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February 18, 2009
If my life is a shoe, I am laced with ambition
I ought to be doing homework right now--let's just get that out of the way. My Language and Cognition course this semester is awesome. It's reminding me exactly how much I love science by studying the way the brain processes language. Amazing stuff. Language! Science! Learning! It doesn't get much better...
In the meantime, I was accepted to the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi. I'll be inducted on March 29th. Pretty exciting considering I wasn't exactly aware that I still had a 4.0 in graduate school. :-)
I've also been thinking about how working full-time has altered my route through grad school. I haven't exactly been thrilled with the idea of having to trudge through courses one at a time till 2010. So I sat down with my program course listing the other day and found an "out" for myself that actually aligns more with my future goals.
So here's the deal: I'll have 24 of 36 credits for my program after this semester. I need 12 more. I have two more required courses that will both be offered in Fall 2009, both at times I can fit in my schedule (!), so those are in. So where do my last 6 credits come from? They're listed as "open electives," but there's a thesis option. I can take 6 credits of thesis writing over the summer, write it, defend it, and--voilà!--I have a master's degree. Graduation: December 2009, which is a full year sooner than I would finish on my current course-at-a-time plan.
Woo! So I'm thrilled about this idea. I wanted to ask someone about writing a thesis anyway since my goal is to head into a Ph.D. program after my M.A. is through. I think it'll help me wrap my head around some real research and get comfortable with the idea of larger projects... all my own... and with real weight. It's still a little scary, but it's a good kind of fear, deep in my gut, that feels a lot like excitement laced with ambition. I have a few ideas I'm investigating, but until they're a little more clear I'm hesitant to say what I'd like to write about.
But all of this also means that it's time for me to begin reconsidering Ph.D. programs that will suit my interests and my needs. Suggestions are (very) welcome. Currently I'm considering The Ohio State University, Kent State University (OH), and University of Pittsburgh.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at February 18, 2009 4:35 PM