This was a triumph ...
Well, I'm sure I've bored everyone who's likely to read this with this information already but I have this Journal so I'm darn well going to use it!
Friday was the last day of term and so was the obligatory handing out of exam results in the Physics department (among others). The 4th years had received an e-mail from Alex explaining what times we were to be there. 10 o'clock for his tutees and 11 o'clock for Misha's (as Misha is back in Brazil at this point). Wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible, I arrived for 10 only to be greeted by a locked door. This is not unusual for Alex so I remained. About 5 minutes later, Nick arrived (the one who asked Roy all those questions) and he went to check Alex's lab. To my surprise he wasn't in the lab and so we had no real choice but too wait and see if he would turn up. As more people turn up we concluded that he must have had difficulty getting a hold of the results for some reason. It turned out that actually Alex had been in a meeting with Alan Usher, at least since before I got there. At about 25 to 10, Alex finally got back and we proceeded to go into his office to collect our results. I was the third person to do so.
Alex spent a good few minutes talking to me about the PhD stuff I had been investigating over the past week (more to follow) and all through which all I could think was "What did I get? What did I get? Tell me what I got!" I managed to stay calm and jumped through all the hoops required and got the results, but not before Alex arranged a meeting with Bill Barnes that afternoon over yet another potential PhD (again, more to follow).
Generally I am happy with my results, although I'm surprised Methods wasn't higher (only got 88%). My biggest disappointment was with Imaging, in which I got 48%, but this was not unexpected. As I said, it was quite a lot different from the previous years and I wasn't happy with it when I left the exam. I was relieved over general problems, for which I got a score of 65%. I was hoping for a little more, but I'm not complaining (even if I am still kicking myself over that black hole question). I was surprised, in discussing the results with other 4th years, with the number of people who failed general problems. It seemed to be quite a common thing (at least half of the people I spoke to). I guess that sort of thing isn't for everyone. All these scores combine together to give me an average for the year of 73.83% and a degree score of 69.54% (that number will be burned into my very soul). Fortunately for me they are rounding it up and giving me a first class degree, apparently. *dances*
I still want to know what happened to my third year but it seems everyone I speak too had trouble with it (except Amy, obviously). I guess I'll never really know for sure, but the scores scream (at least to me) that something went wrong (73% -> 71% -> 60% -> 74%, *sings* One of these things just doesn't belong here!). Not that it matters now anyway, since I actually have the degree now and can get away with putting MPhys after my name (which I know apweiler, jedda and fanged_geranium can do already but this is me talking and it's my Journal so I can have a little ego trip if I want).
Anyway, as many of you are aware to various levels, over the past week and a half I have been investigating possible PhD places in other areas since my original attempt to get a PhD in Astrophysics failed. I looked at as many of them as I could and they all sounded reasonably interesting and I had decided on the Biophysics one with Ian Summers, which is the one that grabbed my attention most, but on Thursday I got an e-mail from Bill Barnes informing me of yet another new lecturer they hired who wants a student to work with them, which I had to explore for my own piece of mind before properly going for the Summers option but I was reassured to know that if I wanted the Summers position, it was mine (serious, he said that, remarking that I was the best prospect for the position :D)! My hand was forced slightly by Alex making an appointment to see Bill on the Friday afternoon and Summers wanting a final decision that day, but the constraints were probably for the best as my final decision would probably have been the same. Alex noted that I was in the rare position of being able to pick my place from several offers available so that was fun. As I said to fanged_geranium, this might work out for the best since having my Masters and PhD in different area should (in theory) increase my employability. More than likely they'll just see it as lack of direction but screw them I say! So, while it isn't 100% official yet (hopefully it will be soon so I can stay with my student account), it's looking like I'll be doing a Biophysics PhD which mean I'll be able to stay as Sci-Fi president and TolkSoc secretary this year. Crisis, averted!
Anyway, I've once again rambled on for too long so I'll see y'all later!
Friday was the last day of term and so was the obligatory handing out of exam results in the Physics department (among others). The 4th years had received an e-mail from Alex explaining what times we were to be there. 10 o'clock for his tutees and 11 o'clock for Misha's (as Misha is back in Brazil at this point). Wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible, I arrived for 10 only to be greeted by a locked door. This is not unusual for Alex so I remained. About 5 minutes later, Nick arrived (the one who asked Roy all those questions) and he went to check Alex's lab. To my surprise he wasn't in the lab and so we had no real choice but too wait and see if he would turn up. As more people turn up we concluded that he must have had difficulty getting a hold of the results for some reason. It turned out that actually Alex had been in a meeting with Alan Usher, at least since before I got there. At about 25 to 10, Alex finally got back and we proceeded to go into his office to collect our results. I was the third person to do so.
Alex spent a good few minutes talking to me about the PhD stuff I had been investigating over the past week (more to follow) and all through which all I could think was "What did I get? What did I get? Tell me what I got!" I managed to stay calm and jumped through all the hoops required and got the results, but not before Alex arranged a meeting with Bill Barnes that afternoon over yet another potential PhD (again, more to follow).
Generally I am happy with my results, although I'm surprised Methods wasn't higher (only got 88%). My biggest disappointment was with Imaging, in which I got 48%, but this was not unexpected. As I said, it was quite a lot different from the previous years and I wasn't happy with it when I left the exam. I was relieved over general problems, for which I got a score of 65%. I was hoping for a little more, but I'm not complaining (even if I am still kicking myself over that black hole question). I was surprised, in discussing the results with other 4th years, with the number of people who failed general problems. It seemed to be quite a common thing (at least half of the people I spoke to). I guess that sort of thing isn't for everyone. All these scores combine together to give me an average for the year of 73.83% and a degree score of 69.54% (that number will be burned into my very soul). Fortunately for me they are rounding it up and giving me a first class degree, apparently. *dances*
I still want to know what happened to my third year but it seems everyone I speak too had trouble with it (except Amy, obviously). I guess I'll never really know for sure, but the scores scream (at least to me) that something went wrong (73% -> 71% -> 60% -> 74%, *sings* One of these things just doesn't belong here!). Not that it matters now anyway, since I actually have the degree now and can get away with putting MPhys after my name (which I know apweiler, jedda and fanged_geranium can do already but this is me talking and it's my Journal so I can have a little ego trip if I want).
Anyway, as many of you are aware to various levels, over the past week and a half I have been investigating possible PhD places in other areas since my original attempt to get a PhD in Astrophysics failed. I looked at as many of them as I could and they all sounded reasonably interesting and I had decided on the Biophysics one with Ian Summers, which is the one that grabbed my attention most, but on Thursday I got an e-mail from Bill Barnes informing me of yet another new lecturer they hired who wants a student to work with them, which I had to explore for my own piece of mind before properly going for the Summers option but I was reassured to know that if I wanted the Summers position, it was mine (serious, he said that, remarking that I was the best prospect for the position :D)! My hand was forced slightly by Alex making an appointment to see Bill on the Friday afternoon and Summers wanting a final decision that day, but the constraints were probably for the best as my final decision would probably have been the same. Alex noted that I was in the rare position of being able to pick my place from several offers available so that was fun. As I said to fanged_geranium, this might work out for the best since having my Masters and PhD in different area should (in theory) increase my employability. More than likely they'll just see it as lack of direction but screw them I say! So, while it isn't 100% official yet (hopefully it will be soon so I can stay with my student account), it's looking like I'll be doing a Biophysics PhD which mean I'll be able to stay as Sci-Fi president and TolkSoc secretary this year. Crisis, averted!
Anyway, I've once again rambled on for too long so I'll see y'all later!