Grace LeeBiological Sciences Senior “Your written thesis should be about the length of a Master’s degree thesis,” my principal investigator told me at a meeting earlier this semester. I’m sure my face said it all – how was I ever supposed to accomplish such a task, plus prepare a full defense for a committee, all on top of taking a full course load, balancing extracurricular activities, studying for the MCAT, and enjoying senior year? It seemed impossible at the time. Now, as I am approaching less than a month until my defense date with a 30-page draft in hand, I can confidently look back at the start of the semester and say, “Grace, you highly underestimated yourself!” Here’s the tough, but rewarding experience I have had with writing and preparing my thesis on Alzheimer’s Disease (more specific details about this project are in my previous blog).
Pitt is only one of a few universities in the world to offer the Bachelor of Philosophy degree (BPhil for short!), with the University of Oxford being the first. The BPhil is offered through the University Honors College (UHC), which is accessible to any student at Pitt. If you are working on an independent research project and have an advisor who is overseeing your project, you may be eligible to pursue this degree! The BPhil requires you to write a complete thesis, select a committee of qualified Pitt faculty + an external committee member from another university, and to prepare and present a full defense for the committee. If the defense is successfully prepared, and the thesis is submitted to the UHC, you will graduate with a Bachelor of Philosophy in your prospective major, as opposed to graduating with a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science. So how exactly did I tackle this project? After calming myself down upon realizing just how much work I had to do, I first set up deadlines with my PI that would keep me on track to finish the thesis in time. This consisted of finishing my lab bench work, setting dates for when the working draft would be completed, when editing would take place, when the draft would be sent to the rest of my committee members, and dates for practice presentations for members of the Pitt community. Not going to lie, I severely underestimated how long the writing process would take – I spent many nights poring over my ginormous spreadsheets of compiled data and reading countless scientific articles that would supplement my findings. Some days I would even think about giving up the BPhil because of how frustrated I was on writing the draft. Luckily, with guidance from my thesis advisor, other members in my lab, and skills I developed from the bio writing courses necessary for my major (BIOSC 1010: Communicating in the Biological Sciences), I had lots of resources that made the writing process less intimidating. With perseverance and determination, I’m proud (and relieved!) to say that yesterday, I finished the 30-page working draft. This thesis is the longest document I have ever written in my life. It is by no means perfect, and there is still a lot of work to do done with editing and formatting, not to mention putting together and practicing my defense. But, I still consider it a huge personal feat. I often get asked, “Grace, WHY would you ever want to pursue this degree, especially during your last semester at Pitt? Don’t you want a chill and fun semester? It’s not even for a grade!” In response to these questions (which, to be fair, are valid questions), I say something along these lines: “You know, sometimes I ask myself these questions too. Actually, not just sometimes. I ask myself this all the time. But, it’s a personal challenge I wanted to see if I could do it. I wanted to make my research project tangible, since I have put in so much work and energy into it. I also wanted to get the most out of my four years here at Pitt. The BPhil is one of the ways in which I am doing this!” If I can offer any advice for students who are/will be doing research in the future and are looking to pursue this degree, here is what it would be: DON’T BE INITMIDATED BY IT, AND DO IT!
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January 2022
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