The 3.5 Year Whatever-this-is....

I have had a weird feeling for a few days now. 

I'm not really sure what this feeling is, what is causing it, or what I can do to help it. 

I think I'm tired...and the semester begins on Monday. Craziness. 

I'm going to call this my "3.5 Year Whatever-this-is". Because I can.

I am officially in the middle of my third years as a doctoral student, and I recently stumbled upon a blog post about the dreaded third year. The post made many good points about how to keep your spirits up and what you should really be focusing on as a third-year student. I was pleased to see that most of the tips were things I already do. Score! That being said, I know this semester is going to be as rough as they come. Let's call this "roughness" my 3.5 Year New Obstacles. They are all new challenges that I will implement along with my usual routines and a few life changes (more on that in later blogs). 

3.5 Year New Obstacles:

This semester marks my first semester of teaching two sections of a course that each meet twice per week (I've always taught one section of a course that met once-a-week for three hours). That's twice as many students and research papers to grade. But, I'm really excited because professors typically teach two sections. :)

I'm taking three real classes. For the past few semesters, I have gotten by with taking two classes that required a bit of work and a "blow-off" type class, or just less intensive class (let me be PC). All three of my classes are going to be pretty intensive.

Prelims. Umm...yea, about that. I'm finishing those up (this blog post is a distraction), but they are still time-consuming. The oral portion is at the end of this month.

Proposal. This will be happening probably around April. While I already know the kinds of things I want to write, it's more about finding the time to sit down and make sure this happens. 

Piloting my dissertation instruments. Last semester I worked with a team to develop instruments for my dissertation. We piloted them on one class, but this semester, are doing a grand-scale pilot of the instruments using about 500 undergraduates. YAY! It's exciting but very time-consuming. And, this data will be making my dissertation even better.

The rest of my semester will just be about managing all of the above with my usual commitments, meetings, publishing more, attending lots of conferences...you know, the usual. I'm really nervous about this semester. I always feel nervous at the start of a new semester, but also really excited. I am definitely excited, but currently, that excitement is being overshadowed by the nervousness. It's going to be rough, but I know I will feel so good and so proud when I can say I am ABD (All But Dissertation) at the end of the semester. :)