RBP and other Phd's

[cahabalily]

I need a pep talk, like yesterday.

I'm studying for my candidacy exams (writtens start two weeks from tomorrow) and as I'm reading all of this crap, in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "Oh shit there is no way in hell I'm going to remember all of this for my oral...". I can't focus because all I can think is how I'll never remember everything!

What if I go in there and forget everything? The writtens are okay because they're open-book, but the oral - that's 5 (FIVE!) hours with my committee... there's now way I know 5 hours worth of anything

[Deleted]

Holy crap, I never had anything like those oral exams. I have had several cumulative hours of my committee bashing me during my research reports, though. I might not be the best person to provide encouragement, because grad school kind of sucked for me. I ended up with crippling anxiety, a prescription for Lexapro, and a weekly appointment with my therapist. But it has definitely made me a better problem solver, not to mention more patient and better able to accept criticism. So there's that.

I am also a little worried about my defense, because in writing my dissertation, I kept thinking of all this minutiae that my committee could ask me. Eek! My best advice is to ask your adviser and/or more advanced graduate students in your program how best to prepare for your oral exam. Make a daily plan for studying. You may not 100% stick to it because some topics may take longer to review than others, but at least you'll have a guide to keep you focused.

Also, Pandora. I listened all the freaking time when I was writing my dissertation.

[cahabalily]

Thanks, I think... Your first paragraph made me do this :-|

I've gotten feedback from each committee member on what kinds of questions they'll ask me, but I know in the oral, if I don't steer my answers in the right direction, we'll go down a road that is beyond my expertise

And I'm only 2 years in and have already come to love my Cymbalta... therapy will be my next step...

When is your defense?

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2012 15:37:25 GMT -5 cahabalily said:

Thanks, I think... Your first paragraph made me do this

I've gotten feedback from each committee member on what kinds of questions they'll ask me, but I know in the oral, if I don't steer my answers in the right direction, we'll go down a road that is beyond my expertise

And I'm only 2 years in and have already come to love my Cymbalta... therapy will be my next step...

When is your defense?

Sorry. I try to stay away from visitation weekend here because I'm too jaded to have any contact with prospective students.

I am defending on August 28th.

Despite my gloom-and-doom, I think that you will be ok. I always liked talking to my labmates about their experiences with exams/oral reports and found out that it wasn't really that bad. I bet that in your second year, your committee won't expect you to know everything. Heck, I don't know close to everything about my field! Good luck!!

[5thofjuly]

Can you get some example questions from your committee and practice those? That helped me more than anything. I also made up my own questions based on my reading list.

[dragonfly08]

My committee chair reminded me that I wasn't expected to know everything. It was perfectly ok to say "that's a great question, I'll have to look into that" if necessary. I didn't need to; the actual experience of the oral defense was far less frightening than the anticipation! If you've done a good job on your written exam and you know that, and the foundations in your field of study, you should be fine. Your committee wants you to pass...they might ask a question you don't know the answer to if it's really relevant, but they aren't (or shouldn't be) trying to purposely trip you up for no reason. Good luck!

[dr.girlfriend]

Is this for comps, or for your dissertation? For comps, I think they don't expect you to know all the answers, just be able to think through things. For dissertation, no one is going to know the topic better than you. If something comes up and you draw a blank, say, "That's a really good point. That's definitely something I'll consider and get back to you about." I had one guy who asked really odd, picky questions, I think just to "show off" to the other committee members. I think the main thing was that I didn't get frazzled, and just acknowledged his question and moved on, and the way I handled him impressed my committee more than a lot of the content of my answers. :-D

[womet]

Dr. G is correct. In your oral exam, they will be looking for how well you can think on your feet, how well you can articulate the underlying principles in your discipline, and what your thought process is. They do not expect for each and every candidate to answer their questions correctly all of the time. If you don't know something, use the response Dr.G gave.

Good luck!!

[cahabalily]

Thanks, Dr. G - that's great advice. And it is for comps...

[insominac]

Eat up time, by playing the members against one another...

"Interesting point Steven. It reminds me of the study done by you Jane that highlighted the issues with defining socioeconomic status with a unidimensional framework. Jane do you agree?"

Half of the time will be taken up with questions. No academic can ask a question in under 5 minutes. lol

[lanyac]

I'm taking my 2 hour oral exam on the 14th. So nervous.

[2boys2danes]

I dont have any real advice per se, I finished mine in 1997 so its all kind of a blur but at my dissertation defense a fight broke out between my chairman and another professor. Like, seriously, almost came to blows... so that took some time and everyone felt sorry for me so I think they went easier on me ha ha

Good luck!

[keweenawlove]

The sounds brutal! My oral exam only ended up being an hour. Between doing mine and watching other defenses, the best advice I can think of is if you don’t know an answer to a question, just talk about how you would go about solving it. I think a lot of times, the committee just wants to see your problem solving skills. I’ve seen many times were people didn’t know an answer and they still passed.

Good Luck!

[Deleted]

Aug 7, 2012 9:24:41 GMT -5 keweenawlove said:

The sounds brutal! My oral exam only ended up being an hour. Between doing mine and watching other defenses, the best advice I can think of is if you don’t know an answer to a question, just talk about how you would go about solving it. I think a lot of times, the committee just wants to see your problem solving skills. I’ve seen many times were people didn’t know an answer and they still passed.

Good Luck!

This is a great point. Admission to candidacy in my program requires passing a number of cumulative exams as well as an oral research report. However, 15 months into the program, we weren't expected to have a whole lot of research results. The faculty were more interested in our understanding of the scientific method and how to carry out experiments than pure productivity at that point. So I think this idea might carry over to your oral exams, like PP mentioned.

[barefootcontessa]

Having been on the other side of things I can tell you it is in the interest of your committee for you to pass. Deans look down on departments with low Ph.D. completion rates. I am not saying that you should not take this very seriously, but you should not allow yourself to be paralyzed with fear and anxiety.

It sounds like you are hard sciences, so my experience in social science might not be helpful, but my advice is to think big picture: where are the major divisions in your subfield? compare and contrast approaches? are some methods better for some questions and why?

Re: your dissertation. You are the expert here. If someone raises a question you have not already through about, acknowledge and say you will consider and get back if you cannot answer thoroughly then. Honestly, if you advisor lets you come up for either prospectus or dissertation defense and you do not pass, your advisor has not done their job (at least that is how it is in my field).

[dr.girlfriend]

Also, this is less for comps and more for dissertation proposal defense or dissertation defense, but I'll throw it out there for the future or others who might be reading. Have an "end slide", throw a blank in there, and then throw in any extra slides that you cut for being too detailed, etc. There is nothing more impressive than someone asking a picky question and you being able to say, "Actually, I have a slide for that right here..." It was like a commenter saying, "Too bad you don't have the auditory brainstem response" and I was like, "Actually, I thought it might be too much detail for the overall presentation, but I happen to have it right here..." This has only happened twice in my career that I've been able to actually whip one of them out, but both both times people were So. Damn. Impressed. Totally worth the minimal effort.