It's the Beginning of the End

So I've officially completed the first week of my last semester at school. I've scheduled my comprehensive exams for the second week in November, with my oral defense sometime the following week. I tried to get it for the first week of October so that I could relax when I went to Boston in mid-October, but my committee chair said that wasn't enough time to adquately prepare.

This semester is going to be tough! My course work load is going to be heavy, with at least 2 case studies in each class and 2 presentations. Not to mention that we have weekly quizzes in each class! Oy vey! How nuts is that?!

On the plus side, my classmates are awesome, my teams are picked, and I'm ready to go. I can't tell you how good it feels to know that in less than 4 months I'll have a Master's degree! In reality, it seems like just yesterday I was starting grad school. I can't believe it's already drawing to a close.

Oh, and for those of you who have been asking about how grad school works for me, here's a little detail. In my college (Communications) you can either do thesis or non-thesis. For the students who choose non-thesis (like myself) you must complete 36 hours of coursework and then take a comprehensive exam covering all your coursework. In your 24th hour of coursework you select a 3-man committee who will prepare you for comps. Your committe chair will petition each of your professors for a question, and then you must prepare for each of the questions you are given. The written exam consists of 3-4 questions selected by your committee that you answer over 2 days (you are given 2 hours to answer each question.) A week after your written exams you go before your committee for an oral defense of your written exams. In your defense you justify why you used a certain theory or did not choose to use a theory, etc. I've heard that your defense can take a couple of hours - YIKES! If you pass, then you graduate; if you don't pass, then you're in trouble.

With all that being said, I am confident that my committee will prepare me to master my exam, and all I have to do is study my keister off for the next 3 months in preparation for the exam. :)