First years - how are we doing?

[callista]

Hey there,

 

It's Labor Day and I'm so grateful for the day off.  Last week was the first week of classes at my university.

 

Some thoughts:

 

- I've been pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone has been.

- I am walking way more than I have been in the last couple of years... this is a good thing.

- I may need to experiment with different bags for schlepping my stuff, because what works for short distances doesn't necessarily cut it for cross-campus treks.  (BIG campus!)

- The Chromebook is working out beautifully so far.

- Suddenly I am interested in everything. 

 

 

 

[Swagato]

First week has been terrific. Very warm welcome extended not just to me but to my spouse by both departments that I'm a member of, facilities/resources almost overwhelming, classes as stimulating and interesting as I imagined, colleagues warm and friendly, etc.

 

But my campus is also surprisingly large and one of my go-to buildings is inconveniently out of the way.

 

May upgrade to a current-gen Air around winter.

 

Other than that I couldn't be happier. 

[dat_nerd]

Hey there,

 

It's Labor Day and I'm so grateful for the day off.  Last week was the first week of classes at my university.

 

Some thoughts:

 

- I've been pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone has been.

- I am walking way more than I have been in the last couple of years... this is a good thing.

- I may need to experiment with different bags for schlepping my stuff, because what works for short distances doesn't necessarily cut it for cross-campus treks.  (BIG campus!)

- The Chromebook is working out beautifully so far.

- Suddenly I am interested in everything. 

 

Thanks for starting this, callista! Good to hear that the semester is going well for you.

 

I've been pleasantly surprised by my first semester. I'm starting week 3, and I haven't found any reason to dislike grad school. Suddenly, I get to take classes in whatever I want, I get to do research in whatever topic I'd like, and I get to spend my time however I decide. My co-advisers are fantastic. It all seems overwhelming when I think about the long term goals (quals, papers, TAing, more papers, etc), but then I remember to take it all one day at a time.

[annieca]

Today is Day 2 for me, so it's a little early. That being said...

 

- I love my advisor. He's also willing to be a co-advisor with two other professors whom will all help out when my thesis comes around

- The campus, while big, is actually managable. The only not fun aspect is parking. (8 minute drive to campus, 7 minutes to find parking)

- My theory class is going to be fairly easy regarding the written work. We also get to do rewrites!

- Still figuring out the money situation but it's going. Slowly.

 

 

My biggest problem is having night classes. I need my glasses to drive at night because my contacts don't block out the glare. However, that means wearing my glasses to class, which I hate, hate. I'm thinking of maybe just wearing my glasses over my contacts for the drive home?

[NothingButTheRain]

Today is Day 2 for me, so it's a little early. That being said...

 

- I love my advisor. He's also willing to be a co-advisor with two other professors whom will all help out when my thesis comes around

- The campus, while big, is actually managable. The only not fun aspect is parking. (8 minute drive to campus, 7 minutes to find parking)

- My theory class is going to be fairly easy regarding the written work. We also get to do rewrites!

- Still figuring out the money situation but it's going. Slowly.

 

 

My biggest problem is having night classes. I need my glasses to drive at night because my contacts don't block out the glare. However, that means wearing my glasses to class, which I hate, hate. I'm thinking of maybe just wearing my glasses over my contacts for the drive home?

 

I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can...

 

Sorry, had to do it.  Why not keep a lens case with you and pop them out on your way out of class?

[nohika]

Everyone's been freaking fantastic and nice and awesome. People are super supportive. My adviser's amazingly kind, so is my student mentor (we're going out to coffee this weekend).

 

It's...tomorrow will be two weeks of class and I'm dealing with a lovely wave of imposter syndrome. Haha. I love it here - the program is /fantastic/ and everything is amazing, but man do I feel stupid. I have a class where I'm the only first year and everyone seems so much smarter and that's not helping. My other class there's five of us and I have a fellow first-year in it and we're both feeling stupid. Lots of reading and thinking and I still don't know conclusively what I'm doing right or wrong. I might, if I took a few steps back and thought about it, but.

 

Overall I love it. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, most of the time.

 

But it gets a tad overwhelming if I let myself think about it too long. Oh, and I have one of the most exacting advisers in the department, and she's the prof for one of my classes. So that's terrifying.

[HYHY02]

The first day, I did practically nothing. I went to a TA orientation, and then sat in my lab office alone for hours, so I decided to leave a little earlier. Wasn't the most exciting first day. Next week, classes start, so I expect things to pick up then.

Edited September 5, 2013 by HYHY02

[guinevere29]

Sounds like everyone has been having a great experience! I love my campus & everyone has been so welcoming!

