New Psych Grad Students: *To-Do* List

[Therapist4Chnge]

With people finalizing their decisions and making the trek to grad school, I thought I'd start a thread for people to share their "To-Do" Lists. I figured it might help others who may forget stuff, and otherwise be entertaining.

So what do YOU still need to do before starting grad school/moving to attend grad school?

-t

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[RayneeDeigh]

To do: Get into grad school.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Eh, Details Details!



-t

 

[dragonstyle]

To Do:
Narrow down my two choices into one. (due by 4/13)

 

[Ollie123]

To do:
Find out what school POI is going to be faculty at. Which involves another school speeding up their faculty recruitment process! Such a bizarre system

Seriously, now that I'm done with being strung along by psychology departments waiting anxiously for an answer, I have to deal with my advisor being strung along by psychology departments, waiting anxiously for an answer

On the plus side, all parties involved seem to be understanding about this.

After that:

1) Contact grad students to find out what apartment complexes are/are not ****-holes
2) Spend more money than I can afford to fly down and rent a car for a few days just to look at said places and verify non-****-hole status.
3)Sign lease
4 - 10) Move (I think potentially moving from NY to Florida warrants a few steps).

There's SO much more to do but I haven't even thought this through yet. Would love to hear what others are planning.

 

[greenfieldPSY]

Everything's going to hit me in June, because my lease is up June 30 and Manhattan rent is such that it's not worth subletting for a few extra weeks at my job. So, here's my very vague to do list:

beginning of June: give three weeks notice at job (this will be very awkward, as they hired me with the assumption that "psychology just wasn't for me")

mid-June: sell off furniture on Craiglist.org, because the cost of a moving van just isn't worth it when most of your furniture is from ikea and target

late-June: make the bittersweet trek back to my home town, where I'll have a few weeks without work (yay!) but also without anything to do (dysthymia-inducing)

July: travel? also, hopefully by now I'll have an apartment/condo to move into.

August: move into said residence, half-assedly look for a part-time job, get my bearings in my new city, and prepare for the next chapter of my life. assummedly (sorry if that's not a word) an orientation weekend will be sometime during this month, but I haven't heard anything yet.

September: begin classes.

It's weird how working in a corporate setting for a year or so can really tweak your understanding of time. I've started thinking a few months ahead because before you know it, the fiscal quarter is over and you have a whole new set of projects to finish. So the beginning of school (again!) seems to be just around the corner.

p.s. it just this second occurred to me that I may have to do ludicrous back-to-school type things like prove immunization status. I wonder if I get healthcare in grad school?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

(I think potentially moving from NY to Florida warrants a few steps).

I made a NJ to FL drive....it was LOOOOOOOOONG and BOOOOOOOOORING. I did it in a day too (with my best friend). We had a case of red bull, her video ipod, and a pile of junk food! The first grad school trip I took with her was from MD, and was through a hurricane...so I consider this an improvement....though the night before I was involved in an attempted mugging, so it may be a toss up!



-t

 

[lakewood]

therapist4chng, where in NJ are you from?

and ollie, which schools are you narrowing down?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I grew up in northern NJ (morris county). I miss certain things about NJ, but I don't think I'll ever move back....or anywhere north of the mason-dixon line / anywhere it snows.

-t

 

[Ollie123]

Welp, this butchers any semblance of anonymity I have to anyone involved with either program since I'm the only person that could possibly be in this position right now, but I think I'm okay with that. It could be pieced together from my other posts anyways if someone actually went through the effort.

Its between University of South Florida and Virginia Commonwealth University. Both seem like solid programs for preparing me for an academic career (though if someone feels otherwise about one or the other, I'd love to hear it). Truth be told I didn't apply to VCU so I know almost nothing about it, but I've only heard good things.

This will not be an easy decision.

 

[Lyn71785]

To do:

Sometime in the next two weeks: Get or not get an additional offer which will decide where I go to school. Waiting to get an offer from a local school, if not then I'm moving across (or down rather) the country.

Three weeks from now: Celebrate FINALLY knowing where I'll be for the next 5 years.

Week of May 1: Take finals, move out of apartment, commencement.

Rest of May: Be a bum at parents house... aahhh... no roommates and having my own bathroom! Not to mention free food, cleaning, laundry. Maybe do a week exploring my soon-to-be hometown with a friend or parent, looking for a house or condo to buy. Maybe buying a house/condo at this time as well. Yippee!!

June and July: Summer job in NC at academic camp for gifted students TAing for... what else? A psych class.

August: Move into new house/condo, stalk craigslist and garage sales for cheap yet chic furniture (good luck to me, right?). Maybe advertise to find a roommate... although this will depend on where I end up because my two options have VERY different stipend amounts... although both have low cost-of-living.

 

[paramour]

To do:

Actually complete my master's degree.

I just received paperwork that makes my matriculation into the program contingent upon this. Others don't have this degree--why must I?! And, here I thought that I could just screw off the rest of it. It's highly doubtful that I'm receiving credit for anything anyway. Oh, wait, I will "probably receive credit" but I'm still required to take the courses there as well. Go figure.

