So It Begins

Today marks the official start of the new semester at school and if things go as planned, this will be the last semester in which I'll have to take any structured classes as I'll be completing all the requisites in my program of study. *doing happy dance* All that remains is an additional few semesters of research, a seminar, and the masters degree will be finished. I suppose I could wrap up the thesis research sooner, but the additional work will certainly be of benefit as I hope to enter a PhD program somewhere in the near future. If there's one thing to guarantee entry into a doctoral program is demonstrated research ability. And publications. So the extended time on the thesis will achieve both of these goals. Of course, given my past history, I'll probably still take classes just for the fun of it.

Yeah. I know. I'm a sick puppy.

I've always quite enjoyed the college experience, which is surprising given just how much I absolutely detested high school. Very few fond memories from that period of my life. College turned out to be so different. You're not "spoon fed" the material and whether you sink or swim...well, that's largely up to you. I found this new approach to academics surprisingly appealing. After receiving my bacholors degree in the fall of 1997, I took a semester off to do the "enjoy life" thing. About two months into the break I was missing the challenges of acadmeia in the worst way. So I began taking classes for "fun" and formally started the masters degree program in January of 2003, in a field entirely different from my undergraduate studies. Going from liberal arts to the sciences required a bit of an adjustment, but so far so good. Unless I totally drop the ball this semester, I'll finish the masters with a GPA somewhere around a 3.96 or thereabouts.

Anyway, off to get a coffee refill and get started on the day.