Greetings all! I must first apologize for not updating over the past few days [I hope you all missed me!]. You see, I was pushing to write the first draft of my thesis so I was really really busy. Now, from the title of this blog you're probably wondering "a weh di backside a gwaan wid da yute ya?" [tr: what in the world is up with this young man?]. Well, I was talking to the Advisor after I plunked down my 115 page "novel" on his desk this morning and it turns out that I now have to not only worry about preparing to defend my thesis come the 16th of next month [the date moved from the 14 to the 12th and now to the 16th due to conflicts with my committee members' schedules], but I now have to study for every damn class I've taken in Grad school [and believe me, I've taken quite a few in my time!].
So, of course, instead of having a few weeks to myself to do nothing but daydream about sweet nothings and prepare for my job, I now have to spend my time re-living the horrors of classes long since passed! I never did understand why the hell we have to do these things, and now that my time to graduate is here, I still don't understand. Now, in my department we have two options for graduation, you either write a thesis or do a problem report. The thesis is intended to contribute to the body of work in the field, so it has to have some unique research in it. The problem report, on the other hand, is about implementing something practical that doesn't really contribute to the body of research, but looks decent on a resume. Most students opt for the problem report because the standards become extremely high when you do a thesis and your committee expects a lot more out of you, with the benefit that you do two courses less than people who do a problem report.
Well, sadly, I chose a thesis because it seemed like a good thing to do at the time and I was really into writing stuff and doing high-level research and all that coolness. I was also under the impression that I didn't have to do a coursework defense if I chose the thesis option--wrong, bong! As a matter of fact, there is no major difference between the thesis and the problem report defense...you still have to do the coursework defense and all that. In fact, doing the thesis is more stressful because you not only have to convince your committee that you actually took the classes that you took, but you also have to convince them that the work you did was actually significant and could contribute something new to the field...and as far as the advantage of taking two less classes, it doesn't matter--you see, I have to take a certain number (3) classes per semester to maintain my legal status, so I have accumulated more than enough classes to qualify for either thesis or problem report--duh!
Anyhow, I don't mean to make this blog sound like I'm bitchin about school (cause I really do like what I'm doing, I just don't want to study!) but since I haven't slept in the past 24-hours (literally) my brain isn't really in the creative mood of find some interesting tidbit of stuff to talk about. But, fear not, I'll be back with my usual verbal agility come tomorrow!
{arf,arf}
So, of course, instead of having a few weeks to myself to do nothing but daydream about sweet nothings and prepare for my job, I now have to spend my time re-living the horrors of classes long since passed! I never did understand why the hell we have to do these things, and now that my time to graduate is here, I still don't understand. Now, in my department we have two options for graduation, you either write a thesis or do a problem report. The thesis is intended to contribute to the body of work in the field, so it has to have some unique research in it. The problem report, on the other hand, is about implementing something practical that doesn't really contribute to the body of research, but looks decent on a resume. Most students opt for the problem report because the standards become extremely high when you do a thesis and your committee expects a lot more out of you, with the benefit that you do two courses less than people who do a problem report.
Well, sadly, I chose a thesis because it seemed like a good thing to do at the time and I was really into writing stuff and doing high-level research and all that coolness. I was also under the impression that I didn't have to do a coursework defense if I chose the thesis option--wrong, bong! As a matter of fact, there is no major difference between the thesis and the problem report defense...you still have to do the coursework defense and all that. In fact, doing the thesis is more stressful because you not only have to convince your committee that you actually took the classes that you took, but you also have to convince them that the work you did was actually significant and could contribute something new to the field...and as far as the advantage of taking two less classes, it doesn't matter--you see, I have to take a certain number (3) classes per semester to maintain my legal status, so I have accumulated more than enough classes to qualify for either thesis or problem report--duh!
Anyhow, I don't mean to make this blog sound like I'm bitchin about school (cause I really do like what I'm doing, I just don't want to study!) but since I haven't slept in the past 24-hours (literally) my brain isn't really in the creative mood of find some interesting tidbit of stuff to talk about. But, fear not, I'll be back with my usual verbal agility come tomorrow!
{arf,arf}
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