Nutty, with Hints of Bitterness and a Smooth, Rosy Finish

The title of this post is meant to describe the end of my semester—nay, the end of my first academic year at Georgia State University. My time at GSU is half over, which is mind-boggling to me. It seems like I am just beginning. But that sentiment is a topic for an entirely different post. My only point here is to rejoice that the end of the semester has finally come. Just 90 minutes ago, I submitted my final paper of the semester. Now I am free—downright, Thrifty Nickel free!

If there is anything graduate school has taught me, it is that the end of the semester crunch can last up to four or five weeks. Given that a typical semester lasts only 13 weeks, that is a significant amount of crunching. This semester was slightly better than last, though. I did not end up writing a 20-page paper in one continuous 36-hour block, for example. That’s always a good thing. But I have spent the last week almost constantly in front of the computer. (So why am I writing a blog as soon as I’m done? Good question.) I’ve literally spent about 14-16 hours per day writing during this past week, but I never stayed up later than 3 a.m. or so. Again, that shows improvement over last semester. It may have something to do with the fact that I didn’t have to write 70 pages worth of material in 3 weeks. Nope, this time around I only had to write somewhere between 50 and 55 pages (I am somewhat estimating) during the same amount of time. That may sound like a ton, but it’s a whole paper’s worth less, and that has probably saved my life.

Summer is not going to provide a complete respite. I’ll start teaching a summer session of Critical Thinking in June. I’m also taking a Directed Readings course on free will in order to prepare for my master’s thesis, which I’ll begin writing in the fall. Furthermore, I want to test out of the upper logic class that is required of all master’s students, which means I’ll have to do some prepping over the summer. If I don’t test out of it by August, I’ll have to take logic in the fall or be screwed over. And, finally, I want to retake the blasted GREs. I probably don’t have to do this, but I want to boost my scores, which I’m sure I can do. Last time I took the GREs, I didn’t prepare for them at all. I just went in and took them. All things considered, I did quite well, but I need every last advantage I can get when it comes to applying to Ph.D. programs. Because they admit so few people annually, they’ll probably draw a line for GRE scores and toss out people that don’t make it, just to clear up the candidate pool. If it comes down to a tiebreaker, I need to be the one they choose.

So that’s my hurried update. Despite the many events of the summer, I firmly believe I’ll keep up with blogging much better now. Seriously. No, but I’m serious this time. So keep checking in. I already know of a few things I’d like to blog about. See you soon!