Feeling overwhelmed at final year of uni

Hi,
I'm in my final year of a engineering masters course.

I am feeling extremely overwhelmed over my studies and it's having a negative impact on my mental health. For some context I interrupted my studies last year because I had hit an all time low with my motivation; it was showing in my grades and my contribution to group projects.

My university was very understanding. They gave me the opportunity to complete my group project on an individual basis over summer. I completed 3 of my 6 exams last year. I was set to finish the other 3 over last summer. However, both my physical and mental health became worse and I was hospitalised.

From September I have been focusing on studying for my 3 remaining exams. I've now completed all three. The only thing left for me to do is this final year project. It was originally meant to be completed in a 10 person group with regular meetings with experts. However, I am doing it individually. I have a "supervisor" of sorts. Having to do this project alone and without any regular help has been very challenging for me.

I have spent two hours looking at the sheer amount of resources online for this project, as well as past reports from other students. I am left feeling discouraged and hopeless. I feel I am incapable of doing this, it's an overwhelming and complex task and I don't even know where to start. I worry that whatever I will produce will not be good enough, given how long and complex past reports have been (hundreds of pages, and very technical).

I have arranged for a meeting with the supervisor but there's only so much guidance and support I can receive. I have been given a brief, I have the objectives and what to include in the report but I'm lost on how to achieve this. The project is meant to take a month full time but everytime I sit down to get anything done I feel I have achieved nothing. I become anxious and lost.

I have asked for support from the mental health advisor from my uni but she has now left. I don't know what else to do, I wish it were as easy as just getting this done but I have no idea how.

Reply 1

Mr Wednesday

Clearly you will not be able to do the same kind of project as an individual that a 10 person team can. The key thing to do is to discuss with your supervisor what is possible and required re content, time line and assessment. Odds are you will not be the first student to need to do this so your department will have some ideas for how to make this work. For now, don't panic, just organise a kick-off meeting followed by a regular set of progress meetings with your supervisor and take it from there.