Suppose I better get crackin' on that thesis, eh?

 

[KillerDiller]

1) Figure out which school I'll be going to.
2) If school A, close on condo. If school B, move and hopefully find a cheap apartment I can stand to live in for 5 plus years.
3) Work full time from June through August at a summer camp.
4) Try to find an additional source of income to start saving in advance for grad school expenses.
5) Whine about not having the time to travel or relax much during the summer.
6) Buy and read the new Harry Potter book.
7) See the Simpsons movie crossing my fingers that it is actually as good as early Simpsons episodes were.

 

[tkj]

...

 

[psychwanabe]

Okay, this is kind of fun. Of course there are still a lot of if, then scenarios for me:

If I get into my fully-funded program (STILL on the waitlist)
1) ACCEPT!
2) Let my hair grow back in
3) Finish my thesis, the quarter, my finals, and graduate in June
4) PARTY!!
5) Take most of the summer to clean, organize, redecorate, and do a little research.
6) Start classes in Sept.
7) Pull my hair back out.

If I DON'T get into the fully-funded program:
1) Make a decision: go into debt or try to find a job and reapply next year.
2) If I'm going into debt (accepting offer), follow steps 2-7 above.
3) If I'm going to work a year and reapply:
4) Cry, tear last few strands of hair out
5) Start looking for a paying RA job for the next year
6) Finish my thesis, quarter, finals, let my hair grow back in, then graduate
7) PARTY, with fewer teeth in the happy face
8) Take most of the summer to research programs (I will not be reapplying to most of the ones I did this cycle), study to retake the @#$% GRE, start emailing POIs, do it smarter/better this time.
9) Sept-Dec: GRE, Applications and all that again.
10) Jan-April 15th: Pull my hair back out again

Funny, I just realized that I wind up bald no matter which option I choose/get! Hmmmmm....

 

[Dr.Maybe]

1) Wait to hear from 2 programs where I am a "high alternate," feel a little guilty but very relieved about holding one acceptance while I'm in limbo.

2) April 15-ish: Decide where I - and my poor, patient boyfriend - will be spending the next five years of our lives

3) Tell you guys! And friends, loved ones, and professors, of course.

3) Visit location of school with the boyfriend, try to find places to live that are affordable yet attractive and not on frat row.

4) July 15: last day of work!

5) July 16-30: Beach with family. May be last vacation for the next half a decade.

6) August 1: Move into new place

7) August 2 - August 30: Get settled into new place, brush up on stats, get prepped for school, try not to freak out too much about this new phase of my life!

 

[RayneeDeigh]

I haven't entirely thought about this...something along the lines of

1) Apartment hunt for a place to stay in Wisconsin.
2) Get a visa to live in the US
3) slum around for a couple of months
4) move to wisconsin (from toronto)
5) open a US bank account
6) buy a new car, and possibly a new bike
7) go to class

good times!

I'm pretty sure that we Canadians only need I-20 forms, which is a lot easier than a full VISA. You might wanna call the school and check so you don't spend months getting one when you don't need it. lol

 

[Sorg1123]

Find a place to live
-fly to SD again and look for a place?
-have some friends check out places we find on craigs list?
-find any place with a short-term lease and look from there?
-wife may get apt with new job in SD

Buy another car
-buy here and ship to SD? why?
-buy in SD
-do I go for the H3 or H2. Which one's the hybrid?

Map out route to West Coast
-Places to go? Any suggestions?
-Def going to memphis along the way

Help wife find job in SD

Learn to surf

 

[dragonstyle]

Find a place to live
-fly to SD again and look for a place?
-have some friends check out places we find on craigs list?
-find any place with a short-term lease and look from there?
-wife may get apt with new job in SD

Buy another car
-buy here and ship to SD? why?
-buy in SD
-do I go for the H3 or H2. Which one's the hybrid?

Map out route to West Coast
-Places to go? Any suggestions?
-Def going to memphis along the way

Help wife find job in SD

Learn to surf

What type of job is your wife looking for? I work at UCSD, and if she is looking for jobs in the education sector, I know some availabilities. Also, I live in La Jolla, so I may have some good info regarding where to live.

 

[tkj]

...

 

[Salsybabe]

First I need to finish my master's degree, and aim for high grades in all my classes (despite my "senioritis" and still being in disbelief that I was accepted fully funded to a program), and graduate May 12th.

Then sometime in mid-May I need to pack up all of my stuff and get it back to my hometown where I'll be staying for the summer. I next to get a job for the summer to save up some money. Also, early summer, about Juneish, I need to find a place to live that's close enough to my program's campus.

I also need to register for class,es and see how many classes from my master's program will be waived. Lastly, I need to contact the prof I'll be working with to get started on research.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

What type of job is your wife looking for? I work at UCSD, and if she is looking for jobs in the education sector, I know some availabilities. Also, I live in La Jolla, so I may have some good info regarding where to live.

See the good stuff that comes from an originally goofy thread?!

-t