Tired indeed! I may be a teetotaler, but I would happily buy you one of those things in your avatar in recognition of the achievement regardless. Congrats!
At a party this summer, I heard somebody ask an assistant professor one year on the job, "Are you a Full Professor yet?" Forget tenure. Forget Associate. Full.
I'm going to steal somebody else's story. While I was an undergrad at UNC I knew a guy doing his dissertation on Henry James. He told he was talking to his mom on the phone, and she said "I was just telling my friend about the novel you're writing about Henry James". He says, "Mom, I'm not writing a novel about Henry James. I'm doing a critical study of his work." Mom: [long pause] "Johnny...can't you ever say anything nice about people?"
My final hours as Abd. I could file tomorrow, but that would entail running around campus all day like a maniac from 8am through 6pm, and I want to hit happy hour w/ friends. Priorities!!! Plus I want to sleep in. I've slept like shit since the defense. Plus I'm expecting to get a campus visit call tomorrow. I'd rather receive it while chilling at the 'rents house so as to take good notes and ask critical questions. I will file by the end of the week.
Ok. The bureaucrats took one look at me and just smiled devilishly. Needless to say, it took a friggin' lot longer than I expected to file due to bureaucracy. But I filed. I'm now a doctor. I keep expecting to receive an email or a phone call from somebody at Grad Division saying that there's been a mistake, that they discovered that I acknowledged my profs on the dedication page, NOT the acknowledgments section, that the acknowledgments section is for copyright and professional stuff. Or some shit like that.
Sorry boys and girls, it's been fun but I'm leaving this club. As of 3:30 this afternoon or thereabouts (Still gaping at the timestamp on my first post)
I was almost ABD! But then I started screaming and threatening people, so I got my MA and went to law school... ABJD?
The way academia is heading, a Non-Tenure, Working as Adjunct for Slave Wages thread would be more appropriate.
My own position is all kinds of odd. I am in a non-faculty exempt post, wherein I have mixed teaching/advising and administrative duties, but am not faculty. It's a clever way to get someone in an admin-type slot without having them go through typical faculty procedures of working your way up the chain through the tenure process. They needed an administrator with a Ph.D. who was young and energetic, so this approach worked. There are two of us in the same boat at the university, both in my program.
Well, it's about six years after this thread was started, and in the interim, I completed an MA program and moved onto a doctoral program, but today (now that all of the original members of this club have long since acquired the PhD), I joined the club.
Congratulations! Set a schedule and stick with it as closely as you can. I was in a cohort of fifteen who started together; eight of us passed prelims on time (twelve eventually) and two of us finished the doctorate on time (five eventually). Seven people went ABD and are still ABD. The schedule matters. Best of luck!
Originally planned to be working on comps/proposal this fall, but due to a mixup last summer, I have two classes to take during the fall semester. I've pretty much got my lit review done already, my proposal set up, my IRB paperwork in order, and my committee set. Just need to actually get to that point. I'll probably be doing my research in the spring/early summer of 2016 and my defense in the fall of 2016. A semester longer than planned (UH doesn't allow summer dissertation defenses), but still only 3.5 years for a PhD in Learning Design and Technology. So, if everything goes well, I'll be ABD at this point next year and done before the calendar year is over. Oh, and I randomly decided to take the Mensa test(s) a couple of weeks ago and today I found out that I made the cut. Nice little resume builder that costs $70 a year for membership that will get abandoned the moment I lock into a good position.
Well, after being ABD for what felt like an eternity, in the last four days I have accepted a tenure-track job and scheduled my dissertation defense date. It can be done! Good luck to all.