 

Every year I have moved up in the educational system I have been warned about "more work." However, with each time I move up I find I'm given more liberty to choose the classes I take and the way I interact with my work. Grad school is no different - I may technically have more work, but I enjoy doing it and am drawn to the topics of my classes. It seems like have I all the time in the world!

 

Currently on a spree of decorating my apartment on a very tight budget.

[St Andrews Lynx]

So far so good (I started my research project about a month early, so had time to settle into the area/Dept before everything got crazy).

 

The coursework is actually a bit easier than I expected: I completed a Masters in the UK, so pretty much have to learn & get tested on familiar material all over again. Which is probably a good thing in that it will really hammer home the basics...but bad in that I don't find the material especially challenging yet...which leads to complacency. 

 

My cohort is really nice and I'm getting on well with the professors and older graduate students. TAing is going to be manageable. 

 

The biggest problem I have is that there are a LOT of grad students also interested in the PI I want to work for. On a practical level it means I might have to share a fumehood (MY fumehood! The one I went to all the effort of cleaning/re-arranging when I arrived   ). On a more metaphorical level, it means I'm in competition with a handful of fellow newbies already for a place in this lab and can't guarantee to myself that I'll end up with my first choice PI. Which is stressful.  

[ion_exchanger]

Everything was great the first week. I love my classes, at least the ones that have started. Everyone seems super nice. The only thing dampening my spirits is the little bit of drama that has developed regarding my fall rotation, which I have not started yet. The situation is frustrating, and if it weren't for that, I would be on cloud 9. Let's say I'm currently on cloud 7

[Andean Pat]

All right...

 

It's been three weeks since I got here, classes only started last Tuesday. However, I had had orientations of at least three kinds, four dinner parties (with people in my department and people outside of it) and a huge party-party with people I've met at these other parties. I also have a pool and have been there a couple of times to read. So, I have enjoyed my time off before starting. 

 

Now... oh, dear. It's not the amount of reading what is stressing me. We have to read everything. It's impossible not to do so because we have written assignments/oral presentations for every week. Call me nerd, but I love it. I do enjoy the readings and if I am going to read, I am going to read with a purpose: respond in some kind of format (usually it's a very short essay). Fortunately, classes are not read-and-tell: professors are very creative and foster our creativity as well. They are a great fit for me, the challenge our ability to work collaboratively and that just rocks. 

 

In short, I have been enjoying this pretty much and I am intellectually motivated. 

 

My cohort is very diverse, which also adds to the intellectual thrive. We get along very well and can surely learn from each other. Moreover, one girl is my next door neighbour!!! My roommates are also awesome. Simply the best I could have ever asked for. 

 

Nonetheless, I do miss home. And kissing people for saying "hello" and "goodbye". Yeah, I miss kissing people. 

 

Thanks for starting this, callista! Good to hear that the semester is going well for you.

 

I've been pleasantly surprised by my first semester. I'm starting week 3, and I haven't found any reason to dislike grad school. Suddenly, I get to take classes in whatever I want, I get to do research in whatever topic I'd like, and I get to spend my time however I decide. My co-advisers are fantastic. It all seems overwhelming when I think about the long term goals (quals, papers, TAing, more papers, etc), but then I remember to take it all one day at a time.

 

Do you have a car? 

Edited September 5, 2013 by Andean Pat

[woosah]

2 weeks in...

the imposter syndrome is real :-/ 

[ion_exchanger]

It's weird. I feel just fine in my classes, but in labs I have bad imposter syndrome.

[callista]

I'm struggling with imposter syndrome in that I don't have any comm theory background.  The program is very quantitative (which I knew, and I wanted,) and coming from an anthro/qualitative background/career, I have to rearrange my personal concepts of research.

 

That said, I'm almost absurdly happy to be thinking about two research projects that will need IRB review very soon!

[danieleWrites]

It's been a lot exciting. I'm discovering the joys of pedagogy, loving the support from the department, and getting to know my fellow TAs and cohort. Classes are interesting and I'm already submitting to present at a conference (how cool is that?). I have stars in my eyes about what I can do my dissertation over. I have a supportive, yet somewhat absent-minded adviser, the kind I work best with. I'm a more hands-off kind of advisee and I prefer to manage my candidacy rather than have someone else do it. I've moved from the plains to the alps (okay, hyperbole, but it works) and I'm getting more exercise just looking at the walk from one class to the next than I did last year). The classes I teach are small to start with, which is beyond awesome. The department has no dress code and a casual culture (jeans and t-shirts for this TA, baby!). The main theorist on staff is not only Marxian in bent, but a fellow geek of the sci-fi. I'm hoping that he'll be the mentor/diss committee/go-to-guy for me. I think he'll like me because I'm a do-it-yourselfer first, and a come whining to the PhD later kind of a girl. He publishes a lot. A serious lot.

