The Difference Between USU and Duke

So this week was orientation week. We had the typical information sessions that accompany orientation. However, most of the time was taken up by PIs (Primary Investigators or research professors) trying to recruit us to their labs. As graduate students we have to do rotations. Rotations are 6-8 week projects that are completed in a research lab. We have to choose three labs that interest us. After we complete the rotations we then choose one of the three labs to do our dissertation work (research) in.

I have one lab that I will definitely do a rotation in, the Richardson Lab. There is another lab, the Oas Lab, that I may rotate in. The PI of this lab is trying hard to recruit me. If I were to join this lab I would be here a long time as I would be required to take upper division stats and math (differential equations and linear algebra) before I could really dive into the research. I have yet to choose a third lab to rotate in.

The week is not done yet though. Tomorrow we set out for Beaufort, NC where we will receive ethics training. We will be taking buses and will stay til Sunday. Beaufort is on the coast; we get to play on the beach.

One day this week was the Graduate School orientation. This was given by the Duke Graduate School given to all new graduate students rather than the small department orientation. There were quite a few speakers and a question and answer session. One thing that hit me was something the provost said. Duke is such a great university not because they’ve somehow magically arrived at some whimsical state of being rather they recognize that such a state is false and improvement is constant. They are constantly looking and implementing improvements. I really liked that.

There was a faculty panel that then took questions. Before that though, they each said a few words. I was able to relate to what one of the faculty members said. It reminded me of a lecture I received fourteen years ago as I left elementary school and was about to enter middle school. One of my sixth grade teachers told us that although, as sixth graders, we were the fearless leaders that the younger kids in the elementary looked up to, things were about to change. She said that as seventh graders we were going to be relatively irrelevant. I believe her exact words were that we were going to be ‘just another fish in the pond.’

Anyway, back to present day Duke. One of the professors told us that we had gotten into Duke, something that, she assumed, we bragged to our friends about. Indeed, this was no small feat. The Duke Graduate School received over 7,600 applications but there were only 689 new students. Then she put us in our places by saying that we may have been stars at our undergraduate schools but here the playing field had been leveled. I find this to be very true for me.

At USU I was a star receiving many different accolades. I was even recognized university wide by receiving the Legacy of Utah State Award. In Utah I would tell people that I was pursuing a PhD in Biochemistry and most were amazed at both the degree and field of study. Here at duke I am indeed just another fish in the pond. No one is impressed that I am getting my PhD, but that is because they are also pursuing the same degree. I can actually talk about my research and the listeners actually know what I am talking about.

Having said that; I know that I am here to be an example beyond academia. I know to be that example I just need to do what I do. Which, ironically, is do what all my peers are doing; pursue my degree.