Category: Daily updates

Generally musings of the day, usually accompanied by a photograph

Delay the second comp?

I spoke with the graduate secretary in the department of political science, and apparently it would be no problem to delay my public policy comp until August. Doing so would guarantee a ruined summer – spent mostly in libraries reading articles – but may be wiser than trying to cram an adequate amount of preparation into the next three weeks.

Also, writing for the first time in August would mean having one more chance if I failed the exam then. If I write in May and fail, passing in August would be mandatory for remaining in the PhD program. A summer spent preparing to a re-write that I absolutely had to pass would be even worse than one spent preparing for a more reasonable first attempt.

The next comp countdown

The official date hasn’t yet been set, but my comprehensive exam in public policy is now about a month away. Whereas the other members of my study group rattle off the authors, titles, and years of books and articles with disarming rapidity, I find myself unable to remember anything more than the haziest outlines of most sources. I have a great deal of work to do, especially if I am to avoid wasting the summer with re-preparation after a failed first attempt.

First, however, I have a stack of papers to finish grading (for tomorrow). I also have one last paper of my own to write for the 30th, along with twice-a-week comp prep meetings, for which I am meant to write draft outlines to past questions.

Essays, grading, etc

This week involves one of my last pre-comp spurts of academic work for this term.

For tomorrow, I need to write a draft comp answer on policy failure, inequality, and political economy v. institutionalist v. agent-centred theories.

On Wednesday, my interview assignment for my qualitative methods course is due. I need to finish the astonishingly time consuming task of writing the verbatim transcript, then produce about 2500 words of analysis.

Sometime between Friday and next Tuesday, I am meant to grade the papers for the U.S. government and politics class where I am a TA.

After this, there is just one more qualitative methods assignment, along with terrifying masses of work and revision for the public policy comp. I am hoping the danger of having my entire summer ruined by the need to re-prepare in the event of failure will produce the desperation necessary to force myself to do comp adequate reading and preparation over the next month.

Through the reading week

Between today and tomorrow, I need to read a book and seven articles on ethnography and prepare a presentation on the topic, finish processing and uploading the photos from this year’s Clarkson Laureate awards ceremony, and produce an updated draft of the fossil fuel divestment lecture for U of T.

Bonus points if I make progress on regaining control of my email, which is in a disastrous state of neglect.