The completion of my Ph.D. has not exactly been the triumphant march I had expected. My dissertation defense was remarkably anti-climactic, and it doesn't help that I took a good four months to finish my revisions and deposit the final copy with the University. At least I had good reasons for being busy in January, February, and March! As I was frantically finishing revisions last week, I ran into a committee member in the hall who teased me, "What, you're still here?" Yes, I am still here. As much as I've tried to think of myself as "done" with UM and prepared to be faculty elsewhere, it turns out that a number of checklist items remain to be accomplished. My relationship with UM, it seems, will peter out in dribs and drabs over the next month or so.
I went to my final post-defense meeting at the Graduate School today. The administrator handed me a piece of paper with a URL on it; I used my own laptop to upload a PDF of my dissertation and a copy of my abstract. She opened the file on her own computer, checked it over for formatting, and printed out a certificate for me. Then it was over. That's it? This time, I didn't even get the satisfying feeling of thumping a large stack of paper down on the desk.
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See the shiny gold sticker at the bottom? It arouses such conflicting feelings in me. On the one hand: shiny gold sticker! I LOVE IT. On the other: seven years of labor for a stupid sticker? When will I learn to stop caring about the shiny gold stickers??
I went to my final post-defense meeting at the Graduate School today. The administrator handed me a piece of paper with a URL on it; I used my own laptop to upload a PDF of my dissertation and a copy of my abstract. She opened the file on her own computer, checked it over for formatting, and printed out a certificate for me. Then it was over. That's it? This time, I didn't even get the satisfying feeling of thumping a large stack of paper down on the desk.
See the shiny gold sticker at the bottom? It arouses such conflicting feelings in me. On the one hand: shiny gold sticker! I LOVE IT. On the other: seven years of labor for a stupid sticker? When will I learn to stop caring about the shiny gold stickers??
"peter out in dribs and drabs"-- this expression needs to become 1000x more frequently used in our language!
ReplyDeletei remember in college when you did something clumsy / silly / careless, you would announce, "i get a GOLD STAR!" (or was it, "that gets a gold star"? and/or, "great, you get a gold star, katie!")
haha, i don't remember that at ALL! but definitely sounds like me. ;)
Deletei've thought about it for a day, and now i think it was, "GOLD STAR, katie, GOLD STAR!"
Deletehey i love the gold star! SO PRETTY! :D
ReplyDeletejust think about when you have it in a nice frame and it's on the wall and you walk around the house doing something else and your eye catches the beautiful gold star... ;)
haha, katie, WAY TOO ENCOURAGING. the whole point is that this truly is a meaningless piece of paper. it's not actually the diploma (which doesn't usually being with "to whom it may concern...in the normal course of events..." ;) i suppose it would be useful if someone demanded proof of my ability to graduate, but otherwise, i'm probably going to throw it out. haha!
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