Hello all. First of all, let me thank you guys for all the help you've been so far. I came close to a panic attack some time ago and it was this forum that helped me through it. So thanks.

My question here has to do with classes. I have been doing "ehh" in classes pulling mostly Bs because I didn't deem them that important. I had too much work on my plate to worry about them. But my advisor is concerned about the classes a little bit because one of them is an undergrad course. Now I don't think it is a big deal that if I get a B in this course but It's been tearing me apart that my mentor thinks I'm doing poorly in it.

So my question to you. How important really are classes?

Hi Zoraxe, correct me if my assumption is wrong but I'm guessing you have to do taught courses as part of your PhD?

I'd only be concerned really if you're failing and not going to pass the exams to allow you to continue your PhD. And it depends how relevant it is to the work you are doing. Is your supervisor concerned about your research work at all? That really is far more important in my opinion.

Courses are required for my ph d. And a passing grade is a B. So I've been putting in enough work to get a B but not much more than that. Spending the rest of the my time on my research. My professor likes what i've been doing with my research work though. I've been continually getting all Bs in my classes, but I feel like I could be working harder than I currently am. It's just hard to find the perfect balance between research and classes.

I've had to do classes and amass credits as part of my PhD. The accepted wisdom among my cohort was do enough to get a decent grade but no more unless the class/module is really important to your PhD. It's difficult if you are used to pulling in the high grades but it's important to balance what's required of the classes with your own work. They do get you writing from the start and I have made it my business to copy 'n paste at least one paragraph from different assignments into my final thesis, so as I don't feel that they were a total waste. My supvervisor supports structured PhD programmes and yet advised me to 'just do enough' so it sounds as if you're doing fine. Some of the classes were good, some were not but my goodness I'm glad they're over!

A 'B' is good :-)