I've far exceeded the number of classes/credits required for my program. I'm finished collecting data. I'm ABD. I'm trying to finish next summer. I don't need to take another class.
But this fall my department is offering a graduate seminar on women in ecology & evolution. I'd really like to take it. I think it would be interesting and informative.
I just can't decide if I should do it because I really want to finish next summer. I'd have to do a presentation, write a paper, do readings, and participate in discussions. It would meet once a week. I'm torn. What do you think?
6 comments:
There are many things in life and science that are useful to do, and the course you describe is clearly one of them. The problem is that there are more useful things to do than time to do them. What you need to decide, and only you can decide this, is (a) will taking the course detract from finishing your dissertation and (b) if it does, is the value you'll get from the course greater than the cost to your dissertation. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that. You probably knew this already.
Could you audit the course instead of fully enrolling?
Well said, unknown. Alyssa, I'm going to investigate that option. I've got to discuss this with Sam and Herb too and see what they think.
Ask the prof if you can sit in; I've done that without auditing
yeah, i'd say just express interest to the prof, explain your situation, and ask if you can get on the mailing list for the readings and sit in when you can. In my experiences profs are more than happy to have more senior grad students sit in/pitch in when they can.
So the problem right now is that the course might not happen at all due to low enrollment (it's graduate students only), so the professor really wants people to actually register rather than audit or sit in. I think I'm going to register to help it meet the cutoff, and then I might drop it depending on what my advisors say.
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