DrGirl

I interviewed at Fordham last year and the majority (if not all) of us were in formal interview attire, meaning pantsuit or appropriate skirt/blazer combo. In general, I like to air to the side of caution and be more formal. It was cold when I interviewed, but I wore flats because I didn't really have any boots that would look nice with my formal outfit. I hope this helps! As other people said, there are a number of factors that might be contributing to the conflicting reports, but try and see what people in Psychology are saying because other fields might be more causal. 
 
 

Any words of wisdom on the first few weeks and generally the first semester of your first year in a PhD?
I will be starting up in about two weeks, so I can feel the anticipation building. I am very excited but I also realize I am in for some surprises. 
What did everyone learn? Did anyone feel behind right away? If so, how did you manage (besides, of course, simply getting over it and powering through)? 

I created an account just to respond to this topic, after reading the first 15 pages and enjoying not only the thoughtful responses, but the evolution in recommendations alongside tech. I am chiming in with what works for me. I was a non-trad undergrad and begin graduate work in a Humanities program (literature concentration; apparently I want to be poor forever) this coming fall. The ink is barely dry on last semester's final papers, and I'm already nerding out hard about school supplies.
When I was first giving college a try (mumble) years ago, I just used any old crap, as long as it was cheap. Now that I'm older, and have wasted about a Brazilian dollars replacing cheap junk, I believe in "Buy once, cry once." After much trial and error, this is what worked for me as an undergrad, and what didn't.
Osprey Celeste Backpack -- Amazon reviews made me choose this over North Face. For one, it's lighter. For two, it was much cheaper. I paid about $60 for it. I got a year-old model on Amazon for extra savings. It's perfect in every way. Has a pocket for everything, carries a bunch of stuff (I think 29 L?) but is compact in size. Also came in Candy Orange. (Orange makes me happy. It's the little things.) Super durable, looks and behaves good as new after two semesters of hard use.
Moleskine Cahier Journals -- Spirals are the worst. By the end of a semester they come apart on me.  I get the new XXL size cahier, which is about notebook paper size, and after my brother's Barnes and Noble employee 30% discount and including tax, I pay a little over $5 a piece for them. One notebook holds an entire semester's worth of notes for 15 hours worth of classes, two semesters in a row. Plus my husband, who has some artistic ability, has fun decorating the plain kraft brown cover for me. I love how smooth and fine the paper is, and how narrow the lines. I also use a smaller Moleskine journal for notes on each major paper I'm writing. (Little bit of trivia: I had to call Moleskine customer service once, and inadvertently found out how they pronounce the name: mole-uh-SKEE-nuh. Who knew?!)
Moleskine Planner -- I got the 18 month weekly academic planner. It's my bible. I have used it for two semesters, and will use it this summer and in the fall, at which point I will probably switch to a 12-month daily. It's been great, but I think having a full page for each day will be even better. I got the Peanuts edition because Snoopy makes me happy and, again, it's the little things.
Stabilo colored pens -- My husband had a set of these that lasted 20 years. I found them in the garage, necromanced them, and used them for a semester, when they started to finally dry out, so I got another set. I use them to color code my planner. Each semester I assign a color to each course so when I write in my planner I know which class the item is for at a glance. I use that same color to head and date note pages in my Moleskine. There are enough colors that I don't have to reuse the same color two semesters in a row, so I don't get confused. They also come in a durable, attractive little striped plastic case.
Stabilo Boss highlighters -- I wouldn't believe Amazon reviews that these last 10+ years if I hadn't experienced Stabilo pens. These highlighters are smooth, vibrant, and perfect. After a semester of heavy use, still going strong.
Columbia Regretless rain jacket -- These are $100 or so retail but I found one for $20 on Amazon. It lives, rolled up, in the bottom of my backpack. Super light, so I forget it's there until I need it. This has saved me a million times over on my half-mile treks to/from the parking lot. Much better than an umbrella. It zips up all the way up to your nose and the hood tightens down with a drawstring and has a little visor over your face. I stay bone dry from the hips up in this thing.
Skechers waterproof work boots -- These look like ugly-adorable hiking boots but are actually mens workboots. If it rains, even though these aren't my favorite shoes fashion-wise, I wear these and they never fail me.
Teva sandals -- Or anything comfortable. Essential in Texas where it's hot 9 months out of the year.
Contigo 20 oz. Autoseal tumbler -- I just lost this the other day after a year of hard use and almost cried. It has never ever leaked, it's easy to clean, and it keeps hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold for hours. You need a bottle brush to clean the inside thoroughly.
