Feeling depressed/incompetent during IB Off-cycle

Title says it all. Worked very hard to get an off-cycle in a BB and starting my off-cycle internship. Come from a target school, very cliché background, did the usual application process and was lucky to get an offer.

2 weeks in, I feel little motivation at work as I imagined myself that IB would be something mentally stimulating. It is, I guess, but whenever I read slides or DD it takes ages for me to even understand what the hell I am reading, it's like my brain is in a slow mo. Maybe the recruitment took all my brain cells and they never came back. Feeling kind of lost. Want to point out that the loss of motivation is coming more from my lack of performance than the job itself.

Anyone ever felt the same? Does it get better?

Godspeed.

4 Comments
 

You should ask yourself if you are actually "depressed" or simply feel low. Depression is a where you can't get out of bed in the morning, have little to no enjoyment in things, and is quite severe. What you're describing is a normal human emotion of simply feeling down and discouraged. Hang in there, you will be okay. Just take each day as it comes.

 
Most Helpful

 Internships at the end of the day are a sprint, not a marathon, so it's essential to put everything you have into it. It's perfectly normal not to understand everything immediately. Whenever you encounter something you don't understand, take the time to research it thoroughly. If you're still struggling, ask your fellow interns; they might have the answers or insights you need. As a last resort, reach out to an analyst—this sort of multi-layer filtering approach ensures you're not bombarding full-timers with too many questions. Keep a note of everything you don't understand or struggled with and review it whenever you have spare time. Remember, everyone around you is likely just as stressed and feeling behind, whether or not they'd like to admit it. Not grasping things quickly isn't a problem, but not taking the time to get up to speed can be. You're not alone in this, and it does get better as you gain more experience and knowledge. Good luck and kill it out there!

 

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