SHOCK!

Shock, n. [shok]

a sudden or violent disturbance of the mind, emotions, or sensibilities.

I am still in shock today.

Why?

I got the mark for my dissertation yesterday.

During an Orientation meeting in September 2009, the first piece of information I heard regarding the dissertation that would be required to complete my degree:

Don't expect a mark of 80 or above - that's impossible for anything less than exceptional work produced by PhD candidates.

Great. The director speaking to us must have felt our dismay because she quickly asked, "how many of you are from the United States?"

I raised my hand (along with 30 or so other people at the meeting).

She then said, "How does a score of 80 look on an American transcript? Pretty mediocre, right?"

Indeed.

That's when I was introduced the craziness known as the UK marking system. Anything that falls between 70 and 100 is awarded a distinction. The reason we were not to expect 80 or higher is because professors and administrators feel that Masters' students do not have the background, research experience or adequate time to spend on one topic to deserve such a high mark - it's pretty much an exclusive privilege of PhD students. So anything over 80 was non-existent, and anything over 70 was still pretty rare.

The grading scale we came to know and love pretty much looked like this:

40-49: Thanks for trying

50-59: Good

60-69: Great

70 and above: Distinction - we think you're awesome.

Somewhat comical, but true. Average marks usually fell somewhere between 58-66 for students in my program.

26 March 2010 - the day I promised myself I'd do whatever it takes to earn a distinction - no pleasure reading, no facebook, no wasting time, constantly research new sources, take tons of notes, question every argument, cite every source, etc. etc. etc. A quote I have come to love, which truly captures the essence of my dissertation experience is by Jim Rohn:

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."

Here's what that looked like:

This is on a light day - usually our front room looked like a tornado had hit Piersfield Terrace, leaving books, papers, post-it notes, etc. strewn about the room.

16 August 2010: I turned in two copies of my completed dissertation, flew back to the States the next day, and started the waiting game to receive my final mark.

Not a big fan of that game, but at least I kept myself really busy.

31 October 2010: Halloween just got even better.

I got a 79.

I am truly stunned. I felt really good about this paper and know I gave it everything I had, but a 79 far exceeded my expectations. I was shooting for 80 or above - even though I was told it was impossible I still worked to the grading rubric that qualified for that score - all the while thinking that it would likely end up in the high 60s, maybe low 70s.

Was it all worth it?

Absolutely. I can't keep from smiling.

I know I've already thanked you a bazillion times, but to my amazing editors - DRI and LIR - I couldn't have achieved this without you. Thank you. And a big thanks as well to all of you who sent lovely thoughts and prayers on my behalf - they were felt and answered.