Picked A Grad School!

I know where I'll be in Fall 2010! (I picked Place 2.)

I'd been leaning towards Place 2 for about a week, but couldn't say that I was going to Place 2 (now known as GradSchoolU). I finally made a decision after emailing a prof at GSU about doing a rotation with her. She responded back in a really positive way, and I'm happy and excited...and scared. Really scared.

I'm going to be challenged more than ever before. There is no guarantee of getting my Ph.D. Leaving all of my friends and profs that I've known for the past four years. I will no longer be the "star" of my lab. I will no longer be commended for putting in many hours each week into my lab work---it will be expected of me. Many of my friends that entered in Fall 2009 had a hellish first quarter/semester, and these are people who I respect as great in their respective fields. And I'll be entering into the "real world." (Sort of? I was scolded by one of my profs for calling it that, since "grad school isn't really the real world.") This will be a new place with new politics, new people to meet and avoid, and new locations of chemicals/equipment/supplies.

Then again, I'm really excited. I've only been able to do one summer where I did the biochem that I love and adore. When coming back to my PUI for my senior year, my senior year has been filled with completing a thesis in my lab here at school---I've been working in this lab since my sophomore year, and while I love my PI here, the biochem never truly caught me. I loved doing research, and when introduced to a subject that I adored as well as doing research---well, it was awesome! Getting to work on research that I find fascinating will be awesome, and being surrounded by other people who aren't all there for their letter of rec to med school will be really, really nice.

I'm excited. I'm scared. I can't wait, but I don't want to leave.

Anyone else out there have the same experience?