GED to PhD: My story from struggling with math to becoming a professional mathematician.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- This is an emotional video about my journey to completing a PhD in Mathematics. Sorry for the tears! Please share this with anyone you know who might benefit from knowing it's okay to fail.
#Mathematics
#Doctorate
#PhD
#Dropout
#Inspiration
#Professor
![What PhD students find out too late [Top mistakes]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EZk0CFf0UV4/mqdefault.jpg)
![What PhD students find out too late [Top mistakes]](/img/tr.png)
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Update: I named my first born child Morgan after my best friend that passed away. Also, I lecture undergraduate and graduate students at Rice University now 😊
Dude what an inspiration holy shit 👏🏻
Dr. Davila, I streamed your lectures on Julia machine learning during COVID and am now a developer in the biomedical space.
I'm in community college now. The feeling of being stupid, being behind , and being old is so real. You sir are an inspiration.
Good luck and keep your head up! Wishing you the best
I cried 😢😢, because I am in the same situation that you have been, just thank you for giving me hope ❤❤
"I'd finally fucked up enough ... ", wow that hit me. Absolutely inspiring and motivating for me in my current mathematical studies and struggles.
Dude! I hope you go back to those high school teachers in BelAir and show them what you’ve done! They’d start crying with you, too.
When I have students someday I want to share your story with them. So much of our limitations are imposed by others when we need our own way. It’s scary but you literally made a new path for yourself and others, I’m sure.
Excelsior!
I'm an undergrad majoring in Statistics and Computer Science. I want to go to grad school, and whenever I feel like I don't belong in academia or I cant overcome obstacles, I am coming back to this video to remind myself that it is possible and that it is the grit that gets you far in life. Thank you so much for sharing.
As a student of Statistics and Computer Science, I could possibly help you with research. Email me sometime and we can talk.
@@DrRandyDavila top g
Needed to hear this today, as I'm struggling a bit in classes after going back to school at the age of 48. Wish I would have done some things differently in my younger years, but as they say, hindsight is always 20/20. You have given me hope. Thanks.
I dropped out of higschool at 16. I had the exact same experience.. from the middle school teacher saying i wouldnt amount to anything to falling behind in all my maths and classes. Got work through my dad and worked for a while... and watched everyone i knew go to college. I learned what GED was and... when i studied and managed to get it.. i couldnt believe it was a possibility for me to go to college. I still cannot believe I am in college. I want to get a PhD in mathematics. This video is insanely inspirational. Thank you
I can not even express to you how much this video meant to me. Seriously. I am basically walking the same path right now. I'm 26 and a sophomore in a mathematics degree and I'm really struggling this semester with Physics 2 and the lab I'm trying my hardest to save myself and hoping that next fall I will be back on track after a summer break. I want so badly to do research and get a PhD in mathematics because this subject is so beautiful. Dr. Davila, thank you for this, thank you so much. I am going to do all I can to make it out the other side and contribute something to the subject we love. I'm sure that your grandparents, parents, and best friend are so very proud.
Keep your head up and know that it’s tough at times. I really do hope you make it! Feel free to email me if you want to talk more about it in more depth
Thank you Dr. Davila. I don't know how this popped up on my TH-cam but I needed to hear your amazing story. I'm 40 years old now and had dropped out of high school at 17. I got my GED at 30. I struggled with the math as well. Before I took the GED test I decided to study the math from beginning to end using the McGraw-Hill's GED Math prep book for 8 months. I studied everyday and took the tests, quizzes & did the practice questions. I passed all subjects with flying colors and scored a 92% in the math!!!! I want to go to college and become a Nurse Practioner and your story lit a fire in me and gave me encouragement and hope. Thank you!!!!
I legit teared up watching this, this was extremely inspiring. I hope to one day be a professor in Computer science, this has really motivated me to keep persevering. Thanks so much for sharing
Just wanted to check in! How has your journey been?
Wow this is cool! I was self studying advanced math at 16, but I dropped out of high school as I had no interest in anything besides math and physics and video games. Got my GED, got a BA in mathematics and might go for a PhD.
