Grashupfer

Good responses so far. I'm feeling better about my situation, especially with a geo-specific response.

Hey all, I'm in a situation where I'm just finishing writing my master's thesis. I'm not going to be fully finished before the end of the semester; final assignments and such for the class I'm taking are keeping me busy. My department doesn't allow people to defend over the summer. I talked to my adviser and he is allowing me to look for jobs and even start working over the summer if I can come back for a day in August/September and defend my thesis. The plan is to give my first draft of my thesis to my committee and work on the revisions over the summer, come back and defend in the fall and be done. I've had two job interviews already, one I didn't get, one went well and I'll know in ~2 weeks. I have another interview coming up Wednesday. If those fall through I may have an internship opportunity or I may be able to help around the department with odd (research/science oriented) jobs. Do you know anybody who has gotten a job before defending? Were they successful or did it drag on because they couldn't get their revisions done?

This makes me feel good. I guess it's really about how you frame your results(?).

Dang pippa, sounds rough. I read another topic that you posted in and it seems like you have a rough deal. Luckily my main adviser is being quite lenient and allowing me to defend in the fall if I wish (read if I can find an internship). I too recently finished collecting data, and I'm unsure if I'll be done writing and drafting figures by May.

After doing a little more work, I think I actually found a link! I just needed to plot more lake level data. It is a closed basin lake from the Triassic. There is quite a bit of research, but a lot of it is lab based, and what isn't is mostly about pyrite formation in marine settings. I think my relationship has to do with sulfur recycling occurring at low lake levels, which can have a drastic effect on isotope values of pyrites.

Geodude, you are always there to help a fellow geologist! (You've posted in another topic that I made). Nobody really knows. There have been 0 studies on this subject that I have come across. I thought that there would be a relationship, but there is in fact none. I'm just trying to think of possible explanations as to why there is no relationship.

Hey all, I'm wondering if anyone here has worked on a research project and has gotten data that does not prove their hypothesis. Im my case I am studying sulfur isotope ratios in pyrite (that's right, fool's gold!) in a lake environment and seeing if it has any link to climate cycles supposedly seen in lake sediments. I have found that there is no link between these two. This is for my master's thesis. My advisor tells me not to worry and that it is defendable and perhaps publishable material. I am a little worried about my defense, which will be in maybe 6-8 weeks. So has anybody had success defending or presenting this type of outcome for their research? Should I be worried?

Thanks for the posts! In my situation there will be several drafts along the way so I think most of the kinks should be worked out. I talked to my adviser about it and he said it should only take a few days if all goes according to plan.

Fyi, thesis should end up to be 20-30 pages text with 10-15 figures.

I'm a masters student looking to defend in early May. I would like to take a trip after I finish to destress before starting a job as my thesis has caused me some grief and I would like to visit my girlfriend. As you can imagine it is better (cheaper) to book trips in advance. What is a reasonable amount of time to factor in for revisions to one's thesis?

I just talked to my advisor about this. He says that I'm done after I defend and he'll write on my letters of rec. that I've successfully defended. I'm not sure what your situation is newguy2, but I should be done in May and I'll probably apply to some jobs before then. When do you think you'll finish?

Binghamton isn't the best for these things, although you may want to check out Jenkins' work, he may do some thermochronology. Source: I went there as an undergrad.

Hey, I'm in a similar situation. I need more data but I can't get access to the machine I need to make the measurements. I was planning on graduating in May, but now that I can't use the machine for an unknown amount of time, I may not finish by the deadline date. I may finish like 2 weeks after, but that doesn't really help. My degree may not me a May degree, but my uni does have an October degree. I may end up having to apply for that. I may end up applying to jobs regardless because you don't need your degree to get the job technically. Plus (in my situation) I'll be done by May, so I may be able to just explain that I don't have my diploma yet, but my advisors have signed off, I'm done with classes, and coursework etc. I'm trying to stay positive about it. How much longer do you think you have? Does your school have an October degree? I would look into it.