How to navigate this with advisor?

[Connolly]

I finished all my coursework for the PhD but there is one little problem that I need to address, and I am looking for help on how to do it most diplomatically.

 

Essentially what happened was that I had three courses that were still to be taken by me on my Program of Studies when it as signed and submitted by my co-advisors; two of the classes I either took or took an equivalent of at a different campus, but they were both essentially the same class. The thrid one though was structural equation modeling at a campus 40 minutes outside of town which I was going to take to prepare me for my dissertation; since then one advisor recommended against SEM and the other agreed my taking a dissertation proposal class was a good idea, but techically I don't have an email or anything to show that they approved me not taking that course. I did meet with my primary advisor over the past year and he knows I dropped the SEM course and took a local proposal development class instead; in fact I submitted him a copy of the proposal from that class already. I also sent him an email a few months ago detailing the changes to my program of studies so he can send an email to the grad school to record the changes, (one of the changes was his idea so it had to change, it's not just because of the other two changes) but he didn't send that email and now the topic has come up again.

 

I again detailed to him the changes so he could send to the grad school office, but he particularly wrote me back asking if him or the other advisor approved that SEM change. Any advice on how to respond? Technically they didn't approve it directly related to the class; they both said it wasn't a class I really need and supported the other class, but at the time I didn't really understand the process and the explicit permission required to undertake this change. Now I have to answer for it.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations for how to answer him to maximize the chances they will approve the substitution in classes I already made?

 

Thanks!

Edited August 18, 2014 by Connolly

[lyrehc]

Just be honest and tell him what you posted.  CC the co-advisor.

[fuzzylogician]

Sounds like you need to write a version of what you said here. Remind the advisor that both he and the co-advisor agreed that it wasn't a class you needed to take and supported the other class. Explain that at the time you didn't understand the process and that you needed explicit permission to change your coursework plan. Apologize for the confusion and ask what you can do to fix it. CC the other advisor, so everyone participates in the same conversation.