First Quarter Reflections
As the first quarter of the MAcc program came to an end, I was reflecting on my first quarter experience and what I wish I would have known at the beginning compared to what I know now. Graduate school is most definitely different from undergraduate, especially when you are attending a completely different institution. There are three key things I realized during my reflection of the first quarter that I think would be particularly useful to incoming MAcc students.
1. Graduate School is not the same as undergraduate
I am sure others can echo my sentiments here, but do not coming into a graduate program thinking of it as almost a "fifth year" or an extension of your undergraduate program. It is a completely different ballgame and that is something I did not realize coming in. I had a fantastic undergraduate experience and hope the rest of you do as well, but graduate school is not the same. You will not have as much free time as you did in undergraduate. The classes expect a lot more out of you than an undergraduate class. I feel as if in undergraduate there is a lot more wiggle room or room for error, that is not the case in graduate school because of the pace and difficulty of the classes. View graduate school as a level up from undergraduate. Especially if you went to a different undergraduate, because your friend group is not around and you won't be familiar with the professors. My tip is think of it as a clean slate, a much tougher slate, but one that is unrelated to undergraduate. It will help with your expectations and reality of what graduate school is like. As much as I loved undergrad, this is not a "fifth year" of undergrad. It is a completely different entity.
2. Quarters go fast
If your undergraduate institution was like mine and many others, you are accustomed to semester long classes. Fall and spring semester, sometimes at the end it seems as if your classes are never ending and keep dragging. However, appreciate semesters when you can! The way I think of it, semesters are a nice smooth latte you enjoy sipping on, and quarters are a hot and fast espresso shot you down and keep moving. You will feel as if you are never catching a break during quarters, the moment you turn something in, another assignment is due. You finally feel like you just mastered a topic, and now you're halfway through the next. Eight week quarters are FAST. You will not have time to comprehend, and my advice is to have a planner and maybe utilize the "sticky notes" feature on your laptop to keep track of everything. I was not used to the pace of quarters at all, and wish I knew how quick it flew by. You will be learning an entire class's contents in eight weeks; as you can imagine, it is a lot. Before you start any masters program that utilizes quarters, be prepared to feel like you haven't taken a deep breath the entire time because that work will stack up on you regardless of how prepared you may feel.
3. It will all end up okay
Your classes and grades will end up fine. As I mentioned above, it will feel as if you are drowning and barely getting air throughout the quarter and sometimes you may receive some less than satisfactory grades for yourself, but it will be okay. Graduate school classes are most of the time curved, and professors are very understanding. I found the best thought that I could have was that I did my best and that was all I can do. As long as you are making honest attempts at the work and feel that there was nothing more you could do, then you're doing it right. As always, if you have serious concerns feel free to talk to the professors they are very amicable and understanding. No professor at Fisher wants to see you fail, so don't be scared to address any concerns you have with them.
Overall, graduate school is a fast paced ball game where you're going to realize that you are thrown into the middle of a game and expected to learn the rules as you go along. Luckily you'll have your teammates (classmates) and coaches (professors) to help you gain some ground and hopefully you'll feel like you're a proficient athlete at the end!
