First Official Week

So it is just about the end of my first week. I have met the majority of people from the program (although not everyone). Everyone I have met is very friendly and nice. Everyone is from different areas of the U.S., which I think is pretty cool. There is a pretty wide age range as well, a good amount of people took a year off as I did. There are three programs - ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis), General, and SATP (Substance Abuse Treatment Psychology). I am in the general track - the goal for the program is basically to get you more experience to be a strong candidate for a Ph.D. program. The other two tracks are preparing to get licensed and work after graduation.

We had 3 orientations - one for the psych department, one for the grad school, and one for TAs (teaching assistants). They were all pretty informative, but pretty tiring as well (each was 3 hours long). Who knew they had so much to orient us about? At least we got a free t-shirt out of it :).

My first classes were on Thursday (I have a T/Th schedule, some students do have classes Wednesday). Physiological Psychology will be good, I always love neuroscience classes so I am looking forward to that. We didn't get too much into the material but I know I will enjoy it, as always (I <3 Neuroscience).
I met with my TA and he was very nice. I will be doing a lot of grading, maybe some proctoring, maybe teach a class. And I got a free textbook (he is a coauthor on the book for the class)!!
Research Methods was.....research methods. It's strange, I love research when I am participating in data collection, plugging in, analyzing, etc...but the straight numbers tend to bore me. I am going to try hard to improve my understanding & love of math and statistics. I really need to improve to be a better scientist/statistician/researcher. AND it might help with the GREs :). It was not excruciatingly boring though, so that's a good sign!
Oh and I got to see my lab. There is a brand new Psychology building that was built (actually just finished the week before classes). Each professor has their own lab space - ours is 3 rooms with 3 computers and a lounge area. It is a really nice space essentially just for me and my mentor (I am currently the only grad student). I think I will be using it a lot :).

So I got my student ID and parking pass. It's official - I am a UNCW student :). I am really excited to be back in school. The year off actually upped my motivation to be in school and reach towards my long-term goals. I imagine things will be getting very busy very fast. I'm not sure what to expect for graduate school - all I keep hearing is that I will not be bored and it will be challenging. Sounds good to me!