First year experience/pressure/drama

Bezel56
Sun, 20 May 2007 10:46:10 +0000

Chiming in to say that you definitely will be humbled by other students and the faculty on a nearly daily basis. It’s a weird experience going from being one of the best students in your undergraduate class to just mediocre for a while (or not, it depends where you go).

That said, my first year was really similar to undergrad. I took classes each semester, spent time doing homework, and studied for exams. Beyond that, I started doing things for my adviser my second semester. She’s new, so I had to set her whole lab up, which has been quite the experience.

I know at Notre Dame it’s likely you’ll have to TA your first semester, which just adds to the stress of everything it seems. The first years there always seemed so haggard.

What really makes or breaks your first year experience is your class. If your class is cool and you guys bond a lot, then it’s much easier to get through everything. I was really fortunate to have a class that I get along with well and one that socializes a lot with the older graduate students. Get their advice on as many things as possible!