 

It's been a lot frustrating. I'm learning a new bureaucracy the hard way (I'm the guppy they caught in the red tape this time around). The same sorts of offices/staff/positions are here, but they have different names and offer services in a different way. I want to be able to direct my students (and myself) to the right person for specific problems, not stare at them blankly before suggesting they ask their adviser. Blackboard? It's like Michelle Kwan doing her routine while carrying an anvil. I don't understand why it gets so much play in the collegiate world. Then there's the attitude about books that I also don't like: undergraduate students plan to spend about $500 or more on books, so it doesn't matter what books are selected for a course (just use them). Yeah, that's a no for me. Books should be chosen with cost in mind, as well as usefulness and pedagogical relevance. I just got a 9 month old, hand-me-down tablet with Windows 8 pro on it. Got it Tuesday. It's the 2nd week of classes and I have to learn and adapt to an entirely new O/S interface. I want my start button! That, and if Office 365's subscription model takes off, I'm moving to Linux. I have to share my office (fun!) with a group of people that includes one jerk dedicated to his jerkdom (not fun). And lastly: the cost of vehicle repair sucks.

[1Q84]

I love my department chair. She's amazingly funny, warm and has an activist slant when it comes to approaching grad students, which I think is perfect!

 

I also met with another professor who isn't my advisor or teacher this semester at all but just to talk about my goals and a conference paper I'm thinking of. He was also so kind and helpful and it was great to meet another Canuck (Ontarian, at that!) in a a far away place for me. 

 

Other than that, I've been busy as the dickens, mostly with bureaucratic nonsense. Forms upon forms upon forms... ack! Hoping that will all be over soon.

[sdt13]

 

Things have been going well! While I have been here for over a month, the term just started this past Wednesday. I'm only taking one first year stats course, which I expect to be a breeze since I have a strong background in stats. 

I am actually really surprised at how quickly things are moving along. Within the past month, my advisor and I already developed several studies for my masters thesis research, which will take place over the next 2 years. In addition to that, we have already started a second (albeit related) line of research that we will also begin this fall. 

Despite all of this, for the past week and a half I have been feeling really weird about being in graduate school. I dont know if it's because the excitement of moving is wearing off and I now realize the cultural differences (while not too many between the US and Canada, there are definitely some) or by the fact that I'm so overwhelmingly busy so early. Fortunately, my advisor is super fantastic,completely supportive and extremely caring, so that helps.

[pears]

I came in with serious self-doubt & fears of imposter syndrome setting in, because I'd been out of school for a bit; many of my fellow dirtnerds seemed much older & more experienced, but the more I'm getting back in the "reading ALL of the pages" grind, the more confident I'm feeling. I took a leap of faith with a somewhat important task my first week for a seminar class, & my professor & I both were pleased with the results. I'm really enjoying my classes, especially my seminar, which is giving me a strong background in all the theory-&-method stuff that my undergrad work was severely lacking.

 

My professors, so far, are awesome, & TAing has been going smoothly (save for the occasional "are the tests hard?" types of students). My advisor is on sebattical for the semester, but he's still in town; meeting with him put me at ease with my temporary-lack-of-thesis worries. He seems to think I've got my head in the right place, & he's very supportive of my personal goals, including getting out of here in 2 years with a solid thesis in hand.

 

I'm loving my new city, too! My housemates are wonderful, & it's easy to get around without a car. Lots of outdoorsy people, organic & local foods, fun things to do on the weekends, & so on. Also, we have rabbits, including some 2 week old bunnies. So, there's that. It's very strange to be investing in decorations & furniture that I will have to eventually U-Haul along with my S.O.'s stuff; I've been living mostly out of suitcases for the last 5 years of my life, so, really, the only "bad" feelings I have are uneasiness about "settling" or "permanence." Not such bad "problems" to have

[PsychGirl1]

I'm up and down- sometimes I'm like yay! I'm here! and other times I'm like AHHHH I made all the wrong decisions in life!

