PhunDamentals of my Program

Inquiring minds have wanted to know what *exactly* I will be doing in the Citrus Country of California. To be fair--the pick-you-own oranges is about 5 miles from where I live. Five miles in the opposite direction is where I will actually be spending my days...chipping away at these requirements:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in English

The M.A. is a prerequisite for admission to the 72-unit Ph.D. program. All 40 units of coursework from a CGU M.A., or a maximum of 24 units transferred from an M.A. granted by another institution, may be counted toward the Ph.D. Degree requirements include the following:

• 64 units of coursework
• Eight units of Independent Research/Dissertation Research
• Two research tools (either two foreign languages or one foreign language and the digital humanities research tool course)
• Ph.D. qualifying exam
• A dissertation proposal and formal advancement to candidacy
• An oral exam on the completed dissertation
• Doctoral students entering in Fall 2006 and after must satisfy the 4-unit transdisciplinary course (T-course) requirement within the second year of study at CGU. For more information, please see the T-course page.

Really, it's only 7 bullet points--how hard could it be?

--Each class is worth 4 units
--2 "Research Tools" means a reading proficiency in 2 add'l languages
--PhD qualifying exam includes 1 major area (early modern) of concentration and 2 minors (TBA)
--A dissertation is my (should be publishable) original contribution to my field of study

--I then need to "defend" my dissertation 

--But the good news is I am enrolling in my transdisciplinary course this fall. 

1 down 6 to go...looks like I'll be getting my oranges from the grocer...