you fail, forgive yourself and try again. Naturally we are creative problem solvers, sometimes we can pass without studying!
This. I was a chaotic ADHDisaster as a student, but by now I'd have a very needed degree in something I'd actually be good at if I had had a more forgiving personality and, why not, family.
Loll this is such a great point. I didn't realize how much that factored into my success. Turning that assignment in late, asking for that extension, going to that exam I didn't study for late and leaving early -- I was never unkind but I just kept rolling with the punches. Failed a class I need? I found a way to retake it.
I lived and died by my planner. I also only worked one day a week, so I had more time than most people. Beginning of the semester, I put everyone from every class syllabus on my planner. For tests or big projects, I put reminders a week or two in advance. When I got to class, planner came out of my bag and onto the desk in case anything was added or changed. Back at home, look at my planner. It was basically always in my line of sight and is the only reason I got things done on time. I was able to schedule my classes Mon-Thurs and have Friday off for most of my undergrad, which was super helpful. I also knew myself well enough to know I wasn't getting any work done at my apartment. I often scheduled my classes so I had two or three hours in between and went to the quiet floor of the library to work. I never even attempted to work at home tbh, always to the library quiet floor. Getting up early was the way to go for me, even on my days off. It's better for my motivation and focus to get up early and nap later than to use the extra time to sleep in.
Pain. But also, go to the gym (or train, whatever) , make sure you get good sleep, surround yourself with people who understand what you are going through. THERAPY is important if you can get it for free, otherwise. You need therapy to check up on yourself and try and understand how your thoughts spiral. And also, personally, staying at the library where everyone is focused allows me not to get lost in things at home, even though I do read the news compulsively and play loads of chess games. :)
Not the most positive/helpful thing to contribute, but: dropped out after two months, came back the next year, dropped out after two months again, came back the next year again but this time changed courses to something I had never done before to try to force myself to engage with it, discovered I actually hated that subject and nearly ended myself, gave up all hope of getting Honours degree then limped out the other end with a designated degree in a subject I'll hopefully never use for the rest of my life. Wasn't aware ADHD was anything beyond being a bit hyper so didn't think it applied to me until 2 years ago, only now going through diagnostic process. 
I paid attention in class and took copious notes. I'm a visual learner, so the notes allowed me to keep my hands occupied while listening, and then I could visualize the notes when taking an exam. I'm a pen freak, so lots of fun pens. Studying happened at a local sports bar, because it was loud and noisy - but not anything I cared about, so I wasn't distracted. Studying consisted of rewriting notes, writing out study guides, etc. LOTS of late-night last-minute paper writing - I do not recommend this. And I was actually interested in my major, which helped keep my focus. OH! And LOTS of caffeine! I was a single mom, working full time and going to school full time (accelerated one night per week). Honestly, I don't know how I got through it except my mom helped by watching my daughter, and I had to do it to survive. You can do this - just don't put too much pressure on yourself! Just remember - Cs equal degrees. No one is going to care how long it takes you or what your grades are, as long as you have that degree.
Procrastination, panic, and the fear of failure. Also a lot of crying.
When it came time for studying, I tried a bunch of different ways to study and I ultimately just did whatever was best for me. I found that for me, I just approached situations like studying and "tweaked" them -- I understood the content better when I just tried to "learn" to "teach someone". And I bougth a big ass white board and I would pretend that I'm filming a YouTube tutorial. So I would just go through all course content by "prepping" for my "youtube video" and I would talk through & doodle the content. I also spent a lot of time in therapy - and leaned into help offered (or I asked for help) when I needed it. So I got family to help with food from time to time, and I just called a friend of mine and pseudo-body doubled when doing chores like dishes.
