"P" in Ph.D. stands for Procrastinator. It's the Doctor of All Doctors. It's Complicated.
Two weeks ago, I excitedly mentioned going to my last class ever as a Ph.D. student. Believe me, I'm still super duper excited about it, though reality set back in. There are three final projects/assignments to wrap up and turn in by Wednesday for said classes. Then, I have to start thinking about comprehensive exams, which I'll start sometime this summer, ideally by mid or late June, with an eye towards starting my dissertation this fall. Ack! It's actually really really scary (but more on that another day). I'm just having a bitch of a time staying motivated enough to finish these last assignments and not cave to procrastination.
What else? Oh!...I got a new job at the medical school that starts in mid-June! Well, it's not a "real" job in that it's not a permanent full-time position. But it is a 12-month graduate assistantship for the '09-10 school year. I saw the job listing while applying for financial aid in early March, applied for it, was invited to interview in March, and got an immediate offer. I'm psyched about because 1) it comprises my grad student funding (tuition and health insurance) for next year, and 2) it's going to be super interesting and *could* possibly even open new professional doors to me.
I'm not sure if you guys know this, or if I've ever even mentioned it, but there's a niche area of Educational Psychology that has to do with Medical Education. The career opportunities for people like me in this specialty area are kind of a well-kept secret, always met with a surprised look and an "oh, you work in the MEDICAL school? what do you do there?". I'm excited though, because it's a chance to use my quantitative/analytic background and qualitative skills to do program evaluation and assess what works and what doesn't in the ways med schools are delivering education to students and medical residents (future doctors). Yes, all those statistics classes weren't *completely* useless.
In addition, there are so many lightning speed changes occuring in terms of new medical/healthcare technology, and new instructional/educational technology (ranging from podcasting and other audiovisual stuff, to using robot patient simulators). And we have better understandings about cognition and learning styles today, and how people learn best, and what it means for schools and teachers/professors to develop and implement good curriculum (regardless of whether students are children in K-12, or adults at universities or professional schools). I'm excited to drive the wave of change by overhauling and helping to re-write a new medical school curriculum that will be implemented over the next decade here and at comparable university medical schools. Regardless of my ultimate career ambitions and/or the type of employment I seek upon finishing my Ph.D.,I think what I learn and contribute in this job will be invaluable and exciting!
In other news, I found out I have to go to St. Louis for a business trip (to present a paper) in early November. Never been there before, but want to see the Gateway Arch, if nothing else!
FINALLY, you know how FB has a relationship status option that says "It's Complicated"? (Not that I'd ever actually use that on my profile in real life!). I don't mean to leave you hanging...or maybe I do...but maybe I'll tell you more later. In short, there's someone in my life that I'm trying to figure out whether I want to ultimately be with for the long-term, not necessarily now, but eventually. He has expressed his hope/desire, but...it's just really complicated right now. Maybe I'm a relationship procrastinator in addition to being a work/school procrastinator?
