Could I still apply for Post Doc?

[Childdoconeday]

So my internship year officially ends on September 1, 2016. I was looking over my graduate school's policies, and in order to graduate in May I need to finish my internship by the end of August. If i don't complete internship by the end of August, I need to graduate in the Fall (January).

Would it be really frowned upon if I asked my internship site if they could change my last day by 24 hours?

I'm wondering if I have to graduate in January if i could still also apply for a post doc because i would have completed all of my requirements.

Thanks a lot.

I'm just anxious. Phase I and Phase II did a ringer on me, i just want to make sure everything is smooth and hope I can graduate on time.

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[erg923]

So my internship year officially ends on September 1, 2016. I was looking over my graduate school's policies, and in order to graduate in May I need to finish my internship by the end of August. If i don't complete internship by the end of August, I need to graduate in the Fall (January).

Would it be really frowned upon if I asked my internship site if they could change my last day by 24 hours?

I'm wondering if I have to graduate in January if i could still also apply for a post doc because i would have completed all of my requirements.

Thanks a lot.

I'm just anxious. Phase I and Phase II did a ringer on me, i just want to make sure everything is smooth and hope I can graduate on time.

I think your confusing degree conferal with completion of all degree requirments. Post-docs require the latter, not neccesarily the former.

 

[deleted343839]

Have you asked your DCT at your program for suggestions about how to handle this? Surely you are not the first to have this problem.

Many postdocs are flexible if it is clear you have completed all your requirements and are just waiting on your institution to formally award your your degree. I started my postdoc more than a month before I had my Ph.D. in hand. So if there is not an easy resolution to your graduation timeline I would be forthcoming about your situation when you talk with postdoc sites. However, having to put off graduation until fall will affect your accrual of postdoc hours for licensure, and to my knowledge there's no way around that.

 

[Childdoconeday]

Have you asked your DCT at your program for suggestions about how to handle this? Surely you are not the first to have this problem.

Many postdocs are flexible if it is clear you have completed all your requirements and are just waiting on your institution to formally award your your degree. I started my postdoc more than a month before I had my Ph.D. in hand. So if there is not an easy resolution to your graduation timeline I would be forthcoming about your situation when you talk with postdoc sites. However, having to put off graduation until fall will affect your accrual of postdoc hours for licensure, and to my knowledge there's no way around that.

Thank you both for your comments. I definitely don't want to delay graduation or put off earning hours. I will reach out to my program because I was just accepted to internship I don't want to get off the wrong foot by asking to end my internship early even if it's by a day or so.

 

[erg923]

So my internship year officially ends on September 1, 2016. I was looking over my graduate school's policies, and in order to graduate in May I need to finish my internship by the end of August. If i don't complete internship by the end of August, I need to graduate in the Fall (January).

Would it be really frowned upon if I asked my internship site if they could change my last day by 24 hours?

I'm wondering if I have to graduate in January if i could still also apply for a post doc because i would have completed all of my requirements.

Thanks a lot.

I'm just anxious. Phase I and Phase II did a ringer on me, i just want to make sure everything is smooth and hope I can graduate on time.

Note that this fact would likely be a barrier if you were seeking regular employment after internship year, as opposed to a formal training orientged post-doc.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

The issue is that they may not actually be able to move your graduation date back, even by a single day, as they're likely required to give you a full year's worth of training. Without that, they might violate APA rules and/or state licensing requirements. And trust me, it'd be worse to have your internship discredited by a state board than to have to delay earning post-doc hours by 6 months while you wait for your degree to be conferred.

As erg mentioned, there is often a difference recognized by postdocs between conferral of degree and completion of degree requirements. Some positions may still require you to have your degree in hand, but others (likely most) will probably just require that your program write them a letter stating that you've completed all degree requirements and that your degree will be conferred on XX date.

 

[psychRA]

I didn't officially graduate until several months after I started postdoc, and it was no problem at all. I had fulfilled the requirements for the degree, so the fact that the degree itself is only conferred on a few dates per year (at the end of each semester) wasn't an issue.

 

[463951]

Have you asked your DCT at your program for suggestions about how to handle this? Surely you are not the first to have this problem.

Many postdocs are flexible if it is clear you have completed all your requirements and are just waiting on your institution to formally award your your degree. I started my postdoc more than a month before I had my Ph.D. in hand. So if there is not an easy resolution to your graduation timeline I would be forthcoming about your situation when you talk with postdoc sites. However, having to put off graduation until fall will affect your accrual of postdoc hours for licensure, and to my knowledge there's no way around that.