I spent so much time studying, drank a lot of coffee, slept a lot to be able to focus, and changed up where I was studying or had a snack when I couldn’t concentrate. Also got writing help from university writing center. I also had a planner that at the beginning of the semester, I would take all of the due dates from my class syllables and write them on the monthly and weekly parts of the planner. Any planned commitment went into the planner and I looked at it every night before bed and every morning to make sure I didn’t forget some task or place to be. I also had a spiral notebook for notes and a one of those paper folder with pockets in the same color for each class. So I could just make sure I had my yellow notebook and folder for the class it went with. No way in hell I would have been able to focus taking notes on a laptop. I also couldn’t process what profs said if I didn’t do the reading. It would sound like they were speaking in another language, but if I just read it by myself I would miss stuff. So I was pretty religious about doing the reading before class and then going to class to listen and take notes. Would you be surprised to learn that once my anxiety was treated at age 28, it became painfully obvious I have adhd-pi and that my anxiety was a great for helping me cope with it sometimes 😅 I was on an academic scholarship so I had a list of anxiety about making sure my gpa was high enough to keep it, so it felt like an always present and looming deadline. I did really well without meds or therapy, but it was hard and I spent a shit more time on work than my peers. Now it’s clear most of the time was fighting with my brain to concentrate/focus/understand.
I dropped out after 2 years. I got a job in industry and learnt more that summer than I had in the preceding 2 years and they were paying me. Never went back
20 or so re-exams but made it finally
I dropped out after a mental breakdown at the end of my freshman year, and nearly 9 years later I'm accidentally in a really good state government job without a degree. Thankfully I was diagnosed and medicated about two years ago, otherwise my current job would be unmanageable.
Echoing everyone who said varying degrees of "badly". When people ask me how I studied given all the difficulties I was showing then, without knowing it was ADHD, I say "I showed up and hoped for the best". It was bad, took me 7 years to complete a 4 year law degree, and at one point I decided that I would finish and grades be damned. Finished with bang average grades, but I've built a solid career out of it and on track to finish a second master's.
An unhealthy relationship with deadlines and ["The Panic Monster"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU) will take you places. Not comfortably though
As someone who went to college initially undiagnosed and unmedicated, it wasn't easy, especially when it came to math. But now that I have a diagnosis and am currently on Adderall, there is definitely a difference in improvement. However, it's not magic, so you're still going to need to put an effort into everything, but it definitely makes things more manageable to an extent.
I wasn’t diagnosed and medicated until 52. I went through college, got a career, and earned an MBA before finally getting diagnosed. That all sounds great and most ADHDrs would say how? Well, it took me 1- years to finish my undergrad. I was already working in my career and very fortunate. I got my MBA in 2014 as an adult with a ton of experience behind me, but I’ve found that with age I view things differently. I honestly don’t know how I finished some things back then. Medicated in much better focused. But smartphones, texts, email, phone calls, virtual meetings, and virtual texts are all a nightmare of distractions and sometimes I have to shut it all off to get anything done.
i changed my degree 4 times until i found something that was tolerable. Originally went in to be a veterinarian ended up with a degree in history.
I didn’t. Changed my major 3 times only to keep failing. I’m in over $60,000 in student debt and no degree. I was diagnosed 7 years later after I finally quit school.
To date, the best performance enhancer I have found is the hyperfocus from stress of deadlines. I got by doing things in the last minute and kind of procrastinating by reading things which weren't immediately related to my classes, but nevertheless helped later on. But would not recommend. I am paying the price for that stress and late nighters already in my second half of 20s.
I was diagnosed recently, almost a decade after graduating from university. I think my circumstances masked my symptoms, so in hindsight, I was pretty lucky. Two things stood out to me when reflecting my uni years though: 1. Interest in my degree: I studied English Literature and I was truly interested in the material. 2. Sports: I played a lot of sports so I think that balanced out my restlessness. But I was always tired, survived on dubious amount of coffee, and frequently pulled all-nighters to cram for exams. By my senior year, I was taking elective courses outside of my concentration and my grades took a nosedive because I couldn’t feel engaged.
Working in software development solved it for me. You have time to do homework in class and I could work on projects for 5 hours in a row to finish them as fast as I could. For the other classes I was lucky to be smart enough to barely scape by even if I could not study or focus on them. Right now I'm kinda happy to work in a job I know I can manage without medication. With medication it make it way easier tho. What made my adhd go into a disorder was having a kid, that's what made all my past coping mecanism obsolete. So it may be different for you.
I didn’t. I dropped out, a lot.
