Yeah, my attempt at a master's in CS (before deciding the time would be better spent elsewhere) left me feeling largely the same. "Oh, isn't that equation elegant. Oh, wait, actually trying to implement it...what the hell, where is all the other information I need?! That's a gaussian...but where do the parameters for that gaussian come from? What is this variable? WHAT IS THIS VARIABLE?!" etc.
I had a 4.0 departmental in CS from the same school I tried to get a master's in, but yeah, the master's experience was so bad, and working through those issues so time consuming, I just said "Screw it, I can get a better return on this amount of time doing my own things". Even if it's learning the same things, but to an explicit goal rather than just 'understanding' (and an eventual test/assignment that may or may not relate to what I care about), and where I'm not constrained by an academic policy that prevents me from going to others to have them explain exactly what I need to know.
I had a 4.0 departmental in CS from the same school I tried to get a master's in, but yeah, the master's experience was so bad, and working through those issues so time consuming, I just said "Screw it, I can get a better return on this amount of time doing my own things". Even if it's learning the same things, but to an explicit goal rather than just 'understanding' (and an eventual test/assignment that may or may not relate to what I care about), and where I'm not constrained by an academic policy that prevents me from going to others to have them explain exactly what I need to know.