First week of school; what to expect?

[islandgirl1]

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Incomings, do you realise we start next month?! 😳!

Hahaha!
I wondered and want to ask the older ones, what should we expect our first week? Help us brace for the onslaught.
Will we immediately get thrown a thousand pages to read? What happened in your case?

I'm coming to terms with the fact that long gone are the undergrad days of going home 15 mins after the start of each class the first week because the prof only wanted to go over the syllabus.

 

[Thrak]

Incomings, do you realise we start next month?! 😳!

Hey, I start Sept. 2! I've still got two whole months to...well...panic

 

[islandgirl1]

lucky you 🙂
early start on honing procrastination habits huh?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

1. Get settled early. You will be busy, so the more things you can do before you start, the better. Get your place stocked with the essentials (food staples so you don't need to worry about dinner every night, cleaning stuff, fav. snacks, etc).

2. Get familiar with the area. You don't need to know every inch of the town, but having a general idea of where things are located can help when you are looking to grab lunch, coffee, etc.

3. Talk to upperclassmen. I met back up with people I met during my interviews, and they were invaluable with helping me out with the in's and out's of everything. They passed on outlines, gave me tips about certain profs, helped me get in the loop with networking, etc.

Anyone starting at Nova Southeastern University can feel free to drop me a PM. I'm not around on campus that much anymore, but I'll be around for orientation and a few of the other events.

 

[myelin]

The days of getting your syllabi on the first day and being dismissed 5 minutes later are pretty much over! I agree with what T4C said. Get your grocery shopping done before school starts. It's the last thing you'll want to deal with during the first few weeks of school. I live off of a steady diet of Michellina's frozen dinners, Wal-Mart trail mix, and anything canned.

You can expect to have a lot of readings assigned to you the first week. Try not to fall behind or you'll spend the whole semester playing catch up. If you've got some free time right now and you have your books, I'd start reading a couple of chapters. I had a professor for adv. psychopathology that expected us to have read the first 2 chapters before class even started. He said he sent out an email to all of the students but none of us ever received it...so we all started out the first day 50 pages behind.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

The readings weren't TOO bad our first week, but definitely a change from undergrad. The biggest adjustment was hearing "okay so book your first client in the next week or so" on my first day. If your program throws you into clinical work right away, be prepared for the anxiety, and remember that everyone feels like they're totally not ready to see clients.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'd think most programs have some type of psychopathology class in the first term, so studying all of the 'basics' of standard dx's won't hurt.

Reading was definitely a time drain coming in....but if you can split up some of the reading/outlining, it is much more manageable. I would use other people's outlines as a place to start with the readings. I am 'particular' when it comes to outlining and notes, but I found a few people who fit my style and it worked pretty well.

 

[Sarahanne]

The readings weren't TOO bad our first week, but definitely a change from undergrad. The biggest adjustment was hearing "okay so book your first client in the next week or so" on my first day. If your program throws you into clinical work right away, be prepared for the anxiety, and remember that everyone feels like they're totally not ready to see clients.

Really? I thought that you first practiced assessment and therapy with classmates first...not on actual real clients! 😱

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Really? I thought that you first practiced assessment and therapy with classmates first...not on actual real clients! 😱

It depends on the program. My program has a year worth of classes before having client contact. There is shadowing that is done in the spring term, though the official stuff doesn't start until the summer/fall of your 2nd year....with the exception of research related assessment work, etc. I gave Dial-3's, WJ's, and a few other measures like it was going out of style my first year.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

Really? I thought that you first practiced assessment and therapy with classmates first...not on actual real clients! 😱

We had one class where we practiced assessment interview techniques by role playing and stuff, and then the next day we saw our first clients.

Obviously it went hilariously badly for almost everyone, but it was a good learning experience.

It definitely varies by program. Mine has a more "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of attitude, and we get a lot of supervision hours because of it.

 

[erg923]

Raynee
I am confused how a program can throw you into clinical work (actually having a client) without any base knowledge of rapport building, the APA ethics code and madatorty reporting laws, psychopathology, psychodiagnosis, clinical interviewing, or therapy. We are going to school to learn all this stuff, so why would they throw you in without anything underlying knowledge base. Thats no different than having undergrad psych majors doing therapy for the first 6 months or so. Seems almost unethical, epecially seeing that you haven't had a class in ethics yet. What if a client came in your first day and said "well, I'm here cause I can't stop beating my kids?" Would you know what do yet, both legally and clincially? I sure wouldnt have, my first week. Thats just seems weird to me.

 

[terrybug]

Expect chaos but try to be as organized as possible, despite what's going on around you. Some advisors are the type to tell you exactly what to do while others a bit out-of-touch and will refer you to other students in your lab for guidance.

Go on your school's bookstore website and lookup your classes - see if you can find any books that you'll be required to read and do some price comparisons on Amazon... if it's cheaper on Amazon, you'll want to put in your order early to give the books time to arrive.

Don't be surprised when you get hit with a wave of "oh my lord, what am I doing here? I can't believe I fooled the admissions committee into letting me in." It's pretty inevitable, I think. Give it a week and it'll pass (usually).

Embrace your new home. You'll be there for quite a while - and you've jumped through so many hoops to get there, so it's time to enjoy the adventure.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

Raynee
I am confused how a program can throw you into clinical work (actually having a client) without any base knowledge of rapport building, the APA ethics code and madatorty reporting laws, psychopathology, psychodiagnosis, clinical interviewing, or therapy. We are going to school to learn all this stuff, so why would they throw you in without anything underlying knowledge base. Thats no different than having undergrad psych majors doing therapy for the first 6 months or so. Seems almost unethical, epecially seeing that you haven't had a class in ethics yet. What if a client came in your first day and said "well, I'm here cause I can't stop beating my kids?" Would you know what do yet, both legally and clincially? I sure wouldnt have, my first week. Thats just seems weird to me.

