MA not finished before PhD admit-- HELP!

[karenwog]

ok. I was admitted to a PhD program in humanities by phone, letter and email. In the phone call and email, both from Dept. chair, they said they were happy to have me and explained my funding package. In the letter, same thing, only with the letter I got a copy of my admittance form from the dept. to the graduate school saying my admittance was conditional that I would finish my MA this May and send them my final transcript in July. I have not heard from the dept. chair that i need to do this, just saw it on the copy of the form that was sent to me.

My graduating from my MA program in May, however, is not happening due to a lot of frustrating factors (an MIA advisor who tells me now that i should have waiting to apply to grad schools as "you have so much work on your thesis ahead of you" which would have been good to hear in SEPTEMBER when i submitted my draft). So what do i tell my PhD program? do i just not tell them anything? Do i wait to tell them in July after my advisor and I have met a few times and have some kind of idea when I'm going to be done with my MA? at this point i'm resigned to the fact that i'm going to have to travel back to my MA school and defend next fall.

What am i obligated to tell my PhD program?? Should i tell them it's because of a problem with my advisor that i won't finish on time? My advisor explained to me last week that his recommendations suggested I couldn't finish my work, which is why i suspect I had the conditional admittance (and is pure evil he didn't talk to me WHILE i was applying to grad schools last fall). What do i do?

[aginath]

You need to notify them ASAP. Only they can say how they will handle the situation. You owe it to them to reveal the situation and make a decision. If you withhold the information and it works out poorly for you with your current degree, it may not bode well for the potential of re-applying. Some schools allow you to defer your acceptance for up to a year. Worse case scenario, you tell them, they pull the offer, but encourage you to re-apply next year.

FWIW, I have two classmates in my cohort who had not completed their Master's before we started last fall. One flew back to her Master's school at the end of last semester to defend her thesis. The other just needs to complete some coursework by the end of this semester to replace and Incomplete grade.

[karough]

Sorry that your advisor is becoming a bear about your graduating from MA.

A department makes the recommendation for admission. It is the responsibility of the Graduate Studies office to check transcripts, eligibility etc. and yes, also making a conditional admission. The fact that your Dept. Chair did not reference the conditionality of admission, does not mean it is not conditional. It is still conditional that you finish your MA. Even if your advisor had not written about it in his LOR, if your transcripts showed that you were still finishing up your MA at the end of Spring Semester, it would trigger the conditional clause for admission. (I worked at Grad. school office and have seen this happen several times)

If you do not tell your PHD program - that could come to bite you. They can revoke your admission and take back any money they have paid you. Are you likely to finish the thesis during Summer and only need to return to defend it in the Fall or do you think you will have to continue working on it in the Fall?

Check your PhD. school policy on deferring your admission to next Spring. Also check the policy on conditional admission. Some schools allow you to submit updated transcripts to show completed coursework before you go for your comps.

Good Luck!