I'm currently three weeks into my third year of grad school, and I'm asking myself how long it's going to be before I get enough meaningful data for my first paper, how many papers I need to graduate, and whether or not I can graduate on time (I'm aiming for May 2013). I'm currently unsure if I'm on track or behind; it just seems like everyone I know has more data than me...and by "everyone I know," I've pretty much limited it to other lab members. I want to get more data in a shorter period of time, but sometmes it can be difficult to strike a balance between being efficient and being high-quality.
I'm also in the middle of designing experiments for my thesis proposal. I finally got my thesis committee formed and the first committee meeting scheduled, but I'm not really sure what to expect. I'm guessing it's going to be a lot of questions on experiment design and controls (like prelims), questions on the validity of results (like prelims), and probably questions on the field as a whole (like prelims). My advisor send back some comments on my experiment design, and while his questions are quite valid, I sometimes wonder howcome I missed seeing it myself. In other words, the blanks I have to fill are a lot more obvious when they're pointed out to me by someone else. While this is all part of the learning curve in grad school, I sometimes wonder if (1) I'm a slow learner; (2) there are so many things that need to be considered in experimental design that it's mind-boggling, or (3) it's actually not mind-boggling.. it's just hard to see what else is important aside from the immediately obvious.
The good thing is I don't have to take classes anymore, so fall term is just a continuation of summer research. Right now it just seems like a long, hazy road ahead...