We share similar paths. Failed math in 6th grade, summer school in 8th and 9th grade, had to get a tutor, failed chemistry and microbiology, low score SATs, was pushed through high school even though they should have failed me. I drank, fought, sexed, joined the military, infantry. Always loved to help people though. Always had a passion for science and philosophy though. Started a radio show, mom died, went back to school, thought about becoming a counselor like my mom, earned a BA. Decided to teach instead, earned a Master's degree in Education, then another Masters in Biology. I'm currently a college and university professor, in revision status on my Ph.D. dissertation. It's truly amazing the paths we take in life. Thank you for sharing.
This is a great story. When I was in high school, I was obsessed with going to one of those fancy brand name universities and I really shut down for a while when that didn't pan out. I now feel more confident that what is far more important than prestige is passion and grit.
One of the most inspiring stories of success I've heard. Thank you Dr Davila for sharing with us such an amazing story. You should write a book about it, i have a very STRONG feeling it would be a bestseller, I'd buy 3 of them!...give that some serious thought, please.
Thank you so much! I've thought about it a lot; maybe one day if I can find some help
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for sharing. This is so incredible and powerful. I am a math educator and it makes me want to take some of those classes you talked about!! I am obsessed with teaching math. This was so unforgettable to me. I have a lot to say.
Thank you for sharing your story! I am a Freshman 2 student at Indiana State University, and I have a lot of similarities in my background. I consistently failed in mathematics as a kid, and I was told that I was slow, dumb, unintelligent, etc. I also had to drop out of High School. I received my TASC diploma, which is an equivalency like the GED but with standards that are supposedly somewhat different. I was lucky. I didn't have to go through the Community College route, and I was able to enroll directly into a 4-year public university. I finished my first semester strong with a 3.88 GPA, and I have a 4.0 interim GPA this semester! However, similar to what you said in the video, I placed into Intermediate Algebra. I'm currently a Language Studies and Linguistics major, but my dream occupation is to do something with Mathematics, or something in the Hard Sciences. I still have a lot of math trauma, if you will, and a ton of math anxiety. I don't do well with timed tests, or timed quizzes at all. I think that I'm actually good at Math, but it takes a lot of concentrated effort. Your story provides me hope and inspiration! I'm still not sure if I'll ever be good enough to be a mathematician, or a physicist, or a chemist, or anything along those lines. But I'm grateful to you for sharing your experiences with us! Cheers!
Email me and we can talk more. I'd like to help in anyway I can.
@@DrRandyDavila Thanks! I will email!
In attending your courses, we often wondered how your brain is wired in order to hold so much knowledge. You’d start on one end of the dry erase board and end on the other with so much information written. Low key glad lectures are now recorded in order to play them back. I thank you for sharing your story and thank you for being a professor at UHD. Seeing Randy Davila, Cesar Garza, and Maria Benavides, three Latino professors on my schedule makes higher education hit a little differently. I too had an unexpected donor pay for my first semester of college. For someone to believe in you, your dream of higher education, and meet you where family and others couldn’t has to be godsent. If you ever decide to offer a scholarship to help someone in the same predicament, I’ll gladly give to help pay it forward. This video has me pumped! You are a source of inspiration and motivation that higher education is possible even after the many setbacks we experience in life. Thank you Dr. Davila!
I watched this from beginning to end. Amazing story, thanks for sharing Dr. Davila. Did you ever go back and visit your teacher(s) from high school who funded you? I feel like a good teacher like that is often the make or break of a student's progress in education.
Take a bow Dr. Davila. Congratulations from India!
Thank you so much, I needed this so badly. I was quite bad in math for most of the time I went to high school (here in Germany it's called differently). I recently bought an algebra and trigonometry book together with the Larson Calculus book. I found that learning from English books is much more suitable for me. In the last 8 Months I went through the entire algebra book. I'm currently re- teaching myself calc 2. My goal is to go trough the entire calc book, then teach myself differential equations, linear algebra (proofs in between) and lastly complex analysis. I'm currently a business student but the more I emerse myself in math I find myself craving math even more. After I finish the business degree I want to start a pure math/engineering degree. People like you inspire me a lot. THANK YOU
This was really inspiring. I'm glad there are so many people online like yourself who are willing to share their stories and motivate those who might feel trapped. I dropped out of school right after 8th grade and much like yourself ended up spending a lot of time just skateboarding and working for my father. Unfortunately I've never got around to obtaining my G.E.D. during my 20's as I've always felt intimidated and "too dumb" to even give it a try.
