We have the Leadership Alliance Conference in a few weeks where we have to prepare a poster and present it to those walking by, science fair style. Since most schools that get their funding through the Leadership Alliance are on the semester system, they began their SURF programs in May and they are coming to a close. However, since Dartmouth is on the quarter system and this program didn't start until June 24 (which was perfect for me because it gave me plenty of time to travel around Europe with my mom) we will have only done about three out of the ten total weeks of research. When we present at the conference, it will mostly be about what we plan to do. And.. the conference is in Virginia, I've never been there so that will be exciting!

Some of the students jumped right into research either because they already knew what they were doing (as I'm the only one who hasn't been doing research at my college for the last two years) or their graduate student is intent on them being very involved. I have neither so we'll see how this summer goes. I am supposed to present a project tomorrow to the rest of the students in the program (8), but I don't have a project yet... so, we'll see.

Our GRE classes start tonight. Instead of costing each of us $1,200, it's FREE-NINTEY-FREE. That is a really nice perk to this program. Thank you government and private foundations for funding this program. Now the real research starts. The program is no longer taking us to free dinners and planning weekends away. Instead, it's meals at the dining hall and researching 24/7.

I'm completely confused about grad schools. These are the questions I want to ask someone. Apparently science majors don't have to go through the Masters to PhD track. Most just get their PhD. And apparently you don't pay for your PhD, you are an employee of the school and get health benefits, they pay your tuition and fees, and you get about a $25,00/year stipend. More for better funded schools. This was all just introduced to me about five months ago. So then I'm thinking, why would I pay for a masters if someone will pay me to get my PhD? But, without a ton of research experience, and slightly above average grades, would I even get into any PhD programs? Or maybe I should work in a lab for a year and then apply to a PhD program that way 'll have more experience. Or I should apply to a Masters program and then after getting some experience apply to a PhD program and not finish my Masters? After meeting the kids here and seeing what I'm up against- they know exactly what concentration they want to go into, what graduate schools they are applying to, have years of lab experience, and some have even published articles already. If these are the kind of people that are going to be applying where I'm applying, I need to bring something amazing to the table. It's all very confusing and like most things with school it's different every person you talk to. Everyone takes a different track.

On top of this, now I'm thinking, am I really cut out to sit in a freezing cold lab ten hours a day with me, my petri dishes, my ipod, and a microscope? The first few days here I've been somewhat intellectually understimulated (aka bored).