Dissertation defenses are strange to me. If your chair has done his or her job, there should be no question of whether or not you will pass.* Even though the defense is discussed as a major milestone like finishing your M.A., completing your prelims, or passing your dissertation proposal defense, the experience itself is anti-climactic. Like participating in graduation when you are not done with your degree requirements, people will want to call you “doctor” afterward. Perhaps stubbornly, I still refuse to accept this label. Of course, this is not out of modesty or a belief that I am no more accomplished than anybody else, it is because I am not done. I expect that I will have a much greater sense of accomplishment when my revisions have been accepted by my chair and I turn in all of the necessary paperwork.
*I’m sure that there are a few departments that pride themselves on lulling Ph.D. candidates into a false sense of security and then nailing them with ridiculous questions at the defense, but I don’t think this is the norm.
Memoirs of a SLACer 