I am close to panicking; I think my heart is about to burst.

I realize this is just anxiety but I don't know what to do.

First off, I am about a week away from my thesis defense, for which I have finished the presentation. My professor has had my thesis for weeks without returning any editing back to me. So finally I asked and she sent it. Some of the changes are impossible for me to do and still get it in on time. I am SO pissed. She could have told me about this stuff months or weeks ago when I could have done something about it but now I am out of time. I also work fulltime and have to work this weekend so I have very little time to make major corrections before next week. I have to turn in my thesis by June 20th or I won't graduate.

I am so pissed and upset right I am not even sure I can go back to work.

Profs are usually very good about this.

They will still let you go through the graduation ceremony, with your diploma conditional upon you finishing your thesis.

The deadlines are set by the thesis office and not by my professors or even the department.

...in this matter.

What would they do if you were in a car accident today and had to be in traction for a month and couldn't finish it for that reason? I mean, trust me, there is no way that you are the first person to come to them and ask for a thesis extension. They have dealt with this before; it is probably no big deal to them.

Is there someone, anyone at your college that you can talk to about this? Is the professor that much of a jerk that there is no room for negotiation? (It's very possible that she is a full-time jerk, but I want to make sure you consider all your options!)

What is the worst case scenario?

I'm guessing that the very worst that happens is that you postpone your defense and graduate in August. It's not what you planned on, but things will work out.

June 13th is the deadline for the defense in order to graduate in August. Otherwise it will have to wait until December. But she had literally months to bring this up and only did it now. It fucks me up completely.

So that you are able to finish the changes?

It was to practice my defense but I think I won't need too much practice. I can work on it some then.

I am just a bundle of nerves these days. I can't wait for this to be over with.

Just remember, you can only do what you can do. Beyond that, there is not point in stressing or fussing over things. I know that's way easier to say, than to do, but it's really an important point. What the professor did, not point in fussing about it (at least not right now) as there is nothing you can do about it. Concentrate on the completion of things, as best you can.

I think that as it turns out I don't need to do that much work. I may need to change one or two figures. Not five or six as I thougt or run more analyses. And no of that really needs to be done before the defense, but I might at least start anyway.

This stress is really getting to me. I went to the doctor the other day and my blood pressure was quite a bit higher than normal, which I am sure is due to stress.

I hope that the changes turn out to not be as big a deal as you were worried about, and that you can find some peace and zen over the weekend. :hug: What's your thesis about?

do that and save the rest for afterwards. Good idea to take off from work and get this done. I agree there is usually no leeway in missing deadlines. They are so common that universities typically deal with them by having the person graduate a few months later. You can always do a defense later than Jun, but you won't (probably) be able to go through graduation until you can get those defense signatures to the authorities by the dates they set. Not fun, but I assure you that you aren't the first one to go through this rite of passage. Good luck! I hope you get this all done sooner rather than later!

To graduate in May, I would've needed to get everything done at the beginning of April, at the same time I was bogged down in the middle of a term. It just wasn't worth it to me, so I set up my committee meeting immediately after the term when it would be all I had to think about at that point. The penalty was getting my degree in December rather than May, but that was okay with me, I still essentially had completed it. I could have spent a lot of effort to do it early or to get approvals to do it when I did and still graduate in May, but I didn't even try and just one reason for that: stress.

There was less stress in finishing, less stress in getting the rest of my work done during that term, without that meeting in the middle to muck everything else up.

Just a thought.

I have had panic attacks before and my best solution is this:

I think about what is stressing me AND I think about what I am going to do about it --not what I'm going to do to solve the "problem" but to solve the "stress" associated with the problem. Sometimes solving the latter solves the former, but there's no progress at all without dealing with the stress --that's your life.

The last day to defend was sometime in FEBRUARY. June 13 is bad enough for August (but summer is only 10 weeks).

I think I have it sorted out. The changes are more to wording and maybe one or two different figures. and not necessary for the defense actually, although I may try.

it helps everytime. best wishes to you, it's quite an accomplishment to even be wrapping this up, much less graduating, whether it be in May, August or whenever. :applause: