How many years left till you graduate?
2008 September 16
I stopped counting how many years I have been in grad school. But when people ask me how long till I graduate, I keep telling them “one year left.” I started telling them one year left for the past two years. So, this cartoon got to be one of the best that explains my journey in grad school.
hahaha
and that is exactly one of the reasons I opted against the phd route to my father’s great disappointment. I just can’t deal with that uncertainty…now when people ask I can say in 3.5 years!
ughhhhh
This was the most dreadful question I had answer, if not even dodge during my visit to Jordan this summer. I found myself constantly correcting people’s information when they’d say, “inshalla elsaneh eljayeh bteejiii duktoooorah” LOL.. i’d be like, “meen 2aalkum haik?? I still have at least 2 years left to go ezaa mish aktar” .. bla bla bla
And wait till you hear their responses to that, the funniest of which is, “ma elik tlat sneen hunaik!”
This is when i’d really explode in their faces and would be like, “yeah dudes, I completed my M.A in two years, in addition to a whole freaking year of ph.d course work”…
anyway, that question can really be frustrating, hence i purposefully answer, a minimum of two years.
Assom and Secratea thanks for sharing. I enjoy knowing I am not suffering alone. WO ha ha Wo ha ha (evil laugh). No, I am just kidding I wish you all the best of course.
A friend of mine, who works here, went this summer to Jordan. He told me everyone there asked him the same question about me “What is jaraad doing there all these years? Is he really still doing his PhD? Fulan and other fulan finished their PhD in 3 years!” The problem with our society back home is that the only important thing is to be called “doctoor fulan” not how good you were in your field or what have you done there. Whether “doctoor fulan” had published any papers or not is not of any significant. Alas!
AAAAAAAAAAAH, this is like the worst thing about being in grad school the uncertainty of the future!
I have come to the conclusion that NO ONE can really understand unless they are currently in grad school IN YOUR FIELD
It just sucks. In my field, an average PhD takes 6-7 years. When I told my parents that, my father freaked out. I assured him I was working like a crazy person so I could finish in 4-4.5 but he still doesn’t understand how I can’t finish in 3 years.
If my extended family member, who is an idiot, finished a PhD in Comp Sci in the UK in 3 years, why can’t I, who is much smarter than him, finish in 3 years, if not 2.5? AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! (Don’t even get me started on UK PhDs..they don’t even take coursework!!!!!!!!!!!!!)