Trader Joe Spiced Chai tea -- I gave up coffee in January b/c my OBGYN said it can mess with hormones. I didn't die. Instead I drink tea now and this is my fave. Other chai tastes like medicine. This is $2.50 a box for 20 tea bags. Add a dash of heavy cream, stays hot for hours in my Contigo.
Brown Betty tea pot -- If you're a tea drinker, this original ceramic pot handmade in England is not expensive and makes the best pot of tea ever. Might still be available on Amazon.
Google Drive -- I am ashamed to say I only discovered Google docs and Google Drive this semester and I don't know how I lived without them. My kindle Fire has trouble with it but I edit on my iPhone. I love being able to hop on a computer in the school library and pull up all my work without lugging a laptop around.
Google Docs -- Why would I ever pay for MS Office again?
Kindle books -- Have saved me a lot of money, plus you only have to remember one item. I think my kindle might be dying, though, so I may be going back to paper for a while. It can be a pain when page numbers don't sync up with the prof's edition, but I love being able to search the entire book rather than flip through page after page. Really helps when writing papers.
Bic Atlantis pens -- Smooth, bold line without being too bulky. (The Bic Velocity was too thick and messy.) Inexpensive. I may switch to Pilot G2 though.
Avery Six-Pocket Organizer -- This is basically 3 folders in one with six transparent pockets. I used to carry a big binder with a divider for each course but it was bulky. Now I carry this to keep syllabi for each class (all instantly visible in the transparent pockets) and stick handouts behind them. Very slim, light. My notes stay in my Moleskine. I often need to print out journal articles, so I keep a separate slim binder for each individual research paper, and only bring it with me when I need it.
Lap desk - Really handy if you use a wireless mouse with your laptop.
Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime -- Essential.
Amazon Prime for Students -- A discount on Amazon Prime. Check it out.
Evernote -- I've been paying the $6/month for premium but I may stop. For a semester I religiously scanned and uploaded every page of notes, but I didn't use the digital versions enough to make it worth it. This semester I stopped using it almost altogether, and didn't miss it. I use Google Docs way more now.
External wireless mouse and keyboard -- Makes using a laptop more flexible and comfortable
Bluetooth keyboard -- Works great with my kindle. Wouldn't use it for big jobs like writing papers, but for my Digital Humanities course where we needed to bring a machine, it was more convenient than lugging my craptop.
Noise-cancelling earbuds - I found some good ones on Amazon for $9.99. Now I can go to the Pub on campus for lunch and barely register the terrible pop music.
Friends -- I have two "school BFFs." We have basically nothing in common outside of school but we don't need it. We have our suffering to unite us. Find buddies and support each other. It helps.
Things I plan to acquire:
Lenovo Thinkpad - I need to replace my old craptop and my brother, who teaches computer programming, recommended this. A lot of his students use it.
WD 1TB external hard drive -- I will probably use this when I start my TA-ship next year. For now Google Drive is fine.
Dry erase board with markers -- My husband uses this at work and wants us to get one, put a week's worth of more detailed planning on it alongside our regular monthly calendar.
Avery Multiuse Ultratabs -- I will probably get these for my Moleskine daily planner because it doesn't have tabs and I like to be able to see the months at a glance.
Moleskine Chapters Journal -- I'm considering doing a bullet journal type thing so I can organize non-academic aspects of my life, which for a while have been woefully underrepresented. This has several sections and a table of contents page, so you can have sections for finances, household, fitness, medical, etc.
Brother laser printer -- We have a Canon MG 5200 Inkjet with a scanner and copier that prints color. Ink is EXPENSIVE. I can get a monochrome Brother that duplex prints for $79 refurbished on Amazon, and I think it will save a lot of money. We'll keep the Canon for fancier jobs.
Chacos sandals -- These are a sorority girl staple but they're popular for a reason. Waterproof, adjustable straps, last forever, lifetime guarantee with free repairs. Worth the hundred bucks, especially in this climate where it's hot but it flash-floods often.
Believe it or not, I could add more, but this is long enough. I hope it helps someone.
Kristen

Now that the dust has settled, I hope everyone has a successful year ahead of them! Thank you all for sharing, venting, crying, and cheering with me. The support on the forum was so helpful.

I wanted to revive this thread! I'll be attending LSU in the fall for the Clinical Psych PhD program. I wanted to know how/when people went about looking for apartments, also wanted to see who else was attending in the fall?

You've travelled a lot, you've gone backpacking, you've had plenty of time. Others likely haven't, so why sweepingly say that travelling is a waste and you strongly advise against it? You're approaching it from one of many angles but others are in different positions coming at grad school from different angles. 

