Danad

First of all, congratulations to everyone on your admission! I'm posting because, like many of us, I've received a big white envelope from HGSE within which I found a crimson folder with information about the program (along with a neat bumper sticker...the best part :-). One of the pages included in the packet gives us the requirements for matriculation, and among these requirements for students currently enrolled in a graduate program it states that all incoming students must, "complete the requirements of the advanced degree" to be eligible for matriculation in the fall. This piece is the subject of my question because I am currently an MA student and plan on carrying my thesis into the summer; however, depending on whether I have to schedule follow-up interviews with my participants, completing the thesis may take longer. I am committed to this project and I don't want to sell my participants short by "just getting it done so I can pick up and go to Harvard." At the same time, I know that for my long-term commitment to the social justice principles the project is based I need to make room for myself at the table of "education as the social rights issue of our time" by going forward with my coursework at HGSE. As I work through these two tensions, I keep mulling over the words, "complete the requirements of the advanced degree," and wonder whether this means that I will be ineligible from matriculation at HGSE in the fall if I don't simply finish the thesis before that time comes. I know that the wording for the undergrad degree is that it must be "conferred," and I keep wondering if this leaves more room for the MA degree. Then again, I also think there is a large possibility that the wording around requirements for matriculation may be different for the undergrad and graduate degrees because the person responsible for writing this informational page simply wanted to vary the sentence structure and wording for aesthetic purposes. Do any of ya'll have any idea of where I might lean as I try to interpret these words? Of course, I've contacted the Office of Admissions but have not received word yet. I could wait until they contact me, however long that may take, but I thought that asking ya'll might be helpful as well as you seem like such a warm and supportive bunch! :-)