Quals update

After a long week, we got unofficial work on Friday that V passed the written part of his exams. Official word came yesterday. The time in limbo was mostly spent studying, relaxing and drinking. One of my labmates also took writtens with V. So on Friday, we joined the rest of the lab at Labmate's apartment to play Guitar Hero. That lasted 15 minutes and we moved on to Beer Pong. Neither V nor I had ever played before so Labmate was particularly excited to corrupt us older folks. We played males vs. females and my lack of distance perception did me no favors. Beer Pong = Ouch*!

The oral part of the exam will be this week. Everything is very rushed due to professors' field schedules. Labmate takes orals tomorrow evening and V is on deck for Friday morning. Can't wait for it to be over!









*Good fun though.

Good thoughts please!

Please send your best thoughts our way as V, one of my labmates and two other friends embark on their qualifying exams today! There are written exams then an oral. The way the exam is set up, it is not your typical comprehensive exam (that comes later). For most, it has very little to do with your research or area of study at all. The exam is based upon a number of pre-approved courses that you take. We are a diverse department so those courses are quite diverse as well. While all the courses are interesting, there is a big leap between interesting and qualifying exam intense studying. V has done a much better job of it that I did. He seems to have far more persistence for sticking with those 'interesting' courses. About 1/3 of my studying time was devoted to looking for industry jobs that I got apply for after I failed the exams. Not allowing for any lulls in excitement, I also had the closing on my house the day before my orals. Luckily I passed and my claim-to-fame story (my advisor makes sure we each have one) is that as soon as the committee came out of the room to congratulate me, I collapsed to the floor. The relief of seeing smiling faces and release of stress culminated in having to sit down in the hallway.
Any other good exam passing stories out there?

I have no doubt V will pass with ease but please wish him (and all the others) luck anyway!