My first week of OT school at the University of Indianapolis has been interesting to say the least. Moving from Ohio to Indiana does not seem like a big deal on paper, but the scenery is quite different. I had to use my GPS to get to school for the first couple days until I figured out that it was basically a straight shot from my apartment. Parking on campus is free, and it’s relatively easy to find a parking spot. It helps that all our classes are in one of two buildings, so it makes finding classes easy. To be 100% honest, on the first day of school, I thought we were going to cover the syllabus in each class and be dismissed. Trying to be a good student, I looked over my syllabi on Sunday afternoon and to my dismay realized that there were several readings due on the first day of every class. Let’s just say I did not get too much sleep Sunday night. One of the many things I have learned during this first week is that reading before class is the only way to ensure that you have a general understanding of the material before class.
The best visual description I can come up with to describe the week is a cup of water that is being overfilled. I think my cup started overflowing on Wednesday and by Friday the cup had been knocked over and was rolling on the ground somewhere. I reached out to my mentor and many second year students and asked them how they made it through the first year. It was difficult to see myself making it through the semester. I reached out to a couple of my undergrad classmates who are in grad school to see how they are doing, and I realized we are in the same boat.
Although graduate school has many ups and downs, when it comes down to it, you have to remember why you came here. If it were easy everyone would be doing it. All the professors keep hammering home that they are there for us, and I really believe it to be true; take advantage of it. The best advice I received this week is treat graduate school like it is a job, clock in at 8 a.m. and clock out at 6 p.m. The goal being to get class and studying in on campus and then retreat home to relax; granted this can’t always be the case, it’s a general rule of thumb. And try to get a routine, have time for studying and have time for other things.
-Michael, first-year MOT student
