Confederacy of a Dunce - one step closer

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

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The Dunce is now one small step closer to getting that long-awaited PhD.

Those who have been asking me questions related to the topic should be quite pleased, perhaps others are surprised that I don't already have one. After all, I've gone about things all backwards, getting a couple of postdocs and a fistful of publications first, and only slowly and gradually getting the PhD itself. Today I completed the "upgrade", a brief (15min) research presentation and interview about it, which is this institution's requirement for admission to PhD candidacy (or whatever they call it here). I was horrendously stressed about this upgrade interview. This stress was quite irrational, because I was incredibly well prepared for it (after all, I've been defending various aspects of this work for quite a few years now), and I was very aware there was no need for stress (my supervisors and all of my colleagues reassured me of that). And indeed, it went quite fine; the only critical comments were as minor as minor can be.

This means I can now write up my thesis and submit it at some future date. Or that's what it would mean, were I following the procedure correctly. But in fact I have already written it. One of my supervisors has already read through an entire first draft, and I've revised it based on her comments. So really what I need to do is lean on my other supervisor for comments, then revise and submit it as soon as possible. How soon is that? Well, once news of my successful upgrade percolates through my institution, and my status is officially updated (we're probably talking January/February given the glacial pace of this sort of thing combined with the holiday season), it will be necessary to submit a letter requesting a waiver of the standard minimum registration period before thesis submission is permitted. This is because I've been registered as a part-time student only for two years now (although I've been a full-time researcher here for 7 years), and such students are meant to submit after a minimum three years. My supervisor has already spoken to the relevant person, and it appears that my situation may permit this period to be waived.

If a waiver is granted, we will petition for me to submit (literally) as soon as possible from that moment (by which time I should have the next revision completed). The exact submission date is unclear, but the gap between submission and defense is something like four months. That all is to say that if all goes well, it looks like I'll finish before the end of 2008.

If a waiver is not granted, I will have to wait to submit until January 2009, defending etc. as soon as possible thereafter. But this looks unlikely.

science

Wednesday, December 05, 2007 4:33:59 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Disclaimer | Comments [5] | Related posts:
Milestone!
Recall and concentration
Stirring the brain

Friday, December 07, 2007 2:20:31 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Should we start practicing now, calling you Dr. Dunce???

The Sister

Saturday, December 08, 2007 1:30:59 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

WOW!! I'm so excited!! Sounds really possible now. Will you walk for your PhD? Should we make plans now???? Perhaps we should call you Almost-Dr. D. Oh, I guess the Sister already suggested that, huh?

Big Mama

Saturday, December 08, 2007 6:14:58 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I'm very pleased for you. Quite a journey and well worth it by all accounts.

Frank

Saturday, December 08, 2007 2:20:28 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Way to go!

the Thief

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 4:24:38 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

It is too bad that your plan to cede a significant portion of your wages to the University to pursuade them to hurry things along was foiled...

The Noblesvillain