::comes up from the water and gasps for air::

Hey all. Taking a thirty second break from working on my comprehensive exams to say whaddup, I hope all is well, and that graduate school equates to Dante's 7th circle of Hell. My comps essentially consist of three large papers (Done one [38 pages], working on number two [55 pages so far], and will work on number three this weekend [20 page limit thank god]) and an in-house four-hour exam I take on Thursday. Then in two weeks I get to defend all my answers.

It's been cool writing down pretty much everything I know about what I've been studying. But cripes... I'm tired.

Anyway, like I said, hope all is well, and I hope Syd only has ennui and not some random fatigue-inducing disease.

Keep on keepin on,
Kubo

PS- If you're thinking of grad school (or are currently in grad school) feel free to use this topic as a launching pad for discussion. More than anything, I just wanted to say whaddup and I'll be back once I'm ABD.

Ermac wrote:

dude I feel you pain, I am working on a 25 page paper, which still isn't as bad as what you have.

Fight the good fight, my friend. Any paper over 15 pages or so is a pain in the ass.

Greg the White wrote:

Sometimes I forget that there are Penn State students with difficult classes. I haven't read a word from any textbook (save for German class) and am pulling off a 3.0. Then I sat in on a real class and got my ass handed to me.

Funny thing is, it's not even the classes that are difficult in grad school. At this point, classes feel like a waste of time (as I'm sure they do to undergrads too), but the waste of time isn't because you're bored, it's because you're thinking about all the real work you could be getting done while you're sitting there answering questions that, at this point, seem obvious.
The tough part is getting published, getting your research funded, and defending your research ideas. I got the first two down, now I gotta do #3, which incidentally, is a real pain in the ass.

Update:

There. Done. Four comprehensive exams. 180 pages.

Now all I have to do is defend each of them to my committee and I am what is called "all but dissertation."

Fuck you school. You got owned.


More importantly, I'm glad I'll have the time to come back here on a more regular basis. Good to see all you characters once more.

SoldierHawk wrote:

Congrats, Kub, glad to hear there's light at the end of the tunnel. Now, is this your doctorate you're working on? Will we be able to call you Doctor Kubo after its all said and done?

Thanks all... and to those of you who think that the work you do pales in comparison to however many pages I just wrote. Apples and oranges. I remember being an undergrad and having to struggle to get through a five page paper as well. It's just that when you've been writing papers for ummm... I guess this will be my 9th year of post-high-school education, you figure out how to be efficient in your writing. So keep your heads held high, school is hard at every level.

And someone said that its easier to write when your passionate about something- totally true. Of the four papers I had to write, two were directly related to terrorism/my dissertation subject- so they were much easier to write. The other two... not quite so much.

Soldier, to answer your question- yeah. I'll be Dr. Kubo when I'm done in about 16 months. The next year will be compiling research, writing my dissertation, and defending it next August. If my advising committee decided that I did alright, I'm Dr. Kubo . Then I guess I have to go get a job, but there are 4-5 schools in the area I want to be in that look like they may be promising, or, with what I'm studing, I could very well end up at an FBI field office as an analyst or something like that.

Cattivo wrote:

Fuck yeah Kubo! Finishing my final draft on Saturday, but that's nothing compared to what you're doing! I should use that for motivation or something.

Fight the good fight, man. Those final drafts are a bitch to finish up... I always seem to find something missing from my drafts when I go through them one last time. It's f'ing infuriating.

Cattivo wrote:

Well, I just emailed my (only 55 page) final draft of my Master's Essay to my professor almost an hour ago. Here's hoping it's good enough to finally get a grade, so that I can get my degree in December. It would be cool to celebrate around the same time as you Kubo.

Congrats Cattivo! If, in fact, you do get your degree in December, I'll have something to celebrate with you at that point: in December, I will have just presented my dissertation at a conference on the east coast. That'll be huge if it helps score me a job.

In any event, congratulations on finishing up, and enjoy the wave of relief that comes with it! :celebratory beer glass raise:

Ermac wrote:

Good Luck Kubo and Cattivo I just finished my 25 page a few days back, turned in a 12 page today, then gotta turn in a 15 page Monday!

Big ups Ermac. Congratulations! And I reiterate what Cattivo said... I don't remember writing papers that long as an undergraduate... big kudos to you.