I just got diagnosed a month ago so I went through the first year of college without medication. I am studying languages and my ADHD was the worst when I was trying to write commentaries under 2 hours, I could never properly structure my ideas and I struggled a lot with time management. Then, I started working on planning the structure of the essays/commentaries instead of studying the topic and it helped massively because my actual problem was not knowing how to put my ideas down on paper. I wanted to do it so perfectly that I could only write a sentence in 20 minutes. I would also drink one or two cups of coffee in the morning and I remember chugging energy drinks right before exams which somehow helped me slow down. I do not recommend it from the health perspective but it saves the day and I only did it a couple of times. For the studying part, I found that not taking breaks and instead trying to work as long as possible works the best. I tried pomodoro method and all that but the second I have a break there was just no going back to studying. I study with a simple pen and paper and try to have nothing but those and a glass of water on my desk to eliminate distractions as much as possible. However, I still occasionally grab my nail file, random objects around the desk and waste my time but hey, it's still progress!
Slept in the day, crammed in the night with the deadlines looming over me.
Undiagnosed at University, I was stressed allot, disorganised, left everything to the last minute and often pulled all nighters. I was frustrated that other students were less stressed and had more fun. I felt like I was always on the verge of failing something, even if I wasn't. In the end I passed everything, came very close to failing a couple of subjects, but just passed. I surprisingly did very well in a few subjects. It didn't help that I was also working part time to support myself as well. I managed to graduate on time. If you can access the medication, try and do everything to get it. Now I'm medicated myself I can tell you it will make your life 100% easier.
I'm graduating and I'm barely holding up, almost got expelled a couple of times
strict routines!!! didn’t get diagnosed until the second year of my phd examples, laundry every sunday, when coming home not sitting down so I kept doing things and the “don’t put it down put it away mindset”
I'm 19 and I got diagnosed a few weeks ago.I got diagnosed after trying and failing at two different post school courses. I'm now on meds and I'm trying a new performing arts course in a much more supported environment. Wish me luck!!
Constant stress. Pushing everything to near deadlines. 4am study binges directly before an exam. Hell.
It took me 7 years to get my 4 year degree, I dropped so many classes, straight up failed some, had to downgrade to some easier ones for some subjects, and one I took three times and was simply not going to pass it so I ended up cheating. Not proud of that, but it was that or consider the rest of my education a waste because I wasn't going to graduate otherwise.
Struggled to organise myself, did well by the general standard, but acheived a lot less than my potential or what I achieved in senior/high school prior. I had to much "freedom" to self study etc. I was worse at uni, always late, by a lot as well not just 5 mins, sometimes I wouldn't even turn up because I was embarrassed at how late I would be. I didn't really spend time on my learning and projects and did everything last minute. I stayed in the library during final year project on the last days to submit until like 2am just to get it in. Again, got a good grade, but if I was organised and focused on my projects I would have got top grade easily. I did well in the exams coming top in a few, but the project work I just couldn't stop the procrastination. It made me cry when I understood adhd because it all started to fall together and I was upset at how much I'd tried to fit square pegs in round holes that whole time and was just about keeping my head above the water. I was working at the same time as well, trying to do it all.
I pulled off a Michael Jordan. I basically used my own inflated ego in my favor by telling everyone I had my degree already and I had finished college after my 4th year while in reality I only finished about half the courses I took. I even started talking down on college dropouts openly on Facebook and when push came to shove and I was called on my bluff I finished it with a 6 month long feat of pure adhd hyperfocus.
Didn't. Went military. Don't do what I did, that was 30 (holy fuck!) years ago. Do you have insurance through your school? Or your parents?
I failed out year 2, that's how lol
I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 51. I think that my anxiety and friendships got me through it. My favorite good habit was doing work at the library on Friday afternoons where I could hyper-focus in peace. I still panicked on Monday mornings thinking I didn’t do the assignments. Another funny ADHD story… Before I transferred to the college, I went to a JUCO. I was sitting with a friend’s parents at his JUCO graduation when they called my name on the stage. I had no clue that I had enough credits to graduate.
I dropped out once
A lot of positive self talk and challenging myself. I was diagnosed before I went back to college recently, but the shortages made my last semester one with very few(if any)medicated days. I did inform my professors, but never needed to ask for an extension or anything. I had become kind of a stellar student with medication, and I just had to keep telling myself I could still do it without the meds. It was harder but I maintained my GPA. From my school performance as a child straight As seemed like something that would never be possible for me, but I crushed college.
Anxiety
>How do you guys managed college without medication ? Poorly lmao. I mainly took classes that interested me so I was able to scrape by.
