I took my second PhD qualifying exam last month and I PASSED!  That means I don’t have to take quals EVER AGAIN!  So, to summarize my progress in graduate school:

There are seven required year-long course sequences (for the PhD program that I’m in).  I’ve finished three; this year I am in the process of taking two more.  That leaves two more for next year and then my coursework will be done.  We have to pass two of the five possible qualifying exams, and now that part of my grad school experience is COMPLETE.  We have to pick an adviser, and do enough reading and research to publish papers and write a dissertation.  Last year I did reading and tried out an adviser, and this year I will be working on a real research project (meaning if I get results, I could publish them).  So I’m well on my way in that respect as well.  I am starting my third year of teaching college level math (one year as a TA and now in my second year of teaching my own classes).  At the end of this semester I’ll have enough credits to earn my M.S. degree in mathematics (I already presented my project last May, but I didn’t have enough coursework done yet to officially gradaute).

Basically, I finally feel like I’m making REAL progress and that a PhD is not far away now.  I feel like this year will be the hardest of my life (so far anyway), but that I am totally ready and can handle it.  This semester will be made up of taking two grad courses, research, teaching an Introductory Probability and Statistics course, TA’ing a Pre-Calculus recitation, and living on my own again (no family, no friends, no roommate[s]).

I’m already feeling stressed and crazy about this semester.  However, when I think of the big picture and the long term, I know that everything is (almost) going according to plan and I’ve had very few setbacks.  With hard work (and of course a dose of luck), I’m making my life into what I want it to be.  That’s really exciting. It’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day worries.  “How am I going to meet all these deadlines?” “How do I solve this problem?” “When am I going to have time to do laundry?  or get an oil change?  or get a haircut?  or go grocery shopping?”  “When am I going to see my friends and family again?”  “Did I remember to pay all my bills this month?”  “When will I have time to talk to/see my boyfriend?”  These things can get overwhelming, but I’m trying not to let them control my actions and my attitude and my outlook.  I’m having mixed success so far.