Starting a program

[psych for path]

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What do you wish you knew before the first day of your program? I'm talking possibly silly lifestyle things, such as what is appropriate to wear to class, bring with you, how far away you can live, etc.

Do people generally meet their cohort before day 1, or is it just all a mystery until the ball gets rolling?

Obviously looking forward to starting and any random tips, advice, or "oh I wish I had known that when I started" types of comments would be appreciated!

 

[clar0780]

Bumping this because I hope someone answers. I too am wondering this

 

[cara susanna]

My cohort emailed each other throughout the summer, and then went out to dinner when we first all got to town. So we met before orientation.

I'll have to think about something that I wished I'd known, as nothing's really popping into my head at the moment.

 

[HomeworkHelper]

I wish I had lived closer to campus than what I did. My "door-to-door" commute was about a half hour (driving). I would have loved to have had something more like sub-15 minute commute. You're likely going to be busy enough that you won't want to waste significant amounts of time traveling to and fro. Also, I would have liked to have lived closer to a bus route or bike path so I could have utilized less expensive forms of transportation.

As far as what to wear to class, it might depend on what the environment of your program is. At mine, it was fine to dress more casually as long as we weren't teaching or seeing clients. To be safe, I might suggest wearing something a bit nicer (e.g. slacks) until you get a feel for things.

ALSO, very early on, I would recommend discussing with your cohort ways of lightening the reading load for courses. For instance, in heavy reading classes, we split up the readings and had folks write outlines of the major pieces of information in each reading. That way, it was easier to consolidate information by the time of an exam, and they were helpful for our comprehensive exams as well. In a couple classes, the reading assignments were so numerous and lengthy, I don't think anyone could have devoted enough time to read through everything fully every week.

 

[sunshine008]

I wish I would have known just how much work grad school was!

I, too, met my cohort prior to orientation as we connected via e-mail. It is easy to get this started yourself if you just e-mail someone who has everyone's e-mail (likely whoever has been e-mailing you from the department). Just ask!
We dress casual. Not sweat pants. Jeans and an appropriate shirt.

 

[bmedclinic]

What would have been a whole heck of a lot easier is if I had planned out my research early on, and make all my research projects in grad school line up both with my plan for my dissertation and for my career. Now, that's not possible, but looking back, my stuff kinda looks haphazard in retrospect. Would be a heck of a lot easier if someone looked at my vita and said "Oh, bmed(me) likes behavioral medicine, as you can see from this, this, and this".

I wish I had been less naive to academia as well. And more PC. I wish I had been more adept at figuring out who was full of it, and steering clear from their B.S.

 

[cara susanna]

That's true, I wish I'd had a more clear view of my research interests early on.

 

[PHD12]

What do you wish you knew before the first day of your program? I'm talking possibly silly lifestyle things, such as what is appropriate to wear to class, bring with you, how far away you can live, etc.

--find a stress-relieving routine/exercise you can easily do on a regular basis that can be incorporated into your day (e.g., 15-minutes of meditation, mindfulness, yoga)

--seek out older students in the program as mentors (aside from your advisor)

--join a graduate student association/social club/sports team etc. outside of your department

--network often and early on (e.g., attend conferences, social events through state association, workshops)

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Here are some useful threads on this topic (and related topics). They aren't the easiest to find if you don't know they are there; I'm also avoiding the stack of paperwork sitting next to me. 😀

What was your first year of grad school like?
Would you do it again?
I wish someone told me....
What you wish you knew before you started grad school

Ok...enough procrastination.

 

[busybusybusy]

Pick an easy thesis topic and use previously collected data (like from your mentor) if possible.

 

[Buzzwordsoldier]

Find a good couple's therapist early.

 

[Rivi]

Finish your dissertation before internship
Make sure you get at least 500 intervention + assessment hours before internship.
Make enjoying life a priority
Have a life and identity outside of grad school

 

[Pragma]

Enjoy this summer before graduate school A LOT. Don't worry about trying to get ahead with anything. Just have fun with it, because future summers will be very different.

 

[psych for path]

To others who are starting PhDs in the fall...have you heard anything from your program yet about registration, etc?

 

[kcm146]

To others who are starting PhDs in the fall...have you heard anything from your program yet about registration, etc?

my school had kind of an informal orientation the first week in May that I couldn't attend because of my work schedule/travel restrictions. I have a skype meeting set up next week with my POI/department chair to go over registration, practicum site, etc. trying to think of important questions I need to ask... they seem very laid back about the whole thing which is helping me relax, but I still feel like there's so much I don't know.

 

[edieb]

I wish I had known about the importance of joining professional orrganizations, particularly your state psychological association and divisions of the American Psychological Association that are pertinent to your interests and then posting occasionally on their listservs so you are not an unknown when you interview for internship, post-doc and then a job.

I can't tell you how many times during internship and job interviews interviewers would tell me that they recognized my name from x and y listserv and really the fact that I was actively involved in the profession. I really think it helped during the match process and also helped me land a V.A. job rather quickly when I finished my internship. When you are going out on internship interviews, you are definitely a faceless commodity but joining a state psychological association or two (pick states where you will likely want to complete internship in) and then posting intelligent comments on its listserv throughout the 4 or 5 years of PhD school will really give you a leg up when it comes time to interview