I would also say that I would strongly advise against wasting the summer traveling, hanging out with friends, or just hanging out. Unless you need to work full time up until the point you start, which is totally valid, you should not waste the opportunity to get as prepared for the semester as you possibly can. When I did my Masters, I tried to know exactly what was going to be expected of me. I spent the entire summer reading through all the materials for the classes I would be taking. It made the first semester much easier than it would have been had I not done so, because when time was tight and I had deadlines in one class that took a priority over another, I could refer to the notes from my readings. This is likely the last time for several years you will have to get ahead, because you will probably feel like you are perpetually behind for the rest of your graduate school career.

I would say generally around late August/September!

I lived off of loans in undergrad and used Mint.com. It's a Microsoft run website that you can attach your bank accounts to and keep track of all your purchases and make a budget (it has graphs and pie charts so I get happy). Also, make sure you have a small amount set aside for fun. I find that if I'm on a strict budget and I don't have a little fun each month I start to get cranky/pouty/whiney lol

I would say generally around late August/September!

I would say generally around late August/September!

Sorry, I just had to laugh at this one... she's not covering much.. just all of (what would be) your largest expenses. Also takes all the responsibility to make sure everything is paid on time, I assume. 
I can't help with the Quebec-specific question, but moving out to the dorm would be a good first step toward independence. It's still not quite all the way out there, but still, it'll help with some guided first steps into being an adult, and that's important. If you can afford it, I'd say go for it.*
*Note: *if you can afford it* means if you are *sure* that you will have sufficient funding, not "I usually get XYZ" which is no guarantee of any kind.  
 

I will second this! A handful of the RAs in my lab got here because they sent a brief email to my PI with their CV attached. 

I was waitlisted at 3 schools, was organizing my plan B and finally got my first offer from one (which I've grown to adore, especially after meeting more of the lab). Its extremely hard and deflating and I feel your pain but people do get off the waitlist even in the final stretch.

This sucks... no one wants a former cop with an MA who was almost killed twice in the line. I don't have the publication and research experience that all of you do, but I've lived it. Have fun with your f'ing studying..... I'll be greeting you at Walmart.

Congratulations!

I got sick twice in 3 weeks because of traveling :/ it's hard jumping back into work after all of this but I'm definitely trying to take time to relax when I can. 

I am getting so run down after this these interviews. I feel like traveling really throws me off and after a day or so I start to feel like complete crap! I cannot wait to be finished with this marathon interviewing. Anyone else feel like this?

Oh yeah for sure! In the context of an interview, if it's your top choice, throw that in there. I've been told this before by a previous mentor - he was pretty emphatic about it.
My top choice POI that I interviewed with recently asked me, "So what are the things that drew you to apply here?" and my honest response was "You and your research!", followed by the appropriate "diversity of the program's training and opportunities for my development as a scientist/practitioner" etc etc. I wanted to make sure she knew that I was interested and would accept an offer if she were to extend it. Also, I was recommended to use prospective language when interviewing and asking questions. Situate yourself in the program.
"As a student here, _________"
"If an offer were extended to me, ____________"
"Were we to work together, _____________" 
And stuff like that!  

Yeah I interviewed for a social program last week and the grad students talked about some people who stood out in past interview weekends - people who were very cold and competitive (think Corinne on this season's Bachelor).

Preach! Even as an extrovert, this is pushing my limits of socializing haha. I'm excited to get this last interview out of the way this weekend and enjoy a celebratory glass of wine.

Totally with you all...I am an extrovert but it's still exhausting. I have my most concentrated weekend/five days ahead of me...Baltimore to Ny to Chicago. No idea why I did this to myself but again, good problem to have. I wanted to only apply once so i did a good amount of schools and accepted every single interview offer, luckily they magically had non overlapping options.
Definitely joining you on that alcohol and cake. For now to keep energy up, I've just been eating straight up meat and Greek yogurt. And coffee. Hahaha. But yes, I've been spoiling myself with sweets during this entire process and plan to continue doing so..I'll worry about fitness in March
Thank you and good luck to you too!! Positive vibes for all :-) I look forward to learning where everyone ends up.
 

Preach! Even as an extrovert, this is pushing my limits of socializing haha. I'm excited to get this last interview out of the way this weekend and enjoy a celebratory glass of wine.

Preach! Even as an extrovert, this is pushing my limits of socializing haha. I'm excited to get this last interview out of the way this weekend and enjoy a celebratory glass of wine.

Accurate representation of me the past couple of days on this thread..