Livia Augusta, C.Phil.

The Arch of Titus, Rome

I am officially a doctoral candidate!

The oral exam was virtually painless – I wasn’t asked to talk about questions that I didn’t answer on my written exams, the whole thing was mostly a conversation about my prospectus. I was asked to clarify some points in my exams that relate to my dissertation project (points about the usefulness of theoretical approaches, significance of some prior scholarship).

I was asked to define Hellenization and to describe the Hellenization of the Jews… you know, nothing hard.

The only question that really threw me was something about Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue – which I didn’t remember and had to ask about before I could go on (it’s the one that “predicts” the golden age and Augustus).

I was mostly showered with praise for the exams and the prospectus, and asked how I would tie things together. I got comments on my bibliography, and some reading recommendations. They even helped me decide which chapter to start with when I start my research – which is good since I don’t know how the hell to write a dissertation!!

So, now I have to come up with a working title and get started. I don’t really have a title yet, and I’d like to have one handy!

I am really surprised how painless the oral exam was. First, I was sent out for about 10 minutes while the professors discussed what they wanted to cover in the exam. Then in the first hour we talked about my exams and how the things I wrote are related to my dissertation, how to tie different things together. Then in the next hour and a half we talked about my dissertation, what my questions really are, and how my work will contribute to the larger scholarly conversation. After about the first 15 minutes of talking with the professors I felt ok, and it didn’t really feel like an exam or a defense. It felt like a very supportive and constructive conversation and critique of  my project. I’m kind of stunned at how easy it was in the end, how not scary it was, and how much praise I received.  It was kind of anti-climactic, like my written exams were.

So, I’m Livia Augusta, C.Phil.

Finally.

Beach U. SMACKDOWN: Livia vs. Three Professors

The madness ensues as Livia Augusta steps into the ring with not one, not two, but THREE tenured professors and fights for her life (or the life of her academic & professional career, anyway) for three long hours, while wearing appropriate professional attire and trying not to twitch from the combination of sleep deprivation and too much coffee. Livia takes on The Advisor, The Roman History Guy, and the Ancient Judaism Guy at 10am Beach University time, TOMORROW. Will she defeat the trio of academic hotshots or will she be sent back to the library to try another day? WILL SHE ADVANCE TO CANDIDACY? WILL SHE SOON BE KNOW AS LIVIA AUGUSTA, C.Phil.?? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

(That’s right folks, Livia is finally having her oral exam and defending her dissertation proposal. Livia now returns to her regularly scheduled reviewing & panicking.)

Institutionalized Hazing

There’s got to be a better way to advise students through the exam and prospectus parts of a doctoral program. It’s fucking brutal out there.

Now, this is not to suggest that my advisors are bad advisors. In fact, my advisors all pretty much rocks and my issues are more about the processes of doctoral exams, deciding on a dissertation topic and writing a prospectus. Let’s face it, the process is pretty much institutionalized hazing, a professional gauntlet to run that leaves us bruised, bloodied and broken on the inside and exhausted, pudgy and pale on the outside. There has got to be a way to guide students through the process of reading 3-5 books a week (or a book a day if you’re a sick, sick bastard) that doesn’t leave them numb to the world and in a perpetual state of panic. In retrospect, there are a number of things I would have done differently.

First, I would like more accountability for me and for my examiners. For me that means meeting weekly with someone to talk about what I read that week – even if it’s a friend who doesn’t know what I study. Just someone asking, “So, what did you read this week?” For my examiners it means they need to keep track of my reading list and periodically check to be sure we’re on the same page about what’s going to be on the exam, what’s necessary etc. You see, I, and a number of people I know, ended up with a “surprise” list of 20-40 items to read in the last month or two of preparation. That shouldn’t happen when an examiner has a copy of an exam reading list early in the process.

Second, having a discussion about what exactly they think a “field exam” is would be very helpful. What kind of scope do they except? It’s also very important to know what is realistic – can a human actually read 800 pages in a day? What kind of reading is required? Can it be skimming or must it be analytical, critical reading? Do I need to know the details or just the big picture? How many of the books on a given list should the student be expected to know and how many should the student be expected to know about?

So, the process could be made so much easier if 1) the examiner and the student have a clear conversation about what the examiner means when s/he says “field exam,” 2) the examiner has a reasonable expectation for the time frame in which said number of books should be read, 3) the examiner actually sets and reviews the exam reading list with enough time for the student to get through it (or mostly through it) by the exam date – that is, the examiner should not add an exorbitant number of books in the last month or two before the exam date because s/he should have set the list early on and should have reviewed the list with the student. While I am fully aware that graduate students need to take responsibility for a lot of this, many of us really have no idea what the process is like or what we’re expected to do in the process of changing from a student to a professional scholar – but our advisors, examiners and committee members do know what it’s like, and it’s something they can teach us and advise us on.

All I’m getting at is that there’s got a better way to do these things, and that both students and examiners need to know what’s going on and be accountable to each other. So, how we do find better ways to advise and supervise our own students through these processes?