🥳🥳

Okayyyyyyy!

Yes, I think of Harney & Moten’s “The Undercommons”. Much is, has, and will continue to happen outside the lines of what is officially sanctioned by the university. Meetings you don’t put on your calendar. Nontrad pubs (research zines, maybe?). Study groups in unused rooms.

Kill USAID AND funding for science and medicine AND the American research university AND start trade wars with allies AND profess your desire to do crimes against humanity forthwith AND cede power to oligarchs AND make discrimination great again AND open a concentration camp? IN A FEW WEEKS?

That’s part of why I actually liked my comps, to a degree, because I could write my questions about the things I’ve taken from coursework and where I saw my dissertation going. I had a lot from comps I could use for my proposal.

Of course they say it’s not hazing, they’re doing the hazing lol. Programs moving to portfolios or having your comps be more about explaining groundwork for your dissertation are a much more authentic way of showing you’re ready for dissertating.

You completed the coursework. Completing an arbitrary high stakes assessment unlike anything you will do in the future is just a tradition, not some magical doctor-making activity. Write as completely as you can showing what you’ve learned, leave time to re-read and edit, and hit submit when done.

So my format was very different (four questions, eight weeks, 15-20 pages per question) but what helped me was to talk to other people in the program who had comped about their experience, prepare detailed notes with citations so I could copy paste references, and remind myself it’s just hazing.

What’s your format? We wrote our own questions so may be different if they’re a surprise.

Thankfully bookshop.org is now able to sell ebooks!