I am officially a PhD Candidate. Previously I was a on a PhD tract. I passed my Part IIs with flying colors. It was basically a proposal of my core dissertation work to my committee (4 computational RNA theorists and statisticians) and my advisor/boss Andy. They decided on whether or not my project and methods were sound, if I knew what I was talking about and whether or not I should move forward. They beat me up for about 2 hours (mostly Andy leading it), provided some very constructive criticism, and in the end, they thought my proposal was worthy of the work necessary in a dissertation. I am through stage three. The next stage is a presentation of accomplishments around this time next year followed by writing my Dissertation and then defending it to the same group.
