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Thesis update/vent (long)
I've had some major thesis-related de-velopments and I need to let it out.
First, because of a series of unfortunate circumstances, including changing my thesis topic a number of times and waiting for feedback, I am now in the last possible year of my PhD. Meaning, if I don't submit my full dissertation to the university Feb 1, I'm out of time and can't graduate.
Back in May and June, I kept going up to Montreal for marathon meetings with my supervisors. I don't need to explain how stressful May and June were when I got married June 28. At those meetings, my goal was to figure out how to divide my research into chapters. After many many many meetings, one of my 3 advisors, we'll call him Jackasss, said that I should divide one set of data into 2 papers.
I spent July and half of August seriously struggling with this. It was really hard to divide it up. Finally, just before leaving for our honeymoon, I sent in a REALLY rough draft. I told them that the draft was rough and that it needed a lot of work, but that I was having trouble making more progress without feedback. I was assured that I would have feedback waiting for me upon my return from Israel.
My main advisor (Da Bomb) gave me feedback. Jackasss and the other advisor (Doc) did not. I updated the paper and sent it again. I sent reminders. Etc etc. Doc was e-mailing for weeks saying he was working on it and he kept asking me for more info and other things. FINALLY, on Thursday at midnight, more than 2 MONTHS after I sent the paper, Jackasss sends me a really long e-mail saying that because of time limitations, I should combine everything and just get it written.
I was so shocked that I just went to bed and slept badly. In the morning, Da Bomb sent an e-mail to everyone saying, "are you suggested RedZee put everything back to exactly how it was originally?"
That's right folks, Jackasss suggested that I do exactly what I was going to do in May. It is now the end of October. That means that I lost SIX MONTHS of work. 6 months of no income. 6 months of waiting for feedback. 6 months of tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to write this up.
And for added fun, Jackasss is out of the country for all of January. Which means I can't even guarantee that he'll read anything I give him in December and certainly not in January, which I thought made it impossible to even make the Feb 1 deadline.
I spent all day Friday crying to MIL, my parents, C, my brothers. Today, I spoke to Da Bomb and she said that I don't need Jackasss to read anything. As long as I have it in to them by Dec 10, if he doesn't read it, it's his own damn fault and I can still graduate (assuming it's good enough blah blah blah). That's a relief. We also came up with another game plan to try and get their input and try to get this done so that I don't have to work with him after I submit my thesis (too long to explain).
So I'm feeling a lot better - but I have to write a whole thesis chapter by Friday! And I have 6 weeks to write the whole rest of the thesis. So I'm freaking out and I needed to share that.
A final request: I really want a writing buddy because I'm totally freaking out about all of this (because I want to get on with my life, but I'm scared of the next step and I'm also scared that my work won't be good enough). So, if anyone is up for it, please let me know!
October 2013 February Siggy Challenge: Valentine's Day Fail
EDD 10/3/13
Re: Thesis update/vent (long)
This is what I was thinking as I read your entire post. Why make him a priority if he won't give you support? If he is a professional adult worthy of being a consultant, he should have his shiit together enough to respond to emails in a timely matter. Granted I have never written a thesis but I generally don't make people a priority if they only make me an option.
ME!
I'm on draft 8,000 of my M.A. thesis PROPOSAL and I'm slamming my head against a wall. How I'm going to get the proposal done AND write the entire THESIS by May 1 of 2010 is beyond me, but I'm happy to be a writing buddy
cookymama - I agree that in theory he shouldn't be a priority. Sadly, in PhD-land, profs rarely make students a priority but you still need them to pass you. (And in reality, if he doesn't read it, it's not going to be as good as it can be. He is, unfortunately for me, a very smart guy and an excellent researcher.)
SBS - YAY!!! I'm going to FB/Gchat with you in a little while to plan this out.
October 2013 February Siggy Challenge: Valentine's Day Fail
EDD 10/3/13
I do think you should continue to try to keep him in the loop, seek his opinion, etc. but it just seemed like you were putting him above the other profs who were willing to work with you. Maybe preface the next draft with something like "I greatly appreciate your willingness to look this over. I look forward to receiving your feedback by this date in order to keep this project on track." Let him know your expectations while being respectful. While he may be smart, there are two other profs who are willing to help and clearly understand the urgency you are facing.
Have you tried talking to the other profs about his lack of response? Not in a go behind his back type of way but as a hey I haven't heard from him, has he mentioned anything about it to you perspective. It sounds like they have differing opinions so this may help to get all of them on the same page anyways.
Thanks Keb.
Yes cookymama - there has been much discussion with other profs about his lack of response. And in the department. And the university. (He almost didn't get tenure.) The bigger issue was that only my main advisor gave feedback. The other 2 did not. Doc kept saying he was going to, but never did. If Doc starts to give feedback, I'm good without Jackasss. But Da Bomb doesn't know enough about modern technology to help.
(This is all really hard to explain without a lot of detail and it gets even longer and complicated. But thank you for the support. It really helps to be able to vent about it.)
October 2013 February Siggy Challenge: Valentine's Day Fail
EDD 10/3/13
At least others are seeing JA's lack of response as unfair as well. And it sounds like Doc has good intentions which don't write a paper but hopefully can materialize into actual feedback in the next round.
BTW - still LMAO at cookymama.
I'm currently writing my MS thesis proposal, too. I'm not great at writing, and I'm really pushing to get the proposal done before I leave in 3 weeks for a research cruise that I'll be gone for 7 weeks on...
Luckily, I also have a great advisor. She's the reason I chose the school I'm in, and I'm so glad I did. I also have a committee member that is incredibly absent, and it's driving me crazy. Luckily he doesn't disagree with the direction much, so it's not a big battle like the one you're fighting.
Good luck with it all!
I am not sure if this would work in your situation, but at UCLA, as long as you keep paying them you can keep filing extension after extension and stay there forever. They "say" you have to finish the PhD in seven year (seven! yes! I know!), but apparently people have done it in 11, filing for multiple extensions. Now, I'm sure not every school has such ridiculously low standards for student behavior, but it may be work looking in to.
And what would be involved in being a writing buddy? I have a second year project going on this year, which is essentially a master's thesis except I can't get master's credit for it because I already have a master's. So I'm going to write a whole master's project but not get the credit for it, dig?
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Lark - I'm not sure if you're saying that 7 years is really long or really short! We do have extensions, but I really just want to get on with my life already.
Private message me your e-mail address and I'll tell you all about the writing buddy thing.
October 2013 February Siggy Challenge: Valentine's Day Fail
EDD 10/3/13
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