First Day stories.....

[PsyDWannabe]

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Seeing as most of us just had our first day today (or a few days ago/later), how do you feel it went? For those of you just meeting your advisors, professors, cohort, what's your impression? Do you wish you had gone to that school you turned down or is it too early to tell? Or simply, how was your first day?

Share.....

 

[elphaba]

Today was my official first day, though I was on campus last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as well (orientations and such).

Impressions so far: I love the department, adore my advisor, my cohort is fab, and I'm absolutely positive I chose the right school. Statistics terrifies me and I'm way overwhelmed with the idea that I'm supposed to know much, much more in that arena than I actually do. I'm supposed to have a draft of an IRB proposal ready for my first official meeting with my advisor on Friday morning and I'm a little (read: SO) mortified that I'm going to get in there and present her with totally insufficient work. (Holy imposter syndrome, batman!) So basically, I'm thrilled with where I am but totally second- (and third, fourth, fifth) guessing my abilities right now. My guess is that most people are in the same place though, which is at least somewhat comforting! 😱

 

[PrisonPsych]

Seeing as most of us just had our first day today (or a few days ago/later), how do you feel it went? For those of you just meeting your advisors, professors, cohort, what's your impression? Do you wish you had gone to that school you turned down or is it too early to tell? Or simply, how was your first day?

Share.....

My first day isn't until Monday, but tomorrow starts the pre-program "stuff" - meet and greets, orientations, etc...anxious but excited!

 

[VeggieDelight]

Today was my first day as well, and I moved in a week ago. Since then, we've had several cohort and program events/outings, and there's something planned for just about every weekend for the next month! Needless to say, I am loving the people here.

The program is top-notch, but I would be lying if I said I didn't feel overwhelmed. I have a stats issue similar to the one elphaba mentioned, but have the option of switching to another class should I find my current one too advanced (we're encouraged to take a stats course nearly every semester, anyways). I also have classes on 4 days of the week and I am TAing on all 5 days. However, the support is phenomenal and the faculty treat us all like colleagues. We're supervised very closely for clinical work, and we start intakes as early as next semester! On the "scientist" end of things, I'm looking forward to meeting with my advisor tomorrow and getting some research off the ground.

Any one of these programs is rigorous, but out of my list, I think I may have chosen the one that's the most demanding in terms of requirements. I am yet to regret coming here, though- definitely a fit for what I hope to do in school and in my career.

 

[deleted176373]

LOL, you won't really know until about Thanksgiving..... and then you'll wish you had gone elsewhere... but it's ok. You are supposed to be overwhelmed. Congrats to all of you... this is the beginning of a great adventure.

Mark

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

While it moves quickly....remember that it is a marathon and not a sprint.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

While it moves quickly....remember that it is a marathon and not a sprint.

This. Also, I have yet to meet a graduate student who, at some point in their career, didn't hate their program, grad school in general, or both. That doesn't at all mean your program is horrible, or that you aren't cut out for grad school; it just seems to be a normal part of the whole adjustment process.

For those of you beginning clinical work this year, start keeping track of client hours, measures administered, etc. now. It'll save you dozens of hours of tediousness later if, like me, you end up having to backtrack your previous work to tally everything up because you didn't pay enough attention to it early on.