Sweet Relief

I just got back from a meeting with my dissertation committee chair, and I feel GREAT about my dissertation. I was able to finish the first draft of my proposal last night (start picking out your tattoo design, Kari), and met with my chair to review it and talk about how I can improve it before presenting to my committee at the end of October. (By the way, I set a date for my proposal defense: October 28.)

Overall, she said that she was very impressed and did not see any major obstacles that would prevent anyone on my committee from approving my proposal. Nothing could have sounded any better to me. Of course, she suggested a few changes and wanted to read it more thoroughly before offering more advise, but overall, she believes that my purpose, theory, and structure is sound, which is the primary criteria when approving a dissertation proposal.

Even if my committee does approve it, that approval will almost certainly be contingent upon certain changes, but I can handle that. In fact, I would expect and welcome that. My greatest fear all along, based on the horror stories of some of my colleagues, was that my committee would take one look at my proposal and say, "You aren't ready to do this research. START OVER!!" I've never been through this process. I don't know about the intricate details that they expect. After today's meeting, however, I feel much better that they will see the hard work I've put into the study and the vigilance and integrity with which I've constructed the project. If my chair, who is notoriously pessimistic, says that she doesn't see any major problems, then I can't help but feel optimistic.

Now, I just need to implement the changes we discussed today (I should get that done this afternoon) and get it to my committee members. While I will still be very nervous on October 28, now I can say that I will also be completely confident in my work. Whew!