Grad School, the television show
Posted 06-13-2010 at 07:34 PM by EmmyNoether
I chiseled away at the marble slab that I am slowly shaping into my dissertation. Just a little more progress, that really is all I can ask. I feel slightly bad that my latest progress reports to you are essentially the same each day. I've often daydreamed, during my early grad school years, about a hit TV-series called "Grad School," where, like this blog, it chronicles the lives of an incoming class of grad students. As any great Dramady, my first year was riddled with fun, tension, tears, and laughs. Whenever the show needed a laugh break, as I often did, there could be a old professor riding down the internal hallway of the building on a segway fully equipped with a helmet and knee and elbow pads. This might seem ridiculous and contrived for a TV series, however, this would be truthfully based off of Professor Skeinar of the math department at Research University. The fact that he rides around inside on his electric chariot is made more funny by the fact that he will ride it into the elevator to get to his 2nd floor office!
What would we need a comedy break from? Well, during my first year there was some misunderstandings that got blown out of proportion, (my male colleagues teased me in ways I found inappropriate, but they found good-humored) and I became ostracized from my classmates. People would stop conversations when I walked into the room and shoot me death stares until I left or the class started. Not to mention, in addition to this sophomoric behavior, I almost failed out of the program. My undergrad institution did not give me quite the background I needed to pass my entrance exams and some professors felt that my failing the first time around meant I was unqualified for the program. Instead of helping me, they sent my transcript the signal that they disapproved of my existence and I was on academic probation. I was told, by notably the worst Director of Graduate Students, that if I didn't pass at least one of my entrance exams in the next sitting, I would be asked to leave. In that one conversation, my whole academic life seemed to have flashed before my eyes. All the times I chose play rehearsal instead of Mathletes now seemed to be a giant mistake. Forget being well-rounded if you are in jeopardy.
Obviously my story has a bit of a happy ending. I did pass both of my entrance exams in the next sitting, not to mention bringing up my cumulative GPA to remove my being in probation and I have successfully stayed as much, if not more, on track than a lot of my entering class. I'm in good company out of the 7 of us that have yet to defend. And truthfully, I believe that my switching projects 4 times awards me the most leniency on that front as well.
Where did all this start? The notion of having a TV series called "Grad School." I don't think it will ever catch like Grey's Anatomy, for the same reasons why writing this blog has proved to be more difficult than I had originally estimated. I had thought that I would have much more to report that was exciting, stimulating, thrilling, compelling... Even if I were to go into the gritty details of each proof, it still wouldn't be as dramatic as made for TV programing is. Well, not at this moment, anyhow. However, still ahead we will witness committee selection, room assignment, defense date, browbeating dissertation reading, etc. I can still foresee lots of drama ahead as I work out that defense.
What would we need a comedy break from? Well, during my first year there was some misunderstandings that got blown out of proportion, (my male colleagues teased me in ways I found inappropriate, but they found good-humored) and I became ostracized from my classmates. People would stop conversations when I walked into the room and shoot me death stares until I left or the class started. Not to mention, in addition to this sophomoric behavior, I almost failed out of the program. My undergrad institution did not give me quite the background I needed to pass my entrance exams and some professors felt that my failing the first time around meant I was unqualified for the program. Instead of helping me, they sent my transcript the signal that they disapproved of my existence and I was on academic probation. I was told, by notably the worst Director of Graduate Students, that if I didn't pass at least one of my entrance exams in the next sitting, I would be asked to leave. In that one conversation, my whole academic life seemed to have flashed before my eyes. All the times I chose play rehearsal instead of Mathletes now seemed to be a giant mistake. Forget being well-rounded if you are in jeopardy.
Obviously my story has a bit of a happy ending. I did pass both of my entrance exams in the next sitting, not to mention bringing up my cumulative GPA to remove my being in probation and I have successfully stayed as much, if not more, on track than a lot of my entering class. I'm in good company out of the 7 of us that have yet to defend. And truthfully, I believe that my switching projects 4 times awards me the most leniency on that front as well.
Where did all this start? The notion of having a TV series called "Grad School." I don't think it will ever catch like Grey's Anatomy, for the same reasons why writing this blog has proved to be more difficult than I had originally estimated. I had thought that I would have much more to report that was exciting, stimulating, thrilling, compelling... Even if I were to go into the gritty details of each proof, it still wouldn't be as dramatic as made for TV programing is. Well, not at this moment, anyhow. However, still ahead we will witness committee selection, room assignment, defense date, browbeating dissertation reading, etc. I can still foresee lots of drama ahead as I work out that defense.
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