Friday was my dissertation defense and "final examination." I don't know why they call it a final exam, because it's not really an exam. It just has the feeling of a final exam because it's such a big thing, it's the last thing before you're officially a recipient of your PhD, it's the last thing that happens before the committee signs the forms that magically transform you from being a bachelor or master to a doctor. The final exam is a question and answer session, an "oral exam" of sorts, but the questions (at least for me) were much more of a "what's your opinion" sort than a "what's the absolutely correct answer." Probably because in reality science has very few absolutes, so best-guesses are as good as it gets.
Anyhow...that is over, and it was very amazing to wake up on Saturday and realize...hey...I don't have to work on polishing my dissertation or practice my defense presentation or review the literature to have potential final-exam answers fresh in my mind...EVER AGAIN!!!!!! That was really the best part: it's over.
Just so you know, the correct abbreviation for Doctor of Philosophy is Ph.D. (or just PhD). Big P, little H, big D. The cake decorator did indeed write big and little letters as instructed. However, the end result wasn't quite what we had anticipated.
Just goes to show how underwhelming it probably is to most of the general public that I have earned my PhD: they don't even know what it means!! Oh well.
2 comments:
Congrats Ruth!!! Now we can talk doctor to doctor. hahaha. When are you moving to State College?? I am taking 12 days off to go home and will be driving to Michigan after I get a few hours of sleep, as I was oncall last night. Congrats again!!
*HIGH FIVE* Alright, there are 3 of us now. All with different doctorates! We're a very diverse group of friends! And obviously we're all insanely talented and smart people!! ; )
Official congratulaions are on their way! Way to go. It's been a long battle. I'm proud of you.
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