Need Help from the PS Fairy!

[AmberGretchen]

OK, so I know I''m not a LIW anymore and haven''t been for a while, but I remember all the good wishes and good luck Alley got posting on here about her French exam a while back and I was hoping to invoke the same good-luck fairies

I''m in my second year of a PhD program in Immunology, and I''m taking my qualifying exam on Monday. I''ve written a detailed proposal (approx. 25 pages) about what I want to do my thesis research on

, and on Monday morning at 9am (California time), I will meet with a panel of 4 professors who have (hopefully) read my proposal and will grill me about the proposal and all related background information, (plus they have the option of asking me anything I might have learned in my classes last year) for several hours, after which they will discuss it without me there and decide if I''ve passed or not. This is a HUGE deal - passing is the equivalent of getting a Masters'' degree, and its the last major exam I will ever have to take in graduate school if I pass.

So all you wonderful PS ladies, this is why I''ve been MIA on most of the boards for the last 3 months, and I''d like to ask you to please wish me luck - I am so nervous I feel like I have gigantic mutant butterflies in my stomach and I can''t believe that after so many months of hard work and studying its really coming up so soon!

 

[Kaleigh]

Good luck!! I have my fingers and toes crossed and will knock on wood for good measure!!!!

 

[anchor31]

Good luck!! School is hard, I certainly understand that! I got my fingers crossed for you!

 

[rainbowtrout]

*invokes fairy status and bops you with wand*



GOOD LUCK!!!! Just breathe, girl....breathe. I know how stressful the studying for that sucker is, a bunch of my French dep''t friends took its equivalent last year. Yowza!

 

[monarch64]

You can do it, AmberGretchen!!! Thinking positive thoughts for ya! Best of luck to you, you''ve come this far so no reason why you can''t achieve ALL your goals!

 

[glitterata]

Relax! You've already done the hard work--writing the proposal and learning the material. Try to think of the actual exam as a fun challenge. You'll do great!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Thanks so much guys - the words of encouragement help more than I can tell you

 

[Shay37]

When you get nervous, and you will, think not of your profs in their underwear. Think of all of us rubbing our sparklies for luck for you.

You have done the work, now reap the rewards. Good luck, and let us know Monday night how it went.

shay

 

[AmberGretchen]

Hehe - thanks Shay. I often look at mine for luck.

Or at least a reminder that no matter what I have a pretty sparkly to look at

I will post an update for sure - I am so nervous I can hardly stand it!

Good news is that I have something to be excited about though - my mom called today and booked our honeymoon flight using her frequent flyer miles - business class flight straight through to London from San Francisco, and 2 weeks in England!!!

 

[Kaleigh]

Wow, that''s great AG. I love London!!! Good luck on Monday!!!

 

[sunkist]

Yay!! Congrats on getting so far on your PhD Amber!!! I know the stress of writing the darn thing for the masters, I''m doing mine right now

So good job!!! And good luck on your exam!!!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Thanks sunkist - that''s great that you are working on it right now too

I''m going to do one last practice talk today and spend the day after that in the library, and then a little more studying tomorrow, but I''m really getting too nervous to be productive and I kind of just need to be distracted at this point.

Thanks again everyone for the kind wishes though - it really does help!

p.s. kaleigh - I am SUPER excited about London - I''ve been twice, once when I was 9 and once when I was 16, and I love it! After my exam is over we''re going to start planning hotels and how long we''ll be in London vs. other places, etc... there are so many options it almost doesn''t feel like long enough, but FI didn''t feel comfortable taking more time than that off work, which I can understand, and 2 weeks is a good long vacation anyway.