Hoops

i forgot to write about October's big event. i presented my prospectus and passed that phase of my Master's program. yes, it is a little late in my program for a prospectus presentation, but my program hasn't followed a normal schedule. i changed my thesis topic, changed my courses and dropped one committee member in exchange for another. all that adds up to doing my prospectus late in my Master's program.

my prospectus presentation was a good experience overall - it cleared up a few things for me to do in my research and writing and my project got a little smaller; a little more focused. the most important thing was that i passed.

the next in line was my oral exam. i was thinking that i'd taking that exam the week before thanksgiving. then my advisor announces that she's scheduled my exam for the 13th of November. ¿!? okay... i guess that's alright.

one of the side effects of the slightly early scheduling meant that i got to stand up in front of my Community Ecology class to lead the question and answer period on Wednesday of this week. one of my committee members teaches Community Ecology and he wanted to give the class an example of what happens in oral exams. i was definitely glad that i hadn't slacked of on that day's reading assignments.

the odd part about having to lead the discussion this week is that i am the only student who has had to lead the whole class in discussion. originally the plan for the semester was to take turns leading the discussion every other day; trading off between students and the professor. after i was picked first and led a less than animated discussion, the professor decided to change the discussion days to small groups. at least a couple of other students have had to get up to draw a diagram on the board and describe that diagram, but it hasn't quite been the same as what i've had to do.

getting back to the scheduling... i made a mistake and didn't make sure i met with the final committee member to secure the schedule. i made some attempts to meet, but those meetings got delayed. this gave my advisor too much wiggle room.

on Wednesday of this week (the 5th - the same day as leading the discussion), i got an email informing me and the rest of my committee that there were scheduling conflicts so my exam was going to be bumped up to today (the 7th). ¿¡what!?

now we come to the best part. on Thursday, as i was on my way to finally talk to the third and final member of my committee, i was followed into the room by my advisor. as i asked about the scheduling issues with Friday, i found out that my advisor had forgotten that i was scheduled for NEXT week. she didn't realize that she had bumped my exam forward a whole 6 days. yeesh.

i could have been a little more comfortable this morning for my exam. 8:30am, there i was. some of the questions were good, some were out there. even if i wasn't as comfortable as i could have been, i don't think i was nervous. Laura asked me if i thought i was ready, and i said that it didn't matter at that point. if they failed me, then we'd just reschedule my exam and the next try would be a little more focused.

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well... i thought i wasn't going to find out the results until late this afternoon because one of my committee members had other places to be right after my question-and-answer period. it turns out that the other meeting was cancelled and my committee was able to meet right after i left the room. i found out 20 minutes ago.

i passed.

one more hoop is behind me.