As many of you already know, last month I defended my PhD! I did not anticipate the happines and the deep sense of relief I would feel. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, this might be the hardest thing I've done up to this point in my life. While I know the next two years are going to be a lot of work and I am sometimes petrified of the prospect of being a medical student again, I am not worried about being "pimped" on rounds in medical school, because you know what? I managed a staff of 25. And implemented a protocol in a resource constricted environment. And successfully got funding for said protocol. And did something no one else has ever done in such a setting.
It's interesting to talk to other graduate students about the process. I found graduate school in general, but mostly writing my dissertation, to be sometimes overwhelmingly isolating. DAYS would go by and I would wonder what the heck I had been working on all day when I had absolutely nothing to show for it. My colleagues felt the same way! I guess it's just an isolating process. It was also hard for me being in Malawi while I was writing and seeing so much other work that needed to be done and wanting to do it, but also wanting to finish graduate school. Many students in my department form dissertation support groups, and I highly recommend that to anyone in or thinking about graduate school!
I also know that my dissertation is not the final word on anything - it's just the beginning. But damn, it feels good to be done! And it only took me 3 tries to get the graduate school to accept it (the numbering on the landscape pages almost prevented me from graduating)!
So, it's on to new adventures. This blog may have a new name in a week so stay tuned :)
2 comments:
Hooray, Lillian! You have accomplished a pretty amazing chunk of work. I'm so proud of you!
Like you, I remember after defending my dissertation feeling a huge wave of well-being and good vibes. However, I seem to have blocked out all memories of slogging through the process of writing it up. The only bit I can remember is spending a great deal of time with my typist (pre personal computer days!) going over revisions. It was a lot of work, and we ignored her two-year-old's urgent grunts too long. Finally the poor little tot, who was in the midst of toilet-training, took hold of the coffee table where we were working, crouched over and took a huge pee on the floor! Our bad!!
lil, you are an inspiration to the rest of us!
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