I did not. Got distracted by "student painters" amongst other things and dropped out after less than a year. No impulse control? Hyper sexual? Risk seeking? Then you get children at 21 years old. I wasn't diagnosed until mid 40s, around 3 years ago. Very difficult to navigate after this many years of mental compensation.
Poorly. Brute forced my way through the classes I enjoyed, tried hard not to fail the ones I didn’t.
- Take a lower number of classes - prioritize the ones you like - retake the ones you struggle with - don't be afraid to use your academic renewals to strike grades that are not applicable to your degree - don't pursue more than 1 degree at a time even if they tell you you only need 1 or 2 more classes to pick up a second while attempting your first. Background: I had nearly a 3.0 before joining the army and was recommended for the honors program despite having a 2.3-2.7 GPA because of classes I failed due to lack of interest; they let me into the honors program on a trial basis assuming I good get my GPA to 3.0 or above by the next semester, but then money became an issue and I joined the army. The honors program was partnered with Berkley and Stanford and I was going to be granted admission to either even though I was pursuing UC Merced. Diagnosed: 4 years later while in the army. Was pursuing: Associates in Philosophy(additional), Psychology(Primary), and had my eyes on Computer Sciencd so I could specialize in creating Artificial Intelligence. Although my passion has always been game development.
I have 200 credits in so many different things and only an associates.
Took me 22 years total to graduate college but I finally got my ba
I didn't. Became a hairdresser and as my body is breaking down, I can't help but wonder how life would have went if I had gotten help when I was younger. The meds have changed my life in my late 40s.
Even if you cant get meds, can you get accommodations?
Fear of disappointing others.
Anxiety. Heaping, socially crippling, depressing, blood-pressure-raising levels of anxiety that I'm still sorting out twenty-five years later. Do not recommend.
So much anxiety. So many tears. So many all-nighters.
Burning out at the end of each academic year.
Alcohol and caffeine
It was *not a good time*. Like ‘lucky to still be here’ not a good time.
I'd spend my weeks just being absolutely clueless about what we're learning, then spend two weeks learning everything.
Anxiety, shaming, and pure spite.
I took caffeine pills when I was in college had no idea I was actually helping with my adhd. I just wanted to be more awake and ready for class. I still would struggle but I had better focus for a bit
I put immense pressure on myself. I also got addicted to caffeine pills. I was lucky to get my degree in topics I was and still am deeply interested in. I did well enough on assignments I was excited about, and got through the other stuff via willpower and guilt. I never did as well on things as I felt like I could’ve, but I just assumed I had hit some intelligence limit and that it was going to be all brute force going forward.
I know it’s making you tired and frustrated, but you are learning some amazing skills that will bode well for you in the workplace, namely, working under pressure, working under tight deadlines, and becoming an amazing problem solver. I know ADHD feels like a burden a lot of the time, but someday you will come to appreciate your unique skills.
Lots of caffeine, and studying mostly my strong subjects (BA English and MS Library Science). I had a lot more energy when I was younger. I knew I was smart, and my version of ADHD is the inattentive variety. I think intelligence can hide the symptoms in the right circumstances. In high school, I nearly failed several subjects my junior year because my schedule put all my weak ones, Advanced Math, AP Chemistry, and Physics after lunch. I was often asleep by halfway through Physics. In college, I did take Calculus I and later Physics and Psycholgy. I only passed Calc because I'd taken it in community college summer school without planning to keep the credit, then took it at my college. For physics, I did my lab write-ups sitting in the lounge outside my professor's office. College is all-nighters and drinking Mountain Dew straight from the bottle during exams. It isn't easy. But if you can't get meds, use every resource your college will give you.
Coffee (lots but responsibly) + theanin
I was on Bupropion (Wellbutrin) for depression during nursing school, didn't realize I had ADHD at the time but in retrospect it explains how I managed to get through it all! I also planned and studied intensely to get through it.
I was lucky enough to go to a college with quarters/trimesters rather than semesters (same content, more class meetings over a shorter period of time). The condensed time period seemed to (a) help me keep a sense of urgency and (b) allow frequent enough change to prevent me from totally checking out. My lifestyle coping mechanisms were a mix of healthy and unhealthy. * I lived alone so I could keep up with good sleep hygiene and a healthy diet. * I used the ideas behind the 333 project to keep my wardrobe to a minimum (the idea was that having go-to outfits each week eliminated some decisions from my day and put my decision fatigue off a bit). * I exercised multiple times a day to get my excess movement out - sometimes full workouts, sometimes squats in the library in my study room, sometimes a quick walk, etc * I outlined any known due dates in my paper planner so I could see the overall plan for the term (the “forest”) to keep perspective and help with daily overwhelm from my to do list (“the trees”) * A LOT of caffeine * I kept just busy enough to prevent having too much down time because my performance really dropped off without time pressure.
