Thesis issues and accepted

[braintrust]

I currently have a number of acceptances and am expecting to start this fall However I have a problem. I have fullfilled all the coursework to graduate with my masters degree but my committee chair is making it impossible for me get my thesis in so that I can graduate. I might be able to defend in may but that still means I won't graduate this semester.

Does anybody have experience with this? i have had to push back my defense which means that I technically wont graduate until august and after medical school has already begun. Does this pose a problem for me? Is this common? Will this Keep me out of Med school?

Please help I'm really freaking out about this since It has taken so much to get here and to be shot down like this is insane.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Isoprop]

is this a combined B.S./M.S. program? if you already have your bachelor's, it shouldn't be a problem. call your med school and explain the situation. at worst, you may have to take a leave of absence for your masters program or defer your first year of med school. if it comes down to it, you always have the option of dropping the master's altogether. a bachelor's is all that is required for med school.

 

[stickyfingers]

I currently have a number of acceptances and am expecting to start this fall However I have a problem. I have fullfilled all the coursework to graduate with my masters degree but my committee chair is making it impossible for me get my thesis in so that I can graduate. I might be able to defend in may but that still means I won't graduate this semester.

Does anybody have experience with this? i have had to push back my defense which means that I technically wont graduate until august and after medical school has already begun. Does this pose a problem for me? Is this common? Will this Keep me out of Med school?

Please help I'm really freaking out about this since It has taken so much to get here and to be shot down like this is insane.

If worse came to worse you could probably defer, right? So your acceptances will not go to waste.

 

[BluePhoenix]

If it's just a technicality (you did the thesis and all that but only "officially" graduate at the next graduation date) I wouldn't worry about it. I had a lot of friends that defended their thesis over the summer and while they were finished with everything, they didn't officially graduate until the October date because of how the deadlines were set. It wasn't a big deal, most places just wanted a letter saying you'd finished everything. However, if you're actually having to wait to defend or turn in your thesis until after med school starts, it might be more difficult.

 

[seraph524]

Hmm...well, I think I'm in the same position as you... I won't get done with all the defending and paperwork before actual graduation...but I think all that matters is that your committee signs off on it. Once they sign off, then you graduate officially.

 

[MmmmmD]

This happened to a friend of mine last August, she handed in her thesis about 5 days before her med school orientation started. As long as she had a letter saying she had met all the requirements for the degree, they didn't care that the master's program graduation wasn't for 2 more months.

 

[Haemulon]

I definitely feel for you. I ran into this situation twice, including the spring before med school started. I highly recommend talking to whomever it is appropriate to talk to in order to try and get the situation resolved. Have a heart to heart with your thesis advisor, talk to the department chair, whatever it takes. You will be Ok no matter what, as other posters have said, but it would be better to have piece of mind and enjoy your summer before starting. The final period before graduation always seems to bring out the greatest tension between grad students and their advisors. I hate the stress, since the agendas of each all too often begin to diverge dramatically as the expected graduation date approaches. Best of luck to you. And congrats on your acceptances!

 

[fahimaz7]

Once they sign off, then you graduate officially.

That is so untrue that it's not even funny. Last October, I successfully defended my thesis, turned in my GS26 form (completion of oral exam etc w/ signatures) and WAS NOT able to graduate.

You are not complete until you turn in the official copy of your thesis, with the correct spacing, format, spelling of degrees/schools/dates/and any other random stuff that they want to make you do.

Once you turn it in, then you have to take it to the library (binding). After that, you return to the grad school and give them the receipt that it was turned in.

Then, and only if your class work is complete, will you be cleared for graduation.

I just got a "letter of completion" sent to my medical schools and it was only after I jumped through this thesis hoop that I was cleared to graduate.

It's so archaic it's not even funny. I was so frustrated with the graduate school. I had to print my thesis title page 3 seperate times (wrong paper, wrong department, date on the wrong side).

Since my department was interdisciplinary it was not the "department of ______" it was "A graduate degree program in ________"

PS. Make sure you applied to graduate in time.