HeiBlog

Well, it’s all done. All of the delays. All the paperwork and BS, done. It was pretty much as my sister described her experience after she got her dissertation signed and handed it in. I handed in all of the necessary papers to the head of records for the graduate school. She checked my online student record to be sure that I had all the right numbers, courses, fees paid etc. She shook my hand, “Congratulations!” In a few days PNNL will get a letter saying that I have completed all of my requirements and I can start my next job.

The final meeting was even more anticlimactic than my oral defense. I had 8 years of study, 3 years of research, 3 months of writing and 5 months of off and an on again editing leading up a 45 minute talk and about an hour of questions. Everything is scheduled weeks in advance and you have to line up a bunch of different schedules (6 in my case). For BU the graduate school gets 14 copies of your defense abstract and they post the information on line. My talk started around 11 am on October 10. All that was over by around noon and the closed session began. I talked with my committee for a little over an hour fielding about 2-4 questions from each of the 6 committee members. After that I was asked to leave. I hung out in the hallway, had a drink of water and a snack, and went to the bathroom. By the time I was out of the restroom my committee was looking for me. By 1:20 pm everything was cleaned up and I was out the door.

I got a phone call today from the graduate school that all of the paperwork would be sent off. Now I have to decide when I want to start and what kind of vacation I want. Humm…, something worth while or just hangout for a few days in various places?

So, was it worth it to get the PhD? Well, I can’t be sure yet. It took 9 years and I seriously considered leaving three different times. At one point I was asked to leave by my research advisor and ended up taking a leave of absence just to have some time to clear my head. The fact that I am finished has sunk in. I still enjoy what I do and am looking forward to continuing with research during my post-doc. To go where I want to go in my career (or at least where I think I want to go) I need the degree. All of these things considered it would seem like I did the PhD for the right reasons.

At the end of the day the PhD is a union card, a key. It does not prove that you are any smarter than anybody else. I don’t even think that it proves that you are an expert. What is important form the process is that you learn to think critically and evaluate your work and that of others. After all of the science I have seen and done myself, I don’t have anything at face value. People make mistakes and have their own agendas. You enter a mindset that you are able to figure out the truth. When questioned you can back up your arguments. It’s one of those things that you can’t explain, but everybody who has gone through it understands what you are talking about.

So, Was it all worth it? (the reader asks again) Yes, but I would have liked it to have taken less time. One thing I might change is the mindset that graduate school is separate from “life” and just make it part of the my path, something I did along the way. More like a way point then any place that I would settle for any length of time. Could I change somethings about the process? Yes, but so many of those are tied to the people involved in one person’s path that it would be hard to change and make the experience consistent for everybody. Do do it unless you have to or are insane is perhaps the best advice that I could offer to anybody. Once you have it it can’t be taken away from you. After that people will just look at your qualifications and what you can do.

You have your Union Card, now get on with your life. Next.