Well, hey there! I still have some of those unpublished blog posts saved somewhere on my computer, but I definitely failed to document my graduate school experience. I'm sorry about that, guess I should turn in my blogging badge, because I obviously need to practice more.
So what's been going on with me, you may ask. Well, quite a lot but I'm not sure how positive I can make it.
First of all, graduate school, what an amazing experience. Our program is small but growing. In my year we had 20 people that became 19 after the first year. We are comprised of 18 girls, 1 boy. He dealt with it pretty well and wound up with a girlfriend from it, so hey, win win. The program includes 1 retired MSP Lt., 1 retired FBI special agent, 1 current MSP Captain, 1 PhD in Neurobiology, 1 PhD in Anatomy, and 2 PhDs in Forensic Anthropology. The classes focused not only on osteology, but anatomy, taphonomy, crime scene investigation, forensic pathology, statistics, as well as some field work. It's a promising program with a lot of potential, particularly the outdoor research facility that was recently greenlit to have human remains used there. It's 42 acres which includes a stream and 2 ponds, so lots of experiment possibilities. (There we go, commercial aspect done).
Now for some tough stuff, my thesis research didn't go quite as planned. We had to decide our topic in November of 2011 for graduating in May 2013. This is not a lot of time to research and find a topic of interest. I had a few topics but when I went to talk to my probable adviser, he pushed me into a different research project that he admitted would be very difficult to do. Well, I did it, it took a very long time and lots of connections to even be able to do my research, and after the initial meeting, my adviser was pretty hands off and not involved in the planning or much else. This project involved decomposition research in two separate environments, freshwater and marine. Securing a marine environment took 6 months. Eventually I was able to do my research at the MSP Marine Unit docks and the officers there were very helpful. Sadly, during the bloating phase of my decomposition research, the police had to step in and break that phase because of worry about pedestrian involvement. This was a terrible time for me, because it altered my data. In the end, I continued my research.
In addition to this set back with my thesis, I managed to fail my Advanced Osteology class. In our program, if you get below a B- you fail the class. The majority of our grade was based on 10 quizzes with 20 questions each. These were timed and we had a minute to answer each question. I am terrible under pressure and just couldn't handle it. As a result, the teacher became very upset and attempted to get me to leave the program. I was given remedial coursework and told that my graduation was delayed until September. This really hurt my self esteem. Fortunately I was assigned to a different faculty member for the remedial work and it became apparent to him that I really didn't need to do this. I ended up passing the final exam with an A after my remedial work.
This also resulted in my taking of our program's comprehensive exam in May 2013 rather than January. This was difficult as the test was on coursework I had taken in my two semesters. Sadly, I failed the written portion of that exam by 1 point. So I was scheduled to retake that portion in July. I passed! But my adviser/first reader has decided that I can't graduate until at least December.
Currently I am quite defeated. Which sounds ridiculous given the fact that I'm almost done, but I have my reasons. I won't waste this blog space ranting about the quality of the feedback on my thesis is, but rest assured, I have never felt so personally attacked without much constructive help on anything. My self esteem and worth have been severely damaged by all my setbacks.
In spite of these, I have managed to have some wonderful times. I made great friends, the kind I think you normally make in college but I was not as successful in that regard. I had some amazing experiences, including witnessing autopsies at the ME's office, attending two AAFS conferences, TAing a course for the first time, and having a week long internship under Dr. Murray Marks in Knoxville, TN. He is a great mentor and my time spent there was invaluable. I've also managed to apply and have an interview with the NYSP Forensic Lab. I don't hold out much hope about getting this job, but it would be a wonderful foot in the door to my desired field.
So that's the low down, there's more to tell I'm sure but in the meantime I'll try to post somewhat more regularly. I move back home in two days and hopefully being in the familiar setting will boost my self esteem and I can finish this thesis and be done with this program!
So what's been going on with me, you may ask. Well, quite a lot but I'm not sure how positive I can make it.
First of all, graduate school, what an amazing experience. Our program is small but growing. In my year we had 20 people that became 19 after the first year. We are comprised of 18 girls, 1 boy. He dealt with it pretty well and wound up with a girlfriend from it, so hey, win win. The program includes 1 retired MSP Lt., 1 retired FBI special agent, 1 current MSP Captain, 1 PhD in Neurobiology, 1 PhD in Anatomy, and 2 PhDs in Forensic Anthropology. The classes focused not only on osteology, but anatomy, taphonomy, crime scene investigation, forensic pathology, statistics, as well as some field work. It's a promising program with a lot of potential, particularly the outdoor research facility that was recently greenlit to have human remains used there. It's 42 acres which includes a stream and 2 ponds, so lots of experiment possibilities. (There we go, commercial aspect done).
Now for some tough stuff, my thesis research didn't go quite as planned. We had to decide our topic in November of 2011 for graduating in May 2013. This is not a lot of time to research and find a topic of interest. I had a few topics but when I went to talk to my probable adviser, he pushed me into a different research project that he admitted would be very difficult to do. Well, I did it, it took a very long time and lots of connections to even be able to do my research, and after the initial meeting, my adviser was pretty hands off and not involved in the planning or much else. This project involved decomposition research in two separate environments, freshwater and marine. Securing a marine environment took 6 months. Eventually I was able to do my research at the MSP Marine Unit docks and the officers there were very helpful. Sadly, during the bloating phase of my decomposition research, the police had to step in and break that phase because of worry about pedestrian involvement. This was a terrible time for me, because it altered my data. In the end, I continued my research.
In addition to this set back with my thesis, I managed to fail my Advanced Osteology class. In our program, if you get below a B- you fail the class. The majority of our grade was based on 10 quizzes with 20 questions each. These were timed and we had a minute to answer each question. I am terrible under pressure and just couldn't handle it. As a result, the teacher became very upset and attempted to get me to leave the program. I was given remedial coursework and told that my graduation was delayed until September. This really hurt my self esteem. Fortunately I was assigned to a different faculty member for the remedial work and it became apparent to him that I really didn't need to do this. I ended up passing the final exam with an A after my remedial work.
This also resulted in my taking of our program's comprehensive exam in May 2013 rather than January. This was difficult as the test was on coursework I had taken in my two semesters. Sadly, I failed the written portion of that exam by 1 point. So I was scheduled to retake that portion in July. I passed! But my adviser/first reader has decided that I can't graduate until at least December.
Currently I am quite defeated. Which sounds ridiculous given the fact that I'm almost done, but I have my reasons. I won't waste this blog space ranting about the quality of the feedback on my thesis is, but rest assured, I have never felt so personally attacked without much constructive help on anything. My self esteem and worth have been severely damaged by all my setbacks.
In spite of these, I have managed to have some wonderful times. I made great friends, the kind I think you normally make in college but I was not as successful in that regard. I had some amazing experiences, including witnessing autopsies at the ME's office, attending two AAFS conferences, TAing a course for the first time, and having a week long internship under Dr. Murray Marks in Knoxville, TN. He is a great mentor and my time spent there was invaluable. I've also managed to apply and have an interview with the NYSP Forensic Lab. I don't hold out much hope about getting this job, but it would be a wonderful foot in the door to my desired field.
So that's the low down, there's more to tell I'm sure but in the meantime I'll try to post somewhat more regularly. I move back home in two days and hopefully being in the familiar setting will boost my self esteem and I can finish this thesis and be done with this program!
