What to do before school starts?

[Randompotato]

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Hi all!

I am lucky enough to receive an admission offer from one of my top choices. Now that there are roughly 6 months before the program starts, what are somethings that I can do in the meantime to better prepare myself for the program? What are some knowledge or skills that you wish you had learned before attending? Would really like to pick up something that's gonna useful in the future.

Was thinking about diving deep into investing but then the virus f the market so hard lol.

 

[Seven_Costanza]

Hi all!

I am lucky enough to receive an admission offer from one of my top choices. Now that there are roughly 6 months before the program starts, what are somethings that I can do in the meantime to better prepare myself for the program? What are some knowledge or skills that you wish you had learned before attending? Would really like to pick up something that's gonna useful in the future.

Was thinking about diving deep into investing but then the virus f the market so hard lol.

Travel, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy this time you have now before it gets harder to do the above things. You have plenty of time to learn new skills while in grad school.

 

[jdawg2017]

Agreed with @Seven_Costanza. A top priority should be to rest, travel, see family/friends, et cetera. It's not that you can't do these things as a grad student... it is just immensely harder once you have things like a case-load, research demands, and 4 classes at a time (not to mention a class to teach if you are a teaching fellow).

If you really want a certain skill to begin brushing up on before, I would advise teaching yourself how to do stats and make figures in R. I wish I had learned R in college (my undergrad recently switched away from SPSS to R), as R is incredibly useful. I am known as the person in my lab who can "make nice figures" and run statistical procedures that cannot be run easily in SPSS because I have taught myself R and taken a few informal online classes. It's a great way to open your statistical horizons and make figures that are really nice for free that are comparable, if not better that software you can pay $500+ a year to have.

Congrats on getting into one of your top choices!

 

[Justanothergrad]

Hi all!

I am lucky enough to receive an admission offer from one of my top choices. Now that there are roughly 6 months before the program starts, what are somethings that I can do in the meantime to better prepare myself for the program? What are some knowledge or skills that you wish you had learned before attending? Would really like to pick up something that's gonna useful in the future.

Was thinking about diving deep into investing but then the virus f the market so hard lol.

go enjoy your summer and do some fun things. you have plenty of time to work during the program.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Go enjoy yourself bc you are going to get very busy once you start your program.

 

[psych.meout]

Hi all!

I am lucky enough to receive an admission offer from one of my top choices. Now that there are roughly 6 months before the program starts, what are somethings that I can do in the meantime to better prepare myself for the program? What are some knowledge or skills that you wish you had learned before attending? Would really like to pick up something that's gonna useful in the future.

Was thinking about diving deep into investing but then the virus f the market so hard lol.

Ask the current students in the program about the area and where they live so you can start scoping out housing.

 

[R. Matey]

This seems like a minority opinion, but I'll add that that we had a bunch of new people who started in our research team who had very little idea of what we were working on and time was lost catching people up rather than making progress on our research goals. So, maybe take some time to get caught up on the area your advisor studies. Also, agree with @jdawg2017 that R is super useful. If your university has a Lynda.com subscription, you should take advantage of it.

Enjoy yourself yes, but maybe spend a few hours here and there getting yourself ready. Any work you do now leisurely is work you don't have to do later when you're wearing 39 hats and juggling chainsaws on a speeding motorcycle.

 

[PsyDr]

Date a bunch of women or men, depending on your preference.

 

[Sanman]

Hit the gym and setup a good workout routine. If you are moving for the program, get there early and meet people out in the bars or whatever social gathering place you prefer. Being healthy and having friends goes a long way to keeping grad school sanity.

 

[WisNeuro]

Date a bunch of women or men, depending on your preference.

You should make that "and/or" to capture a wider array of today's youth 😉

 

[ClinicalABA]

If you are moving to a new area, do so research into the stuff that can be disorienting or frustrating when it comes up later on. Focus on some of the more "emergency" related stuff- where will you get your car, computer, or yourself fixed if you need to. Where will you buy your groceries, underwear, and beer? Check out on line reviews to help avoid getting ripped off.

I'd also come up with a list of 4 cheap day trips you could take in your new area- natural or historic sites, museums, cities you have never been to, hall of fames that are near by. Are there things like local brew pubs or distilleries you might be interested in checking out. Plan on doing at least 2 of these trips per semester. When you get to school and know more about your schedule, schedule these things in.