 

When I think about it, this is definitely what I want to do- it's just overwhelming to walk into the next 6-7 years of my life, have a giant mental list of everything I'm supposed to do and learn, and get shoved into a lab full of incredibly smart people who have been at the program for years and somehow magically know everything. Then I have to get to know my adviser, who is incredibly nice, enthusiastic, and intelligent- and I am secretly petrified of them because I have no idea what they think of me or how to make a good first impression. On top of that, I don't have close friends in my new city, I haven't become especially close with anyone in my cohort, and I haven't been talking much with my actual friends because they're equally busy as me and live in different cities. I was really happy the first 3 weeks, and then somehow this weekend I just hit a wall. I had a really bad headache and just couldn't get any work done- I'm sure it was stress related. I also feel really guilty about having these feelings, however sporadic, because my adviser is awesome and I'm incredibly lucky to be working with them and in this program.

 

I'm going home next weekend for a few days, and I'm really looking forward to it. I think a change of scenery for a few days and some relaxation is just what I need :-).

[Biostat_Assistant_Prof]

Everything is going well and I'm enjoying it so far...

The transition to my new city wasn't too tough. I've learned my way around pretty quickly, but I'm still learning all the best spots for food. I've met 10-15 other students I've become friends with, so I've had a good bit of fun going out with them... But now that all the "welcome to grad school" social meeting/orientation type things are done, things are switching into full gear with coursework and other responsibilities, so the fun and games will slow down and the work load will go up, which is nice in its own right. I'm ready to finally have a set schedule and get into a routine!

My department is awesome; the other students in the department are helpful and nice, as are the faculty. My classes are engaging and interesting, so studying isn't difficult for me at all...

Other than that, I have to admit I'm a little homesick, having grown up and gone to undergrad in the same area. I miss my friends and family, my dogs, and the local restaurants/parks I'm used to... I love my new city, but it doesn't yet feel like home... It's a slow process I guess.

[HYHY02]

I'm in a tough situation with my new labmates. All the current students in the lab started at the same time, which was last year, but they also all volunteered together in the years prior, so they're all good friends. I'm the only new incoming student, so I just feel like it's them vs me. It doesn't help that I'm a very shy and anxious person, so in all the group meetings, or in some of the classes we share, they all huddle together, while I just do my own thing by myself (which I don't really mind since I'm use to it), but knowing these people are suppose to be my labmates (more experienced labmates to add), I feel like I want to open up some communication, but I just find it hard and awkard. At least I get to be alone in my office...

[St Andrews Lynx]

 I feel like I want to open up some communication, but I just find it hard and awkward.

A simple "Hi, how's it going?" is as good a way as any to break the ice. Ask "Do you mind if I sit with you?" in classes and meetings instead of just sitting by yourself (they almost certainly won't). You don't have to launch into a soliloquy in front of them, just show you're interested in them and desire their company. 

[courtc8891]

I'm a first year masters student in a new province and I'm having a bit of a rough go. Classes seem like they'll be incredibly difficult, but definitely interesting and engaging. My problems are mostly social. Most of my cohort seems to already know each other. Many of them did their undergrads at the university and they know the profs, the campus, and one another already. It's hard to penetrate that network and people just don't seem that friendly here. On top of that, I've got chronic depression, which is generally fine, but I've been feeling really crappy recently.

I've only lived here for about three weeks now, so hopefully it'll get better, but it kind of sucks at the moment. 

[Arrowfletch]

Sadly, things aren't going great for me just yet.  One of my courses is so extremely difficult for me and so fast-paced (currently with an oral exam every week) that I've had no time to work on my other class, which has a test coming up worth half my grade, or look into research groups much.  The way things are set up here, we had a seminar series through the first few weeks and aren't expected to choose a group for another couple weeks still, although it turns out most of the other first years do already have groups, which has taken a lot of research groups out of the running for the few of us who don't.  Not to mention that nearly every group I was interested in, or had talked to previously, suddenly decided that they are not looking for students,  And by nearly, I mean all but one, who might not have the funding to take me...

 

I'm taking a forced break tonight, and just not letting myself look at anything course related for a few hours.  It won't help me catch up--and I am crazy far behind from being sick for a week and unable to focus or take quality notes--but maybe it will help snap me out of a sudden descent into the depression that runs in my family.  Unfortunately, I'm actually actively discouraged from trying to contact the teaching assistants for the harder class outside of lab time and the professor is randomly not around right now, so there's not much I can do to get things back on track there.

 

Here's hoping things look up soon, though!

[zecone13]

Pretty good... Joined a lab on the first day of classes and have been working in it double time 7 days per week since the start. Got my name on a paper 2 weeks in, and am now running with my research. Very cool lab, and classes are quite interesting, but I will need to change my habits and start taking 1 day off per week to do something else. So far I don't mind since the work is very exciting, but I'm sure the stress will creep up on me!

Edited September 20, 2013 by zecone13