I am now officially a doctoral CANDIDATE. My advisor signed off on the revisions to my proposal.
In my program, you advance to candidacy when you:
- Complete and have your comprehensive exams signed off on
- Complete and have your dissertation proposal signed off on
Of course, our proposal is the first three chapters of our dissertation, written in future tense. (“This study will do X” rather than “This study did X”.) I actually think this was the hard part, because those chapters include the literature review and methods. Once you get those signed off on its all about following the methods you decided on and then writing up the conclusions. I actually intend to do nearly all of the statistical analysis today and start writing up the results tomorrow. First draft of the last two chapters will go to my advisor before the end of the month.
I will graduate in May. I have to. Chair is leaving on sabbatical for a year (in Spain; lucky bastard) in July, so I need to be done before that. The end is in sight, and a HUGE weight is already off my shoulders….
ProtoScholar 
Hey Protoscholar,
Congrats! I’m trying to graduate in May too – we should keep each other motivated and productive! 🙂
Congratulations!
Many, many congrats! Best wishes as you finish your diss. Keep blogging about it!
Also wanted to thank you for your comment on my blog the other day, re: uncertainty in the academy. Often, current professors are not honest about what they see their students’ job prospects to be, so “hearing it straight” is much appreciated. I am fortunate to be in a position where my husband makes a good living, so grad school is a viable option with my fellowship, but – that doesn’t mean academia is necessarily a good career choice long term, and I’m struggling with that decision right now. If only I could see into the future, ha!
And I 100% agree – being an academic is one of the most demanding jobs there is. Maybe aside from being the President.
Late to the party, but . . . congrats!