being a Ph.D. student is a lot of 'good work', but there is a lot of fun that goes with it!
Since I have been at the University of Tennessee and in the Ph.D. program, I have experienced a lot of new things this past year. I have presented at three different research conferences and I am currently working on a few different projects– and at the same time– taking a few summer courses! 🙂

Of course, besides taking course work, doctoral students also have to study and complete their comprehensive exams (usually happens after the second year in the program, or when you are finished with your coursework), and then you get defend your dissertation proposal, and then once you are given the go-ahead by your committee, then you get to start your work on it. 🙂 And then– you have to defend your dissertation to your committee. Your committee has usually four members– three from your college (including your chair), and then one professor from your cognate area outside of your college. For me, I know that my committee will be mostly PR faculty at the University of Tennessee, but the professor in my cognate area will be from the Business school.

I got a chance to listen in on a dissertation defense– the first that I have ever gone to– and it was really interesting. Even though I have a couple of years to go until I am at the point where I am defending– I thought that it was good to see what it was like so I can start thinking about the process and be better prepared for it. So, my advice for graduate students (Master’s or Doctoral) is to make sure to go to as many of these defends as possible– they are both educational and interesting. 🙂

I hope you all are having a great day! 🙂

Best Wishes,

Karen 🙂


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