Pre-Defense is behind me…
Several years ago, the faculty in my department decided that the length of time between the dissertation defense and the actual filing of the dissertation was far more than preferable (in some cases, stretching up to a year or more). With that in mind, they instituted a sort of gatekeeping mechanism, a “pre-defense” that would ensure the quality of the dissertations as students got to the defense proper.
Initially, many grad students were dubious – “What the hell, this is just one more hoop to jump through!” The pre-defense, however, has grown into a really useful aspect of the graduate experience; discussion of the actual mechanics of the dissertation gets shifted to the pre-B, freeing the defense itself up for a discussion of the broader issues and implications of the dissertation.
So, my pre-defense was today. I spent about two hours in a room with my advisors this afternoon, and I can honestly say that I haven’t thought that hard in months (if not years). There are a few aspects of my dissertation that I need to explain better, but for the most part the general structure is sound – the general work-to-be-done seems to be on the order of adding more depth rather than fundamental reorganization. This is good, and reassuring.
That said, it’s back to work for me. A defense date has been set for July 30th, and I’ve got a lot to do before then. That in mind, however, the end is most definitely in sight.
As for what’s next, there’s news a-coming (I’m waiting for final confirmation before announcing it here)…
April 29th, 2004 at 10:44 pm
one more step, only a few more to go.
May 1st, 2004 at 12:50 pm
Glad the end is near for you. While it does sound like another hoop to jump through (something that grad students don’t need anymore of), it sounds like something that is actually useful to the students. You seem to be getting something out of it, which is great.
I think it really depends on the committee (and the other numerous dept regulations) – some committees meet frequently with the student offering comments etc…others disappear – so the pre-D would be good for that…
anyway – good luck!
May 4th, 2004 at 8:44 am
Go Josh Go!
We had a similar thing…because every dissertation in psychology really involves designing and conducting an experiment, the “dissertation proposal defense” is actually more nerve-wracking than the actual defense. That’s when they might tell you your idea sucks, or you need twice as many subjects as you hoped, or you’ll need to do a data analysis that can only be run on supercomputers at NASA.
There’s an implicit agreement that if the dissertation proposal is defended appropriately, no one will make big waves at the actual defense. So I’d say you have a home run from here! (Not that we didn’t know that already…)
Congratulations!
- Nina