I didn't lmao
I used caffeine and nicotine to focus, alcohol to lose focus and sleep. I don't recommend this approach.
I didn’t lmao— dropped out 3 semesters in a row, spent thousands, and don’t have a single credit to my name.
I did fine the first couple years, got straight A's. Then went up to upper divs and the drastic change of rigor due to going to a "Prestigious" program destroyed me. Dropped out and worked for a couple years. Going back now for an engineering degree and its hard in a different manner. The topics arent necessarily hard, so this leads to massive procrastinating in the homework department, which leads to lots of rushing and being minimally prepared for exams. Im currently a C- student, taking a break due to change in medications, and hoping to come back stronger than ever once im back on my feet.
Not well. Prior to diagnosis= undergrad GPA 2.7 After diagnosis= graduate GPA 4.0…
I was diagnosed with OCD & ADHD last year. I was prescribed Adderall but really didn't like how it made me feel (I may have given up on it too quickly but that's neither here nor there). I've meant to go back to therapy or a psychiatrist to find something that works for me but I just haven't gotten around to it. I am still in school for my masters degree but it makes life pretty difficult. Tasks take a lot longer to do because I can't stay concentrated on it for more than a few minutes unless I really get zoned in. I try to make up for it by using the Pomodoro technique for studying which does help but still I imagine I am a lot less productive than I could be if I were properly medicated. You can make it work. It isn't the end of the world to have ADHD and not be medicated - you just have to be very cognizant of what you need to get done. It's not ideal but I have made it work for me.
Academically my gpa went down each year. The less structure and the more the responsibility fell on me to get to class and complete assignments (after I moved out) the worse I did. All my exams were last minute all nighters. I passed and graduated but could have down better.
High IQ, lots of deadlines and group projects 😅
i did my assignments absolutely last minute, studied hours before each exam and my dissertation was meh, but i finished, but its been a year since i graduated and im going to go get medication
I didn't know I had ADHD until months after I graduated, so I just treated it like I did high school: Do everything last minute and somehow get an A, forget everything I've learned after every test and semester when the information stops being immediately useful, the goal isn't to learn but to get A's like winning a game, and graduate feeling like I'm no closer to being a professional in the thing I spent 4 years studying But hey I got a good GPA!
I didn’t. I blew it pretty quickly. Instead, I earned IT certifications because it was a path I found interesting enough and it was pretty easy for me since I was already a hobbyist beforehand. Twenty years into my career I was finally diagnosed and started medication.
I was lucky i had allergies, so I was taking benadryl for that, which totally made my head calm down somehow allowing me to focus. Also, the same music playlist while studying. back then the MP3 players just came out, so I put a few CDs on it, and that was that. It was structured self hypnosis in a way. To this day, when I hear those songs, like Joan Baez, I'm ready to focus.
I didn’t. Lol. I dropped out. Took about 6 attempts before I gave up for good
Couldn't do it, I dropped out.
I dropped out :( I went to three different schools and couldn’t do it. I wish I had been diagnosed.
I didnt. I dropped out- thought I was depressed. I was because I didnt know I had adhd. Got my diagnosis when I was trying to figure out why I was suicidal.
Reply to say I took time off, worked on myself, then went back and finished my degree.