I ended up moving overseas around a year ago due to a long distance relationship, and while I'm happy with my partner I'm unhappy with feeling worthless on both ends of the planet due to a lack of an education. I'm tired of settling for warehouse jobs and running away from an education just because I feel "stupid". My math skills are very basic, I never even got the chance to learn anything past multiplication in school before dropping out, but for the first time ever I've been recently trying to improve my skills and study here at home overseas. I'd like to return to America someday, but not empty handed. I'll only return when I feel I can pass the tests as it would open up so many opportunities.
Your story has really inspired me, thank you for sharing it and congrats on your well earned success!
I did well in math in grade school but I lacked the parental structure. My parents didn't care despite my dad having an engineering degree. My parents didn't care so why should I? My mom always told us we weren't going to college and that they would never help us. They were true to their word. However, at about 22/23 I started attending community college. I did that for a few years while working full time. Eventually I transferred to a university and with the support of my now wife I was able to graduate with degree in engineering.
I put in a lot of hard work and started from algebra II. It's a long journey but anyone can do it. Be patient and be easy on yourself.
What an awesome story. Your perseverance is inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching! I'm surprised how many people are giving positive feedback. I only hope that at least one person that watches it will benefit from it.
Wow, I loved your story! Latino children in the US face very unique struggles in the education system.
I just curious about this vid and ended watching the entire vid, This is a great story
Dr. Davila, I come back to this video every few months to remember that its not how I start but how I persist. Thank you for sharing this with us all.
Where there is a will, there is a way. You have to thank you lucky star that you had the fortune to bump into great teachers when you needed them most.
I want to thank you Dr. Davila for this amazing journey you shared with us all.
I am encouraged by your example.
I also failed twice at getting my BS in Math.
I was forced to quit math and get a nursing degree. Nursing has been a blessing to my family financially for sure, but not my dream of course.
I discovered by now why I failed: I didn't know how to do proofs. Real analysis and abstract algebra seemed like such beasts at the time.
I still don't quite understand multivariable calculus, vector calculus.
I have since then found so many books and videos how to do & understand and do proofs.
I keep dreaming of one day getting an applied BS and possibly teach math in highschool or college.
I have now a family and many other things on my plate and sometimes think "I'll probably never be able to really learn these things!".
I keep thinking: maybe I can just start little by little getting through one of these proofs books and eventually get a hang of it and finally conquer the giants of real analysis and abstract algebra!
Your story is giving me hope though!
Your story is also similar to Dr. Barbara Oakley (she feared math for a long time. Went to us army then returned to college and earned and PhD in engineering. She is now also a well known author in the area of learning.)
God bless you richly.
I am embarking on a PhD in Computer Science after working for a few years post undergrad, also coming from a GED. I was nervous about some of the courses, but have spent the last six months brushing up on mathematical foundations for work in data science and theoretical computer science (set theory, proof writing, discrete math, calc, college algebra - logarithms and sequences/series). I watched a video of Leonard Susskind talking about how he felt out of place at Cornell because he came from a working class background, so this is normal. I think the key is to take the anxiety/fear and use it to address the cause, rather than giving up. This is a beautiful story, thanks for sharing!
Just wanted to check in and see how things were going?
Great video! In highschool I succumbed to peer pressure daily and cared about friends more than anything. I would do dumb stuff like from the Jackass shows and I was called stupid on a daily basis. Even had a teacher laugh but then immediately say you stupid. I hated being called stupid and that was a big driving point on why I enrolled into college.
Wow. Powerful story. I relate to your feeling about that English class. Thankfully I discovered that being open about my struggles and willing to seek help was actually a good thing because people did help. I'm forever grateful to them
I remember seeing this video when it first came out. I was in college at the time. I found it relatable, as I was a high school dropout. I think I received five passing grades in my high school career. Given that I was a junior when I dropped out, I think that speaks volumes about my academic prowess as a high school student. However, though I had a rough start in college, I ended up doing quite well. I currently work in banking and am debating whether to get an MBA or a JD. Thank you for the video.
I crashed in my A'levels and barely got good grades in Maths. I couldn't get accepted into any decent university and then I took GED, completed my English honors and MBA and now I'm going to pursue Mathematics Honors. Thank you so much for your motivation.
If you can, I can as well. thanks for sharing your story with me, I am an IGCSE 2026 candidate.
