Holy Crap!

Not too many posts i'll start with those words, but since those words were the first thing that came out of my mouth when I had an email come in this afternoon, it's probably a good place to start.

I just took on my first Ph.D. student.....from scratch!

Now i've advised many graduate students over the years, helped many in the lab, given advice on projects and jobs, even helped a few graduate, but this will be the first one i've hired from the very beginning on one of my projects. We've be chatting over the last few weeks, and she had offers from other schools, so to be honest I didn't really think she'd choose to come, and I wasn't really trying very hard to encourage her either - for no other reason than this particular project doesn't start until later in the year, so it's not urgent for me to take someone. But I just got an email saying she's declined her other offers and really wants to come.

And at that very moment I felt both excited and scared at the same time. I'm now responsible for this person for the next 5-6 years. Her salary, her education, her future in science. It's hard enough to predict my future in science at this point in time, let alone take on a student, but to be honest, this is the next step for me, and I can't put it off any longer. It'll either work out or it won't.....

Either way....holy crap......i'm an adult!