I'm almost finished with my dissertation prospectus.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

Wish me luck; I've had to change directors in the middle of this so who knows what the new guy will think? He's very nice, though. Too late to change now; the die is cast

[Bouncy Ball]

1. Good luck

I'm just working on a thesis, but I feel ya.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

2. good luck. it's just a bunch of hoops that you got to jump through

but you got to jump through them all. Some are large, some are small and some are flaming!

[Bouncy Ball]

3. I know

:cry:

The introduction is due a week from tomorrow. I am having pitifully slow results on the review of literature and I have nothing written.

:cry:

But I WILL pull this off!

[salin]

4. Lots of luck!

Good karma and all of that!

Congrats on getting to (and through, positive thinking and all of that) another major step.

All kudos to you and others who have the spine to persevere. I made it to candidacy, and all the way to ABD before realizing that I was on a fast track towards a life that I really didn't want. Had to know that I could do it (and for awhile the self doubts were big... but thats natural for many), before I could start to evaluate if it was what I wanted to do. When I realized that I had gotten what I had sought (a heck of a lot knowledge, expertise and connections) I realized that I would rather spend two years struggling and starving to start the nonprofit I had dreamed of for years, rather than two more years doing qualitative research, analysis, writing and defense - as a prelude for staying on the research end rather than the practitioners end. While my choice was right for me (just got that darn organization off of the ground... and LOVE what I am doing - but know that I couldn't have done it without going all the way through to the abd stage - so no regrets) it has not dampened my appreciation for the amazing amount of dedication and hard word that it takes to get through the hoops and to the point at which you sit now - and to the gauntlet that you will certainly come through to the other end with flying colors.

:toast: Keep us "posted" :D

[democrat in Tallahassee]

7. this is the second time I've been ABD; this first time I wasn't

able to finish because of family medical problems. When I went back they made me take 12 hours and retake the prelims. What a pain in the ass, but at least they have some very strict standards, which I suppose is good.
And you are right; sometimes you have to pursue something to find out it's not right for you. Congrats on finding something you love; we should all be that lucky.

[salin]

8. That extra hurdle for you

(though it must have been a pain to redo) - just let you recommit to yourself that this thing (in all of its glory and misery) is what you really wanted to do. The one constant I have witnessed, in those who have made it through with the least deep scars, is that they REALLY knew, deep down, that this is what they wanted - and thus that they weren't going to take any of the bumps in the process personally. That mindset really has launched a thousand ships/careers.

Per myself, when I left my program (top in its field in the country - lots of ego tied up in that which made leaving very hard)... I ended up working at another U as an analyst. Profs on the project treated me as an equal (where I had left being a "grad student"), but kept trying to get me to reconsider ... or start over at their (lesser prestige - in the field) U. It was very hard for them to understand that I like research, am good at it, and in someways find that world very intellectually seductive... but that I had walked away for a bigger desire - and that for me the desire was not academe. Almost like I had to go through a last seduction and be so certain in my heart that this isn't what I wanted, to be certain now (several years later) that as I pursue my dream, that there are no doubts about the path not taken/backed away from. Way more info than needed here - but an affirmation of how freeing it feels when one gets through the guantlets (and while it is different, starting a viable organization from scratch also includes a lot of hurdles) and finally be doing, what one has long longed to do. May you find that satisfaction. I wish it for everyone.

[Igel]

5. Good luck, and I hope it's accepted without many problems.

What field, and how intense? (I've heard of prospectuses done after all the research was finished, and other that are 10 pages long and sketch out something that might eventually look interesting.)

I'm dissertating ... s l o w l y ...

[democrat in Tallahassee]

6. Mine is 60 pages and very detailed; I've been researching for

almost a year and finally had to just sit down and get thoughts on paper.I made it very detailed so there will no misunderstanding about what they are expecting. I'm writing a biography of a female 19th century classist from a totally new angle that has never been considered before.
How is yours going? What are you doing? It's very hard to work in such isolation.

[Igel]

9. Mine's going slowly. Fortunately, my advisor just

wanted to know what the topic was--it went less than 20 pages, outlining experiments and alternatives if the experiments prove nothing very pertinent.

The good news is that the lab I need to use is finally up and running, so work can resume. (It's an eyetracker lab; we monitor eye movements, which are a reliable indication of attention, which is a reliable indicator of when people understand what they hear.)

A prospectus is sometimes the toughest part of the process--figuring out how to chunk out a piece of the universe for study, one that's small enough to be manageable, bounded in a way that makes it non-arbitrarily finite, and large enough to be dissertatable, all while being interesting enough to be worth a year or two of your life.

On the other hand, a new hire at UCLA when I was still taking classes passed along the following advice: "Almost nobody on the hiring committee will read your dissertation past the abstract." "The only good dissertation is a finished dissertation." "The dissertation doesn't have to be good, just good enough."

Good luck!