I'm Official! (According to Oxford University, at least)

This announcement is a couple of days late, so please accept my apologies, although I can blame it in part on a lack of internet access.

Anyways, as of 15:30 GMT last Thursday (August 17th), after enduring what was surely the longest transfer viva in the history of man (two and a half hours--hell, they should have gone ahead and given me my degree right then and there), I am now an official Oxford D.Phil. student. (The D.Phil. is Oxford's archaic equivalent of the Ph.D.) That means I can look forward to another 2+ years of hardcore science here in the Department of Biochemistry. Yes!

So, how did I celebrate?

Very appropriately, by staying at the lab until 3:30 am, setting up NMR experiments. Woo hoo!

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Good show old chap!

By Corkscrew (not verified) on 20 Aug 2006 #permalink

Good job Nick. Well done!

By John Lynch (not verified) on 20 Aug 2006 #permalink

Heartiest congratulations, Nick. As they say across the pond, well done, mate!

Thanks, again. So, I didn't actually transfer from anywhere. The "transfer" was from "probationary research student" (PRS) to an official D.Phil. student. All D.Phil. students at Oxford, as far as I know, start out in the P.R.S. category.

Congrats Nick!

Ha! I wish. Students here have to wear a ridiculous outfit even just for exams (for guys: black suit, white bowtie, academic gown, carnation; similar for girls), but for my transfer viva, I didn't have to wear anything special. It was kind of a let-down, really....

If this transfer viva is anything like a qualifying exam in the states 2.5 hours isn't too bad. A couple grad students in my lab were grilled for over 3 hours, one around 4!
I'll be submitting myself to this torture in a few short weeks....

By Pete Newell (not verified) on 22 Aug 2006 #permalink