Masters Discussion Forum

Hello all,

Please forgive the long post, I really don't know where else to turn to anymore about my situation... so here I go , throwing my message in a bottle into the sea of worries...

I have been writing my MA in social sciences since June 2015, and I was expecting to finish this August and start Another MA this September... Unfortunately, things did not turn out as expected at all due to several difficult circumstances... Firstly, my beloved grandma passed away after a 5-month battle with an aggressive form of cancer, the very week I was due to begin writing... While my supervisor was sympathetic about it I continued to work throughout this, even though it was difficult to progress the way I wanted to. Then two months later, my pet of seven years died, and two weeks later my aunt died in a car accident... Even though I kept going and did my best to continue working, it probably still affected me unconsciously as I wasn't able to progress as well as I expected. Then in April of this year, my uncle passed away after a long illness (he had been ill for many years). As if it wasn't enough, only a few days before my thesis was due, i go a phone call and found out that my other aunt passed away that day from a brain tumor... It came as quite a shock as she had been at my uncle's funeral and looked fine... it turned out that she had been diagnosed with a tumor a month later and had chosen not to seek treatment nor to inform the rest of the family, her funeral took place the day before submission date... As distraught as I was, I sadly wasn't able to submit on time... My supervisor has been incredibly understanding abut all of this and advised that I should apply for an extension of about 2 months, which I did, and she has fully backed up my application.

I've not been in a similar situation bluefirefly but I'm sure this will turn out fine. You've been through a really difficult year or so and you've done well to get this far. Do try not to think about it until you hear back from your supervisor.

I'm sure the university will be sympathetic in the end. It's probably just someone taking their job a bit too seriously or not realising your situation.

Hi TreeofLife,

Thank you for your encouraging words, I feel a little more hopeful now.The past few days have been quite strerssful since I got the email, but I'll do my best to keep my mind off it, as you suggested. It feels quite strange to be floating in this academic limbo between programs,hopefully it will all be over soon.

Just a little follow-up to my previous posts, in case it might eventually help anyone in a similar unusual situation... I got a reply from my supervisor this week, saying that the uni will indeed close my file, but that I can reapply to the program once the thesis is ready for submission, without all of the usual forms/official documents usually required... My supervisor said that she will still be happy to supervise me despite all of this until the thesis is complete. Sometimes I wonder where supervisors get such incredible faith in their students and in their chosen subjects, but I'm happy that she's still ready to supervise me, which was one of my biggest fears in all of this...