@@hatterbooks4372 Yes go for it! You have my best wishes! Technically I passed my A'levels back in 2013 but the results were very bad. I took the GED test and I used that for my admission for the education of my Bachelor's degree. I went onto complete my postgraduate studies as well. I came from behind and I'm still marching. You can do it too. Cheers and best wishes!
@@hatterbooks4372 Sure of course you can do it! You have my best wishes and full support as well. I took my A'levels back in 2013. I was a Cambridge A'level candidate. As I have said in the comment above, I didn't do well in my A'levels and kind of crashed out. I then took the GED test, excelled it and found the path to my University life. Taking the GED test gave me so much confidence and made me find my resolve once again. You have the potential. Whether you finish it with A'levels or GED, remember this: You have the ability to succeed. Best wishes for your future. Cheers!
thank you for sharing this, it means a lot to us.
Thank you for telling your story, it’s inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time. Congratulations on your accomplishments, hard won they were. And congratulations on owning your decisions.
loved your lectures we need prof's like you you are my inspiration.
Inspiring life history Dr. Davila, thank you for sharing it with us.
That was a really interesting story. I didn't laugh very much, but I did cry and I watched the whole thing. It served as good motivation for a struggling student such as myself.
thank you
You are an amazing person and you appear to be so genuinely kind and patient. Wish you a fantastic life :)
i was in my 2nd year of uni, and i am finding it tough. Currently, I feel lost as to what I should be studying, as I've been fleeing from textbook to textbook with no indepth knowledge of the subject at hand. Thanks for giving me the inspiration.
This is really marking me look forward to attending your class! I don’t know anything about computer/data science, but I feel like the 1 thing the pandemic taught us is that data analyzing is so important! Look forward to your class!
Not sure what class you'll be taking, but I look forward to having you!
Wish more people would see this, your story is amazing. Wish you all the best
Great inspiring life story...worth making a movie about.
Thank you for sharing! I hope that your peers in grad school had more respect for you as an individual and intellectual...why are undergrads laughing at using punctuation? Even some people with PhDs don't know how to write.
Thanks for sharing. Hoping to get into college next year as an adult. But I will give everything to do it!
Wonderful posting
Amazing you made it !
You're an inspiration !
The path of success is failure
Congratulations, Dr. Davila!
Thanks for sharing!
I'm jazzed that I can add 115+80 in my head super-fast
Good Job Randy!
Dr Davila, I would love to know HOW you practically went from not understanding simple algebra to understanding real analysis and proofs etc. What were the steps that helped you get the concepts of higher math? Analytic geometry in 3D like paraboloids, parametric equations, probability theory seem difficult to grasp.
Come on, you deserve it👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
This gives me hope. I had dropped out at 17 got my GED and worked odd end jobs till I was 20 been in junior college still having a hard time picking a major. I got an A in all my classes first semester. I wat to pursue computer science but I still feel I’m not smart enough to pursue it. My family doubts me and recommends business majors.. How would you approach this situation.
Honestly I would be open to talking with you via email or a zoom call. The things can be very specific to the person and where they are.
However, if programming is what you are interested in then TH-cam is your best friend! TH-cam is how I taught myself to program. So here is what I would suggest:
1. Pick a programming language that is easy to start with like Python or Julia.
2. If you pick Python go and subscribe to Corey Schafer's channel and watch this playlist: th-cam.com/video/YYXdXT2l-Gg/w-d-xo.html
If you pick Julia then help me out and start watching my Julia Programming with a Data Scientist Playlist: th-cam.com/video/a_H_W2RyWTc/w-d-xo.html
3. Get an account with Medium and TowardsDataScience and the medium app on your phone. I can't tell you how many times I have learned new concepts while exploring programming on these platforms.
4. Try and program a bit every day. When I was learning I used to watch a TH-cam video on python (or C++) every morning while I was eating breakfast and would find myself in the evenings coding those concepts just because I wanted to!
5. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Go to Reddit or TH-cam and ask away.
Damn fool, this is tight.
i am bad at mathematics
Hard Knocks Uni
Pay it forward
😘
You need to make shorter videos and use computer whiteboards, they have better visibility, you're good in math but you need to make an effort on the format maybe. Good Content, keep the good job !
pocket kitty :)
That shirt is not smart