Boo...perhaps no ICPSR stats boot camp for me

So the official August comp date has been set - August 20-21.  By the end of this semester there will be no reason for me not to take my primary field comprehensive exam in August (plus, everyone else in my cohort will be taking it and it makes sense for us all to take it at the same time so we can study together and provide support for the pre/post comp freakouts).  To be honest, I am not all that worried about my primary field (American politics) comp.  Yes, I will have to study for it, but I already had to take a comp in the same topic for my MA and that comp was closed book for 7 hours in a computer lab.  Maryland's comps are 36 hours and open book (essentially "take-home").  I'm way more stressed about my Quant (secondary field) comp which I will take some time in 2009.

So, Ozan sent out the list of ICPSR classes a few days ago.  The first session (June 23-July 18) is rather disappointing.  Basically, I have already taken all of the classes offered in that session with the exception of a Bayesian class that I am uninterested in.  The second session runs from July 21-August 15... five days before the comp.  That's probably cutting it way too close, especially considering I will have to move back here from Michigan.  Sadly this is the session with all the classes I wanted to take: time series, matrix algebra, simultaneous equation models, LISREL/structural equation models, etc.  Boooooo.

I need to talk to Mike and Ozan to see what they think.  I can't imagine wanting to go to the second session considering it ends 5 days before one of the biggest hurdles in my graduate career.  I also can't imagine wanting to take the Bayesian class, but Ozan is a big Bayesian, so maybe he will convince me otherwise.  Mainstream American political science seems to be filled with frequentists rather than Bayesians.  The bad news is if I don't go to ICPSR this summer, it's really going to hold up my graduate career.  I need to get enough classes to finish my secondary field reqs and I need to take my secondary field comp sometime in 2009.