Prelims, the sequel

In short, I passed. The decision was unanimous, but it took nearly five hours from start to finish.... That could be some sort of prelimenary exam record. I revieved comments varying from "[He] is confident and very articulate about the subject matter." to " [He] has areas of deficiency in his breadth of knowledge."

I think that the areas of deficiency were a major concern for the committee, as they each offered me up thier favorite text book to study for my defense in December, indicating that not only will I be defending my thesis at that point, but my breadth of biology knowledge as well.

They also suggested that I become an instructor here for a semester before I leave to determine that it is definately my career of choice. We will see next week if that is a possibility or how it will affect my timeline of getting the hell out of this putrid state.

To summarize, I am a Doctoral Candidate at a World Class research University... what else is there to say.