My name is
Kayla Lindenback and I am a first year Master’s degree student at the
University of Saskatchewan. GO HUSKIES! I am studying flax breeding and my
supervisor is (Helen Booker) CDC Flax Breeder. I hail from Leduc, Alberta (Hi
Dad!) and grew up in cities all my life. So how did I develop an interest in
agriculture and crop sciences you ask? Well, during the second year of my
genetics Bachelor’s degree at the University of Alberta I mistakenly applied
for a job with Dow Agrosciences that had been posted as “Plant Genetics
Assistant”, it turned out to be research field work but I fell in love with the
job, atmosphere, people and let’s be honest... the pay cheques.
Over the holidays I went back
home to spend Christmas with family and my boyfriend. My older sister and I are
the first in our immediate family to get any university education, and I am the
first to go past a Bachelor’s. Because of this, whenever I go home I am often
fielding a barrage of questions. This is understandable because to be totally honest
with you readers, even I didn’t know the difference between a Master’s degree
and a PhD until two years ago! So I will use this blog to answer some common
questions that I get asked:
What is the difference between a Bachelor’s Degree, a
Master’s Degree and a PhD?
- A Bachelor’s Degree is
what you take right after high school when you go into university. After
you have completed a Bachelor’s you can apply to go into a Master’s or PhD
program.
- An agricultural Master’s
takes typically 2-3 years (depending on the student) and can be an
intermediate step between a Bachelor’s and a PhD.
- Some people skip the Masters and go right into a PhD, this saves time in the long run but the transition can be difficult. A PhD in agriculture takes approximately 4-6 (or 7 if you are slow) years to complete but it is the Holy Grail, once you get it life is gooooood. If you have survived past this point you are now a doctor of both your field and of being awesome.
What are you doing all day if you don’t have classes?
Research graduate degrees don’t
involve many classes, I only have to take 3 courses to complete my Master’s and
they are courses that my supervisor and I both decide are cool enough to take.
The majority of my time is spent working in the field, labs, and greenhouses.
Why don’t you just work during the summer and stop complaining
about being broke?
Since most of our time is spent
working we don’t get the summer off. We till, seed, spray, and combine just
like the rest of you folks. Which reminds me, I have some plants that need
watering!
Ciao for now readers!
