Poll of the Day > 64 days until grad school orientation!

(+) Yeah! (+)

This upcoming week I finalize my schedule. I already know what classes Im taking, just not when.

50 days until my orientation begins.

I have started looking at courses and picking out some that are of varying levels of interest, but I know they don't have them all posted on the course search system yet. One that isn't there that should be (to my knowledge anyway) is a theory and methods type course for all first-year students in my department. Since that's a required course, I can't really bet on taking any others until I know when that one is going to be.

Also, I will see my advisor again at some point before orientation anyway, so I'll consult with him as part of my planning.
---

When did attending graduate school become so eventful? I just showed up for first day of classes and went about business as usual. No orientation or the like. What is it that you do exactly? Is it something that the school requires you to attend?
---

Its a mandatory weeklong event. No clue what were talking about; the schedule comes out next month.

A week? Damn. Glad all my classes are online. Well, except for statistics. That class was bullshit. There's no reason for me to know how to do an ANOVA test or Chi-square test.

For my university, some of it is mandatory, but it seems much of it is optional and based on personal choice. Orientation for the grad school is officially a little over a week, but that really seems to just mean that this is the time dedicated to orientation and mandatory events cover less than two days based on the calendar. The rest appears to be optional events and department/program specific events during a few dedicated days.

The mandatory portions seems to be mostly just initial processing so you can receive your ID card, fill out some paperwork to ensure your accounts are set up, get access to things, etc.

The optional events look like fun things and familiarization to get to know people, learn about the university and the community, and connect with relevant organizations and resources. Some of the events are for specific demographics to learn about resources applicable to them or just get to know people.
---