Thursday, May 22, 2008
Soon, you will call me "master"...
As of this afternoon I have now completed all of the requirements to earn a masters degree from the history of science program at Old Ivy University. Some of you might have thought that completion of general exams would have been enough considering how much time and energy went into that process, but the Graduate School Powers That Be [TM] beg to differ.
No, according to them, getting the degree requires 9 courses, 2 language exams, 2 research papers, and surviving the general exam gauntlet. I finished both of my language exams last fall and my first and second research paper requirement the spring semesters of my two years here. And we don't need to go into the ordeal of general exams again...but needless to say, I passed. So all that was left was my actual course requirements. Because of generals (which I promise, I will stop mentioning after this sentence), I tapered down my courseload during my second year. Where as last year, i took three classes per semester, for a total of six, this year, I only took two first semester so that I could begin preparing for...well, you know.
Now for those of you keeping track at home, 3+3+2=8 and I needed 9 courses under my belt to finish the first phase of my graduate education. In an ideal world, I would have just taken three courses last fall and been done with it, but there was one further twist. All members of the history of science program have to take a methodology course offered only once every two years. This time around, it was this spring. So whether I wanted to or not, I had to take one class this semester. (I also sat in on a history of technology lecture course, but that was just for me. Let's just say I had my reasons...generally speaking.)
The class itself was relatively painless, although it had more than its fair share of philosophy of science, which can be rather painful in small doses. It also required four reading responses during the course of the semester, which I tended to liven up with graphics and occasional jokes which make no sense unless you are familiar with people like Bruno Latour or Donna Haraway. (Just for yuks, you can always check out an abridged and illustrated version of the latter's Cyborg Manifesto here.) But there was also a final paper, and that's what I finished today.
The paper itself was, in theory, relatively painless. The assignment: write a book review of approximately 8 to 10 pages about a handful of books related to the history of science. I chose four books related to science conducted in non-democratic settings like Nazi racial hygiene and Soviet nuclear physics and figured I could write two pages on each book and a single page introduction and conclusion and then be done with it.
Of course, things did not go according to plan because I am incapable of brevity. (After all, this post was originally going to consist of a single sentence!) I ended up writing a 19 page first draft, cut down eventually to 15 over the course of several revisions. Thankfully, my professor is lenient about this sort of thing. She'll hopefully see that I put in some serious thought (which I did) and give me the passing grade I need to proceed.
Assuming all goes according to plan, I'll be on my way to thinking about my dissertation. And in a few months, I'll have a fancy master's degree certificate to hang on my wall.
Either way, not too shabby!
As of this afternoon I have now completed all of the requirements to earn a masters degree from the history of science program at Old Ivy University. Some of you might have thought that completion of general exams would have been enough considering how much time and energy went into that process, but the Graduate School Powers That Be [TM] beg to differ.
No, according to them, getting the degree requires 9 courses, 2 language exams, 2 research papers, and surviving the general exam gauntlet. I finished both of my language exams last fall and my first and second research paper requirement the spring semesters of my two years here. And we don't need to go into the ordeal of general exams again...but needless to say, I passed. So all that was left was my actual course requirements. Because of generals (which I promise, I will stop mentioning after this sentence), I tapered down my courseload during my second year. Where as last year, i took three classes per semester, for a total of six, this year, I only took two first semester so that I could begin preparing for...well, you know.
Now for those of you keeping track at home, 3+3+2=8 and I needed 9 courses under my belt to finish the first phase of my graduate education. In an ideal world, I would have just taken three courses last fall and been done with it, but there was one further twist. All members of the history of science program have to take a methodology course offered only once every two years. This time around, it was this spring. So whether I wanted to or not, I had to take one class this semester. (I also sat in on a history of technology lecture course, but that was just for me. Let's just say I had my reasons...generally speaking.)
The class itself was relatively painless, although it had more than its fair share of philosophy of science, which can be rather painful in small doses. It also required four reading responses during the course of the semester, which I tended to liven up with graphics and occasional jokes which make no sense unless you are familiar with people like Bruno Latour or Donna Haraway. (Just for yuks, you can always check out an abridged and illustrated version of the latter's Cyborg Manifesto here.) But there was also a final paper, and that's what I finished today.
The paper itself was, in theory, relatively painless. The assignment: write a book review of approximately 8 to 10 pages about a handful of books related to the history of science. I chose four books related to science conducted in non-democratic settings like Nazi racial hygiene and Soviet nuclear physics and figured I could write two pages on each book and a single page introduction and conclusion and then be done with it.
Of course, things did not go according to plan because I am incapable of brevity. (After all, this post was originally going to consist of a single sentence!) I ended up writing a 19 page first draft, cut down eventually to 15 over the course of several revisions. Thankfully, my professor is lenient about this sort of thing. She'll hopefully see that I put in some serious thought (which I did) and give me the passing grade I need to proceed.
Assuming all goes according to plan, I'll be on my way to thinking about my dissertation. And in a few months, I'll have a fancy master's degree certificate to hang on my wall.
Either way, not too shabby!
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