Well I'll be more clear. It was assessment, not therapy. As I said, we're HEAVILY supervised. All sessions were taped and reviewed by our prof and/or senior students who served as TAs. It isn't as though we showed up and the prof said "okie dokie, go forth and diagnose!" The clients were volunteers from undergrad classes and were screened. Our prof tried to pick "simple" cases for our first couple. Some of us got lucky and had completely well functioning clients and some of us had a harder job and a few surprises, but I can assure you that the surprises were only acted on once supervision had taken place. Yeah almost everyone had first interviews we were later embarrassed to remember, but I wouldn't say it was anything ethics complaint-worthy. Just more of the awkward silence "uh, what do I do now?" moments.

It all depends on the program's philosophy. I'm in my summer clerkship now and I'm doing structured therapy-ish things with young offenders in a remand facility. I haven't had a therapy class yet (that's next year) but my supervisor and I worked out what we were both ethically comfortable with. My program believes in hands-on learning and hoping that with enough supervision, nothing bad will happen. Not that my program is perfect (I'm sure a handful of people remember my issues with it earlier this year) and I realize that a lot of programs want to give you multiple courses before sending students off into hands-on client situations. I wouldn't say it's unethical though. Maybe I did a poor job of explaining it.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Amazon/half.com etc tend to be MUCH better than university book store pricing. Definitely get the SKU's and order elsewhere. Also, supervisors vary GREATLY...so be ready to deal with a new dynamic.

 

[Sobe203]

This might be the dumbest question ever, but do we have to pick classes? I thought we were just automatically all enrolled in the same classes. I haven't gotten any information on selecting classes/a schedule. 😕

 

[erg923]

Everyone is typically on ther same schedule until you start taking electives in the 2nd and/or 3rd year. i cant speak for every program though.

 

[JockNerd]

This might be the dumbest question ever, but do we have to pick classes? I thought we were just automatically all enrolled in the same classes. I haven't gotten any information on selecting classes/a schedule. 😕

I had to go through an official enrollment process. Students on different financial deals (fellowship, 1/2 time RA/TA, 1/4 time RA/TA, etc) can have different tuition waivers, which can change the number of courses you can take for free. Plus you usually have leeway in terms of when you take some thing and what electives you take.

 

[moonflwr]

This might be the dumbest question ever, but do we have to pick classes? I thought we were just automatically all enrolled in the same classes. I haven't gotten any information on selecting classes/a schedule. 😕

I didn't get any info on this until early last month. I would maybe contact your program and ask them about it. I was also able to find a list of classes that first years typically take in the clinical handbook that my program (luckily) has online.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Most programs seem to have relatively set schedules for the incoming class, at least for the beginning pre-req. type courses. Like JN mentioned, it can vary based on a few things...I've seen some people come in with some classes waived bc of a prior MS, so they tend to have 1 or 2 classes less per semester to start.

 

[sicologia]

You should either have an idea who your professors are by now or, at least, have read their bios and interests. It's a really good idea to meet the folks you'll see for the next 4-7+ years. It also doesn't hurt to try and pin down dissertation ideas early. Good luck folks!

 

[Sarahanne]

This might be the dumbest question ever, but do we have to pick classes? I thought we were just automatically all enrolled in the same classes. I haven't gotten any information on selecting classes/a schedule. 😕

I didn't get any info on this until early last month. I would maybe contact your program and ask them about it. I was also able to find a list of classes that first years typically take in the clinical handbook that my program (luckily) has online.

The university sent me a network ID. From there, I was able to access the course listings. Then my supervisor sent me an email with a list of all the classes we should enroll in. Maybe your university sent you something like this??

In terms of flexibility with my schedule, the only choice we have were between two required courses, so whichever one we do not take this semester we will have to take another. Also, there's a mini series offered I have the choice to take: motivational interviewing techniques.

 

[Thrak]

This might be the dumbest question ever, but do we have to pick classes? I thought we were just automatically all enrolled in the same classes. I haven't gotten any information on selecting classes/a schedule. 😕

I apparently don't officially pick my classes until late August, but I know a couple of classes that I should be automatically enrolled into. One is an intro methods/stats class, one is the first Social Psych class, one is "fellowship" which I assume is research, and one is a special topics seminar on Health Psych which is the heart of my fellowship. I'm rumored to be taking a 5th class of additional research credits, but god only knows at this point.

I'm in this bizzaro world where my MA thesis, MA credits, both or neither may count towards my PhD/PhD requirements. For the first year, I think it's just one foot in front of the other, taking the mandatory core classes and the expected research credits, and by the end of my second semester I'll have a better idea of what my path looks like.

There's a possibility I'll be done in three years, but we'll see. It would make my life easier, but would seriously cut down on my research time.

 

[joshuajason]

I know!! wow. Next month! <gasp> I'm excited, scared, happy, and in a panic, all at the same time. I've picked up a book from Borders and am brushing up on my statistics.

Five of my classes are already set, as most have said... it's just a matter of scheduling them. I get to pick one "elective" for G1, although it is really required by the end of G2. And I'm excited to delve into health psychology. I can't wait. Gimme, gimme, gimme!

I just hope I'm good enough and I will be good at this.