Grad School: Day 1

I showed up for my molecular biology class 20 minutes early. It was cold and my parking lot is directly behind the Mole Bio building, so instead of taking my computer to my office before class, I opted to check my e-mail while waiting for the class to begin.

As I settled in my seat and pulled out my syllabus and pre-printed notes sheet accompanying today's lecture (found on the on-line student board), I watched my classmates settle in to their seats. Several greeted one another and spoke about the happenings over the class break while others sat down quietly and waited for the presentation to begin. There were a few computers here and there, though most had notebooks. Very few had the pre-printed notes to the lecture.

I never really read textbooks in undergrad; I bought the book and did the problems and looked at the pictures. But the reading was never really exciting and I found that I didn't really need to read the text to get the grades. Over the weekend, I read the chapters covered in today's lecture. Even though I took the same class with the same textbook in undergrad (and I still have that book and all the notes and tests, by the way), I wanted to feel prepared. It helped. For the first 85% of the class, I knew exactly what was going on. Unfortunately, the portion that I didn't understand in the reading was not cleared up as I had hoped today in lecture.

And as I took my notes, nodding at what I had remembered from my reading, I looked around. The laptop in the back, I was fairly confident, was not being used to take notes. One of my neighbors filled a quarter-page with lecture notes; the other wrote down only the instructor's name and e-mail address. There was an air of confidence in the room, and I too tried to exude this quality. Although I was an unfamiliar face, I didn't want my experience (or rather lack thereof) to stick out. I want to believe I am just as capable, just as smart, as those classmates around me. I want to, have to believe I have not bit off more than I can chew by going back to school.

I think day one went as well as it could. It's all the days that are to follow I have to worry about.