I'm qualified!

I passed my qualifying exam today! This is the last official hurdle until my final defense, at which point I'll have my PhD. Apparently I actually do get a degree for passing my qualifying exam, which is also called the advancement to candidacy. The degree is referred to as "cPhil", which I'm guessing means I'm a "candidate of Philosophy". I'm suspicious the real point of this "degree" is the candidacy fee they charge to get it.

Actually, getting the qualifying exam done is a bit of a feat. First you have to get five professors from multiple departments together, and rumor has it that scheduling the exam is more difficult than passing it. As one fellow student told me, "If you actually manage to get five professors into the same room at the same time, you automatically pass the exam."

So how did I do it? I held my exam on a holiday. Amazingly enough, the schedules of all the professors on my committee were relatively clear on a university holiday. The trick was convincing them to come to campus -- they were actually quite nice about it, and I am very grateful they were willing to do so.

After the exam, I was so happy it was done that I went straight home. I started to realize my relief may have made me a bit absent minded when I noticed it was cold outside and remembered I'd left my jacket at the lab. A bit later I noticed the sun's glare was bothering me more than it normally does on my way home and realized I'd also forgotten my sunglasses. Once I arrived home, I remembered I'd also left our lab laptop in the conference room, still plugged into the projector and displaying my presentation. Fortunately a lab mate was at the lab and had gone and collected the laptop for me. Now all I've got to collect are my sunglasses, my jacket, and my thoughts.