Defended

I realized I never shared about my dissertation defense so better late than never, right? The defense is typically the last hurdle in someone's PhD program and can also be called the final oral exam. Each program is different in how long the defenses last. Mine was over in about 30 minutes but I know others last longer. 

The defense went pretty much as I outlined in this post. The most stressful aspect was the Q&A portion with my committee. A few of them asked me some questions that I simply wasn't expecting, but I was able to muddle my way through them. After that portion, I was told to go into the hall while they deliberated. After what felt like an hour but was probably like 3 minutes, my chair opened the door and said, "Congratulations, Dr. Craig!" SUCH a good feeling! I passed with very minor revisions!

I celebrated that day with some friends and Matt took me to dinner that night. I took the weekend off and we spent it with Matt's family in Austin- a great relaxing way to enjoy being done. Once we got back, I spent about half a day on the revisions, and then completed some minor formatting edits with the graduate dean's office. The final stage was walking back and forth multiple times from the grad dean's office to the copy center. The last thing was turning in a piece of paper with the graduate dean reader. So anti-climatic for what it indicates you finished...

Regardless, it is DONE now! I get to pick up my binded copy in 3 months! Now all that's left is to finish teaching my undergraduate class and then graduation ceremonies. I picked up my graduation regalia (seriously, that's what it's called apparently) and had way too much fun laughing at the hat.

Seriously, how could you not laugh at yourself while wearing that?

Bathroom mirror selfie FTW

Between earning my final degree (please no more school!), moving into our first house, and starting my first 'real' job in a few months, it is certainly a time of transition. Will definitely keep this blog updated as life continues to be interesting!