Going back to school is the new black.

I'm going to go back to school to get a PhD. Details are many (understatement) and fuzzy. Some field of Biology, to be determined. Likely at UCLA. Don't have an undergraduate degree (not even any classes), so I've got to figure out what I'm going to do about that. But this is something doable.

I'm fortunate to have the support of the company I'm working for. (The CEO threatened to kick my ass if I didn't.) Get to keep my day job, in one form or another.

Wish me luck--I'm going to need it! And slap me if I try to back out.

Congrats!Education is always a good thing-you might feel a little rusty,but you can always find some cute college boy to carry your books!Good luck.

Dr. Huma,
I like the sound of that.
Good luck,
Al

That's very cool. I wish I was in a position to do that. Glad to hear your company is involved. I'm sure it's reassuring to know you still have a job while you go through school. I think you should do all your studying in your home bar, the decor (and the rum) should help you study!

Dr. Humuhumu's expiriments in biotechnology go horribly awry.

Hey, Hx2, that's great! Now how will you ever find time to work, study, and attend every tiki event? Maybe you should specialize in cloning research? Just don't make any dogs that look like this:

Best of luck to you!

You're an incredible woman! How did you get so far without an undergrad degree? Are you self taught?

Are you still going to make it to the Hooptylau?

The best of luck to you!

Best wishes and congratulations Humuhumu.

http://www.samgambino.com

Hey Humu, since I'm a student too, let's start our own tiki frat house!

I think it's great that your employer recognizes your potential.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were the next valedictorian / class president / homecoming queen.

Anyway, somebody needs to stand up in the school cafeteria and yell "FOOD FIGHT!!!"

Just don't end up like Bong home all day and starting weird threads.

[ Edited by: TNTiki on 2004-11-06 15:22 ]

On 2004-10-19 02:23, Humuhumu wrote:
I'm going to go back to school to get a PhD. Details are many (understatement) and fuzzy. Some field of Biology, to be determined. Likely at UCLA. that.

Skip Biology - get your doctorate in tiki at the Easter Island Project at UCLA. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/eisp/

On 2004-10-19 18:20, martiki wrote:
Just don't end up like Bong home all day and starting weird threads.

Man, bro, I thought we had something...

Now I'm jealous of more people.

Cool.

On 2004-10-19 22:02, Tiki_Bong wrote:

On 2004-10-19 18:20, martiki wrote:
Just don't end up like Bong home all day and starting weird threads.

Man, bro, I thought we had something...

I think I woke up my landlord, when I laughed at this post.

Michelle,
Only the BEST to you on your new horizon.
The only negative is, that we won't have you around as much as we like. We can wait.

Thank you all for your kind words of support. Things are moving forward already, yesterday I had brief but productive conversations with both the chair of the department I'd like to join and also with a scientist in that department whose lab I have my eye on--both are eager to help me figure out a way to do this.

On 2004-10-19 12:20, thejab wrote:
How did you get so far without an undergrad degree? Are you self taught?

I wouldn't exactly say I'm self-taught. It's been a combination of reading and learning on my own, and working with scientists who have been very helpful and patient in getting me up to speed with new areas. (Four years ago, I didn't know what a protein or a gene actually was!) I've been able to work my way to the point where I now do PhD-level work because I've got mad street cred through my achievements and the level of scientists I've worked with. Now, however, I want to do work above PhD-level, and street cred requires too much explanation for those who aren't acquainted with my work--the PhD at this point is a required shorthand if I'm going to increase my contribution to this field.

Are you still going to make it to the Hooptylau?

You betcha!

i envision Dr Humuhumu accepting her Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine wearing a vintage hawaiian dress with the infamous bamboo purse, of course.

can't wait to read that blog!

here's to all your successes ! :drink:

Hi Humuhumu,

I just found this site from the Lottaliving forum, and I couldn't help noticing your insane plan. Have you really thought this through? Masochism is treatable, you know.

