Master first, Doctor later

After much deliberation and anxiety, I have decided to wait on my PhD applications until next fall. While part of me worries about momentum and another gap in my studies, I think it is in my best interests to focus on this M.Phil. program before I worry about PhD programs. I want to give myself space to explore and to discover without the strict time limits that going straight into a PhD program would impose.

For those who are new to this conversation or who have not committed the details of my life to perfect memory, I am currently enrolled in a Master of Philosophy course which requires a dissertation to be submitted by the end of August. Rewrites will be due by December (roughly) with the official conferment of the degree in February (or thereabouts). Basically, I am not going to submit applications to PhD programs that would start in the middle of August or beginning of September when that would mean I'd be trying to finish my M.Phil. dissertation and move out of my flat in Ireland and start a new program.

Much as I love a challenge (and love to make things complicated), I have decided against that course of action at present. Instead, I will focus on learning lots about Irish theatre and on developing my writing skills. (There are many wonderful things about my studies at UCSC, but critical writing is not one of them.)

This also means I don't have to stress myself about the traveling I am not doing while I study because I have the option to travel next fall after I finish my dissertation. Now I can enjoy my studies and relax a bit, trusting that I have the rest of my life to change the world and that I don't have to do it on someone else's time line or in someone else's way. I'll do it my way!