What a degree teaches

One thing I have found as I come to the end of my degree is that I know more than I think I do.

I'm sure every student (certainly those of my friends who I asked) feels the same. I went into my degree with an expectation to come out able to do anything in physics instantly as a matter of course. Nearing the end of my masters degree I find that this is far from the case. In fact if pushed I would have trouble giving in depth information about any part of the subject off the top of my head.

However when asked what I do know I realise that the answer is rather a lot.

I've just finished an essay on white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. And right now if asked I could probably give a good lecture on the subject. However by tomorrow, when I'll be doing a short bit on chaos theory I won't.

But here's the key. Within a day of reading over something I wrote I can fully recount it again. And this I think is the key to a successful university degree. The ability, not to recall full details of a subject instantly, but to quickly grasp the details from a brief summary. And this I can do.