Introduction

I'm what we call an "advanced" graduate student. One of those grad students who is on the verge of becoming an example in their department. You know, the one who is the last person left from their entry year. By at least a year. When grad students that joined in years after you begin defending and you don't have a thesis outline yet, it's a bad sign.

This is a blog about what happens when you start trying to graduate. Its a prison break, of sorts. There is a lot of strategy, timing, sweet-talking, and good behavior necessary. There is even a meeting with a panel of people who decide if you've been on good behavior long enough to potentially be let out.

I'll post a series of backlogs to give you a background of my graduate experience. If nothing else, I've learned that there is always some asshole who is having a more awful, pathetic, or heinous time in grad school than you. Always.

Right now?

I'm just trying to graduate.