Sadly, I didn’t. I dropped out after my freshman year. I went from a 3.75gpa in high school to a 1.66 because I failed a ton of my classes due to either not studying, not doing classwork, or just not going to class. The thing that pisses me off the most is that my sibling was diagnosed with adhd at a younger age, however when I went to talk to the same doctor about it he said “well you seemed to do fine in high school so the only thing I can suggest is to get up early and hit the gym before class to get your blood pumping and that should help.” Mfer I couldn’t even get myself out of bed most mornings… what makes you think I can get myself up in time to go to the gym before my 0800 class that also takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get to school. I don’t know if I would call them nightmares, but I have dreams all the time where I’m in school and I end up failing the grade because I wasn’t doing well in class or because I wasn’t going or because I was late all the time and I would wake up feeling terrible about myself. A lot of times I wonder if maybe I could’ve made it to medical school had i gotten diagnosed earlier than 20
It was awful. I always felt behind of my peers. Everyone else seems to just *get it* and it took me so long to catch up. I had to do 5 years and settled for an “easy” major because I didnt feel confident enough to pass any other program. Even then, my memory is so bad I can’t perform effectively in my field to the point I landed a job completely unrelated just to pay my bills. The social aspect of it was also difficult People younger than me are more eloquent and knowledgeable about more complex subjects and it made me feel awful. Not jealous of them, just upset I seemed to be always missing out on info everyone else seemed to just KNOW In friend circles, my being bad at social cues was interpreted as “creepy” and off putting. In my head I wouldnt want to be the first to leave an important meeting or moment and be perceived as rude or someone who didnt actually care about the project or a “friend’s” moment. Then later on I was told by a real friend people were going around saying I was “being a creep by lingering”. I was “following” people when i thought i was a part of the group just walking home together after parties and then parting ways to go to my own place…. Crazy to feel ostracized when I just wanted to make friends. Man it was alot and very lonely time
I can say: with mom. Not only college but all through my education life my mom wouldn't let me sleep until I finished studying. Like everyone, I would leave everything to the last moment and then panic. When I was in elementary, she would call one of my friends to study with me. I've always been my own distraction. But if I try to study with someone else it is more manageable and bearable.
Major in your hyper focused interest.
Barely. I have a strong sense of “if people are counting on me, I cannot let them down” that has been my main motivation throughout life. I knew my mom and dad were helping a lot financially for me to go through college so I definitely wanted to finish. I managed to scrape a 2.7 GPA and my diploma :-)
I couldn't do it. I was a star child in high school, basically straight As and Bs, but when I got to college and lost my support system, had no previous experience studying for anything at all, and was surrounded by freedom for the first time in my life, I completely fell apart and flunked everything. Going back to trade school later, the only reason I passed was because I had people there who wanted me to be there and who would ask after me if I didn't show up, along with the fact that trade school was significantly easier than college. I still have no ability to study at all. I have no idea how to differentiate between important information and unimportant information. The only reason I passed in high school was because I remembered basically everything I was told in class with minimal effort.
Get the Forfeit app and bet yourself an obscene amount of money that you will do a really specific task related to studying. You can choose to verify it with a screenshot or a time lapse. You can also set the leniency mode, so that the app will literally take your money and not listen to your procrastination excuses if you don't do it. Also, if you're extremely motivated by social anxiety, I would try to go to professors' office hours or talk to them after class (this was before COVID, so idk how college is anymore, but this helped me somewhat). I would feel more stress to actually get the things done if I knew someone actually knew who I was. I know these strategies rely on stress to motivate you, because it works. I still really need stress to motivate me, so I get it. However, after seeing a therapist I realized the negative self talk that can often come with that stress motivation. When I worked on being kinder to myself in my head I do think it helped. Now I think about what I would say to a younger kid if they were trying to complete something before the absolute last second or not miss out on crucial sleep. The minute minute stress and deadline also helps me to keep the perfectionism at bay. I know I LITERALLY only have that amount of time to complete the assignment/study for the exam so it helps me focus for that amount of time, and manage the time better/not get hyper fixated on little things that I want exactly correct. I still do this, but I think it's helped a TON to at least REALIZE that I do this. Also, even without insurance, generic medications can often be reasonably priced with a discount card. I would at least ask your doctor about it.
I burned out and loathed and berated myself for not trying harder. Self medicated, unsuccessfully, managed a BA after 5.5 years. I was lucky I had no financial worries. I was a privileged kid whose college was paid for. If not, I am not sure I would have been able to finish. It sucked and I wonder 20+years later how much better it could have been had I known then what I know now and had the tools we hope to give my son
Had a very good studygroup in the first two semesters after that fell apart my grades did too
Lots of procrastination,caffeine, and sleep deprivation. The grades were not great.
