Friday was my dissertation defense day. The defense is
partly about my dissertation, which was about statistical techniques for
comparing physiological activity in mothers and their children (yawn, I know),
but also the last chance for my committee to ‘test’ me about anything I should
know before earning a PhD. I got some typical questions such as “what would you
change about this study?” “who cares about this information?” and some very
abstract questions like “define behavior.”
So, I guess it’s mostly official, I am Dr. Melissa Bright. I don’t feel
like it will sink in until graduation day, or maybe even after. I have met all
the requirements for graduation so technically I could do nothing more between
now and August 4th and I will still earn the PhD. Friday didn’t feel
too much different than any other day and I certainly don’t feel any different.
Maybe it will sink in the first time I introduce myself to someone (probably in
an academic setting) as Dr. Melissa bright. I’ve written it three times in this
post alone and it still feels the same…
This is a little motivational sign I made for myself about a year ago to remind myself that all I have to do is write (that's the basis of a PhD, really) to finish and get to Australia. I had 4 major benchmarks and I crossed off each one as I finished them.
No comments:
Post a Comment