Big Day (of 3) Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the first day of my qualification exam. It qualifies me to be a candidate for PhD. Every graduate program has a different method, and in some cases a different name, for administering the exam. Some get questions and a week to answer, while others have to do assessments and write-ups on patients. The exam I start tomorrow spans three days. Day 1 and day 2, though not necessarily consecutive, involve the writing portion and day 3 is the oral defense. At 8 am, I will receive questions surrounding two of four previously chosen and researched topics. I do not get to know which topics those are. I will have from 8 a.m. until noon to prepare my answers. Then after a 30 minute lunch I will go to a closed-off, secure room and write out my answers until 5 p.m. or until I am finished, whichever comes first. Now, I don't necessarily have to take the full 4 hours in the morning. I do this process twice. Two full days of writing. Ugh! Then no sooner than two weeks later, I sit in a room with my committee and they grill me about my answers. Double ugh!

As I mentioned, I do the first day of written tomorrow (Monday, August 9, 2010). Then I take a break for a day, or as I will likely be doing, cramming for the next day of written since I will know what those topics are. Then on August 11, 2010, I will take the second day of written. If you are astute, you will have noticed that August 10th falls in between those two days of the written tests. That is my birthday. My 31st birthday to be exact. And according to the Frisky, because we all know how reliable and extremely important their information is (not!), I will reach my peak (www.thefrisky.com/post/246-women-are-most-appealing-at-age-31/). It doesn't necessarily mean it's all downhill from here, but it is based on a survey that women are still beautiful (read: no wrinkles yet) and we finally know it (took us long enough!).

Now, this would all be great if I wasn't in the throes of a crucial part of my career development. I am hoping this newfound confidence (and matching beauty of course) will still be around on August 24th, the day after my oral defense. That will be just in time for me to start teaching at my new job. :-)

Wish me luck (I'm going to need it)!