Post-Finals Thoughts

Made it through fall and spring of Year 1.  I'm still waiting on a couple grades, but so far so good.  I will be taking a class this summer, but it's nice to have a couple weeks off before more academic stress sets in.  At this point, if all goes well, I'll be defending my Masters thesis next summer!  I've got a lot of work to do before then, because I have a project idea but not a question.  Time to brainstorm!

It's amazing how writing an undergraduate senior thesis has changed my perspective on the length of papers.  Just a couple years ago I dreaded 10-page papers and I would have stared in disbelief if you told me I'd be writing 30+ pages soon.  Now, I can crank out an 8-10 pager in a couple days without much trouble.  And that's with my succinct psychology writing style!  My problem seems to be coming up with a question to answer, not answering said question.

Brief Update

Like most students, I'm currently facing the joy and intense pressure that comes from knowing that the end of the semester is only a couple weeks away.  I've got my share of papers and presentations to finish up!  What makes this end-of-spring-semester different is that I won't be moving back home on May 14th.  In fact, I'll be staying here for this summer and the next, oh, 6 summers.  I will get to see my family for a few days, but I won't be living at home again.  Home is technically here at school, even though I still call my parents' house home.  It is weird to be there without all my stuff, though!

Sleepless Nights & Searching for a New Home

I've had such trouble sleeping this past week that I really don't want to go to bed tonight [I blame my wonderful friends at DePauw =) this time at least, but I think the real reason I'm having trouble is all the traveling I do].  I'm tired, but I'm afraid I'll lay awake for hours, tossing and turning.  Last night I finally just got up and did something for two hours rather than think about how stressed I am while lying in bed.  I'm mostly stressed over this whole housing thing.  I would very much like to sign a lease soon so that I know where I'll be moving in July.  I broke down finally and posted an announcement on craigslist.  I think it's great that I'm getting both males and females responding offering places to live.  I guess that's grad school for you.  There are a couple people and their respective places that look neat, so the next step is to meet and see if I still think they're neat in person.  I'm also still looking for a place just for me.  I'm a little worried about a roommate because of my bunny.  I'm not sure how people will react to him - I'm guessing most of them don't know how much space rabbits need!  I'm also still unsure enough about myself that I'm worried a roommate will think I'm weird for having so much stuff.  But at the same time, living with another person would be very good for me because it would mean I have human contact outside of class and the lab!  And living with a guy sounds particularly interesting, especially since he's also a grad student and therefore not a crazy freshman or something.

Happy St Patrick's Day

I'm still stressing about being a graduate student, but at least I think I've figured out a potential thesis topic.  Now, to research it...

I had a great time seeing friends for a couple days since I was able to tack on a mini-vacation to the end of a work trip.  Of course it wouldn't have been an FXS lab trip without some sort of craziness regarding the flights.  We flew from one NCAA conference tournament city to another, and it wasn't until we were through security that we found out our flight was delayed 2 hours.  I was not thrilled about sitting and waiting in the gloomy, warehouse-like Kansas City airport.  There are windows, of course, but the concrete everywhere sucks all the light out of the place. 

Experience x School Interaction

Though I've only been at KU for just over 1 semester, I often find myself getting bored in my classes that are cross-listed as undergraduate courses (with the exception of Quant Psych courses).  It feels like we move ridiculously slow through the material, and, for one class in particular this semester, we rehash everything from the last class before moving on.  We stay on topics for longer than I feel is necessary, and the assignments are rarely challenging for me.  My first thought was that this boredom was due to just being older than (and therefore having more experience than) most of the undergraduates. However, since I've been trained as a social scientist, I realized there could be a confounding variable, or at least another explanatory variable, influencing my sense of boredom.
I came up with a promising one: type of educational institution.  DePauw is a small liberal arts school with relatively strict academic admission requirements, and it is also quite expensive.  Because of one or both of these factors, most of the students that attend DePauw are there to learn, and they take it seriously.  DePauw also has smaller class sizes and is on a smaller campus located in a very small Indiana town.  Athletes participate in division III NCAA sports.  Taking all of these factors into consideration, it shouldn't be surprising that classes at DePauw are fast-paced and set up to challenge students.  In contrast, KU is a large state school that is much less expensive than DePauw.  KU participates in division I athletics (think basketball), and the school is located in a decent-sized town in Kansas.  Students are not required to live on campus and many commute from nearby cities.  Students attending KU have a much wider range of educational and professional experiences.  Professors at KU must take this into account when teaching courses.  As in many public grade schools, when instructors must work with students on a widespread continuum of prior knowledge, the students who are better at motivating themselves to learn or who are accustomed to more rigorous academic requirements often feel unchallenged by the material and may become bored. 
Then there is always the potential interaction of experience (age) and school (size, type, etc).  Nothing is ever "that simple".