I thought I knew what the definition of ABD was. It was exactly the same as defined here in Carnegie Mellon's University Doctoral Candidate Policies for All But Dissertation (ABD) : After the completion of all formal degree requirements other than the completion of and approval of the doctoral dissertation and the public final examination, doctoral candidates shall be regarded as All But Dissertation(ABD). I have, though, occasionally run into the term ABD being used as a somewhat disparaging designation for one who fulfills the formal degree requirements of the Ph.D. but never finishes the dissertation, and then quits the program. Most recently, I saw it in What They Didn' t Teach You in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career , by Paul Gray and David E. Drew. Number 9 of their helpful hints is one that I strongly agree with: "Remember that a Ph.D. is primarily an indication of survivorship." They go on to say, "You stuck wi
Academiblog... Write your dissertation, get a job, get tenure.
I'm not sure what's worse - the fact that these guys made four and a half minutes of really bad rap about statistics - or that I actually watched the whole thing...
ReplyDeleteI know; it's stangely seductive. My excuse is I'm home with the flu and couldn't do anything more demanding.
ReplyDelete"It's like Kool and the Gang"...
ReplyDeleteMy soul hurts.
I'm causing a lot of unintended pain. It gave me flashbacks to my stats courses in grad school -- 24 years ago and it still hurts to think about.
ReplyDelete