>>As to your ‘not taking the exam’
No idea why, but I’m terrified of tests. Took an extra two years on my first masters to do a thesis instead. And as for the BU exam, the frustration was that what I was working on meant I knew more about the topic than the profs. Didn’t help. Basically gutless. Done well enough without it. Ran the professional society in our field, started two magazines, a professional organization, and ran 4 conferences. Took an entire conference to New Orleans so that I could take the executive committee to dinner at Jonathan’s. Have had an absolutely joyful time getting in over my head and doing so many fun things. Even retirement has been a blast.
Mairdie, that was exactly my experience at BU - and of course they knew it. They made me take silly basic courses - if I wanted a degree - that they knew I did not need but kept me from taking advanced courses where I might experiment with new protocols - obviously something they wanted to avoid. I took their simple letter-block courses and got my degree and told them to never send a request for alumnus donations because I had no respect for their institution. {Anyway, I understand that they took to publishing a pornographic magazine for income, so what would they need my donations for?}
What I guess I did not know, from what you say, is that my 'school' was not the only one at BU that was paddling up river without a paddle. I took a tv set that I had modified across the Charles River to a place to get something added or replaced and they offered me a job on the spot. I have often thought that I should have taken it!
Intimidated by tests? I guess that I was also at first - until I realized some of the things we are talking about now. Academe is such a bull shuck factory. I even took an anthropology final for a girl friend in a course that I had never taken - got an 'A' - not because I am so smart but because the prof was afraid to challenge my answers! 🙄 I started out as a good old country boy, but they blasted that shell off rather quickly!
Obviously, you are a trip. A delightful dance of a serendipitous trip. Congrats.