Proposal = Passed

YAY!

I passed my proposal defense yesterday! And it was great -- because my committee members cut out a whole bunch of work!

So, for those of you that have never written a dissertation proposal, basically it's a very long paper that discusses the reasons why you want to do your experiments, discusses all of the experiments that you already did, and discusses the experiments that you plan to do that will "count" towards your PhD. Some people think of it as a guideline, some people think of it as a "contract", but, basically, once you finish the list of experiments that you write up in your proposal, you're allowed to graduate.

And my original proposal was pretty bulky, but I calculated some things like the number of replicates and fish and tanks and supplies and figured I could complete my dissertation by 2010 -- as long as nothing went wrong, I had everything I needed, and I never took a day off.

But my committee (a bunch of professors), cut out a few experiments and treatments!! So now I think I will still be able to answer the questions I want to answer, really focus on some specific aspects of the things I am interested and definitely graduate in May 2010! (Knock on wood)

Overall, I couldn't be more satisfied with the outcome of my proposal defense!

Of course, I need to spend a few days changing my written proposal before the holidays ...

but in just about a week, Ry & I will commence "Best Christmas Ever!"