DU grad students check in!

[Bill McBlueState]

I'm just wondering how many of us are around.

Me, I'm in astronomy at UMass, 3rd year of the PhD program.

[POed_Ex_Repub]

1. I was a grad student until May..

Got about half way through... does the spouse count? I'm still po' ;-)

[HuckleB]

2. Greetings.

Nursing, Post-masters at Oregon Health & Science U.

[Piltdown13]

3. Anthropology, Indiana University

In year 7 of my PhD program (it takes us archaeologists a long time to get through -- lots of field work).

[Bill McBlueState]

5. all the astronomers I know seem to take a long time, too

but I'm not sure the reason has anything to do with work

rather it's fear of having to get a real job, I suppose.

[pmbryant]

16. I escaped in 6 years

:-)

Good luck to you!

--Peter

[La_Serpiente]

6. really?

What are you studying? Ancient Civilizations (which one) or culture and society?

[IndianaGreen]

10. Aaaah, that explains your username

SPEA here!

[MattNC]

4. i will be soon

hopefully doing poli sci @ unc-chapel hill starting in august or january.

[Spintronic]

7. 2nd year

Physics, MSU

[Dudley_DUright]

11. Is spintronics your research field as well as your screen name?

Just asking since it is one of my areas of interest.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0007A735-759A-1CDD-B4A8809EC588EEDF

[midnight armadillo]

14. The grass is always greener

I hate reading about other people's research, since it always sounds so much more interesting than my own. Fortunately, every grad student I know does this.

Sonoluminescence is pretty cool stuff too. Same with marine biology, Roman history, and environmental chemistry. I think I need another lifetime or three.

[Sufi Marmot]

8. (Mumble...) year grad-student...

Soon to be PhD. Majoring in bitterness and angst...er, I mean, genetics and molecular biology. Yeah, that's it...genetics and molecular biology...


-SM, who will write his thesis this spring or die trying...

[omshanti]

15. hey, you sound like me!!

If I don't finish my dissertation within a year, just push me off a cliff already, ok?

5th year, biomed engineering

[tishaLA]

9. English, UCLA

fifth year in PhD program. And loving it.

[WoodrowFan]

12. ATTENTION: please source all your notes in this thread.

Please remember to fully source all notes and submit a copy to each member of your committee. We will return the copies with our comments in a week and you will have another week to make any necessary corrections, thank you.



8 years! HA.That's nothing. My dissertation took, um, longer. Started PhD program in 83, finished claswork in 87, took a full-time unrelated job and spent the next (cough) 12 years to do my comps and dissertation. Started college at 18, finally finished at 40!

[midnight armadillo]

13. almost done

5.5 years in physics for the PhD, my thesis defense on biophysics and microscopy is Jan 21.

Then I'm off to moonlight as a bilogoist in a postdoc position to study brain tumors. With the sucky NIH salary grade too! I'll make less than I could have getting a job with a bachelor's. Then I start looking for a 2nd job to pay the rent.

A bit of advice: put off kids til AFTER you've written the thesis. My infant son is wonderful and he makes me very happy, but the stress of finishing the thesis while my wife and I care for him is really, really rough.

Let's all repeat this thread in 3 years or so to decide if it was all worth it... ;-)

[omshanti]

17. Thanks for the advice about kids...

Hubby and I have been thinking about having a baby, but I am torn as to whether to wait until after I defend my thesis, or just go ahead and do it. Although I can imagine that giving birth might disrupt dissertation writing a bit...

[Lisa]

18. recovering grad student (Geography) here ...

I defended a year ago this week, and submitted in the spring.

Warning -- I thought I would have a lot more time for non-school stuff, but have been a sessional lecturer since then ... "work expands to fill available time"