Apparently it's a common occurence with these sorts of things. I've heard of people saying "we regret to inform you that you, dr. __, that you finished", at their thesis defence
That advisors a dik ime sure Andrew worked extremely hard and feels under pressure 24/7 and these advisors play around with their words like that wtf...?
@@dildobaggins2759 I mean, comment on the efficacy of it, but it's likely from everyone who did that to them. It can be seen as the perpetuation of tradition.
Ah, physics professors. That classic "we regret to inform you that your solution was both well thought out and eloquently presented" joke was crushing my soul way back in 1994.
Then the guy who doesn't get the joke, has it explained, still doesn't understand. Confused as hell, but the committee uses simple words, and now it all makes sense in his head.
When I defended my proposal I was grilled for an hour, and they were not gentle. I thought they hated everything about it, and maybe me as a person. As it turns out, they really liked it, and were just trying to push me to do my best work. The experience was so rough that it felt like it broke me, but sort of in a good way. Ever since then, every presentation felt so much easier. Even my dissertation defense felt easy by comparison. One fellow grad student even commented that they thought I was almost “too relaxed and confident” during my final. In short, great job! That’s a heck of a milestone! Also, don’t be surprised if a group of grad students later meets that professor out in the parking lot to “discuss some particle interactions”. 😜
My reaction when seeing new Andrew Dotson content: “Oh hell yeah!” My reaction when I saw the “We regret to inform you...” intro: “Oh hell no!” Such emotional roller coasters these videos are
Congrats Andrew! That all sounds much scarier than my math PhD, I just had to pass written comprehensives nothing oral....but probably ultimately a good experience to have:D
I talked about you to my cheme professor and he actually watches your content. I wish the semester wasn’t over so we could talk about your accomplishment!! We first talked about you when I wore some stemerch and we were nerding out along with some students. Long story short, you inspire me to many things concerning my major and aspirations so thank you!
From the physics GRE performance to not getting in the first time around and persevering through to reapply and get accepted, and now being a full blown PhD candidate. (I never doubted you). No one can say you did not earn this qualification, what a guy.
Reminds me of when I got a film grant in March with the first sentence being “We regret to inform you that you have won a grant during this difficult time...”
wow. congratulations....you are free from all formal exams...and entered into research field. you are doing great work and the moment when you came to know that '' you have passed oral exam'' would have been the best right!!. AND ONCE AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS....research scholar..
I just submitted my engineering PhD thesis today, and I can say that the process for a PhD in the US and Australia is very different. I just had to do two postgrad engineering courses then do my research, publish some papers and submit my thesis. I don't even have an oral thesis defence, the thesis just goes to reviewers who either reject, recommend changes or approve. A PhD sounds much harder in the US from everything I've heard.
Wow! Congratulations on being able to nail that oral exam. Really got a lot of insights on how to present your proposal in front of the committee, that too from my favourite Physics senior.🙌🏻
Interesting to learn how other schools/departments do things. In my biochemistry prelim exam I was assigned four random committee members, and had to do a proposal/oral presentation on a research project unrelated to our current research. WORST TWO HOURS OF MY LIFE. Congrats on passing though, it's a great feeling!
Man watching these PhD videos as someone who has been debating getting one you've definitely helped me out with seeing the difficultly and challenge of the whole process much thanks Andrew
This has been such a handy channel for me. I'm a math student, but I'm gearing towards applying to a graduate program for the Fall, so seeing this type of content makes me feel like I can prepare for it
I have 2 semesters worth of finals upcoming [[Freshman, Phys major, covid means all finals are pushed back to be taken together here... lmao]], tensed af right now yet this Dotson boii got me tensed in the 1st half over his oral exam. Congrats man! Your documentation of the journey thus far is our motivation going into Physics..cant wait to see whats next for you, and well me
I'm a bio PhD student at Syracuse University. 2nd year and I'm sweating the qualifying exams in 6 months. We require a formal proposal no matter what with specific aims. The oral exam relates to both the proposal and general knowledge. Same idea as far as forming a committee. We have to meet with ours at least once a year to update them on our research. Congrats on your qual!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ congratsss really reminds me of that one Masterchef episode where Gordon started saying “Congratulations” while the contestants screaming “Thank Youuuuuuu” and ended up with saying “for making the worst dosh in the competition so far”
Congrats! I've been watching you since almost 2 years now and I'm happy to know you're breaking through with the PhD!! I think watching for so long has given me a greater understanding of physics than a normal pre-med student lol 😂
The way you described your oral exam reminds me so much of the oral final exam for Algebraic Topology when I was an undergrad. I went in afraid that my mind would instantly blank out, but when I got in there, we just talked about how my semester was going, etc, and I almost didn't realize when the actual exam started. The professor already had something on the board and told me to look at it, and the (unspoken) first question was for me to simply recognize what it was. From there, it was like we were just talking about the subject, and he'd give me that little push when I would forget a small detail.
Way to go Andrew! Watching your videos through my undergrad years inspired me to go to grad school too. I'm finishing up my first semester as a PhD candidate in Mech Engineering as we speak. Thank you for all you do and good luck my man!
Congratulations! Your videos are so cool to see. I had to drop out of physics grad school, but I am counting the days until I can go back and get my PhD. There really something is (grueling and) special about the process. Keep it up, thanks for sharing with us, and congratulations again!
I can't begin to explain how happy I am for you man, I've been here for years now and it's crazy to see how quickly it's passed. I'm sure you'll do amazing!
Been subscribed to you for a while, so happy to see you officially be a PhD candidate! Can’t wait to hear which new topics in Physics are named after you
Congrats man I'm just a high school student who wants to become a theoretical physicist I saw Ur tensor calculus and became super excited again congratulations
Congrats! Im not a physics person, but I love hearing people talk about it! And it’s good to hear about the PHD process bc Im thinking about getting a PHD in the realm of Comp Sci
Congrats Andrew! I know you’ll do great with your PhD and congrats to Kelley as well. I look up to you man, you are one of the few people who inspires me to get a PhD in physics. Still have a long way but I’ve been learning a lot from your videos since I started my physics degree.
Andrew, I have come to believe that you are my guardian theta. When you got your test results back and did good, I got them back in the same week (high school and did good) and the day this video comes out I get my uni application number and I am pretty sure I can get into the one I want.