I complete my internship on July 17th, and start my post-doc on August 17th. But I won't have my degree in hand until late September. Will this be a problem in terms of accruing post-doc hours for licensure? Thanks.

 

[President_LeslieKnope]

We've discussed this a lot in my program recently due to some administrative changes on behalf of our Graduate School (not department). We are only allowed to graduate if our internship ends two weeks BEFORE graduation (new policy of our graduate school...they want that much time to process paperwork). So since my internship won't end until the week of our August graduation, I will not be able to "graduate" until December of my hypothetical post doc year. Students in the cohort above me have reported this NOT being a problem for post doc. As mentioned in this post, we'll be required to show degree requirement completion (waiting on graduation date) though not necessarily an actual degree to apply for pos docs. Within the VA system I did hear that you have to contact TDs of sites to inform them of this situation (something to do with HR) but I don't know all of the details (not sure about other sites outside of the VA). Indeed this may add a tiny bit of extra work to our post doc applications, but I haven't heard of this preventing people from obtaining post docs... at least in my program. A lot of us have fussed over this so I can definitely empathize with the anxiety!

 

[AcronymAllergy]

As with another poster, my having been granted my degree a few months into my (VA) postdoc wasn't a problem. As was mentioned above, I just had to contact the director of the fellowship and the TD to let them know, and they were the ones to whom my grad school sent my notification of degree requirements being met.

As for accrual of postdoc hours, as was said, it'll probably vary by state. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if the actual "clock" doesn't officially start until your degree is conferred. It's a bummer to be sure.

 

[deleted106747]

This works on a state-by-state basis, so it's best to look up the code for your particular state.

This. It would not be an issue for a VA fellowship, but it most certainly was an issue for me on my non VA fellowship. I couldn't start until my degree was conferred and then a limited license was obtained. It took several months. There may be nothing that you can do about it. What I did: I was tired after internship, fellowship apps, moving, life stress and I lived on an interest free credit card. What I wish I did: got a stupid Target job and sucked it up until the degree was conferred. Because paying off the cc before the interest free year was up, which I did do, was a big drag.

 

[docma]

So my internship year officially ends on September 1, 2016. I was looking over my graduate school's policies, and in order to graduate in May I need to finish my internship by the end of August. If i don't complete internship by the end of August, I need to graduate in the Fall (January).

Would it be really frowned upon if I asked my internship site if they could change my last day by 24 hours?

I'm wondering if I have to graduate in January if i could still also apply for a post doc because i would have completed all of my requirements.

Thanks a lot.

I'm just anxious. Phase I and Phase II did a ringer on me, i just want to make sure everything is smooth and hope I can graduate on time.

Talk about the situation to someone in your registrar's office. Completion of the degree/conferral and "graduation" are two different things. The second is a ceremonial event. But schools will often "post" the degree once they have documentation that you successfully completed the internship and passed the dissertation defense and submittal. While it might take a week or two for the bureaucratic wheels to grind, you would likely have the formal conferral by the end of September I would guess and the registrar is the one who does those details. It is very common for degrees to be "posted" across the year. Licensure boards require proof of a date of "conferral" of the degree and that is your graduation date, regardless of when the school has a ceremonial event.

And you should probably celebrate having the internship figured out and get the dissertation done before stressing too much about post-docs.....

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Talk about the situation to someone in your registrar's office. Completion of the degree/conferral and "graduation" are two different things. The second is a ceremonial event. But schools will often "post" the degree once they have documentation that you successfully completed the internship and passed the dissertation defense and submittal. While it might take a week or two for the bureaucratic wheels to grind, you would likely have the formal conferral by the end of September I would guess and the registrar is the one who does those details. It is very common for degrees to be "posted" across the year. Licensure boards require proof of a date of "conferral" of the degree and that is your graduation date, regardless of when the school has a ceremonial event.

And you should probably celebrate having the internship figured out and get the dissertation done before stressing too much about post-docs.....

That'd be great if it were the case. Unfortunately, my program sounds much like the OP's--if our degree requirements (including internship) weren't fully completed by I believe two months prior to the summer graduation date, our degree wouldn't be conferred or listed as completed until the next graduation ceremony (e.g., December, May). Thus, in my case, while I completed all my requirements by late summer, my degree wasn't officially granted/conferred or listed as completed on my transcripts until December.