<p>^Wisdom in the post above. </p>
<p>James, you’ve received some very good advice. You clearly have great intelligence and drive. You have so much going for you! </p>
<p>A note on your instructor’s seemingly off-hand comments about ‘forgetting’ what you learn: this professor may just be very comfortable with what he/she doesn’t know (or once knew, but now cannot possibly recall with 100% fidelity). </p>
<p>As people mature from novice to ‘expert’ in a domain, they develop a more fluid, meta-understanding that is far less dependent upon recall of specific exemplars. Novices, on the other hand, must begin by memorizing and actively categorizing bits of discrete information. In huge quantities. As expertise develops, many of the original exemplars will be forgotten, but the higher-level capacity remains. And grows. Your professor(s) may simply be very familiar and comfortable with this process; perhaps they also want to encourage their hard-driving students to be fluid, rather than too grinding, in their approach, such that meta-learning can start to take hold. </p>
<p>I earned a Ph.D. and do extraordinarily interesting work using it in an ‘applied’ setting. I’ve forgotten a LOT, but have developed new areas of expertise, wisdom has been gained, and after many years in the field, I have excellent professional judgement. Most importantly, I have a very clear sense of what I <em>don’t</em> know and that makes me a bona fide Expert. :)</p>
<p>Best wishes to you.</p>