6 months to go! (ish)

I had my six month meeting with my committee this morning.  I think it went well.  They all seemed on board with my plan - that the work I have left can be done in the next semester or so.  The only "concern" they had was whether my timeline factored in how long it takes The Queen to get around to reading things.  (As if she's actually going to read my dissertation... Ha!)

In my department, there is a TON of folklore surrounding the oral exam.  While everybody's oral is a little bit different, if you ask around at all, you can at least get a pretty good idea of the process and order of things.  However, there's essentially ZERO folklore regarding the 6 month meeting.  I was able to get some idea from Tiff and previous grad students, but still had to kind of sit there awkwardly til I had some direction.  While each professor cared more about one thing or another here's what was discussed:

• General overview of my research - My biochem committee members are actually fairly familiar with my research as I've heavily collaborated with them both.  One of my analytical committee members in particular is not terribly familiar with my research (and I suspect she also wants to see how competently you can briefly summarize your research).  So I talked briefly about the bigger picture and broader themes and goals of my dissertation research.
• Chapters - Generally what's in each of them and the major conclusions.
• What's left to do - This is a big one.  I think I've got my dissertation pretty well planned and outlined, but I know there will still be some surprises and gaps once I really get to writing.  One of my committee members really only cared about what work was left to do and was it do-able in the time frame I think.  In my case, I don't have many experiments left that I already know I have to do (although I do have a ton of data analysis left...), and I'm expecting some more experiments to pop up - I discover a hole in my story while writing, or that some spectrum I want to show has kinda crappy S/N etc.
• Publications - How many publications do you have?  How many are you first author on?  What's submitted/impreparation?  What else will or can be published?
• Timeline - When do you think you'll be done?  When do you plan to finish labwork?  When is your final seminar scheduled?  When do you plan to defend?  Do you need to file in time to have your degree posted by May 2012?
• What's next? - The dreaded question I very much hoped to avoid.  I was SO close to escaping without talking about it when one of my committee members asked.  This particular committee member happens to know about the cross-country-boyfriend situation, and I swear she asks ALL THE TIME what I'm doing after graduation, like to the point where it's weird.  But anyways.  I told them I needed a job.  You know, somebody to pay me.  At which point one of my committee members interjected, "Wait!  What is this? An unemployed mass spectrometrist?!  That's unheard of!"  Fortunately my advisor told her I hadn't really started looking, and the snarky committee member kept his mouth shut.  They let it drop and the meeting was over.

Woohoo!  They're gonna let me out!