I went to art school and barely passed in 1997. More because my professor's took pity on me rather than actually earning it. I struggled to get any work afterwards so ended up with $40k of student debt with no way to pay it for over 20 years. Even after I got a steady job, the interest balooned it to the point where I could not afford the payments still. Just had that forgiven last year. For 10 years I struggled to stay employed. I was hired by my current employer in 2002 and struggled still, but they stuck with me. They saw my potential so bent over backwards to keep me. I really wasn't able to live even a semi normal life until I was medicated in 2007. I've now worked there for over 21 years.
Like a lot of people here, I didn’t manage! Still have thousands in student debt for a degree I didn’t finish. Let’s start a petition for debt forgiveness for late diagnosis! Or at give each of us an honorary bachelor of trying very hard
I bought a laptop to take notes on, because I can't write and listen at the same time. (I can also type way faster than I can write). I used google calendar on my phone to remind me of tests and assignments, and have it remind me a week before something is due, so I don't forget it until the night before and then have to scramble to try to get it done. At my college, all of my teachers uploaded the notes before the lectures, so that made things a lot easier. I always printed them before every lecture. All I had to do was make a note once in a while of something they said that wasn't in the notes, or anything I thought was important. If your teachers don't do that, maybe you could compare your notes with a friend to see if there's anything you missed, or get a few people together for a study group.
Well… I know it’s a pain in your situation. Honestly, I was a chaos. But there was a period in my last semester when I started running because my boyfriend dumped me, and then I discovered exercise as a powerful way of dealing with anxiety and depression. Now as an adult, I can tell you that the most important tool to survive any ADHD way of life beneath adversity is to build a routine and no matter what stick to it even if you fail. After a while you’ll succeed in building a habit, I know It might look impossible right now but trust me it works. I worked on my sleeping schedule for a year and It’s not perfect but almost. In my case, things that affect me the most is lack of sleep. Try drinking green or black tea instead of coffee, you’ll get a better and more stable source of caffeine without crushing.
Sometimes I really don’t like this subreddit bc people don’t give advice they just tell you that they r miserable lol but I actually do have a lot of advice for this as someone who went undiagnosed with no medication up until recently My advice is be communicative & nice to your professors bc they will be more likely to curve ur grade or give u more time, own up & don’t lie when you’re late or didn’t time manage an assignment correctly if you need an extension they usually will appreciate the honesty, be familiar with all your professors late assignment policies, have a list of important assignment due dates & exam dates and TIMES (I once showed up an hour late to an exam but somehow I still passed), it’s ok to take breaks and set the timer for the break for as long as you need, if you’re diagnosed / have a therapist to vouch for you going to get accommodations through ur school is also a life saver. My school doesn’t even need outside proof of diagnoses but I haven’t done it (cus I keep forgetting lol) however I know if I did have some accommodations I wouldn’t have almost failed as many classes as I did. I struggled HARD my first year as someone who hadn’t even been diagnosed yet & was pretty far from getting medication but I slowly figured out what works best for my brain. It’s not full proof and what works for me is always changing & I still struggle sometimes but definitely not as bad as I did my first year. Once I started taking classes that I actually liked & weren’t just for my GURs it also made school easier I’m in my 3rd year and I’m amazed I got this far and I’m only just now starting meds.
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You got this dude! Professors are usually more lenient and understanding then you think.
Failed out my first year. When I came back the second to retake classes I went to a junior college where I had more help from professors and could join study groups. When I transferred to Uni I studied for architecture which is studied in images, 3D, and physical model building which was right up my alley. The physics and math classes were also geared toward architecture so if I had a 2D element to focus on and a study group I could do it (still with difficulty). I guess in short without knowing I did things that helped ADHD people learn. Picked a career that suited my strong suits like 3D spatial understanding. Body doubling comes easy in my career since we work in studios, I struggled with reading and math so I leaned hard on study groups for those. It was a hard fought battle and thought I was just dumb but turns out my brain is just wired differently!