Hopefully you're reading that with a crooked smile on your face, as that's how I typed it. :wink: I got my Ph.D. at UCLA a while back (in neuroscience), so I spent a lot of hours (many thousands, frankly) roaming the halls of the venerable Center for Health Sciences where you may be spending a lot of your future. Heck, I went so crazy, I did med school, too. But the school fever does pass -- it just took about 10 years in my case. In retrospect, I'm glad I did it all, though I wish I'd had a better idea of what I was getting into at the start (on the other hand, would we ever accomplish anything amazing if we knew going in how hard it was really going to be?).

To say you're making a big decision is an understatement, but you know that. Good luck!

No MD for me, thankyouverymuch. Did you do the MSTP program? My ex-husband is an MD, PhD, I was with him through all his training, so I know exactly what I'm in for. I already know my way around CHS pretty well, my office was there for a while. I'm at the LA Tech Center in Culver City now, but I have meetings with folks from Molecular & Medical Pharmacology every couple weeks and I go see talks whenever one interests me, so I still haunt the halls now and then. Where are you slinging your neuroscience knowledge these days?

I didn't think the MD was for me, either, until I saw what postdocs were making! Actually, it was more that I wanted to move from working with rhesus monkeys to human-type primates. In your case, it sounds like you'll be going into the industry side of things, so scraping after meager fellowships and indentured servitude slots (i.e., non-tenure track teaching jobs) isn't something you'll have to worry about, which is very good.

I didn't go for the MSTP program because I was well into the PhD program before I ever had a glimmer of a notion to do med school. I regretted that later -- it sure would have saved me a boat load of $$$. On the other hand, the MSTP folks were seen as being spoon fed, and weren't always too respected on either side of the tracks.

For me, in the end, the clinical side felt more vital, and the petty politics of research got a little tiring, so I left research behind. I also think I learned enough about the brain to realize we weren't going to figure it all out in the lab, at least not in my lifetime.

It's funny, now that I'm completely out of research, I have more ideas than ever for worthwhile lines of research. Clinical practice, and a little living, will do that.

And where do I sling my neuroscience knowledge nowadays? Mostly only in private, with a couple of friends who enjoy obtuse intellectual conversations. Or to win bar bets. You see, I even gave up clinical practice a couple of years ago, to (hold on to your hat now) become an animator. How's that for a transition? If you saw Shrek 2, you saw some of my work. Next, I'm trying out for NASA.

So where was your office in the CHS? Mine was 43-364. There's a directory at the end of that hall that someone lost the key to, and my name's still there, frozen in time.

On 2004-10-19 22:02, Tiki_Bong wrote:

On 2004-10-19 18:20, martiki wrote:
Just don't end up like Bong home all day and starting weird threads.

Man, bro, I thought we had something...

The love is there. I'm just giving you the business.

Humu-

I'm sure you'll be able to breeze past the undergrad science courses, but there's surely no substitute for a BA when applying to a PhD program at UCLA. Presumably, you'll still have to get all the units required for a BA, right?

KevInBoots, too cool! My kinda guy. The MSTP program is great in concept, not so great in reality. It's simply not achieving the goal of creating researchers with a clinical perspective--it's just creating overeducated doctors. It would do better if they restructured the program to ease off on the medical requirements. And if they started paying researchers a decent amount of money (not that doctors are making a ton anymore--for all the education my ex-husband has racked up, he still makes less than I do).

I was in B3-399, the corner just before you exit to go over to the Crump Institute. I had to carry a map of the complex around with me for weeks. My friend Mike has been in CHS for literally decades, and he still gets lost.

I'm touring Pixar this Friday (I know, wrong studio), sounds like we'd have enough conversation in common to keep us going for awhile. :)

Martiki -- that undergrad business is definitely my biggest hurdle right now, everything else is a slam dunk. I'm likely going to have to get a BA. If there's even a sliver of a chance, if there's only one person in the history of UCLA to get into a science PhD program without an undergrad, I want to be that person. We'll see. I'm going to do what it takes, though, and if getting a BA is what it takes, then that's what I'm going to do.