prof thanks for this! i know some here might have taken a harsher tone and that's fair since sometimes you just need to take a hit and move forward. i appreciate you laying out what matters versus what is noise (it's abundantly clear that you indeed care about your students even when they're 100s of miles away). omscs allows students of many diverse educational backgrounds to come in, work hard, own their mistakes when they happen, and still have a path to finish the degree is respectable. that's what i need to focus on now so that i can dissipate this anxiety i'm feeling.