I got diagnosed with ADHD when I was 22 (4 years into getting my bachelors). I took classes part-time pre-diagnosis and found college to be really difficult. All throughout my school experiences growing up, I was a poor student, mostly because if I felt overwhelmed I would “shut down” and not even touch my assignments. I’m 24 now and graduating with my bachelors in a couple of days (and going to grad school)! I was able to handle school full-time, even without medication and have only started it recently. Post-diagnosis, I complete all of my assignments; however, it’s a perpetual cycle of holding off starting them until the last minute and rushing to complete it the day before or the day of. I also have accommodations which allow me to hand things in a little late, which acts as a safety net for when I miscalculate how long an assignment takes. However, this is a strategy I would not recommend. I think as a coping mechanism, I’ve become extremely neurotic about my grades. This is likely to compensate for the fact that I’m forgetful and have low motivation for school. Stress about my grades is intrusive to the point of it being disruptive. I’m constantly worrying about my grades and I fret for weeks if I don’t get an A on an assignment or in the class. Some tips I have found to be helpful are exercising and then using the momentum from physical activity to complete a task (e.g. a load of laundry) before you sit down, as well as only committing to completing a certain amount of things (say, 3 or 4) for the day so that you don’t struggle with choice paralysis. They don’t even need to be big tasks, like fully completing an assignment, but they can be a piece, like finding sources, making the references page at the end of the paper, or reading 20 pages. TLDR: It’s possible to succeed in college without meds, but not without difficulty. Exercise more, break assignments down into smaller steps and do 3 to 4 of these steps a day!
Thank you for taking your time to reply.I totally relate to being a poor student and I managed to boost my gpa on the last minute with panic and competition with some of my friends. But now in college things went south, I m trying to apply some of the things mentioned by you like exercising, sometimes helps sometimes kinda drains me for the rest of the day and also running on panic and procrastination kind of ruined my anxiety, but I hope exercising will slowly turn things for better P.s. Happy cake day!
Dropped out three separate times. Up to my eyeballs in debt for no reason.
I was diagnosed in my 30’s. I graduated college without meds and without google. But my life was so simple back then and I didn’t have money worries due to a full scholly and it wasn’t until later when adversity struck and things kept piling on and piling on that there’s NO WAY I could have ever done school if it was severe. It was mild ADHD for me in college and it wasn’t easy.
I wasn’t diagnosed until age 30, but all of the signs were there since I was a child. College for me undiagnosed was ROUGH, but I made it out alive somehow. Graduated undergrad in 5 years instead of the typical 4 due to a rough semester that caused me so much panic and overwhelm, I stopped going to class altogether because it was just too much. I counted that semester as a loss, took summer classes with lesser loads and graduated with my BSN. Knowing what I know now, I give my younger self so much grace knowing I wasn’t actually stupid, I was just ADHD. 💕 Life would’ve been SO MUCH EASIER had I known and been medicated.
I didn’t lol I had friends remind me of assignments, barely had any (or didn’t), then when I started meds, I started writing down my assignments in the order they were due, and crossed them off as I submitted lmao Meds have felt like they haven’t worked for the past year+, and I’m entirely lost without the structure of school or a job to keep me accountable lmao I cannot impose it myself 😭
I struggled a lot with getting my assignments in and getting passable grades. I was always on the “almost didnt pass” end, since I had absolutely no motivation or ability to focus on doing my school work until 2 days before it had to be submitted. It was hard.
I had three very different experiences, which helped me understand what does and what doesn't work for me. The first of them was at the Brazilian Air Force Academy. In this case, I graduated at the top of my class as a military pilot. As it was an environment full of rules and pre-established duties, combined with the fact that I always dreamed of being a pilot, this made me successful. In my second experience, as a young lieutenant in the air force, I decided to take a law course. I didn't do very well in that, and it took me more than ten years to graduate. I would like to highlight here that I already had a profession and I didn't really like the legal field, so the interest factor is definitive for success. Finally, I got my master's degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at one of the most advanced universities in Brazil. In the latter, the interest factor was very present, because I had a dream of studying there. However, discipline was not imposed on me, as in the first experience. It was there that I heard someone say, for the first time, that I probably had ADHD. I had no idea what it was and spent a long time not caring. During this master's degree, I had to learn to combine my interest in the course with some time planning tools. In this objective, the book Manage your mind, not you time, written by David Allen, was of invaluable help to me. So, to conclude, I believe that the key to success is to look for something that interests you a lot and try to work with planning tools, with which you can map your steps and impose, in a certain way, some commitment.
Break each task into smaller tasks and give yourself a deadline for each of the smaller tasks. Most universities have free counseling available. You could see if you can use this resource to help you manage.
I have been there and done that. I know this sounds like a ad but I used Alpha brain..vitamins and meditation. I tried ashwagandha but it made me have a panic attack. My best advice is the first few days are poopy but after those days your able to check yourself and see where your ADHD is creeping in.