The End is in Sight

The end of my first Proposion Examination and Defense, that is. My final proposal was the requisite 15-something pages of heavily citing, densely packed goodness on investigating proteins in the Yeast Nuclear Pore Complex. At least, I hope it is. Now, all that remains is… the Defense. Two to three hours of being grilled on molecular biology and biochemistry (and I have a physicist on my committee, to boot!).
Wow, you cared enough to read past the tagline and read the content of this post? I’m touched– you should jot down words of support, or distracting links, or… well, anything. I love to hear from you all!

Anyway, my written proposal is in, and my Defense will be anytime in the next 3-4 weeks (they haven’t nailed down just when, yet). So I need to organize a mock Defense. I’m not quite sure who to ask. I think I should definitely ask Stacey, since she’s (a) a senior grad student, and (b) in my program. I’ll probably also ask August from my lab, since he’s very relaxed but knowledgable. I’m torn about asking Ben. He’s (unintentionally) a jerk, and very pompous when it comes to science. But, his harshness might prepare me for the actual defense. Beyond that, I should ask someone from MCDB, but I don’t really know anyone beyond my year. Well, I know Ping (the post-doc who lives above me), but Li already tapped her, and I doubt she wants to be on two mock exams next week. Hmm… Maybe I should figure out who’s in the Wilson lab, see if I can snag one of them.

I’m hoping this will all be done with by Halloween. Here’s hoping!

6 Responses to “The End is in Sight”

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Andrew, I have complete confidence in your ability to design a good defense. I am confident that you really understand your topic.

Dad

Jim Bonham - October 18th, 2005 at 11:55 am

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Good luck with your defense. I’m sure you’ll do fine with it.

mcmillan - October 19th, 2005 at 7:48 am

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Thanks for the kind words. 🙂 Turns out, the physicist is dropping out (schedule conflicts), so I don’t know who my third committee member will be.

Excitement and adventure!

Paradoxdruid - October 19th, 2005 at 9:28 am

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My Defense is 9 am, November 7th! Even though that means I have less than two weeks, it’s nice to have a final date to prepare for, rather than it being up in the air.

Now, I need to organize my mock Defense for early next week.

Paradoxdruid - October 25th, 2005 at 6:59 am

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I’m glad but sad at the same time that they pushed your defense to later on — I’m glad because it’ll give you time to prepare more and learn from your mock, but sad because it’ll be a longer period of time before you’re more de-stressed. Though, you seem to be dealing with it pretty well 🙂

Teisha - November 5th, 2005 at 4:47 pm

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Yeah, I was sad at first– but now that I’ve been through one mock defense (and hopefully can organize another), I feel like I know what I need to still learn, and a little more confident, so I’m not as aimlessly stressed. In any case, it’ll all be over in two weeks.

Teisha, meanwhile, isn’t mentioning her own stress she’s coping with: The Biochemistry subject GRE in less than a week. Good luck!!

Paradoxdruid - November 7th, 2005 at 4:31 am

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