Monday, December 01, 2008
Now Comes the Hard Part
So this weekend was Thanksgiving, and like all red-blooded Americans I spent my long weekend catching up with my family. My parents, sister, and family dog came down to visit my new apartment in the Invisible Suburb and we went out to dinner with my grandparents at their favorite Italian restaurant.
Why Italian? Because nothing says Thanksgiving like an order of gnocchi with a lobster butter sauce...that's why! (And so what if it takes nearly two hours to reach the table?)
Yet despite all of this excitement, I could not fully abandon my graduate school responsibilities. I spent a good chunk of time prior to my family's arrival grading papers for my history of science class, some of which made me seriously wonder about the admissions process for incoming Old Ivy freshmen. A weak thesis statement is one thing, spelling and grammar errors with occasional lapses into incoherence are quite another. Fortunately, for each of the more problematic papers, there was at least one B+/A- counterpart, although determining the exact line between those two grades remains among the most challenging parts of this task. After all, for many of these students, a B+ grade is seen as a failure. (I must admit, with some level of embarrassment, a modicum of sympathy for this position based on my undergraduate career.)
Beyond the grading of papers, this weekend was also the last opportunity to revise my prospectus prior to the official submission deadline. My prospectus, summarizing the tentative research program and chapter outline of my dissertation, had been the subject of discussion during my program's weekly discussion seminar in mid-October. Since then, I confess, I had done very little to revise it due to a variety of other commitments with the graduate history association and the Modern American history workshop. I was nervous going into this weekend that I would need to devote a great deal of time to revisions. My advisor informed me before break, however, that as things stood, the prospectus was good enough for departmental purposes, though it would certainly need to be revised if I wished to secure any grants or funding in the future.
And so, with a copy of my prospectus in one hand and a form signed by my advisor, the director of graduate study for my program, and my prospective first reader, I submitted the necessary paperwork this morning at the department's administrative office. In doing so, I took the next step towards obtaining my Ph.D. As I realized on my way to the library to hold office hours, however, writing the prospectus is only the first step upon a much, much longer road.
But I'll have time to worry about such things later...
More posts are forthcoming, including this year's movie quote contest. Stick around...you might just learn something!
So this weekend was Thanksgiving, and like all red-blooded Americans I spent my long weekend catching up with my family. My parents, sister, and family dog came down to visit my new apartment in the Invisible Suburb and we went out to dinner with my grandparents at their favorite Italian restaurant.
Why Italian? Because nothing says Thanksgiving like an order of gnocchi with a lobster butter sauce...that's why! (And so what if it takes nearly two hours to reach the table?)
Yet despite all of this excitement, I could not fully abandon my graduate school responsibilities. I spent a good chunk of time prior to my family's arrival grading papers for my history of science class, some of which made me seriously wonder about the admissions process for incoming Old Ivy freshmen. A weak thesis statement is one thing, spelling and grammar errors with occasional lapses into incoherence are quite another. Fortunately, for each of the more problematic papers, there was at least one B+/A- counterpart, although determining the exact line between those two grades remains among the most challenging parts of this task. After all, for many of these students, a B+ grade is seen as a failure. (I must admit, with some level of embarrassment, a modicum of sympathy for this position based on my undergraduate career.)
Beyond the grading of papers, this weekend was also the last opportunity to revise my prospectus prior to the official submission deadline. My prospectus, summarizing the tentative research program and chapter outline of my dissertation, had been the subject of discussion during my program's weekly discussion seminar in mid-October. Since then, I confess, I had done very little to revise it due to a variety of other commitments with the graduate history association and the Modern American history workshop. I was nervous going into this weekend that I would need to devote a great deal of time to revisions. My advisor informed me before break, however, that as things stood, the prospectus was good enough for departmental purposes, though it would certainly need to be revised if I wished to secure any grants or funding in the future.
And so, with a copy of my prospectus in one hand and a form signed by my advisor, the director of graduate study for my program, and my prospective first reader, I submitted the necessary paperwork this morning at the department's administrative office. In doing so, I took the next step towards obtaining my Ph.D. As I realized on my way to the library to hold office hours, however, writing the prospectus is only the first step upon a much, much longer road.
But I'll have time to worry about such things later...
More posts are forthcoming, including this year's movie quote contest. Stick around...you might just learn something!
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