Lauren Clark, doctoral student.
As some of you may not yet know (I have no idea who I am referring to here, because I don’t know who reads this pathetic excuse for a blog, mainly because I never effin’ update), I am going to North Carolina State University in the fall. I got accepted into the Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media PhD program, and I went to their recruitment visit a few weeks ago. I am so happy I did, too, because I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do (with regard to my acceptance at Penn State, as well) but going to visit NCSU completely sealed the deal; the faculty and the students are nothing short of amazing. Raleigh is adorable; it’s like the most quaint big city ever. And they have Bojangles’. NOMTOWN EXPRESS.
Anyway, so, the other day I was on the NCSU website to see if I had the ability to claim an email address, and I stumbled upon this:
I find it a) epically awesome that I am already on their website, and b) even more epically awesome that, once I graduate in 5 weeks (FIVE WEEKS!) I will officially be a doctoral student. (Right, isn’t that how it works? I remember the last day of classes my Junior year of high school, when my friends and I left campus and were yelling, “We’re Seniors!!” I don’t know if it’s legitimate, but I guess once you are not what you used to be, you are what you will become. Or something. Or maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about.)
As my mom wrote in a Facebook message to me, “the world will have tiny, curly-haired Dr. Lauren Clark in a few years!”
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:31 pm
That is AWESOME that you’re already in the directory. Also awesome that you updated your blog.
And yeah, you can call yourself a doctoral student as soon as you’re done here (although technically I guess you have to wait til the first day of the semester, but whatev). The only think you shouldn’t do is call yourself a “PhD candidate” — that’s reserved for hitting a milestone (and depends on the department). I can’t call myself a PhD candidate til I take my exams. Some people don’t make that distinction and call themselves PhD candidates like as soon as they start the program, which pisses me off because it just isn’t right. I also have an issue with graduate students calling themselves “professor.” And the list goes on.
Holy crap that was long. Sorry dude! Go wolfpack!
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:41 am
DUDE. For serious. Tor and I were JUST talking about the candidate thing yesterday!
And for grad students who don’t correct their students who call them “professor” because you KNOW they secretly like it (or worse, condone it)… you guys suck and are lame. You’ve gotta earn that shizz, yo.
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:32 am
yo.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:41 am
I second the yos re the Candidate title. We get so few official titles , we gotta protect ‘em!
I think it’s funny that, to a casual observer who might be trying to find you through department directories, you exist at two schools at once.
And GRATZ again, Laur, you badass!
April 8th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
critt-r, as ego president, i think you should say something because there are people in our own department who do it and it’s really pretentious. remarkably, the inherently pretentious people actually get it right.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:08 am
An interesting idea. How to do this with the best combination of firmness and kindness? Because these rank names can be confusing, and their rules aren’t clearly posted anywhere, as far as I’ve seen. Maybe we’ll have an open combination about it on Friday, if we have time.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:34 am
so you’re saying “yo, bitches, if you ain’t passed your exams, stop calling yourself a candidate” wouldn’t work?
June 7th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Hehehe – too funny. And totally NOT surprising in any way.