Quals update

In my last real entry (some 7 months ago!), I was in the midst of my qualifying exam. I won't rehash the gory details (and they were gory!), but I am proud (and relieved) to say that I am officially a Ph.D candidate! What does that mean, you might ask? Well, at some schools it would mean that I have a master's degree...but not at my school. My school does not award master's degrees for its biosciences programs. Indeed, if I were to quit now, I would have to petition to be awarded a master's degreee (and it would not in anyway be guaranteed). To my school being a Ph.D candidate means I am now capable of thinking. To my P.I. (principle investigator...read Ph.D. mentor/advisor) it means I become cheap labor, yet oddly enough expensive at the same time. Cheap because I get paid the least in the lab, but work long hours (or at least I should), and expensive because soon the majority of my stipend will come out of her pocket instead of the NIH's. But to me, being a Ph.D candidate means simply this...I can stop wasting(?) my time on classes and get on with the real work...research (and one step closer to graduating!).