Flourishing After Failure: A Guide for Online Graduate Students

While thinking about the myriad ways you can fail while in grad school sounds like a nightmare exercise, coming to terms with the very real reality in front of you can be helpful. Doing so helps you prepare for any eventuality you may face making your way through school. Here are just a few common obstacles that may feel like failure in grad school.

If you fail a class or even your full graduate program, you’ll undoubtedly experience some consequences. While it won’t be the end of the world, you’ll meet various challenges — some of which are easier to overcome than others.

• Academic Implications
  If you fail a class, this is a yellow flag to the administration, but you’re likely to bounce back as long as you can retake and pass the course. The academic implications grow more serious if you fail multiple classes, as this could lead to failing your program. If this happens, you won’t secure your degree, and you’ll have spent years studying with little tangible benefit.
• Financial Implications
  Financing your graduate program is a careful balancing act. Failing a class can throw a wrench into that act, forcing you to pay another few hundred (or thousand) dollars to retake the course. Failing a semester, on the other hand, means the potential to lose financial aid or merit-based scholarships. And of course, failing your entire program means tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars just goes out the window.
• Future Implications
  When employers verify your grad school record, they’re likely to look at your grades as well. A failing grade may put you a notch lower than an applicant who passed their courses with flying colors. If the worst happens and you completely fail the graduate program, you have no degree to show for any of your work. This can hamper your job search if you are looking to secure a career using your degree.
• Emotional & Mental Implications
  Failing a class, semester, or entire program often leads to negative feelings and can contribute to more serious health consequences, such as depression or anxiety. This can result in a cycle of academic impacts, as it’s common to fall behind on your other coursework if you’re struggling with your mental health.
• Social Implications
  Graduate schools are typically set up differently than undergraduate programs. They’re more focused degrees with smaller class sizes, meaning you’re a part of a tighter-knit community. If you fail and your peers don’t experience the same thing, you may feel disconnected from your peers, causing you to lose out on a vital graduate school experience.

If you’re seeing your grades decline and test scores go down, this is a clear indicator that you may wind up failing. This poor performance is often a combination of factors. You may not be comprehending the complex subject matter, you may not possess the necessary time management skills, or there’s a lack of engagement with coursework. In short, grad school is difficult. It’s often more rigorous than undergraduate schooling, and if personal issues arise, coursework can quickly get out of control.

Constant negative feedback from instructors also typically implies that you may receive a non-passing grade. Professors don’t want you to fail, so they’ll often take you aside or request you visit them during office hours to discuss any issues you’re having.

Struggling with comprehension in a graduate setting often manifests as failing grades and your inability to learn and apply concepts. For example, if you’re enrolled in an advanced economics course, you might grapple with understanding the intricacies of sophisticated mathematical models, hindering your ability to use these models effectively in real-world scenarios. This would make advancing in this subject very difficult.

This struggle might stem from a limited foundational education or the fast-paced nature of graduate courses. This may leave you overwhelmed and unable to devote enough time to resolve the issues you’re experiencing. If you don’t seek support promptly, this struggle can hinder your overall academic performance.

Being hard on yourself in the face of failure certainly doesn’t solve the problem. In fact, it’ll likely cause you to avoid taking any action — and there are plenty of steps you can take, even if you’re met with failure. Talking with other students can help you find a group of people who sympathize with your issues and who have even been there before, too. Having a support system goes a long way in ensuring that you don’t feel alone and provides you with a light at the end of the tunnel.

Failure happens for a reason, and that reason is different for everyone. When facing failure, know that the place you’re in is temporary. Understand that this is where you’re at right now, but you have all the power to change it. Practice self-compassion and speak to yourself without judgment.

If you’ve realized you’re failing or about to fail a course or graduate program, some of the first people you should speak with include your professors and academic advisors. They’re not just there to provide knowledge, but also to support you in your professional and academic growth. Your academic advisor in particular can help you start creating a plan to better your academic performance and can offer up resources if you’re struggling.

Failing can look slightly different across different academic institutions. If you fail a course, this may not be the end of the world in the grand scheme of your degree. Some institutions give you a free course drop, which can come in handy if you find yourself with a poor grade at the end of one of your classes.

Failure always has a lesson attached to it. There’s a reason it happened: Perhaps you were dealing with personal issues, you just couldn’t grasp the subject matter, or you couldn’t properly balance work, family, and school. No matter the reason, look at the situation objectively and think through what you would change. How could you improve your performance this next time around? Thinking through this can help you avoid making the same mistakes down the road.

Now to the hard part: creating a plan to do better next time. Once you know what the issue is and have a better idea of what you’d change, think through how to make those changes. It’s helpful to document your plan. Create a list of campus resources you can turn to (more on that in a second), plan out courses so they’re easier to manage, and take the time to decide if that graduate path you’re on is the right one. If not, now is the time to switch it up.

Graduate programs often come with built-in resources dedicated to helping you succeed. Even online-only universities provide a full suite of helpful services. Many graduate programs provide mental health resources and tutoring programs for students struggling emotionally or academically. Your professors are also valuable resources, so take advantage of office hours and Q&As in class. Professors typically provide all the resources you should need for the class up front, so connect with them if you need additional support.

Don’t let failure hold you back. It’s a scary word, but it’s always a chance to learn from your mistakes and move forward stronger. At the same time, you should try your best to avoid making the same mistake twice. After all, failing in grad school often comes with a serious financial impact. If you retake a course or start over in another program, learn from your mistakes and take advantage of all the opportunities and support around you.