I am close to graduation, close to having a Ph.D. after my name. People are going to assume that I know things. The truth is that I know an awful lot about very little. I know every last detail of my thesis project (or I better soon, if I don’t yet). I can go on for an hour about the drawbacks of PCR-based mutagenesis strategies for HSV-1 viral DNA but ask me something about, say T cell maturation, and you are guaranteed a blank stare in response. Last week I had a moment of panic when I realized that I had absolutely no idea what my friend was talking about in his defense (granted, he is a crystallographer and is, therefore, scary, but still…).

That got me thinking about what I have gained in my years in grad school. What will I take away besides the intricate knowledge of two viral promoters and how to do very bad things to mice? I realized that I now have the base upon which to build further knowledge, something I will undoubtedly be required to do once I leave my current field. I can pick up the broad strokes fairly quickly and figure out the details with some reading. I see how small pieces can fit together to form the larger picture, biologically speaking – something I definitely could not do when I started. So even if the optimal mutagenesis approach for HSV-1 DNA (pAlter is the way to go, incidentally) will not be of use to me in the future, I leave far from empty handed. How I will apply my skills and knowledge outside of the lab environment is still in question, however. I am still waiting for someone to tell me that I will figure it all out when the time comes.