The PhD Chronicles: Orientation
And now, I'm officially excited. If the first post did not contain the excitement of someone just accepted into a PhD program. This post most certainly does. The Orientation was on Thursday, May 14, 2015 at UMASS Boston.
I rushed to the event, having left work later than I wanted and being stuck in transport hell that is I93 during any time you really want to make use of it. So rushed and harried was I that when I parked in the parking lot under the Campus Center, that I didn't realized I parked in a handicap space. The poor lighting and dirty floor meant that I did not see it on the ground and I entered the spot from the one behind it which appeared to not be a space. When I came back to my car to see the ticket, I was more angry at myself than I was at the ticket--I more than deserved it.
The Orientation was a good mixture of the necessary bureaucratic and the socializing. We got student IDs, learned about the payment process for different students, and other things worth knowing. We also got to meet the faculty who we will be working within June and other faculty in the program. They also brought together a student panel of first and second year students with whom we got to hear about their own experiences with the program. Beyond that, there was the typical ice-breaker, where we learned that all of us were concerned about the personal, professional and educational balance but were largely excited (and some overwhelmed) about moving forward. We also got to socialize with one another, which was great.
I found this orientation to be quite useful because it helped to calibrate everyone's expectations for the first classes, gave us an opportunity meet one another before first class, and also to hear from the instructors themselves. All of which alleviated our collected angst about what to expect.
Having met my fellow cohort members and gotten the first glimpse of the program, I can say that I am excited. I feel like I am in the right spot and will be quite ready for the challenge that the next five years will bring.
Want to keep up with my PhD adventures? Check out any of the links below:
The Orientation was a good mixture of the necessary bureaucratic and the socializing. We got student IDs, learned about the payment process for different students, and other things worth knowing. We also got to meet the faculty who we will be working within June and other faculty in the program. They also brought together a student panel of first and second year students with whom we got to hear about their own experiences with the program. Beyond that, there was the typical ice-breaker, where we learned that all of us were concerned about the personal, professional and educational balance but were largely excited (and some overwhelmed) about moving forward. We also got to socialize with one another, which was great.
I found this orientation to be quite useful because it helped to calibrate everyone's expectations for the first classes, gave us an opportunity meet one another before first class, and also to hear from the instructors themselves. All of which alleviated our collected angst about what to expect.
Having met my fellow cohort members and gotten the first glimpse of the program, I can say that I am excited. I feel like I am in the right spot and will be quite ready for the challenge that the next five years will bring.
Want to keep up with my PhD adventures? Check out any of the links below:
- Acceptance...and acceptance
- Orientation
- Day 1
- Week 1
- First 2 Courses Completed
- First 2 Courses Finished
- Semester 2, Here We Go
- The Existential Crisis of the Week
- The Balancing Act
- Negotiating Privilege in Higher Education
- Zeroing in on Research
- Completing the Second Semester
- My Educational Autobiography
- So Starts the Third Semester
- My Educational Philosophy...for now
- PhD'ese
- And Sometimes, You Feel It
- Semester's Endgame
- Year 1, Officially Done
- Year 2, Week 1, Day 1
- Year 2, Week 1 Done!
- 1/3 Complete!?!?
- Click...
- Day 1; Semester 5
- Share and Share Alike
- Mindful and Mind-Filled
- 5th Semester Down
- Day 1, Semester 9
- The Two Demons of My Doctorate
- When Senioritis Kicks In
- The Final Friday
- Dissertation Journal #1
- Dissertation Journal #2
- Dissertation Journal #3
- Dissertation Journal #4
- Dissertation Journal #5
- Dissertation Journal #6
- Dissertation Journal: QP Revised Edition
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