Turning my Tassel: The Transition into Graduate School

Entering graduate school can be an uncertain transition for any student, and I am of no exception.  Being a student in the BS/MS program at Clemson, I technically started my graduate school career during my Senior year at Clemson.  However, throughout that year, I always considered myself to be an undergrad sitting in on graduate classes and assisting in the lab.  Because I regarded myself in this way, I believed my teachers and peers held this same perception.  I did not feel I had the qualifications that merited the title of graduate student.

Then, on Friday, May 8th I put on a black robe, placed an awkward covering on my head, and walked across the stage to receive a diploma declaring the completion of my Bachelor’s education in Environmental Engineering.  The following Monday I went into Dr. Ladner’s lab.  Even though I now entered as new graduate, nothing really changed.  This was the same lab I first entered my Junior year as an undergraduate to gain research experience.  The piece of paper that I received a few days earlier did not come with a name tag to distinguish me as graduate student, nor did it have powers to give me a magical graduate student aura.  I entered the lab and started to run experiments as I always had.

It was a routine I had grown accustomed to, a routine that had not deviated from my undergraduate experience; thus my perception of myself did not change.  At a recent individual meeting, Dr. Ladner was apologetic for previously referring to me as an undergraduate to a colleague.  I was in no way offended, for I had not noticed.  This was not from being unobservant, I did not notice because I did not consider it to be an oversight.  However, it is time for my mindset to change, it is time to realize that the reflection I see underneath the chemical hood is not that of an undergraduate; but is the reflection of a graduate student in charge of her own experiments.  A student that must not only complete established experiments, but originate her own.  A student that cannot settle for finding the answers to predisposed questions, but must come up with the questions herself, and then determine how to answer them.  I am officially a graduate student and I must start thinking of myself as such.  Only then will I build the confidence to take on all the uncertainties and challenges that come along with obtaining a masters degree.

So here is to mentally turning my graduation tassel and  transitioning into graduate school: I am Kristen Carpenter a part of Dr. Ladner’s research group, a graduate student ready to take on my graduate courses, determine the course of my research, and learn as much as possible in order to earn my masters degree.